almost dawn when the boat left, its departure was witnessed by several early risers. It was soon established that the boat belonged to no less a personage than His Honor the graduate.
The boat brought with it uneasiness to Wei, an uneasiness which reached almost panic proportions by noon. The Chaos had kept the mission of the boat a secret, but it was said in the teahouse and the tavern that the revolutionaries were about to occupy the city and that His Honor had come to take refuge in the country. Sister Tsou, however, thought otherwise, saying that the boat had only brought a few old trunks, which the graduate wished to store with the Chaos, but that his honor Chao had refused to take them. The truth was that His Honor the graduate and the licentiate were not on good terms, and the latter's family was not, therefore, obliged to share their "vicissitudes and afflictions" in a time like this. Sister Tsou must have been right, as she was a neighbor of the Chao family and was close to what happened in that household.
But rumors were rife, the one having the widest currency being that although the graduate did not call in person, he sent a long letter to the Chao family and established, by following the ramifications of their family trees, some sort of remote kinship with them; that His Honor Chao had, after considering the question from all angles, come to the conclusion that he could not possibly come to any harm because of it; that His Honor had accordingly taken the trunks, which were at that moment reposing under tai-tai's bed. As to the revolutionaries, some said they had entered the city that very night, all wearing white helmets and white armor as a sign of mourning for the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Ah Q had long ago heard about the revolutionaries and
