ently useless building.

After some days occupied in transporting his treasure to a safe place
in his dwelling-house, Chin realized by a rough calculation that he was
now the possessor of several millions' worth of dollars, and that from
being one of the poorest men in the town he had become a millionaire
with enormous wealth at his command.

Thus did the Gods show their appreciation of the noble life of Mr.
Meng, and of his loving sympathy for the poor and the distressed, by
raising his fallen house to a higher pinnacle of prosperity than it had
ever attained even during his lifetime.

V

THE MYSTERIOUS BUDDHIST ROBE

The short visit which the Emperor Li Shih-ming paid to the Land of
Shadows had produced a profound impression on his mind. The pain and
misery that men had to endure there, because of the evils they had
committed in this life by their own voluntary action, had been brought
before him in a most vivid manner. He had seen with his own eyes what
he had always been unwilling to believe--namely, that wrong-doing is in
every case followed by penalties, which have to be paid either in this
world or the next.

He was now convinced that the doctrine of the sages on this point was
true, for he had witnessed the horrors that criminals who had
practically escaped punishment in this life had to suffer when they
came under the jurisdiction of Yam-lo.

What distressed him most of all, however, was the grim thought which
clung to him and refused to be silenced, that a large number of those
in the Land of Shadows who were suffering from hunger and nakedness,
were there as the result of his own cruelty and injustice, and that the
cries of these men and women would reach to Heaven, and in due time
bring down vengeance on himself.

With this fear of coming judgment there was at the same time mingled in
his mind an element of compassion, for he was really sorry for the poor
wretches whom he had seen in the "City of the Wronged Ones," and whose
reproaches and threats of divine vengeance had entered into his very
soul.

He therefore determined to institute a magnificent service for those
spirits of the dead, who through the injustice of rulers, or the
impotence of law, or private revenge, had lost their lives and were
suffering untold hardships in the other world. He would have prayers
said for their souls, that would flood their lives with plenty, and in
course of time would open up the way for their being