-stroke of to-morrow and they
will be freely admitted within our midst. Upon receiving a
bound assurance safeguarding the limits of our temples, the
persons and possessions of our chiefs, and the undepreciated
condition of the first wives and virgin daughters of such as
be of mandarin rank or literary degree, the inadequate keys of
our broken-down defences will be laid at their sumptuous feet.

"With a fervent hand-clasp as of one brother to another, and a
passionate assurance of mutual good-will,
KO'EN CHENG,
Important Official."

"It is received," replied Ah-tang, when the message had been made
known to him. "Six captains will attend."

Alas! it is well written: "There is often a space between the fish and
the fish-plate." Mentally inflated at the success of their efforts and
the impending surrender of Ti-foo, Tian's band suffered their energies
to relax. In the dusk of that same evening one disguised in the skin
of a goat browsed from bush to bush until he reached the town. There,
throwing off all restraint, he declared his errand to Ko'en Cheng.

"Behold!" he exclaimed, "the period of your illustrious suffering is
almost at an end. With an army capable in size and invincible in
determination, the ever-victorious Wu Sien is marching to your aid.
Defy the puny Ah-tang for yet three days more and great glory will be
yours."

"Doubtless," replied Ko'en Cheng, with velvet bitterness: "but the sun
has long since set and the moon is not yet risen. The appearance of a
solitary star yesterday would have been more foot-guiding than the
forecast of a meteor next week. This person's thumb-signed word is
passed and to-morrow Ah-tang will hold him to it."

Now there was present among the council one wrapped in a mantle made
of rustling leaves, who spoke in a smooth, low voice, very cunning and
persuasive, with a plan already shaped that seemed to offer well and
to safeguard Ko'en Cheng's word. None remembered to have seen him
there before, and for this reason it is now held by some that this was
Leou, the Whisperer, perturbed lest the sacred nail-sheaths of Ning
should pass beyond his grasp. As to this, says not the Wise One: "When
two men cannot agree over the price of an onion who shall decide what
happened in the time of Yu?" But the voice of the unknown prevailed,
all saying: "At the worst