wandering up and down amongst the trees which sent forth such exquisite
fragrance.

"As we sauntered on, we came by-and-by upon a well which was hidden
from sight by a cluster of oleander trees. We stayed for a moment to
peer down its depths and to catch a sight of the dark waters lying deep
within it. Whilst I was gazing down, my friend gave me a sudden push
and I was precipitated head first into the water at the bottom. The
moment I disappeared, he took a broad slab of stone and completely
covered the mouth of the well. Over it he spread a thick layer of
earth, and in this he planted a banana root, which, under the influence
of the magic powers he possessed, in the course of a few hours had
developed into a full-grown tree. I have lain dead in the well now for
three years, and during all that time no one has arisen to avenge my
wrong or to bring me deliverance."

"But have your ministers of State made no efforts during all these
three years to discover their lost king?" asked Hien-Chung. "And what
about your wife and family? Have they tamely submitted to have you
disappear without raising an outcry that would resound throughout the
whole kingdom? It seems to me inexplicable that a king should vanish
from his palace and that no hue and cry should be raised throughout the
length and breadth of the land until the mystery should be solved and
his cruel murder fully avenged."

"It is here," replied the spirit of the dead king, "that my enemy has
shown his greatest cunning. The reason why men never suspect that any
treason has been committed is because by his enchantments he has
transformed his own appearance so as to become the exact counterpart of
myself. The man who called down the rain and saved my country from
drought and famine has simply disappeared, so men think, and I the King
still rule as of old in my kingdom. Not the slightest suspicion as to
the true state of things has ever entered the brain of anyone in the
nation, and so the usurper is absolutely safe in the position he
occupies to-day."

"But have you never appealed to Yam-lo, the ruler of the Land of
Shadows?", asked Hien-Chung. "He is the great redresser of the wrongs
and crimes of earth, and now that you are a spirit and immediately
within his jurisdiction, you should lay your complaint before him and
pray him to avenge the sufferings you have been called upon to endure."

"You do not understand," the spirit hastily replied. "The one