The youth being delighted at this lenient sentence bowed his forehead to the earth, and, moreover, I must tell you, kept his promise, although he was three days learning the task. Such being the spirit of the laws, and the paternal mildness with which they are for the most part carried out, excepting only in cases of high treason, we need not wonder that this great population has submitted to their rule for four thousand years. When this case was over the chief of the yah-yu bowed to the ground and charged his prisoners generally with rioting to the disturbance of the public peace. "What has the priest of Fo to say to this disgraceful charge? let him open his lips," said the mandarin. Whereupon the bonze fell upon his knees and accused the innkeeper of attacking the idol and leading a mob to destroy the monastery. "What sayest the innkeeper? for surely the offence is serious," said the mandarin. Then, bowing to the ground, the innkeeper related the morning's adventure, stating that but for the assistance of Nicholas and Chow, the bonze would have killed him, adding, "Truly, O jewel of justice, thy mean servant demands the punishment of this rascal bonze and his trumpery god, who, notwithstanding the sums paid to them, have permitted his only child to be carried from this life." Having listened patiently to both sides, the mandarin said, "It is true that two offences have been committed, the one against the public peace, and the other against a private person. The former, being the most heinous, must be first dealt with; and, as without the bonze and the innkeeper, there could have been no such disturbance, let both be corrected with twenty blows. As for the two youths, who were drawn into this disturbance, let them pay half a tael each to some poor person to receive ten blows for them." The sentence having gone forth, the men with the bamboos caught hold of the culprits, threw them upon the floor, and they received a similar punishment to that dealt out by a schoolmaster upon a refractory pupil; after which, the delinquents, smarting with pain, humbly returned thanks for this benevolent and fatherly correction. "As for the second offence," said the mandarin, "it is clear that the bonze is either a rogue or no good judge of the powers of the different gods, and knew not to which to apply for this particular favor, an ignorance that has caused the innkeeper to lose his goods; and, in either case, is unfit for his office; therefore, if he is found within the city walls after this night, he shall be placed in the cangue for three moons. As for the god himself, who is the principal party concerned, let him be plucked down from his seat as a useless and malicious deity." Thus compelled, by custom, to recognize the foolish superstition of Fo, although he no more believed in it than you do, the mandarin humorously punished the bonze.