entures have indeed
been strange, and your escape from death wonderful. Great is the power
of fate, but excellent also is courage and presence of mind such as
you have shown." Then turning to Mantragupta, he desired him to relate
his adventures, which he immediately began to do:--

* * * * *

ADVENTURES OF MANTRAGUPTA.

My Lord, I also, in my anxiety to find you, wandered about like the
others.

Late one evening I came to a wood, a few miles from the city of
Kalinga, and very near a public cemetery. Seeing no dwelling near, I
made myself a bed of leaves, and lay down under a large tree, where I
was soon asleep. About midnight, when evil spirits are wont to roam,
and everything was quiet around me, I awoke, and fancied I heard a
whispering conversation going on among the branches of the tree
immediately above me. Listening very attentively, I was able to
distinguish these words: "We are powerless to resist that vile Siddha
whenever he chooses to command us; could not some person be found
powerful enough to counteract the designs of that vile magician?"

After this the voices ceased, and I thought I could hear a rustling
among the branches as if the speakers were moving from tree to tree.
This strange occurrence greatly excited my curiosity. I said to
myself: "Who are these creatures whose voices I have heard? who can
that magician be, and what dreadful thing is it which he is about to
do?" With these thoughts, I determined if possible to discover the
mystery, and followed, as well as I was able, the direction which the
demons, or whatever they were whom I had heard conversing, had taken.
Guided by the rustling sound which I still heard above me, I made my
way through the darkness, till at last I thought I saw a light in the
distance, and going a little further, I perceived a fire shining
through the thick foliage. Approaching very cautiously, I saw a Siddha
standing near it, his head covered with a large mass of tangled hair,
his body begrimed with the dust of charcoal, and a girdle of human
bones round his waist. He was throwing at intervals handfuls of
sesamum and mustard-seed into the fire, causing flickering flames to
rise up and dispel the surrounding darkness. Before him, in humble
attitude, stood two Rakshas, male and female, whom I supposed to be
those whose voices I had heard in the tree. They said to him, "We
await your commands. What are we now to do?"

"Go," he ans