drove the Tartars inland; when, feeling weary of my servitude, and longing to fight against the usurping barbarians, I offered my services to one of the commanders, and no sooner had I put in force that virtuous resolution, than my fortunes began to mend, for in one of the ships I found the noble Nicholas. "Well, I will only tell the illustrious princess how that I kept by the side of the noble Nicholas in all battles that have been fought by the great Koshinga; but in the midst of our adventures and successes, both the noble Nicholas and his servant were unhappy, for they pined to learn the fate of the daughter of the Mings, whom the heavens had once entrusted to their care. At every town upon the coast, from every man who joined the fleet, did we endeavor to trace some clue, not omitting to offer great rewards; it was all, however, useless, till one day a Tartar prisoner was taken and brought to our ship, and as he had with him a copy of the _Pekin Gazette_, which contains the officers of the empire and the decrees of the Emperor, the noble Nicholas eagerly read it to find out the movements of the barbarians, when, much to his surprise, he saw that the noble Ki had been restored to his rank and fortunes, and, moreover, was permitted to reside unmolested at his native palace in Fokien. 'Thus, then, O Chow, we have a fortunate day; here is a clue to the princess--for should she have escaped the villain rebels, this old and faithful servant of her royal father will surely know,' said the noble Nicholas." "Truly the great Father of heaven hath directed, this even," said the princess. "Then, O my princess, the heart of thy servant leaped for joy; for he knew that the clue to the illustrious daughter of the Mings would lead to the discovery of his beloved mother, so upon his knees he begged his noble master to let him search the coast of Fokien, a request he would have granted, had not the whole fleet been ordered by the chief Koshinga to attack and drive the barbarian Hollanders from the great island of Formosa on that day. Then for nearly four moons was the fleet before the castle of Zealand, which protects the island; and so well did the barbarians fight, that we had no other hope but to starve them out; at length, however, they were joined by the numerous ships of the traitorous black dragon Yuen, and for the first time Koshinga was near being defeated, till at length destiny led him to fill seven of his ships with oil and inflammable materials, when, taking advantage of the first north-easterly wind, he set them on fire, and sent them among the ships of Yuen, the greater part of which being destroyed, the crews with the black dragon sought the shores in their boats. Thus having got rid of the fleet, the great Koshinga landed his troops, and after a great battle killed the greater portion of the pirates, made the remainder prisoners, and took possession of the country." "Truly this Koshinga is a great war dragon," said the princess.