ld mark out his posterity in the future.

As he had retired from business, he was able to spend nearly the whole
of his time in searching the country for the spots where certain unseen
forces are supposed to collect with such dominant and overmastering
power that the body of any person laid to rest amongst them will be
found to dispense untold riches and dignities upon his nearest
relatives. Accordingly, attended by a professor of the art, whose
study of this intricate science enable him to detect at a glance the
places which fulfilled the required conditions, Yin made frequent
excursions in the regions around his home.

The valleys through which the streams ran, and where the sound of the
running waters could be heard day and night as they sang their way to
the sea, were all explored. Wherever water and hills were to be found
in a happy conjunction, there these two men were to be seen peering
over the ground, and with the aid of a compass which the professor
carried with him in a cloth bag, marking whether the lines upon which
they ran indicated that the mysterious Dragon had his residence beneath.

Innumerable places were carefully examined, and whilst some of them
would have been admirably suited for a person of ordinary ambition,
they did not satisfy the large expectations for the future which were
cherished by Mr. Yin. The rising knolls and winding streams and
far-off views of hills lying in the mist-like distance, showed perhaps
that moderate prosperity would be the lot of those whose kindred might
be buried there; but there were no signs of preeminence in scholarship,
or of mandarins riding on horseback or in sedan-chairs, with great
retinues attending them, as they proceeded in haughty dignity through
the streets of the city in which they lived as rulers. Such places
were therefore rejected as unsuitable.

Days and months went by in this search for a spot with which the
fortunes of the Yin family were to be linked for many generations yet
to come; but every place failed in some one or two particulars which
would have marred the splendid prospect that ambition had pictured
before the vision of this wealthy man.

At last, as they were sauntering along one day with eyes keen and
alert, they stayed for a moment to rest on the top of a low hill which
they had just ascended. Hardly had they cast a rapid glance over the
beautiful scenery that lay stretched out before them, before the
professor, with flashing