acter on
board was a Frenchman, a Jesuit priest, who called himself Farout, but
whose real name was Feron, and who played an important part in the
piratical scheme, for, having lived some time previously in Corea, he had
mastered the language. Besides, he had travelled a good deal along the
river Han, so that he was entrusted with the responsible position of
guide and interpreter to the body-snatchers!"

"Curious position for a missionary to occupy," I could not help
remarking.

"Yes. They reached Prince Jerome's Gulf on the 8th of May, and the next
day, sounding continually, slowly steamed up the river Han to a point
where it was deemed advisable to man the tender and smaller rowing-boats
with a view to completing the expedition in these.

"This plan was successfully carried out, and during the night, under the
command of Oppert, and escorted by the marauders, who were armed to the
teeth, they proceeded to the point where l'Abbe Feron advised a landing.
Here, making no secret of their designs, they ill-treated the natives,
and pillaged their poor huts, after which they made their way to the
tomb, where the relics lay of some royal personage supposed to have been
buried there with mountains of gold and precious jewels, which relics
were held in much veneration by the great Regent, the Tai-wen-kun. The
impudent scheme, in a few words, was this: to take the natives by
surprise, dig the body quickly out of its underground place of what
should have been eternal rest, and take possession of anything valuable
that might be found in the grave. The disturbed bones of the unfortunate
prince were to be carried on board, and a high ransom was to be extorted
from the great Regent, who they thought would offer any sum to get back
the cherished bones of his ancestor.

"The march from the landing-place to the tomb occupied longer than had
been anticipated, and crowds of astonished and angry natives followed the
procession of armed men. The latter finally reached the desired spot, a
funny little semi-spherical mound of earth, with a few stone figures of
men and ponies roughly carved on either side, and guarded by two stone
slabs.

"The 'abbe,' who, among other things, was said to have been the promoter
of the scheme, pointed out the mound, and, rejoicing with Oppert and
Jenkins at having been so far successful, gave orders to the coolies to
proceed at once to dig. Spades and shovels had been brought for the
purpose, and the littl