There were pagodas in teakwood inlaid
with gold; and resting on ebony poles, and behind them, on a very
tame Rosinante decked with leopard skins and gold bullion fringes, a
Chinese maiden dressed to represent a queen of Celestial mythology.
Then came more pagodas, and companies of standard-bearers in lavender
tunics, red sashes, green and orange leggings and slippers; more and
more splendid banners, painted with dragons sprawling in distressed
attitudes; litters containing minor gods and the paraphernalia they
were accustomed to need on a journey like this; more litters bearing
Chinese orchestras, gongs going at full blast, fiddles squeaking,
drums rumbling, trumpets shrieking, cymbals clashing,--just the sort
of Babel that the twins adored.
And now came the chariot and throne of the great joss himself, and
just behind him a riderless bay horse, intended for his imperial
convenience should he tire of being swayed about on the shoulders of
his twelve bearers, and elect to change his method of conveyance.
Behind this honoured steed came a mammoth rock-cod in a pagoda of his
own, and then, heralded by a fusilade of fire-crackers, the new
dragon itself, stretching and wriggling its monster length through
one entire block. A swarm of men cleared the way for it,
gesticulating like madmen in their zeal to get swimming-room for the
sacred monster.
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