clones, sand-storms and sweeping
water-spouts were forced into being.

"Hear the contemptible wisdom of my ill-formed mouth," said N'guk at
length. "If we at once put forth our strength, the degraded Wun Sei is
ground--"

"Sun Wei, All-knowing One," murmured an attending spirit beneath his
breath.

"--the unmentionable outcast whom we are discussing is immediately
ground into powder," continued the Highest, looking fixedly at a
distant spot situated directly beyond his painstaking attendant. "But
what follows? Henceforth no man can be allowed to whisper ill of us
but we must at once seek him out and destroy him, or the obtuse and
superficial will exclaim: 'It was not so in the days of--of So-and-So.
Behold'"--here the Great One bent a look of sudden resentment on the
band of those who would have reproached him--"'behold the gods become
old and obese. They are not the Powers they were. It would be better
to address ourselves to other altars.'"

At this prospect many of the more venerable spirits began to lose
their enthusiasm. If every mortal who spoke ill of them was to be
pursued what leisure for dignified seclusion would remain?

"If, however," continued the dispassionate Being, "the profaner is
left to himself he will, sooner or later, in the ordinary course of
human intelligence, become involved in some disaster of his own
contriving. Then they who dwell around will say: 'He destroyed the
alters! Truly the hands of the Unseen are slow to close, but their
arms are very long. Lo, we have this day ourselves beheld it. Come,
let us burn incense lest some forgotten misdeed from the past lurk in
our path.'"

When he had finished speaking all the more reputable of those present
extolled his judgment. Some still whispered together, however,
whereupon the sagacious N'guk opened his mouth more fully and shot
forth tongues of consuming fire among the murmurers so that they fled
howling from his presence.

Now among the spirits who had stood before the Pearly Ruler without
taking any share in the decision were two who at this point are drawn
into the narration, Leou and Ning. Leou was a revengeful demon, ever
at enmity with one or another of the gods and striving how he might
enmesh his feet in destruction. Ning was a better-class deity,
voluptuous but well-meaning, and little able to cope with Leou's
subtlety. Thus it came about that the latter one, seeing in the
outcome a chance to achieve his end, at once dropped h