they joined heartily in the proceedings,
he could not help noticing that a look of dissatisfaction and
occasionally of something which seemed like contempt, rested like a
shadow on their faces.

At the close of the service he commanded them to appear before him, and
expressed his surprise at their conduct, when they explained that the
discontent they had shown was entirely due to a feeling that the ritual
which had been used that day was one entirely inadequate to the
occasion. It was so wanting in dignity and loftiness of conception,
they said, that though some ease might be brought to the spirits
suffering in the Land of Shadows from the service which had been
performed, it would utterly fail in the most important particular of
all--namely, their deliverance from Hades, and their rebirth into the
land of the living.

That this was also a matter which had given the Goddess of Mercy a vast
amount of concern was soon made evident to the Emperor, for in the
midst of this conversation there suddenly sounded, throughout the great
hall in which the vast congregation still lingered, a voice saying:
"Send Sam-Chaong to the Western Heaven to obtain the ritual which shall
there be given him and which shall be worthy of being chanted by a
nation."

This command from the invisible Goddess produced such an impression
upon the Emperor that he made immediate preparations for the departure
of Sam-Chaong on his momentous journey; and in a few days, supplied
with everything necessary for so toilsome an undertaking, the famous
priest started on what seemed a wild and visionary enterprise in
pursuit of an object which anyone with less faith than himself would
have deemed beyond the power of any human being to accomplish.

In order to afford him protection by the way and to act as his
body-servants, the Emperor appointed two men to accompany Sam-Chaong on
the long journey which he had undertaken at the command of the Goddess
of Mercy. His Majesty would indeed have given him a whole regiment of
soldiers, if he had been willing to accept them; but he absolutely
refused to take more than just two men. He relied chiefly on the fairy
robe which he had received, for that secured him from all danger from
any foes whom he might meet on the road. Moreover, his mission, as he
assured the Emperor, was one of peace and good-will, and it would not
harmonize either with his own wishes or with those of the Goddess for
him to be in a position to