all eyes turned in the direction from which the hornblast had come. two muslim guards rode up and reportedto muzhuolun: "the manchu general zhao wei has sent anenvoy who requests an audience.""all right," replied muzhuolun. "bring him here." thetwo riders galloped off, and returned with five otherriders who dismounted about a hundred feet from thecrowd.

the manchu envoy was robust man and walked towardsthem with powerful strides. but his four attendentsmade the muslims jump in surprise. all four weregiants, a good two heads higher than ordinary men, andtheir bodies were broad and thick.

the envoy strode up to muzhuolun and nodded at him.

"are you the head of the tribe?" he asked arrogantly.

the muslims were outraged, and several of the youngerwarriors drew their sabres. the envoy ignored him.

"i am under orders from general zhao wei to give youan ultimatum," he announced loudly in the muslimtongue. "if you know what's good for you, you willsurrender immediately, in which case your lives willbe spared. otherwise, our two armies will meet atdaybreak the day after tomorrow and you will becompletely annihilated. it will be too late then forregrets."the crowd of muslims sprang to their feet in rage, butmuzhuolun, with a wave of his hand, ordered them to beseated and turned to the envoy. "you come withoutreason or justification and kill our people, steal ourproperty. the true god on high will punish you foryour dishonourable behaviour. if you want to fight, wewill fight. even if our army is reduced to only oneman, that man will still never surrender."the muslims raised their sabres and repeated his wordsin unison: "if you want to fight, we shall fight!"they roared. "even if our army is reduced to only oneman, he will never surrender!" the mood was sombre butdetermined. the muslims knew the manchu force waspowerful and that in a battle to the finish, thechances were they would lose. but they were loyalbelievers in islam, they loved freedom and would be noman's slave.

the envoy looked about him and sneered. "all right,"he said. "the day after tomorrow, each and every oneof you will die." he spat savagely onto the ground ina calculated insult, and three young muslims leapttowards him. "today, you are an envoy, so you will beallowed to leave safely," one of them shouted. "butwhen we meet on the battlefield, we will not be sopolite."the envoy's mouth twisted in anger, and his four giantattendants roughly pushed aside the three muslim boysand took up positions around him.

"ha!" the envoy cried in contempt. "you useless scum!

we'll give you a taste of our manchu skills!" heclapped his hands and one of the four giants glancedround and strode over to a poplar tree nearby to whichseveral camels were tethered. he grasped its trunk inhis arms and after a few rigorous shakes, pulled thetree bodily from the ground. then he snapped the reinsof one of the camels and gave it a kick on its rump,sending it racing away in great pain. when the camelwas more than a hundred feet away, another of thegiants sprinted after it and in a moment caught upwith the animal. he swung the huge camel onto hisshoulders, ran back towards the bonfire and set itback on its feet, then stood proudly beside it. "huh!"exclaimed the third giant in contempt, and drove afist at the camel's head. the animal swayed unsteadilyand crashed to the ground. the fourth giant grabbedhold of its two hind legs and swung it round and roundabove his head, then with a shout let it go. the camelfell to earth sixty or seventy feet away.

the giants, known as the four tigers, werequadruplets, and their mother had died giving birth tothem. their father was a poor hunter in the forests ofmanchuria, and with his wife dead, he had no milk tofeed the four babies, but soon after, he heard amournful cry outside in the forest and found a femaletiger caught in a trap. he and a companion were tyingthe animal up when he happened to notice three tigerpups lying close by. in a flash of inspiration, hekilled the pups and took the tiger back to his hutwhere he reared her, feeding her meat every day, andmilking her to feed his four sons. from the start,they were uncommonly big and strong, and became moreso as they grew. the only problem was that they were alittle stupid and impetuous.

the muslims were startled by this amazing show ofstrength, but unwilling to appear weak before theenemy, they roared out their defiance.

"what are you doing, killing a good camel? are youinhuman?" someone shouted. the envoy curled his lipsinto another sneer. the crowd became even moreincensed, and it looked as though he would be mobbed.

"so you're going to bully an envoy, are you?" heshouted.

muzhuolun restrained the crowd with difficulty. "youare an envoy, but you ordered your men to kill one ofour camels, which is a great insult," he said. "if youwere not guests here, i would not let you get awaywith it. leave immediately.""do you think we manchus are afraid of you scum?" theenvoy shouted. "if you have a reply, give it to me topass on. i'm sure none of you would dare to go andhand it to general zhao wei personally." another roarwent up from the muslims.

huo qingtong jumped to her feet. "you say none of uswould dare to go to see general zhao wei. huh! everysingle person here would dare, men and girls alike."the envoy looked stunned for a second, then threw backhis head and roared with laughter. "if any of thesegirls didn't die of fright on seeing general zhao wei,i would be amazed.""don't underestimate us," replied huo qingtongangrily. "we will send someone back with youimmediately. pick someone yourself. whoever you choosewill go. you will see what spirit we followers ofmohammed have," the muslims roared their approval andeveryone began shouting "choose me! choose me!""all right," said the envoy coldly. he wanted to findthe weakest, most useless girl who would immediatelyburst into tears so that the muslims would lose facecompletely. his eyes roved over the crowd, searchingback and forth, and suddenly lit up. he walked over toprincess fragrance and pointed at her. "let her go!"he said.

the princess glanced at him and slowly stood up. "formy tribe, for my brothers and sisters, i would goanywhere without fear. allah the true god will surelyprotect me," she said.

her apparent weakness had given way to calm dignity.

faced with her stunning beauty, the envoyinvoluntarily lowered his eyes, and he felt a tinge ofregret at his choice. muzhuolun, huo qingtong and theother muslims, although proud that she had notdisplayed weakness, were nonetheless anxious. huoqingtong was particularly worried. her sister knew nokung fu, and could not be allowed to enter the tiger'slair unprotected. "she is my sister," she said. "iwill go in her place."the envoy laughed. "i always knew the word of a girlcould not be relied upon. if you don't have the nerve,why bother sending anyone? war or surrender, i cantake the message for you.""if we meet on the battlefield and if you don't runaway, i'll let you see whether us girls are useless ornot," said huo qingtong, livid with anger.

"i would naturally be merciful with a beauty such asyou," he replied, smiling. the muslims gnashed theirteeth at his insolence.

"sister, i will go," the princess said to huoqingtong. "don't be afraid." she pulled chen up by thehand. "he will go with me."in the light of the flames from the bonfire, huoqingtong suddenly recognised chen and stared at him inshock. chen surreptitiously motioned with his handindicating that she should not reveal his identityyet, then turned to the envoy.

"we mean what we say," he said. "i will go alone withher to see general zhao wei. unlike you, we do notrequire four giants to protect us. what use are thesegiants anyway?""a camel can carry a load of thousand catties, but aman can only carry one tenth as much," added theprincess. "should the man ride the camel or the camelthe man?" a great laugh went up from the crowd at thistaunt.

"what are they laughing at?" one of the four giantsasked the envoy.

"they say that you are useless even though you arelarge and strong."incensed, the giant beat his chest with his hands.

"who dares to match himself against me?" he roared.

"what use are you?" the envoy said to chen. "you'vejust a little stripling. even if you were ten timesstouter, you would still not be as strong as he."chen decided this envoy needed to be cut down to sizeto save the face of the muslims. he took three stepsforward.

"i may be the most useless member of our tribe but iam still better than you manchus," he said. "tellthose four hulks to come over here."by this time, muzhuolun had also recognized chen.

"daughter, look who it is!" he cried to huo qingtongin surprise and joy. the girl did not answer.

muzhuolun looked over and saw her eyes brimming withtears, and realised both his daughters were in lovewith the same man. he wondered how chen had met hisyounger daughter.

next to the giants, chen looked like a small child. hehad come forward, the muslims decided, for the honourof the princess and the tribe, but was obviously nomatch for the giants. chen raised his hands to thecrowd.

"brothers," he said. "these manchurians are useless.

let me deal with them by myself."the envoy translated his words to the four giants, whoangrily sprang forward to grab chen. chen stood solid,smiling faintly, and the envoy hurriedly restrainedthe four.

"since this gentleman wants a contest, there will beno blame if anyone gets hurt," the envoy said tomuzhuolun. "it must be one against one, no-one else isallowed to interfere."muzhuolun grunted once.

"what fun is there in one to one?" said chen. "tellthe four of them to come at once.""how many will there be on your side?" the envoyasked.

"how many? why, just myself of course." a murmur ranthrough the crowd: he had gone too far this time.

the envoy laughed coldly. "are you muslims really soformidable? first tiger," he said to the largest ofthe four giants. "you first." first tiger strodeforward. "you will take it in turns to punch eachother. neither is allowed to block or retreat. thefirst one to fall loses.""one is not enough," chen said. "if we are going tofight, let them all fight together."the envoy began to suspect chen had some plan workedout. "don't worry," he said. "if you beat this one,the others will come after you of their own accord."chen smiled. "all right. it's all the same to me." thegiant ripped off his upper clothing, exposing ranks ofhuge, rippling muscles. huo qingtong glanced furtivelyat her sister and saw her gazing intently at chen, hereyes full of adoration and love. huo qingtong sighedand looked over at chen, and as their eyes met, hesmiled warmly. she blushed and looked away.

"we will draw lots to decide who strikes first," saidthe envoy.

"you are the guests. you may go first," replied chen.

he took two steps towards the giant and thrust out hischest, "hit me!" he said.

"please come over here," the envoy said to huoqingtong. "we two will act as judges. whoever moveshis feet, uses his arms to deflect a blow, bends ordodges away will be considered the loser."huo qingtong walked over and stood with the envoy aschen and the giant faced each other, less than anarm's length apart. the huge crowd stood silentlyabout them, watching intently.

"the manchurian gentleman strikes the first blow," theenvoy called out. "the muslim gentleman will strikethe second blow. if both are still all right, then themanchurian gentleman will strike again followed by themuslim gentleman. right! the manchurian shall strike!"the silence was broken by the sound of first tigerbreathing deeply. joints all over his body crackedloudly as he concentrated his strength. suddenly, theright side of his chest bulged outwards and his rightarm swelled to almost twice its normal size. chenleaned slightly forward. "punch me," he said.

several muslim men moved behind chen to catch him.

muzhuolun and huo qingtong silently prayed to allah,but princess fragrance was unworried. if chen said hewas unafraid, there was certainly nothing to be afraidof.

the giant crouched slightly, then with a mighty roarslammed his right fist at chen's chest. but at itsmaximum extension, the fist only lightly grazed thelapel of chen's gown. dumbfounded, the giant stared atchen, neglecting even to withdraw his fist.

"is that it?" chen asked. the giant blushed deep redand hastily retracted his arm.

to the crowd, it looked as if the blow had struckhome, and they were puzzled that chen seemedunaffected. muzhuolun and huo qingtong, however, knewthat he had made use of inner strength kung fu to drawin his chest. huo qingtong smiled brilliantly andbreathed a sigh of relief. the envoy, also a kung fuexpert, scowled in annoyance.

chen smiled. "now it's my turn," he said.

"go ahead!" first tiger roared. he thrust out hishairy chest and chen's fist shot out and punched itlightly. the giant felt no pain, but was aware of agreat force pushing him backwards and put all hisweight into countering it by leaning forward.

suddenly, chen withdrew his fist, and with no time tostabilise himself, the giant toppled forward andcrashed to the ground in a cloud of dust. all thistook place in the blink of an eye. there was a stunnedsilence for a second, then the crowd erupted inapplause and laughter. the envoy rushed over to helpfirst tiger who was wailing as blood poured from hismouth: two of his front teeth had snapped off.

seeing their brother injured, the other three giantscharged at chen with a single howl of rage. chenskipped around behind third tiger and shoved him atsecond tiger. fourth tiger lunged at chen with hisarms out-stretched, but chen ducked down and tickedhis armpit as he passed. fourth tiger was veryticklish, and he immediately rolled into a ball,laughing hysterically.

chen danced amongst the four, making them look foolishwithout even hitting them. the envoy could see thatchen was a martial arts master and tried vainly tostop the fight. but once roused, the four tigers wereimpossible to stop. they closed in on chen again,first tiger from in front while the other three closedoff his line of retreat behind. chen waited untilfirst tiger was within arm's length then toppled himover backwards with a push, grabbed his leg and hurledhim away so that he landed head-first in the holewhere the tree he had up-rooted had stood.

fourth tiger roared and kicked out with his right leg,but chen grabbed his trousers and shirt, lifted him upand with a solid kick sent him flying through the air.

the giant landed with a thump on the corpse of thecamel he had himself killed.

while fourth tiger was still in the air, second andthird tiger charged at chen from opposite directions.

chen waited until they were almost upon him beforeleaping out of the way, and the two giants smashedinto each other and toppled like a great pagoda to theground. before they could clamber to their feet, chentied their two queues together, then with a laugh, hewalked back to princess fragrance's side. the princessclapped her hands in delight as the other muslimscheered and shouted.

the four tigers picked themselves up and the envoyrushed over and struggled to undo the knot in secondand third tigers' hair. the four giants looked acrossat chen, not in hate but in respect. first tigerraised a thumb in chen's direction.

"you're good," he said. "i concede defeat." he bowed,and the other three giants followed suit. chenhurriedly returned the compliment. seeing their simplenature, he began to rather regret the way he hadplayed with them.

fourth tiger suddenly ran over and brought back thecamel's corpse while third tiger led their horses overto muzhuolun.

"it was wrong of us to kill your camel," he said. "wegive these four horses to you in compensation."muzhuolun declined the offer with thanks.

the envoy was extremely embarrassed by this turn ofevents. "let's go!" he shouted to the four tigers andleapt onto his horse. he turned to princess fragrance.

"do you really dare to go?" he asked.

"what is there to be scared of?" she replied. shewalked over to muzhuolun. "father, write out a replyand i will deliver it for you." muzhuolun hesitated.

if she didn't go, the whole tribe would lose face, butif he let her go, he would worry endlessly. hemotioned chen over, and led him by the hand into thetent with huo qingtong and her sister followingbehind. once inside, muzhuolun immediately hugged him.

"great helmsman," he said. "what fortuitous wind is itthat has blown you here?""i was on my way to the tianshan mountains on personalbusiness and heard some important news which i wantedto pass on to you. by coincidence, i met yourdaughter, who brought me here." princess fragrance wasdumb-struck at hearing her father call chen 'greathelmsman', and seeing the shocked expression on herface, chen said: "there is something i must apologisefor. i did not tell you that i am chinese.""great helmsman chen is a good friend of our tribe,"muzhuolun added. "he recovered our sacred koran forus. he has saved your sister's life and recentlyintercepted the manchu army's rations which slowedtheir advance and gave us time to collect our forces.

the favours he has rendered us are truly uncountable."chen modestly declined the compliments.

"i don't blame you at all," the princess said with asmile. "i'm sure you didn't tell me who you werebecause you did not want to bring up all the thingsyou have done for us.""that manchu envoy was unforgivably arrogant," saidmuzhuolun. "it was fortunate that you intervened,great helmsman. you certainly deflated his pride. hechose my daughter to be our envoy. what do you thinkwe should do?"chen was reluctant to meddle in the affairs of thetribe. "i come from the interior of china and knownothing of the situation here, sir," he said. "if youdecide that she should go, then i will do my utmost toprotect her. if you feel it would be better for hernot to go, then we will think of some other way todeal with him.""father, you and my sister worry everyday about theaffairs of the tribe," princess fragrance interrupted.

"making one trip as an envoy is no big affair. and ifi don't go, the manchus will laugh at us.""i am just afraid that they will want to harm you,sister," said huo qingtong.

"every time you go out on the battle field you riskyour life, so it is only right that i should risk mylife this once," the princess replied. she looked atchen. "he is so capable, if he goes with me i won't bethe slightest bit afraid, not at all."huo qingtong could see how deep her sister's feelingswere for chen, and an inexpressible emotion sweptthrough her heart.

"father," she said. "let her go.""all right then, master chen, i entrust my youngdaughter to you." chen blushed and princessfragrance's eyes, as bright as autumn rain, gazed upat him. huo qingtong looked away.

muzhuolun wrote out a reply which said simply: "wewill fight. allah will protect us." chen nodded hishead in approval. muzhuolun handed the note toprincess fragrance, then kissed her cheeks.

"allah will protect you, sister," said huo qingtong.

"i hope you come back soon." the princess hugged andthanked her. a feast was organised to entertain themanchu envoy, after which there was music and dancingto see off the guests, then the envoy raised his handand galloped off with princess fragrance and theothers following behind. huo qingtong watched theseven figures disappear into the darkness and felt agreat emptiness in her chest as if her heart haddisappeared with them into the infinite desert.

"your sister is very brave," muzhuolun said. shenodded, then suddenly covered her face and ran insidethe tent.