Chinese have tenanted a house by the floors being covered with these little black dents-typical endorsements of their refinementincomparable with the "barbarity" of Western nations.

The poorer classes who cannot afford to buy metal hubblebubble pipes make bamboo ones, or merely use the ordinary long, short, crooked, or straight stemmed pipes, perhaps ornamented with an embroidered tobacco-bag dangling from the stem, and fitted with glass mouth-piece. These pipes, like all the rest, have tiny brass bowls, which hold barely a pinch of tobacco, and require constant filling with tobacco which smokes like chaff, emits a peculiarly unpleasant aroma, has an uncommonly nauseating. flavour, and possesses the undeniable virtues of being fine, light, and above all, cheap, and entirely different in every respect from ours.

Shortly after midnight a villainous looking, ill-clad coolie entered the house, and on discovering our whereabouts, made signs to Ah Shun to accompany him into an inner apartment where the opium fumes were almost enough to suffocate one. Here they conversed in an undertone for fully half an hour before enlightening me as to the subject of their conversation. Then Ah Shun told me that the young girl had that very night been drugged and removed from a house of bad repute to a worse one, inhabited by a powerful gang of pirates and kidnappers, and was well watched. The entrances to the house were, as usual, closed and barricaded, and the lower rooms full of the worst characters in the city, who night after night made it their head-quarters for plotting and gambling transactions.

It was therefore quite impossible to gain admittance by the ordinary means, but we might do so from the roof, where there was a trap-door which gave entrance to a cock-loft that was used as a sleeping apartment; but the ladder there was always removed at night. Our intended guide, however, having frequented that resort, knew where a rope was concealed on the roof for any emergency.

It was a very dangerous undertaking, but it was our only chance of effecting a rescue. If the girl proved to be Séou Jâe, we would watch our opportunity and get her out through the roof, one of

us standing by with loaded revolvers to cover the retreat in case an alarm was raised.

Having settled our modus operandi, we left the divan, allowing our conductor to precede us, and following him at a respectful distance, all three walking in an easy, aimless manner, to avoid attracting notice. Suddenly the coolie stopped before a small stall, behind which a venerable man sat studying and retailing the wonders of necromancy. We also paused there, and before proceeding further, Ah Shun insisted up on having our fortunes told. The old man now placed three ancient cash into the hollow shell of a tortoise, † and shaking it for a few seconds, while muttering incantations, emptied them out on the table, the result being indicated by the facial position of the three coins. In our case the wizard prognosticated very favourably to Ah Shun and the coolie, and indifferently to me. Had the fates been unpropitious to them, I very much doubt whether either of them would have proceeded any further that night, so great is the superstition of these people. As it was, we resumed our tortuous course which

* Supposed to possess talismanic influence. Sometimes tied on the wrists of new-born children. Newly-married people place cash belonging to the reigns of various Emperors under their beds for luck and prosperity.

The use of the tortoise-shell is evidently of Thibetian origin. An ancient Thibetian inscription describes the origin of the world thus: "In the beginning, what existed from eternity, in nothingness, was called the tortoise. The Buddhas of the past, present, and future sprang out of him. The three worlds and all the animal beings also originated from the eternal tortoise. The heavens are the arched back of the tortoise, and the earth is the breast. From the union of these two sprang three sons-mountain, ir n, water; and three daughterswind, fire, tree." These eight great elements of the world are believed by the Thibetians to be the most potent factors of human destiny; and the Thibetian system of divination is founded on them and on elements subordinate to them. In the figures described on the breast of the tortoise, after the pattern of the natural scales, there are eighty-nine "mansions" devoted to the principal factors of luck and to various spiritual beings, animals articles, and symbols of auspicious or inauspicious significance. "A man starting on a journey avoids the direction of the inauspicious mansions. But if he have to propitiate an evil spirit, he should throw the offerings intended for it in the inauspicious directions. On the contrary, if he have to worship a friendly spirit, he should place his offerings towards a mansion which contains one of the auspicious objects."

lay through an intricate maze of alleyways and gloomy passages, infested with low characters and mangy dogs.

Presently our guide, who had latterly been keeping quite close ahead of us, again stopped, and, listening intently for a while, bended down and crawled through a round hole in the wall. We followed, pausing on the other side in profound darkness. Next came the sound of a latch being quietly lifted, then of a door. being opened, and finally a whispered lai la (come) revealed the whereabouts of our conductor, who, as we groped our way to his side, struck a match, lighting a small lantern he had with him. We found ourselves in an empty house, at the foot of a steep and narrow flight of stairs. Removing and carrying our shoes, and ascending cautiously-not that there was much fear of interruption, as the place was quite deserted,-we soon gained the top of the house, and then, climbling up a notched board, pushed a trap-door open, and crawled out on the roof.

The coolie now told us to remain where we were, and to be sure not to rise or make the slightest noise until he had reconnoitred the position. He then crept forward on hands and knees, leaving us amongst a forest of smoke-begrimed chimneys, anxiously awaiting the issue. It was a clear starlight night, but fortunately the moon had not yet risen.

We were not kept long in suspense, for he soon reappeared, scrambling along silent and cat-like, being no doubt an adept at his profession. He informed us that, as far as he could ascertain, the inmates of the cock-loft were asleep, and the rope was placed in readiness. There were four old women and two men there, the latter being armed, he thought.

The prospect was by no means an inviting one, but it was no use faltering, and time was precious, there being none to lose, as the sleepers might awake at any moment, or the gamblers disperse to their respective beds, or a dozen things happen to frustrate our designs. So forward we crept, one after the other, now and again holding our breath as one of us would unwittingly displace a loose tile. But the imperturbable Ah Shun seemed to derive considerable amusement from these dreaded mishaps, for a broad smile continually flitted about his pleasant countenance, and at

intervals his portly sides shook with suppressed laughter. No doubt we must have looked ridiculous; but I heartily wished a termination of the fun.

We soon came to the open trap-door whence proceeded the fumes of opium and the snoring of sleepers. The rope was in readiness, and the coolie, motioning me to follow, slid quietly down it. Leaving Ah Shun to keep watch above, I also descended into the darkness, being at first almost overpowered by the foul air.

We could not see at all, and dare not show a light; but the coolie seemed to know by instinct where to tread. Placing my hands lightly on his shoulders, and pressing my toes against his heels, he led me forward to a rickety ladder, down which we crept out of the creaky loft, entering a narrow, dimly lighted passage, whose walls were hung with weapons of every description, ready for use at any moment. Sliding a panel back, the coolie now led the way into a little dark closet about which he fumbled until he found another movable panel that gave entrance to a small secret passage or tunnel-a regular rat hole-through which we crawled on hands and knees, until, coming to a small hatch which, on being raised, revealed, with the aid of a lighted match, a narrow staircase leading down between the walls, one of which was constructed of wood.

At the foot of these stairs my conductor stopped, and, peeping through a small round eye-hole-about the size of a three-pennypiece, for some minutes, softly drew back a concealed bolt and, giving a pass-word, opened a narrow door composed of a single panel which fitted so exactly that its use perceptible. *

was not

We now entered a lighted apartment, and there before us lay a beautiful young Soochow lady, reclining upon a rough couch, in a state of insensibility, her silken clothes torn and stained; evidently done in her struggles for freedom when being carried off. But, sorry as I felt for the poor creature before me, I was mad

* I have since been over several gambling houses-especially in Hong Kongfitted with these traps, panels, secret passages and "cock-lofts," which are constructed by the tenants in case of police raids.

with disappointment: for it was not Sêou Jâe after all, only someone very much like her.

Two old hags were seated near this unfortunate captive, and were smoking and gambling at a small round table. Soon after we entered, however, and before we were aware of it, one of them, who had regarded me with evident suspicion, suddenly darted out of the room to give the alarm. The coolie was the first to notice it, and as a shrill voice rang out through the house,―he half dragged me back to the panel.

"Hor sau! hor sau *!" (Be quick! be quick!) he said excitedly, closing the panel behind us, darting up the stairs and wriggling through the passage, closely followed by myself. For it meant death if we were caught.

As we gained the cock-loft we heard the clatter of feet and the cries of our pursuers, as they hurried up from the bottom of the house to intercept our flight.

But the coolie was equal to the occasion, and stepping quickly over the sleeping forms, he placed the ladder in position and mounted to the roof. In my haste to follow, I trod on somebody's hand-evidently that of a woman, for she cried out, awaking the rest.

On gaining the roof, Ah Shun, who stood ready with his revolvers, thoughtfully pulled up the rope and ladder after us, so as to gain time by cutting off their exit.

We could not return by the way we had come as it led directly past the den we were leaving, so we scrambled away after the coolie along the roofs in an opposite direction. Having thus traversed some distance, we turned off between some chimneys. and had to jump down across an abyss about six feet wide on to the gutters of another less lofty building, and so on, gradually decending from roof to roof, following our ingenious guide, who finally brought us in this manner to within a few feet of the ground, to which we descended by means of a thick drain pipe, down which we slid, thus evading our pursuers and entering a far more safe and respectable neighbourhood, considerably removed

* Shanghai dialect. In Cantonese it would be “Fidè! fidè.”