Kate Tattersall Adventures in China by R.S. Fleming

Author:R.S. Fleming
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cormorant Books
Published: 2013-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

SEPTEMBER 1849, CANTON

The young pirate came towards her, his sword thrusting, eyes dark and staring, always charging forward. She backed down the hall, but it never ended, and still he advanced, relentless, his blade at her throat. Kate screamed for help, but no sound came from her mouth, and then she was naked, utterly defenceless, the pirate coming through the smoke …

Kate suffered from nightmares for more than a week, waking in a cold sweat shortly after going to sleep. She found solace in the company of the boat’s ratter and started playing with the scrappy terrier, letting him curl up at the foot of her berth — after she gave his greasy fur a thorough scrubbing. However, despite her adoption of the dog, he would still playfully bite her skirt and bootlaces whenever Sir Tom said, “Attack the girl.” This led to much amusement, Kate dodging and jumping around the deck while everyone laughed. It would usually end with her on a high refuge, Scrapper looking up and wagging his tail; then they could be friends again. Kate found the entire exercise pleasantly distracting, and inwardly knew it was an excuse to behave like a girl and be unladylike.

***

In early September they turned into the Pearl River estuary. Dozens of boats moved about the vast waterway: tiny one-person crafts, sleek three-masted clippers, and enormous cargo ships.

“Is that Canton?” Kate asked, pointing out a city on the south bank, a grey stone fort and church visible.

“No, that’s Macau,” Sir Tom replied. “The Portuguese built it three or four hundred years ago. It’s in a rough state, now. On one of the islands to the north is Victoria Town. It’s the new English settlement.”

Kate could see boats at anchor in the distance, with tall, steep green hills and mountains all around. They soon approached a narrows, and she feared there might be a collision. Large ships flew various national flags, fishing boats worked in pairs with broad nets, clumsy-looking junks and countless other little vessels all wallowed, tussled, or pushed for their part of the river. On the shore were nine ramparts, heavily fortified with hundreds of cannons, but they passed without hindrance. Kate saw natives toiling in the lush meadows under their broad round reed hats, immense hills behind them. The buildings along the bank were mostly small wooden structures, some built on piles out over the water, but then she spotted a lofty pagoda, the tall tower appearing to be a narrow pile of brightly decorated tents, magically suspended upright into the sky. She started to see large buildings of bluish brick, and every ten minutes more structures appeared, then a pair of huge, graceful-looking pagodas standing close to shore, the gold decorations glinting in the sun. Kate discerned a shift in their speed, the boat slowing, and upon walking to the bow she saw hundreds of small native crafts, then beyond them thousands, and on shore a low city with brown clay tile roofs stretching out into

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