"What will you do? Where will you sleep to-night?"

"Indeed I cannot tell," I said. "I am a stranger here. But I understood
from his Majesty's letter that a residence would be provided for us on
our arrival; and he has been duly informed that we were to arrive at
this time."

"His Majesty cannot remember everything," said his Excellency; the
interpreter added, "You can go where you like." And away went master and
slaves. I was dumfoundered, without even voice to inquire if there was a
hotel in the city; and my servants were scornfully mute. My kind friend
the captain was sorely puzzled. He would have sheltered us if he could;
but a cloud of coal-dust and the stamping and screaming of a hundred and
fifty Chinamen made hospitality impracticable; so I made a little bed
for my child on deck, and prepared to pass the night with him under a
canopy of stars.

The situation was as Oriental as the scene,--heartless arbitrary
insolence on the part of my employers; homelessness, forlornness,
helplessness, mortification, indignation, on mine. Fears and misgivings
crowded and stunned me. My tears fell thick and fast, and, weary and
despairing, I closed my eyes, and tried to shut out heaven and earth;
but the reflection would return to mock and goad me, that by my own act,
and against the advice of my friends, I had placed myself in this
position.

The good captain of the Chow Phya, much troubled by the conduct of the
minister, paced the deck (which usually, on these occasions, he left to
the supercargo) for more than an hour. Presently a boat approached, and
he hailed it. In a moment it was at the gangway, and with robust, hearty