"Truly if the great lords esteem these things as favors, thanks be to Tien that thy servant is but a small weasel of a personage," said Chow, making some very remarkable grimaces. "When the noble Yang received the message, he called for the incense table, burned perfume in honor of his royal master, chose the silken cord, and having held it high above his head in token of his willingness to obey the royal will, immediately strangled himself," said the innkeeper, without noticing Chow's interruption. That the boys did not shudder at this recital, may surprise you who are not perhaps aware that this is a common method of showing the royal gratitude for past services in the middle kingdom. Not only are these three methods used as punishments, but as a means of suicide, which in China, as in most unchristianized countries, is esteemed a meritorious means of slipping through a difficulty. The gold leaf being taken in the form of a pill, is washed down with water, which is supposed so to expand the leaf and extend the stomach that life soon becomes extinct. The death by the necklace is more uncommon. There is a bird of the crane kind, on the crown of whose head is a scarlet tuft of down or velvet skin, to which the Chinese believe the poison of the serpents which it eats determines. This crest is frequently formed into a bead which is concealed in the ornamental necklaces worn by the high officers of the empire, for the express purpose of surmounting worldly difficulties, for let this venom but touch the lip, and death instantaneously ensues. There is a legend that the life of this bird extends to one thousand years, that it is in its prime at sixty, when it can sing regularly and beautifully every hour of the day, but that it cannot mount trees till it reaches its thousandth year. When the innkeeper had finished, the clanging of the watchman's bamboo rattle in the streets reminded Nicholas of the lateness of the hour, and he said, "But, even now, the worthy innkeeper has not informed his younger brothers where they may find a lodging for the night. "Thy servant, noble youth, must have been born in an unfortunate hour, that he cannot offer the advantages of his inn, but the truth has been spoken, none but the servants and officers of the great Ching-Ti can rest here to-night." "Surely taels of silver are not so plentiful in this city that all will refuse," said Chow. "Truly for less than an ounce of silver two travelers might find a lodging in the house of the bonzes." "The priests of Fo are rogues," said Nicholas, giving utterance to an opinion that has been popular in China from all time. "The noble youth possesses a tongue that will place him in the cangue, or procure him a branded cheek by this hour to-morrow, if he rules it no better," said the innkeeper; but before the boy could reply, the man's wife ran into the room, crying and beating her breast, and implored of her husband to follow her to the bedside of their dying daughter.