"Yes What is it?" "Hist, boy Jump up and dress." "Oh, it's you, father " said the newly aroused sleeper, slipping out of bed-or, rather, off his bed, for the heat of an Eastern China night had made him dispense with bedclothes. He made a frantic dash at his trousers, feeling confused and strange in the darkness, and hardly knowing whether he was dreaming or awake, as he whispered: "Is anything the matter?"