Now Frank might have refused this offer. In fact, the rules of ceremony decreed that he should do so. He had a mind, however, to disguise himself, and he therefore begged the tea-grower to be so good as to provide him with a suit of Chinese clothes.
The man did not hesitate. He supplied the boy with a long robe, a pair of white trousers and a pair of felt-soled shoes. Thus attired, Frank Armitage bade his host adieu and crossed the tea-garden late that night, when the moon, which had guided him throughout the past three or four days, was rising in the east.
The tea-grower seemed to have taken a fancy to the boy, for he accompanied Frank almost a mile upon his journey, putting him upon the road which led to the village in which the majority of his coolies, or workpeople, lived. In bidding good-bye to him, Frank thanked the man from his heart for all his hospitality and kindness. He shook hands with himself in the approved Chinese fashion, and bowed so low that his nose almost touched his knees. Then he was about to set forward alone when the tea-grower cried out to him, asking him if he had any money.
Frank replied that he was without a cent in the world, telling the truth--that he had been robbed of all he possessed in the mountains. Whereupon the tea-grower took from his neck a long string of copper cash. These he threw over the boy's head, at the same time quoting Confucius: "_Be charitable to the stranger from a far country! so that, when thou thyself art a stranger, doors may be opened to thy knock._"
Frank found the village without any difficulty. Although it was then almost midnight, there were lights in the majority of houses, and several shops were open. The Chinese are a singular race. One of the first things that strikes a visitor to that remarkable country is the fact that the inhabitants never appear to go to bed. No people in the world work harder by day, and no people in the world are more inclined to talk, laugh, quarrel and gamble throughout the night, into the small hours of the morning.
Frank marched boldly into a barber's shop, where he expressed a desire to have the forepart of his head shaven. The barber could scarce contain his astonishment when he observed that his patron had no pigtail. He was vastly curious with regard to the matter, asking several questions as he sharpened his big Chinese razor--which was something after the shape and about the size of the business-end of a Dutch hoe. Frank informed the man that he had been robbed, and no doubt the fellow presumed that the robbers had cut off their victim's queue.