Chapter 31

Summary

• The town of Happy Valley is being hit hard by a malaria outbreak, causing families to leave and turn the town into a "ghost city."
• Captain Superintendent Longstaff has returned from a successful mission in Canton and plans to continue the war against China, starting with a large-scale attack in the north.
• He also plans to establish a monopoly on opium in China through the acquisition of opium seeds.
• Struan advises Longstaff against this plan, warning that it will lead to disaster.
• Longstaff dismisses Struan's warning and plans to proceed with his plan.
• Struan offers Aristteles Quance a job and Culum offers him a house in the nearly empty Valley of Happy.
• Struan proposes that Culum and Tess get married within the month, causing tension between Struan and Brock, who had planned to delay the wedding.