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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:02:22 -0700 |
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diff --git a/34810-h/34810-h.htm b/34810-h/34810-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cf4050 --- /dev/null +++ b/34810-h/34810-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3622 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Red Miriok, by Anna M. Barnes + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Red Miriok, by Anna M. Barnes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Red Miriok + +Author: Anna M. Barnes + +Illustrator: George A. Newman + +Release Date: January 2, 2011 [EBook #34810] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED MIRIOK *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Stephanie McKee, Bill Tozier +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1><span class="smcap">The Red Miriok</span></h1> + + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>ANNA M. BARNES<br/></h2> + + +<h4>ILLUSTRATIONS BY</h4> + +<h3>GEORGE A. NEWMAN</h3> + + +<h5> +Copyright 1901 and 1902 by the<br /> +<span class="smcap">American Baptist Publication Society</span><br /> +<br /> +Published January, 1903<br /> +</h5> + + +<h5>From the Society's own Press</h5> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTORY_NOTE" id="INTRODUCTORY_NOTE"></a>INTRODUCTORY NOTE</h2> + + +<p>Korea has been called the "Hermit Nation," as of all nations Tibet alone +has exceeded it in repulsing foreign influences. Only in 1882 did the +United States secure a treaty, and that opened the country to foreign +trade only in the capital, Seoul, and three ports. But in this treaty +Korea was treated with as an independent State, and its people are +distinct from either Chinese or Japanese and well repay study and +missionary labors. This little story is one of the first to present this +slightly known land and its customs, and therefore deserves special +attention from all who are interested in the Christianizing of Oriental +nations.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I:</b><br/><span class="smcap">Mr. Kit-ze</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II:</b><br/><span class="smcap">A Hasty Desertion</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III:</b><br/><span class="smcap">The Lost Recovered</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV:</b><br/><span class="smcap">A Stowaway</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V:</b><br/><span class="smcap">Before the Magistrate</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI:</b><br/><span class="smcap">A Friendly Hail</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII:</b><br/><span class="smcap">An Entreaty</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII:</b><br/><span class="smcap">The Story of Choi-so</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX:</b><br/><span class="smcap">A Theft</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X:</b><br/><span class="smcap">An Arrested Sacrifice</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI:</b><br/><span class="smcap">"One Soul"</span></a><br /><br/> +<a href="#TRANSCRIBERS_NOTES"><b>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</b></a><br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<a href="#ILLO1">"<i>Mr. Kit-ze's hat was moving across the organ</i>"</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO2">'<i>Yes, only a little, for it takes nearly three thousand of<br /> +them to make a dollar</i>'"</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO3">"<i>Yes, it was the red miriok</i>"</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO4">"<i>He began to shake him vigorously</i>"</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO5">"<i>Cheefoo prostrated himself to the magistrate</i>"</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO6">"<i>The old man was bolt upright, despite his years</i>"</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO7">"<i>Then, extending his hands, entreated</i>"</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO8">"<i>He was permitted to look ... upon the priests at their<br /> +devotions</i>"</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO9">"<i>He forthwith ... proceeded to throw rice into the well</i>" </a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO10">"'<i>Stop!</i>' <i>entreated Helen</i>"</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#ILLO11">"'<i>Sorry. Sorry. It was wrong. She showed me</i>'"</a><br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1><a name="THE_RED_MIRIOK" id="THE_RED_MIRIOK"></a>THE RED MIRIOK</h1> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>MR. KIT-ZE</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig009-600dpi.png" alt="T"/></div><p>here is one thing I forgot to mention," said Mr. Reid, resuming the +conversation. "If we do undertake our sampan journey, we must have Mr. +Kit-ze. I have already talked to him about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, father!"</p> + +<p>The expression of Clarence's face so emphasized his protest that nothing +beyond the mere exclamation was necessary.</p> + +<p>"Why, Clarence, what could be the objection to Mr. Kit-ze?"</p> + +<p>"A good one, father. He is such an eel-like fellow. I know we couldn't +depend on him. Then it strikes me that his mind isn't right. He's always +muttering to himself and clutching his breast in such a queer way. Oh, +I'm sure it would be a bad step to take Mr. Kit-ze."</p> + +<p>"That is just like a boy!" declared Helen, his sister, "jumping at +conclusions."</p> + +<p>"You mean girls," retorted Clarence. "They fairly spring at them; yes, +reach out their arms to grasp 'em as they spring."</p> + +<p>"Come, children, don't spar," warned Mr. Reid. "But, my son," turning to +Clarence, "I fear it is as your sister asserts, you have arrived at +conclusions too hastily with reference to Mr. Kit-ze. He is a little +strange in his manner, I'll admit; but his friends, some of whom belong +to the mission, tell me that he is a very good sort of fellow, honest +and well-meaning, though he is rather grasping as to money matters."</p> + +<p>"He is well-meaning," asserted Helen; "and I think the reason he is so +close about money is because he has many who are dependent on him. Yes, +I like Mr. Kit-ze. Though some of his ways are strange, yet he is +good-natured and kind when you know him well."</p> + +<p>"Guess, then, I don't know him well," admitted Clarence.</p> + +<p>"No; and until you do, you won't like him."</p> + +<p>Clarence whistled, and reached over to give the tail of Nam-san, the +monkey, a twist, which that quick-tempered little animal resented by +scratching at him and then springing away.</p> + +<p>"I think I know what is the matter with Mr. Kit-ze," said Mr. Reid, as +though in sudden comment after following a line of thought. "He is a +religious enthusiast."</p> + +<p>Helen looked at him quickly, a glad light over-spreading her face. "Oh, +father, I didn't know that Mr. Kit-ze had been converted. That <i>is</i> +news."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that, Helen. I wish that it were true, for I have been +working earnestly to that end for more than a year. What I have +reference to is that he is an enthusiast in his own religious belief."</p> + +<p>"Why, I didn't know, uncle, that these people had any religious belief," +said his nephew, Mallard Hale, who for a few moments past had not joined +in the conversation. "I believe, yes, I am sure I have seen it stated +that as a country Korea is practically without a religion."</p> + +<p>"That is true in one sense, Mallard, but not in another. While Korea has +no established religion, what might be called a national religion, as +have China, Japan, and her other neighbors, yet such of the Koreans as +have not individually embraced Buddhism, Confucianism, and the like, are +given over wholly to ancestral and to demon worship, especially the +latter."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by demon worship, uncle?"</p> + +<p>"They believe in spirits of all degrees, good, bad, and indifferent, but +principally the bad. They fill the air around them; they dwell in their +homes; they sit at their feasts; they even perch upon such portions of +the human body as suits them. They bring evil or good as they are +angered or appeased. To counteract the influence of the evil demons the +people carry about with them certain charms to frighten them away. +Around their habitations, especially in the country districts, they +erect these grotesque figures having resemblance to the human form, the +more hideous the better. They are called <i>mirioks</i>. In the cities, where +there is little space for such erection, the figures, considerably +diminished in size, are either kept in the homes or carried about the +person. In many instances this devotion to <i>mirioks</i> amounts to +fanaticism of the most pronounced kind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, that is just what Mr. Kit-ze does!" exclaimed Joyce, the +younger son of the family. "He carries it around in his bosom. Sometimes +he takes it out and talks to it. I have seen it. Oh! it is the ugliest +little red thing!"</p> + +<p>All eyes were now turned inquiringly upon him. "I believe, yes, I am +sure," he continued, "if I were to see it in the black dark, I'd run +from it."</p> + +<p>"Why, how could you see it in 'the black dark'?" quizzed Mallard.</p> + +<p>Joyce flushed as the laugh went around at his expense, then he answered: +"Oh, I mean if it were so I could see it even a little bit. I am sure I +could see its eyes, for they are made out of something that just +glitters and burns."</p> + +<p>"It is as I supposed," said Mr. Reid; "Mr. Kit-ze is an enthusiast on +the subject of this <i>miriok</i>. This accounts for his strange behavior, +his mutterings, and the clutchings at his breast. He keeps the <i>miriok</i> +there in the folds of his gown. He believes that it wards away the evil +spirits and invites the good. On other subjects I am sure he is all +right. At any rate, if we are going to attempt that journey up the Han +we shall be almost dependent on him. He not only has the largest sampan +and is considered the safest boatman on the river, but he also knows the +way better, having ascended higher than any other, I am told."</p> + +<p>"Then, uncle, we must have him by all means," said Mallard decisively.</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Clarence somewhat flippantly, "red <i>miriok</i> and all."</p> + +<p>"Yes, even the red <i>miriok</i> to get Mr. Kit-ze," declared Mallard. Then +he asked, "Isn't the journey attended by some degree of danger?"</p> + +<p>"With considerable danger at some places, I understand, Mallard; and +this is why we should have a stout sampan as well as a sampan man who +understands both his business and the river."</p> + +<p>The family of Rev. Mr. Reid, missionary at Seoul, Korea, consisted of +his wife, her widowed sister, his two sons, Clarence and Joyce, and his +daughter, Helen. Mallard Hale, an American youth of seventeen, had +recently come to make his home with his uncle. He was only a few months +older than Clarence, and the two cousins were very fond of each other. +Helen was nearly fifteen and Joyce twelve.</p> + +<p>For some days they had been talking of this sampan journey up the Han. +Mr. Reid had long wanted to take such a trip into the interior for the +purpose of making observations of the country and of studying the +conditions of the people along the south branch of the Han. It was +reported to be a wonderfully attractive and fertile section, with a +people whose manners and customs, differing from those in the cities, +made them of deep interest to the traveler. They were described as quiet +and peaceful, given to hospitality, and fairly burning with curiosity.</p> + +<p>The Mission Board, under the auspices of which Mr. Reid labored, had for +some time contemplated the establishment of a branch mission in the +interior. They were waiting for him to decide the point where it should +be located. He had hesitated a long time about undertaking the sampan +journey because as yet there had not been sufficient money to defray the +necessary expenses. But the coming of his nephew, Mallard Hale, had +quickly done away with this obstacle. For Mallard was comfortably fixed +as to income, and he insisted on bearing all the expense of hiring and +propelling the sampan, while his uncle was left to provide only for +provisions and equipments.</p> + +<p>"Then, uncle," said Mallard, after they had talked a little further, +"let us decide positively on going, also that we take Mr. Kit-ze and his +sampan."</p> + +<p>"Yes, red——" began Clarence, but the words were cut short by an +exclamation from Joyce.</p> + +<p>"Why," he cried, "here is Mr. Kit-ze now!"</p> + +<p>Sure enough, Mr. Kit-ze was coming in. It was just after dinner, or +<i>opan</i>, as they would say in Korea, and Mr. Kit-ze was still caressing +his lips with his tongue, well pleased with the toothsome morsels that +had gone to comfort his stomach. He was a little stouter and taller than +the average man of his race, standing five feet six in his sandals, +weighing, perhaps, one hundred and sixty pounds, and was fifty years of +age. His complexion, originally of a bright olive, had now a deep tan +through the action of sun and winds. He had a straight nose, but rather +distended nostrils, the oblique Mongolian eye, while his hair, of a deep +russet-brown smeared with lampblack, was wound in a knot at the top of +his head.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze had on the loose white robe of his countrymen, with flowing +sleeves, that fell just below the knees. It was belted in with a girdle +of straw. Beneath it showed his baggy trousers, gathered in at the +ankle. A <i>katsi</i> (hat), in shape like a flower pot turned down over a +table, wadded stockings, and sandals of straw completed his attire. When +he removed his hat, on Mr. Reid's invitation, there was a little +tight-fitting skullcap of horsehair underneath, carefully placed on top +of his knot of hair. He seemed solicitous about his hat, not knowing +just where to place it. It was, indeed, a huge affair for a hat, the +brim being nearly six feet in circumference. At home Mr. Kit-ze had his +swinging case for his hat, but here he was at a loss as to its disposal. +Helen at length came to the rescue and placed it on top of the organ, +where it rested, one portion of the brim lying upon a large music book, +the other flat upon the surface of the instrument.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Kit-ze," said Mr. Reid, "are you ready to take another +journey with your sampan up the South Han?"</p> + +<p>Instead of replying to this question, Mr. Kit-ze suggested: "Better go +up the North Han, honorable instructor. There are the Diamond +Mountains."</p> + +<p>Clarence jumped up suddenly, shouting out his delight: "Yes, father, +let's go to the Diamond Mountains. Oh, won't that be glorious?"</p> + +<p>"And pick up treasure," suggested Helen; "enough to build the new +mission chapel that is so needed," she added, her eyes taking on a +deeper glow as she glanced at her father.</p> + +<p>"Why, are there really any treasures to be found in those mountains?" +asked Mallard, catching the excitement.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze, who understood enough of the language to catch the drift of +the question, quickly replied: "Yes, honorable sir, there are treasures. +Two gentlemen from your country got a whole wallet full of diamonds in +the mountains last week. They say they can be picked up like bamboo +reeds after a freshet."</p> + +<p>"Only Mr. Kit-ze's enthusiasm," said Mr. Reid in an aside to his nephew. +"Some one has been filling him with the story, which is vastly +exaggerated, I am sure. But later in the year, Mallard, if you desire +it, we can make the trip to the Diamond Mountains. Now my Master's +business calls me in another direction."</p> + +<p>"All right, uncle, that Diamond Mountain trip can wait. Yes, we'll take +it later," he added after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Is your sampan ready, Mr. Kit-ze?" Mr. Reid now asked.<br/></p> + +<div class="figcenter" > +<img src="images/fig017-500dpi.png" alt="MR. KIT-ZE'S HAT WAS MOVING ACROSS THE ORGAN!" title="MR. KIT-ZE'S HAT WAS MOVING ACROSS THE ORGAN!" /> +<br/><a name="ILLO1" id="ILLO1"><span class="caption">MR. KIT-ZE'S HAT WAS MOVING ACROSS THE ORGAN!</span> +</a></div> + +<p><br/>"Not quite, exalted master; but your servant can make it ready in a day +or so."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure of that? We should like to start by Tuesday of next week; +and when we are ready we want the sampan ready. You understand?"</p> + +<p>"Most learned teacher, it shall be as you wish," Mr. Kit-ze assured him, +with a bow that brought his forehead almost to the floor.</p> + +<p>A full understanding was now had; the day set, arrangements perfected, +and the amount of Mr. Kit-ze's remuneration satisfactorily adjusted.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze arose to go. All this time, having declined the chair offered +to him, he had been squatting upon his heels, his legs doubled back +under him. Considering the position, it was surprising how quickly he +got up. He had barely gained his feet when a sudden cry that startled +them all escaped him. He was gazing straight toward the organ, his +features growing rigid, his eyes dilating. Following his gaze, it took +them only an instant to discover what was the matter—Mr. Kit-ze's hat +was moving across the organ, moving as though it had feet and were +walking.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>A HASTY DESERTION</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig019-600dpi.png" alt="T"/></div><p>he pupils of Mr. Kit-ze's eyes grew larger and larger. They seemed +ready to burst into flame. He began to mutter: "The spirit! the spirit! +It has attached itself to my hat! It will now attend me home and stay +there; how long, I do not know." He made a sudden movement toward the +door. He was evidently going away without his hat. Nothing could induce +him to touch it while the spirit had taken hold of it in so +demonstrative a way. Plainly his thought was that it was better to lose +the hat than to run the risk of contact with the spirit.</p> + +<p>His movement was hasty, but, quick as he was, Helen acted more quickly. +In an instant of time, as it were, she had grasped the whole situation. +Her eyes too had done her good service. Her glance in the direction of +the moving hat had shown her what Mr. Kit-ze did not see, nor even the +others at first, an inch or so of snake-like tail showing beneath the +rim of the hat. She sprang toward the organ, quickly threw up the hat, +and exposed to view the whole furry body of Nam-san, the monkey, who +began to chatter at her indignantly, the shrill notes heard above the +burst of laughter that now came from the others.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze was just backing out of the doorway, but he paused as Helen's +quick movement disclosed Nam-san under the hat.</p> + +<p>"You see it is the monkey, Mr. Kit-ze," said Helen smiling. "He is a +mischievous little beast, and doesn't respect anything that he can have +his fun with; not even your hat, Mr. Kit-ze. But he hasn't hurt it. See, +it is all right!"</p> + +<p>She advanced toward Mr. Kit-ze bearing the hat. She held it toward him, +but he did not take it. He still seemed alarmed, and his glance was +nervous.</p> + +<p>Seeing the condition Mr. Kit-ze was still in and his attitude toward the +hat, Mr. Reid now came to Helen's assistance. "There has no harm +befallen the hat," he assured Mr. Kit-ze. "It was only the little beast +under it, as you saw, that was causing it to move. It is all right now, +my friend," and he took the hat from Helen and held it toward Mr. +Kit-ze.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze still hesitated, but, after further reassuring words from Mr. +Reid, he consented to receive the hat. Yet he did not put it on; he +turned away, holding it gingerly between his thumb and one finger. +After he had gone, they found it on the doorstep, a mark apparently made +with red chalk drawn all around the rim.</p> + +<p>"The superstitious old crank!" exclaimed Clarence in disgust; "what made +him leave his hat with us? Why didn't he take it away and destroy it, if +he was that afraid of it?"</p> + +<p>"I think he left it as a reproach to us," said Mr. Reid. The eyes around +him sought his inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"It is a hint that, as the misfortune befell it here, and he is now +deprived of his hat, we should replace it with another."</p> + +<p>"And how will Mr. Kit-ze feel toward us, uncle, if we do not?" asked +Mallard.</p> + +<p>"I fear not very pleasantly, for a while, at least," replied Mr. Reid.</p> + +<p>"Then the new hat must go to him by all means," said Mallard. "We can't +afford to start off with our sampan man in the pouts."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," assented Helen.</p> + +<p>So the next day they sent Mr. Kit-ze a new hat, with expressions of +regret at what had happened, and with the assurance that the other hat +had been destroyed.</p> + +<p>"For that is what he expects of us," Mr. Reid had said. "He drew the red +chalk mark so as to confine the spirit within the hat, then left the hat +for us to destroy, together with the spirit. All pure foolishness," he +concluded, a little emphatically. "We'll just throw the hat aside."</p> + +<p>"No, father," said Helen decisively, "we will burn it."</p> + +<p>"And thus encourage Mr. Kit-ze in his silliness?" asked Clarence.</p> + +<p>"In his superstition," corrected Mr. Reid.</p> + +<p>"But it is all so real to him, poor man!" said Helen. And she continued, +her eyes softening: "If it will make him feel better to know it is +destroyed, isn't it worth while?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented Mallard heartily, "it is. We'll burn the hat, my Helen. +I'm sure uncle won't object."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," assented Mr. Reid. "If Helen wants to take the trouble, let +her do it."</p> + +<p>A day or two later Mr. Kit-ze came again. He had on his new hat, and was +in the best of humor. Especially did his face express pleasure when +Helen, carrying him to a spot in the yard, showed him the small pile of +ashes to which the hat had been reduced. He stooped hurriedly, gathered +them up, and, holding them in his palms, blew his breath hard upon the +mass, scattering it to the four winds. Then he grunted with +satisfaction, and, going down on hands and knees, made Helen a series of +the most profound bows.</p> + +<p>He had come to tell them that the sampan was ready, but on account of +the great danger of the shoals near Seoul, they must make their +arrangements to start from Han-Kang, four miles from the city. +Themselves and their supplies could be transported thither by pony-back. +Mr. Kit-ze further informed them that he had secured, as both +interpreter and assistant boatman, one Mr. Cheefoo, a graduate of the +government schools. He had recently fallen upon hard ways, and was glad +enough to earn a little for himself, as well as to see some of the +world, even if it were only his own country. Mr. Cheefoo would be sent +to assist them with the loading, and to guide them to Han-Kang, where +Mr. Kit-ze and the sampan would be found awaiting them.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chefoo came a day ahead of the time set for starting, for the +supplies must be carefully packed into bales ere they could be loaded. +He had too, some suggestions from Mr. Kit-ze as to what to take and how +to take it. The selection of the necessary provisions and other supplies +had cost them much thought and planning. They knew they must not +overload the sampan, as much as they might want to take some things. On +the other hand was the danger of starting out with a too meagre supply. +They finally decided on the following: seventy-five pounds of flour, +thirty pounds of rice,—they expected to buy more of this on the way,—a +half-bushel of beans, a strip or two of dried beef, a small amount of +meats in cans and of tomatoes for soups.</p> + +<p>"We can get eggs and vegetables from the country people," said Mr. Reid, +who had traveled some in the interior districts, "and there will be fish +in the river to be caught."</p> + +<p>The other supplies consisted of a brazier for charcoal, a frying pan, +saucepan, and kettle, some drinking mugs of stoneware, plates and soup +plates of tin, knives, forks, and spoons, the latter of wood. Mallard +had his camera, and Clarence the fine Winchester which his cousin had +presented to him. In addition, each traveler carried a rubber coat, a +pair of blankets, and two changes of underclothing. One thing they came +near forgetting, but Mrs. Reid's forethought caused them to include it +among the stores almost at the last minute. This was a little case of +medicines.</p> + +<p>It was an excited and happy party that rode away from the mission house +early on the following Tuesday morning. In addition to Mr. Reid, +Mallard, Helen, Clarence, and Joyce, there were Mr. Wilburn, a young +missionary from another station, and his sister, Dorothy, a very dear +friend of Helen. Indeed, for two years past the girls had been almost +inseparable. Mr. Reid's native assistant in the mission work and his +wife were to be the companions of Mrs. Reid and her sister during the +two weeks the party expected to be away.</p> + +<p>They moved through the narrow streets, so narrow that it was necessary +to go in single file. Even that was difficult at times, for, though the +hour was early, a mass of people was beginning to stir abroad. Along +each side of some of the streets ran a gutter, green with slime and +thick with all manner of putrid matter. The low mud huts, with their +queer, horse-shoe shaped straw roofs, were set so close to this it +seemed that any one coming out of the door must fall into the slime if +he were not careful. All along the streets dogs and children were +tumbling about, sometimes rolling the one over the other. Even the close +observer would have found it hard to decide which was the dirtier, dog +or child.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my, the dirty youngsters!" exclaimed Mallard, as he picked his +pony's way gingerly along, sometimes finding it quite difficult to keep +from riding right upon a squirming little mass of humanity. "Where are +the mothers," he continued, "to let them run so into danger?"</p> + +<p>"You will soon find out, Mallard," replied his uncle, "that the Korean +woman has her hands too full of the major duties of washing and ironing +to attend with any degree of success to the minor one of looking after +her children. There! do you not hear that strange rat-ta-tat noise? That +is made by the wooden club coming down upon the garment wrapped about +its iron cylinder. Wherever you go over Seoul, at almost any hour, day +or night, you can hear that familiar sound. It denotes the Korean +slave-wife's battle with the white clothes of her lord and master, which +must receive a certain amount of gloss, or there will be a storm in the +domestic sky."</p> + +<p>As they came out through the massive stone arches of the great South +Gate, its lofty drum chamber with tiled roof overhead, a new world +seemed to burst upon them. They could see plainly now the line of +mountains and the nearer circlet of hills, the latter flower-crowned and +sparkling like jewels in the golden light of the sun. Brilliant, indeed, +was the coloring where the rich clusters of azaleas grew, and the +tangled masses of clematis and honeysuckles. Butterflies and +dragon-flies flitted through the air; numerous ducks and geese hovered +along the edge of the river, now alighting and skimming the water for a +few moments, then dipping wing to fly away. Flocks of cranes waded in +and out of the shallow places, hunting for small fish to seize. All +around was the beauty and the glory of the spring,—matchless skies, +bursting flowers, and singing birds,—such a spring as makes Seoul and +its surroundings a joy to eye and heart, never to be surpassed, always +to be remembered.</p> + +<p>They took the path along the river, and in a little more than an hour's +time had reached Han-Kang, where they found Mr. Kit-ze and the sampan, +both in fine trim and ready to be off. Mr. Kit-ze had changed his white +clothing for his boatman's suit, which consisted of a blouse and Turkish +trousers of coarse blue cotton cloth. He was very proud of his sampan, +and insisted on showing them its various fine points as well as dwelling +upon them.</p> + +<p>"Never has such a craft gone up the waters," he declared; and indeed it +did look workmanlike alongside of those usually seen on Korean streams. +To begin, it had two very essential qualities—it was strongly made and +it was well calked throughout. From fore to aft it measured thirty-six +feet, was seven in width at its widest portion, and drew six to seven +inches of water.</p> + +<p>At Mr. Reid's request, Mr. Kit-ze had rigged up a new and a more +substantial roof along the ridgepole and its supporting framework. This +was composed of thick, water-tight mats of tough grass. There were also +curtains of the same material that could be fastened along the sides in +case of rain or when the glare of the sun was too strong. This roof was +only about five feet from the floor of the sampan, so that it was very +plain to all eyes that most of its occupants would have to content +themselves with sitting or with standing in a stooping posture. The boat +had five compartments, three of them from seven to eight feet long, and +the other two only small affairs indeed. One of the latter was in the +bow of the boat and the other at the stern. Here the boatmen stood to +pole the boat during the day, and in them they curled down to sleep at +night, each rolled in a straw mat and with the side of the boat as a +pillow.</p> + +<p>"All hands to the stores!" announced Mr. Reid. "The more quickly we have +them in and are off the better. The sun will be pretty warm after a +while."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chefoo had brought along a young man to carry the ponies back, and +he too was anxious to begin his return journey. So all hands set to with +a will, even Helen and Dorothy assisting "like good fellows," as +Clarence expressed it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze, following Mr. Reid's instructions, had previously carried +aboard the sampan a supply of charcoal and some bundles of faggots. It +was only the stores brought by the ponies that now had to be loaded.</p> + +<p>One thing amused Mallard greatly. This was the shape in which most of +their money to be spent on the way had to be brought, strung on cords of +straw. And the amount had proved almost a full burden for one pony, +though in all it was only about twenty dollars. What queer looking coins +they were! of copper, with a small square hole through their center.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig028-500dpi.png" alt="YES, ONLY A LITTLE, FOR IT TAKES NEARLY THREE THOUSAND +OF THEM TO MAKE A DOLLAR." title="YES, ONLY A LITTLE, FOR IT TAKES NEARLY THREE THOUSAND +OF THEM TO MAKE A DOLLAR." /><br/> +<a name="ILLO2" id="ILLO2"><span class="caption">YES, ONLY A LITTLE, FOR IT TAKES NEARLY THREE THOUSAND +OF THEM TO MAKE A DOLLAR.</span></a> +</div> + +<p>"This is our often abused but ever available 'cash,'" said Mr. Reid, +holding up one of the crude bits of metal for Mallard to see. "As there +are no bankers or money changers on the way, we must take it with us, +for it is the only coin accepted in the rural districts. We must have a +little ready money with us," he added.</p> + +<p>"Oh, uncle, you call that a <i>little</i>?" and Mallard pointed to the pony +with his burden of coin.</p> + +<p>"Yes, only a little, for it takes nearly three thousand of them to make +a dollar."</p> + +<p>Mallard recalled his uncle's words now, as he was helping to store the +coin away in what Helen and Dorothy had termed the sitting room of the +sampan.</p> + +<p>He had turned to address a merry remark to Helen when he was struck by +the appearance of Mr. Kit-ze. The boatman had stopped in the midst of +something he was doing as suddenly as though he had felt the force of an +electric shock. He had thrown his head up and was now clutching +nervously at the folds of his blouse. Almost at the moment that +Mallard's eyes were directed upon him he uttered a sharp little cry. It +was of sufficient compass to reach the ears of the others. As their eyes +too were turned upon him, what was the astonishment of all to see Mr. +Kit-ze the next moment rush up the bank to where one of the ponies, with +empty saddle, was standing, and flinging himself upon it, go galloping +away like one suddenly out of his senses.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE LOST RECOVERED</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig030-600dpi.png" alt="E"/></div><p>xclamations of astonishment and of dismay followed Mr. Kit-ze. "What +can he mean?" asked Mr. Reid, his eyes fixed in wonder upon the +fast-retreating form of his boatman. "He surely hasn't deserted us!"</p> + +<p>"It evidently looks that way," replied Mr. Wilburn.</p> + +<p>"Now we are in a box!" exclaimed Clarence. "How are we to go on without +our sampan man?"</p> + +<p>"Well, we have the sampan," remarked Mallard cheerfully. "The only other +thing now is to look out for some one to take charge of it."</p> + +<p>"Easier said than accomplished," commented Mr. Reid. "Besides, though +Mr. Kit-ze has deserted us, yet the sampan is his. We can't take +possession without his consent."</p> + +<p>"He has forfeited his right to protest against such a step," declared +Mr. Wilburn, "by his desertion and breach of contract. I am for taking +possession of the sampan, engaging some one to have charge of it, +assisted by Mr. Chefoo here, then allowing Mr. Kit-ze so much for its +use."</p> + +<p>"But a competent sampan man is hard to find," said Mr. Reid. "That was +why I stuck to Mr. Kit-ze."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it is too bad to lose our trip!" exclaimed Mr. Wilburn, +"especially when so much relating to our work depends on it," and he +looked wistfully at Mr. Reid.</p> + +<p>"Yes, too bad," assented Mallard.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we must go," declared Clarence.</p> + +<p>Even Helen and Dorothy were for going on, that is, if satisfactory +arrangements could be made.</p> + +<p>"But maybe Mr. Kit-ze will return," suggested Helen.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Chefoo, who now spoke for the first time, "he will +return." All turned to look at him inquiringly. He had spoken very +positively.</p> + +<p>"What makes you say that?"</p> + +<p>"Because, honorable sirs, he went away as one who will come back. There +was no parting word. He will return."</p> + +<p>"He didn't have sense for any parting word," commented Clarence. "It +seemed all taken from him."</p> + +<p>"No," asserted Mr. Chefoo, "it was only the excitement that comes when +one knows there has been a loss."</p> + +<p>"'A loss'!" echoed Clarence.</p> + +<p>"Yes; Mr. Kit-ze has either lost something of very great value, for +which he has now gone to make search, or else he has forgotten something +that he has gone to bring. It is one or the other as you will in time +discover, son of the honorable teacher."</p> + +<p>"But why act in that demented way? Couldn't he have explained to us, and +then gone after it in a respectable fashion?"</p> + +<p>"It was something by which he set so great a store, youthful sir, that +he was overcome by what its loss signified to him. I should say," +continued Mr. Chefoo, "that it is something without which he could not +proceed, or without which he——"</p> + +<p>Here Mr. Chefoo paused.</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked Clarence.</p> + +<p>"Without which he would fear to go on."</p> + +<p>"I see!" exclaimed Mr. Reid. "It was——"</p> + +<p>"Let me finish, father," cried Clarence. "It was the red <i>miriok</i>. That +old crank has either left it or lost it. Now we must be tied up here +waiting his pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Reid in a disgusted manner, "it was the red <i>miriok</i> +that carried him off in that demented way; I am sure of it. But don't +call him a crank so boldly, Clarence. It would offend him should he hear +it."</p> + +<p>"Well, what else is he? It is just too bad to be deserted in this way +and for such silliness. Oh, I wish that the red <i>miriok</i> was in the +bottom of the river."</p> + +<p>"Then, we'd never get Mr. Kit-ze to proceed," assured Mr. Wilburn, who +by this time had heard the story of the red <i>miriok</i>; "or at least not +until its counterpart was procured. But we can't stay here," he +continued. "We must, at least, try getting on to the next village. There +Mr. Kit-ze can join us. We'll leave word for him. This is a very +objectionable locality for more reasons than one, and the sooner we move +away from it the better."</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile a large crowd had gathered, both on the river bank and +in the shallow water surrounding the sampan. All were agape with +curiosity. It is a well-known saying in Korea, and one the truth of +which travelers have often proved, that if you move on, very little +comment is excited; but if you stand still and appear to be engaged in +anything, or even to be looking at an object, curiosity of the most +intense kind is aroused. It takes but a minute or two then for the crowd +to gather around you, each individual member thereof following anxiously +the glance of your eye and hanging with almost breathless intent upon +every movement of hand or leg.</p> + +<p>There were women and children in the crowd as well as men. The former +were so overcome by their curiosity that they had for the time forgotten +to keep their long, green coats close up about their eyes, which is the +custom when women are abroad in Korea. They now hung loosely about their +necks, the long, wide sleeves that are rarely used swinging over their +shoulders.</p> + +<p>An old woman with much vigor of speech offered them barley sugar for +sale. She was very dirty, and her wares looked as uninviting as herself. +But feeling sorry for her, Helen invested quite liberally in the barley +sugar, immediately bestowing it upon a little group of open-mouthed +children who stood near. In some way the old woman had caught a part, at +least, of the situation. She seemed to comprehend that they were at a +loss whether to go on or to stay. In return for Helen's graciousness she +came to the rescue by suggesting that they send for a <i>mutang</i> +(sorceress) who lived near. She would come with her drum and cymbals, +her wand and divination box,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and in a little while she could tell +them what to do.</p> + +<p>The sun was now climbing nearer and nearer the meridian, and its rays +were growing unpleasantly warm. More than an hour had been wasted since +the loading of the sampan. They had burned the bridge behind them, as +the saying is, by sending the man back to the city with the ponies. +There was nothing now but to go on, even if they had to turn back in the +midst of the journey.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chefoo was the good fairy that came to the rescue. He seemed to +regret Mr. Kit-ze's behavior keenly, and to be deeply sympathetic with +the sampan party in its desire so plainly expressed to be off on the +journey. He was a big, good-natured fellow, strong and hearty looking, +with a clear eye and with much intelligence expressed upon his face. He +had too, a pretty fair scope of English, which made his attendance all +the more satisfactory and agreeable.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze, he continued to assure them, would return. He felt certain +of it. They would leave word for him and proceed to the next town, since +this one was so objectionable with its foul smells and its rather +rough-looking population. The first step then, was to hire a man to help +him pole, as he felt certain he, Mr. Chefoo, could direct the movements +of the sampan up to the next village. There were no rapids of any +considerable danger in the way.</p> + +<p>"All right, Mr. Chefoo," said Mr. Reid. "Go ahead and hire your man, but +be sure he is one on whom we can rely."</p> + +<p>"I'll have a care to that, honorable teacher," assured Mr. Chefoo.</p> + +<p>The first man approached declared that he couldn't go, as his wife +needed him to sit and watch her while she washed the clothes. The second +one said he must first ask his mother and, as she lived two villages +away, they must wait until the following morning ere he could give them +his answer. The third wished to know if he would be permitted to take as +many as seven suits of clothes with him, as he could do with no less; +also if provision would be made for their washing and ironing along the +way. On being assured that no such concession could be granted he went +away much aggrieved.</p> + +<p>Another said he would gladly attend them as their poleman if they would +promise not to tie up anywhere along the bank where there were tigers, +or even where tigers were known to have been on the surrounding hills. +As they could give no such promise with the prospect of fulfilling it, +he too had to be dismissed without an engagement. He then tried to drive +a sale with them of two tiger bones at three hundred "cash" each, +warranted to give strength and courage. As they hadn't the faith he had +in the efficacy of the commodity, the purchase was declined. Another +hour and more slipped by in this way.</p> + +<p>Things were growing lively, if they were somewhat monotonous, for a +great crowd was now surging about Mr. Chefoo, Mr. Reid, and Mr. Wilburn. +The boatman had them with him for the purpose of consultation. To add to +the hubbub a string of oxen and their drivers on their way to the city, +the backs of the oxen piled with mountains of brushwood, had drawn near +the men, the drivers overcome by curiosity at the sight of the crowd. +Between their yells and shouts to the oxen and their noisy salutations +passed to those they knew, there was a babel indeed.</p> + +<p>In the very midst of these sounds came a sudden cry, sufficiently loud +and prolonged to attract the attention of many. While the bargaining +with the would-be polemen went on, the young people had gathered within +the sitting room of the sampan, that is, all with the exception of +Clarence. He had stretched himself along the stern of the boat. His head +was lying on his hand upheld by the elbow. Thus it was considerably +elevated, and thus he had a fair view of the water all around the +sampan.</p> + +<p>The Han is often called the River of Golden Sands. It is a clear, bright +stream, its bed covered with thick layers of white sand. Along this sand +particles of golden-hued gravel sparkle in the sunlight as though they +were the pure metal itself. In many places, even of considerable depth, +the bottom of the river is plainly seen. Where the sampan lay there was +only the depth of about two feet of water. This had for a time been +stirred into some degree of murkiness by the feet of those who pressed +curiously about the sampan. But as the crowd had now withdrawn to the +bank, where Mr. Chefoo bargained with the polemen, the river had +cleared.</p> + +<p>As Clarence lay along the stern of the boat glancing down into the +water, his attention was suddenly attracted by something that rested at +the top of a little hillock of sand. First its shape, then its color +arrested his gaze. The next moment there came that wild shout from him, +a compromise between a station-master's train call and an Indian +warwhoop. Then those whose attention was now riveted upon him saw him +hastily throw off his coat, his shoes and stockings and, quickly rolling +up sleeves and trousers, spring into the water. An instant later he held +up something in his hand, his shirt sleeve dripping with the water.</p> + +<p>"The red <i>miriok</i>!" he cried. "See! Mr. Kit-ze must have dropped it as +he leaned over packing the things."</p> + +<p>Yes, it was the red <i>miriok</i>.</p> + +<p>"Oh, its eyes are shinier than ever!" cried Joyce. "Guess that's cause +the water washed 'em. It's the same horrid, ugly thing I've seen Mr. +Kit-ze pressing in his hands."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig038-600dpi.png" alt="YES, IT WAS THE RED MIRIOK!" title="YES, IT WAS THE RED MIRIOK!" /><br/> +<a name="ILLO3" id="ILLO3"><span class="caption">YES, IT WAS THE RED MIRIOK!</span> +</a></div> + +<p>"Oh," said Helen, "if Mr. Kit-ze could only know!" Even as she spoke, +Mr. Kit-ze was seen coming rapidly toward the river.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> A box in which are carried three or more coins with +characters stamped upon them. The coins are cast upward three times, +falling again into the box. The combination of characters each time +gives the <i>mutang</i> her clue to the divination or prediction.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A STOWAWAY</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig039-600dpi.png" alt="M"/></div><p>r. Kit-ze had left the pony in town and now came on at a rapid +dog-trot. He was covered with dust and perspiration, and his hair, which +had been shaken from its knot, was now partly hanging in much disorder +down his back. When he had first rushed away, it had been with the +thought that the <i>miriok</i> had been left at home, that it had in all +probability dropped from his clothing as he slept. But as a rigid search +failed to reveal it, he at length came to the conclusion that he had +dropped it in or near the river while helping to load the sampan. He had +stooped over many times, he knew. Why hadn't he thought of that ere +coming away? Yes, the first search ought, by all means, to have been +made in and around the sampan. But then he had been so excited over his +loss he hadn't taken the time to reason about it at all. Now he would +hasten back to the boat and resume there the search for the <i>miriok</i>. +Oh, he must find it, or failing, secure another like it. He could not +think of going on the journey without his <i>miriok</i>, for would not +disaster be sure to befall him if he did? But where was such another as +this <i>miriok</i> to be had? As he recalled with what difficulty this one +had been secured, Mr. Kit-ze grew more and more excited over his loss. +Oh, he must return to the river at once! as there was a chance that he +had dropped the <i>miriok</i> there.</p> + +<p>Thus Mr. Kit-ze, coming in sight of the sampan, saw Clarence standing in +the water and holding something at arm's length over which all were +exclaiming. It took only a steady glance to show him what it was. The +next moment, with a ringing cry, he endeavored to increase his pace, +lost his footing, and went rolling down the slope, stopping just at the +water's edge. It was Helen who reached him as he regained his feet. She +had taken the <i>miriok</i> from Clarence, and was holding it toward Mr. +Kit-ze, saying in her softest, gentlest tones:</p> + +<p>"Here, Mr. Kit-ze, is something of yours that Clarence has found in the +river. We were so sorry when we knew you had lost it, and are glad now +that it can be returned to you."</p> + +<p>With a little cry of delight he took the <i>miriok</i> from her, clasped it +against his breast, prostrating himself before her almost to the ground. +This he did the second and even the third time.</p> + +<p>The sudden coming of Mr. Kit-ze, his mishap, and the scene that followed +between him and Helen on the river bank had formed considerable of a +diversion for a part of the crowd. Even the excitement of Mr. Chefoo's +still unsatisfactory interviews with the polemen had, for a time, paled +before this newer and greater one. Ere she could extricate herself Helen +was surrounded by quite a rabble. Many faces were pressing up about her, +but there was one that attracted her attention in such a way that it +startled her. It was a somewhat worn and haggard face, with restless, +piercing eyes, and a nervous twitching of the lips that impressed itself +upon Helen the moment she saw it. She noticed that its owner's gaze soon +left her face and fixed itself in the direction of Mr. Kit-ze. The eyes +had now a startled look. They were fastened upon the <i>miriok</i> that Mr. +Kit-ze was still holding against his breast, but in such a way that it +showed plainly. Helen noted this riveted gaze, as she also saw his lips +moving. By this time her position had become very unpleasant. She felt +too, a little chill of fear as she looked at this man. Was his mind +upset? However, Mr. Kit-ze, having recovered his senses along with his +<i>miriok</i>, was equal to the emergency. He safely conducted her out of the +surging crowd and to the sampan.</p> + +<p>Mr. Reid and Mr. Wilburn, with Mr. Chefoo, being informed of the return +of Mr. Kit-ze, joined them as rapidly as they could in view of the crowd +that bore them company at the sampan. Considerable satisfaction was +expressed at the finding of the <i>miriok</i>, though the two missionaries +some hours later expressed themselves quite vigorously to each other on +the subject.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze, who had by this time profusely apologized for his sudden +departure, was as anxious as the others to be off. There was no need to +delay another moment, he assured them. He motioned to Mr. Chefoo to take +his place in the stern, while he, grasping his long pole, took a similar +position in the bow.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" cried Joyce, "we are off at last."</p> + +<p>He stood up in his delight, clapping his hands and, as the boat was +given a sudden turn at that moment, he assuredly would have tumbled over +the side into the river had not Mallard caught him.</p> + +<p>"Better keep your eye on the polemen hereafter," Clarence advised him, +"ere you try any acrobatic performances on a sampan."</p> + +<p>They found some difficulty in getting away from the crowd, many of whom +followed the sampan for some distance into the water. These Mallard +finally turned back by the happy thought carried into execution of +tossing a handful of "cash" toward the shore. The last they saw of the +village was the scrambling forms in the water, and the line of low +hovels, built of mud-smeared wattle, with no vestige of windows and with +their black smokeholes plainly defined.</p> + +<p>Yes, they were off at last, really afloat on the glorious Han, <i>the</i> +river of Korea, which, in two branches, sweeps almost across the +peninsula, forming two great waterways, navigable for flat-bottomed +craft for more than two hundred miles.</p> + +<p>They found the river teeming with moving life. In addition to the +flatboats there were many junks passing back and forth, for the Han is +the great artery of commerce for the eastern provinces. Those going into +the city were laden with produce, pottery, bundles of faggots for +firewood, and the like, while those coming out held cargoes of +merchandise, both home and foreign, and salt from the seacoast.</p> + +<p>Some of these junks were very old. They carried prodigious sails, +despite their rotten timbers, and looked as though they might turn over +at any moment. The most of them creaked horribly, and when our friends +in the sampan heard one for the first time, they thought for a moment it +was some great beast in terrible pain. When they found out their mistake +a hearty laugh went around.</p> + +<p>Though the sun was now quite high, and its rays very warm, yet Mr. +Kit-ze knew the stream so well that he could keep near to the bank. Thus +for much of the way they had the shade from the trees and from the +overhanging bluffs. They found their curtains too, much protection. +Their little sitting room was very cozy and comfortable. Helen had +brought some oilcloth matting for the floor of the sampan, and a little +oil stove that they could light when the air was damp and disagreeable. +Here too were cushions, one or two folding chairs, and the bedding which +the girls were to use at night, together with the oilskin cases in which +they kept their clothing, a small supply of books, writing materials, +etc. In the next compartment forward Mr. Reid and Mr. Wilburn had stored +their effects, as they were to occupy it jointly at night. Here all +would dine when they were afloat; here too, the service of morning and +evening prayer would be held. The three boys slept and kept their +effects in the compartment just behind that of the girls. The straw roof +along the ridgepole extended over all, even for a part of the way over +the small, boxlike quarters of the two boatmen. In addition our party +was provided with oilcloths for the better protection of the stores, and +with mosquito netting.</p> + +<p>"This is fine, even finer than sailing on the Hudson at home!" declared +Dorothy, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Or the noble Mississippi, down in our Southland," added Helen. "How +pleasant this is! Oh, I had no idea it could be so delightful!"</p> + +<p>"You just wait, my sister, until you strike some of the rapids," +admonished Clarence, his face taking on a very solemn expression, "and +begin to roll about like loose apples in a cart, or find your feet +hanging where your head ought to be. Then I'm no prophet if you don't +completely change your form of expression."</p> + +<p>"Oh, for shame!" cried both girls in a breath.</p> + +<p>"I think it is real mean of you," declared Helen, "to try to spoil our +enjoyment of the present by introducing into it the suggestion of those +terrible things that await us. As for myself, I believe in enjoying what +is sweet and good while we have it, without borrowing trouble with +reference to what is in the future."</p> + +<p>"A philosophy in which I heartily agree," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>There was indeed much to make the trip delightful, for the beauties of +the spring were all around them, in the sky, in the water, in the green +knolls overhanging the river. The stream continued to be quite shallow. +At some places it gurgled over the rocks only a foot or so below the +sampan. They came now and then to where the cattle waded knee deep in +the lush grasses. These turned to view them in mild-eyed astonishment as +they passed by chatting and laughing, then went on with their grazing. +Flocks of mandarin ducks and wild geese flew by; some of the latter even +swam close to the sampan. There were too, numbers of the imperial crane, +and once in a while a pink ibis wading along the edge of a rice field.</p> + +<p>Clarence took his gun to shoot one of these, but Helen and Dorothy began +to beg for its life. "We don't want to eat it, so why destroy it?" asked +Helen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, wouldn't you girls like a wing each for your hats?" asked Clarence +a little mischievously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no indeed," declared Dorothy. "No bird wing for me! You know that +well enough, Master Clarence," and she looked at him reprovingly.</p> + +<p>"Well, the truth is," confessed Clarence, "I want it for my cabinet. I +know a young Japanese in Seoul who has promised to show me how to stuff +all I bring back. In the meantime he has taught me how to preserve them +while on the trip."</p> + +<p>"If you must do it then in—in the cause of science," and here Helen +looked at him quizzingly, "wait until we can't see you commit the +murder, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"All right," assented Clarence cheerfully. "But see here, sister," with +earnest protest, "don't call it murder."</p> + +<p>"Well, the cruelty of sport then," corrected Helen.</p> + +<p>At that moment a shout from Joyce attracted their attention. "Oh, look +at the pheasants!" he cried. "Quick! Clarence, I know you can shoot one +or more of them if you try."</p> + +<p>Sure enough, there were the pheasants right along the edge of the rice +field, fine, fat fellows, and many of them.</p> + +<p>"Be careful," warned Mr. Reid. "Examine the surroundings well before you +fire. There might be some one near."</p> + +<p>Assured that there was not, Clarence raised his gun. "Beg pardon, +girls," he said slyly, as he adjusted it to his shoulder. "Pheasants are +<i>so</i> good to eat."</p> + +<p>They gave a little exclamation, then quickly covered both eyes and ears. +The next moment a report rang out, followed instantly by another. When +the smoke cleared away five of the birds were seen in their last +flutterings.</p> + +<p>"Now, how are we to get them?" asked Mallard.</p> + +<p>"Why, sure enough, I didn't think of that!" exclaimed Clarence in +dismay. "We can't carry the sampan close enough, that's certain."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chefoo was now seen throwing off his sandals and rolling up his +pantaloons, while Mr. Kit-ze, holding the sampan steady by means of his +long pole, was giving him some directions. The next moment Mr. Chefoo +sprang over the side of the sampan and into the water. He slipped once +or twice as he was trying to make headway over the rocks, and two or +three times also, he was seen to mire; but notwithstanding these +difficulties he reached the birds all right, and was soon returning with +them. As he came again to the side of the sampan it was toward the +compartment occupied by the boys, the one in the rear of that in which +all had been sitting since the boat left Han-Kang. He placed his hand +upon the side of the boat to vault upward, but as he did so a quick +exclamation escaped him, which the next moment changed to a decided +whoop as Mr. Chefoo landed full in the compartment. A second or so later +what was the astonishment of all when he dragged into view by the neck +of his blouse a man, and began to shake him vigorously. To Helen was +given something more than astonishment. Her heart leaped up, then almost +ceased to beat. For the face exposed to view by Mr. Chefoo was the same +she had seen on the river bank at Han-Kang with the glittering eyes +fixed upon the red <i>miriok</i> Mr. Kit-ze held.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig047-500dpi.png" alt="HE BEGAN TO SHAKE HIM VIGOROUSLY." title="HE BEGAN TO SHAKE HIM VIGOROUSLY." /> +<a name="ILLO4" id="ILLO4"><br/><span class="caption">HE BEGAN TO SHAKE HIM VIGOROUSLY.</span></a> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>BEFORE THE MAGISTRATE</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig049-600dpi.png" alt="T"/></div><p>he man made no effort to resist Mr. Chefoo, neither did he offer a word +of protest, but stood silent and sullen, his lean face leaner than ever +in its side view, his eyes half closed and gazing steadily downward.</p> + +<p>"The rogue!" cried Mr. Wilburn. "He was there for no good purpose. Come, +sir, what have you to say for yourself?"</p> + +<p>But still the culprit made no answer. He only raised his eyes and let +them sweep past Mr. Wilburn, past them all to Mr. Kit-ze, and rest there +with a deep and burning glance.</p> + +<p>"Speak to him, Mr. Kit-ze," said Mr. Reid. "Find out what was his object +in concealing himself in the sampan. It may be," he continued +charitably, "that he wanted to steal a ride to one of the villages."</p> + +<p>But Mr. Kit-ze, instead of obeying this request, shifted himself a +little farther away from the man, and seemed to be intent on something +in the river.</p> + +<p>"I think Mr. Kit-ze doesn't want to get mixed up in any trouble," said +Mr. Wilburn in an undertone. "He probably fears it may end in his having +to appear before a magistrate. That always means a fine, you know, +whether one is in the right or the wrong. It is evident, brother, that +we must adjust this matter ourselves with Mr. Chefoo's help, since Mr. +Kit-ze plainly doesn't want to take a hand in it."</p> + +<p>But neither threats nor persuasions could elicit a word of reply from +the man. Even Mr. Chefoo's fine speeches failed.</p> + +<p>"Can he be deaf and dumb?" asked Mr. Reid finally.</p> + +<p>"No, father, he is not," replied Helen positively.</p> + +<p>All eyes were now quickly turned to her, astonishment plainly written on +the faces.</p> + +<p>"Why, my daughter, how do you know?"</p> + +<p>"Because, father, I saw him in the crowd that surrounded me for a few +moments on the bank of the river at Han-Kang. I distinctly heard him +talking to himself, though I could not understand the words. I thought +at the time," she continued, "from the way in which he regarded Mr. +Kit-ze, that they might be acquaintances."</p> + +<p>As Helen spoke these last words, she turned her head so as to get a view +of Mr. Kit-ze, but he still persistently kept his face turned away, +while he seemed to be making aimless search in the river with his pole. +He was assuredly doing nothing toward the progress of the boat, since +that still remained stationary in the little rocky inlet toward which he +had dexterously steered it when Mr. Chefoo had started for the birds.</p> + +<p>Desiring that he should understand what Helen had suggested, Mr. Reid +repeated it to him. The man was no acquaintance of his, Mr. Kit-ze +emphatically declared.</p> + +<p>"I think we had better pitch him into the river," said Mr. Chefoo, "and +leave him to get out as best he can."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Clarence, "he deserves a ducking, if no more."</p> + +<p>"No, we won't be so cruel as that," Mr. Reid replied, "although he may +have been after no good. We'll go ashore at the next village and leave +him."</p> + +<p>"But first," said Clarence, "hadn't you better search him? He may have +taken something of value."</p> + +<p>"Yes, uncle," said Mallard, "we ought to do that."</p> + +<p>To this both Mr. Reid and Mr. Wilburn consented; but, though close +investigation was made, nothing was found on the man, nothing, at least, +to which they could lay claim.</p> + +<p>Mr. Reid gave the signal for the sampan to be headed again up the river. +In the meanwhile, Clarence and Mallard kept watch upon the man, who had +now assumed a squatting posture upon the floor of the sampan. To their +surprise he began to mutter to himself. But even to Mr. Chefoo the words +were unintelligible; all except the part of one sentence. In this Mr. +Chefoo said had occurred the words, "Marble Pagoda," but he was +evidently still as much mystified as the others.</p> + +<p>The village to which they soon came was one of considerable size, +picturesquely situated in the midst of chestnut groves. There were too, +many beautiful clumps of the umbrella pine over which vines of red and +white roses luxuriantly abloom were running riot.</p> + +<p>A curious crowd swarmed around them at the landing. There were many in +it who had never seen a foreigner. The soft hair and white skins of our +friends called forth the most intense curiosity. Ridiculous too, were +some of the comments. Question after question was directed to them. Some +of these Mr. Chefoo answered. To others he paid no attention.</p> + +<p>Who were they? Whence had they come? Were their families respectable? +Did their ancestors occupy tombs on the hillside? Could they take off +their eyes and pull out their teeth as it had been reported that they +could? All of these and many more came in rapid succession.</p> + +<p>When it was learned that they wanted to put a man ashore a great hue and +cry was at once raised, and it was positively declared that this could +not be done until the magistrate was seen and consulted. Thereupon, the +magistrate's runners, six in number, appeared and assumed control of +their movements. These runners were gorgeous in light blue coats, wide +pantaloons of white, and big hats with red tassels.</p> + +<p>Yes, the magistrate must be seen, they declared. Nothing else would do. +In a rash moment Mr. Reid consented to see the magistrate. It is safe +to say that had he known the result he would at once have headed his +sampan off up the river again even with its objectionable occupant.</p> + +<p>It was finally arranged that Mr. Reid, in company with Mr. Chefoo and +the stowaway, should attend upon the magistrate while the others +remained with the sampan. At the last moment Clarence begged to +accompany his father, and consent was finally given. Mr. Reid could see +no reason why the stowaway should be carried along with them, as he had +really done nothing for which he could be punished. Their only desire +was to leave him ashore. But the runners persisted that it was necessary +that he too should go before the justice.</p> + +<p>The magistrate was seated on the floor of a small platform over which +matting was spread. Around him, also squatting on their heels, were two +or three of his assistants. The chief official had on a robe of deep +blue silk, slashed to the waist at intervals, and with pipings of orange +silk introduced between. Only a small portion of his crimson trousers +was showing. On his head was perched a little hat of glazed horsehair +ornamented with crimson tassels.</p> + +<p>Mr. Reid came into the room and very politely bowed to the magistrate, +while Chefoo prostrated himself, as did the runners. Clarence, +independent young American that he was, contented himself with saying, +"Good day, sir," then began to use his eyes to their fullest extent.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig054-500dpi.png" alt="CHEFOO PROSTRATED HIMSELF TO THE MAGISTRATE." title="CHEFOO PROSTRATED HIMSELF TO THE MAGISTRATE." /> +<a name="ILLO5" id="ILLO5"><br/><span class="caption">CHEFOO PROSTRATED HIMSELF TO THE MAGISTRATE.</span> +</a></div> + +<p>The magistrate took no notice of their presence. He merely remarked in a +high key to his associates that foreigners were really demons, and that +he couldn't see why they had ever been allowed in the country. As to +himself, he had felt many times like setting up again, on his own +responsibility, the tablets which, prior to the treaty, had declared +that all foreigners were cutthroats and robbers, and should be killed on +sight.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>Each of these sentences Mr. Chefoo cheerfully translated to Mr. Reid.</p> + +<p>"The old barbarian," declared Clarence. "I feel like giving him a +shaking."</p> + +<p>The magistrate now deigned to become aware of their presence. "Who are +these who have dared to approach me?" he asked in a big, off-hand way, +but all the while he was nervously regarding Mr. Reid and Clarence. +Foreigners, he knew from experience, were not always the chicken-hearted +people they were declared to be.</p> + +<p>The runners told him.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is you name, and whence do your come?" was asked of Mr. +Reid.</p> + +<p>The replies came readily.</p> + +<p>"How old are you? Has your father gone and left you? and was he an +honorable man?"</p> + +<p>To each of these, in turn, was given a cheerful response.</p> + +<p>"Well, what are you doing in the country, anyhow? Do they know you are +away? Do you get a salary? How much is it?"</p> + +<p>After all these queries and many more had been answered to the +magistrate's satisfaction, he deigned to hear the case that had been +brought before him. When each detail had been gone over again and again, +the magistrate put his head to one side, looked as wise as an owl for a +few moments, and then proceeded to deliver himself of his decision.</p> + +<p>By paying five Japanese <i>yen</i> (a <i>yen</i> is one dollar), the man could be +left ashore; but none of the rest could depart until he, the magistrate, +visited the sampan and inspected its contents. He further added that he +might come that evening if business permitted. If it did not, he would +wait until morning. In the meantime they were to remain tied up where +they were under the supervision of the runners.</p> + +<p>On Mr. Reid's protesting against the injustice of having to pay such an +amount for the mere privilege of putting a native ashore who had +concealed himself in his sampan, the magistrate retorted by assuring him +that he would then charge him, the missionary, that amount for having +come ashore himself without first having communicated with him, the +magistrate. Mr. Reid knew very well that such a proceeding was far from +legal, as he had his passport which he had shown, but at the same time +he felt it would be better for many reasons to pay the amount than to +contest the point.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, Mr. Reid had provided himself with a few of these valuable +Japanese coins, which he carried on his person; otherwise he would have +been subjected to the further delay of sending to the sampan, as the +magistrate at once let it be understood that he could not depart until +the amount was in hand.</p> + +<p>On their return to the sampan they found that the others too, had been +having trials in their absence. The curiosity of the crowd had now +become almost unendurable. Men, women, and children had even climbed +upon the sampan. They had inspected everything. The two girls had called +forth the deepest excitement and curiosity. It was their hair that +caused the most comment, especially Helen's; it was so soft and bright. +For Helen's hair, though her eyes were dark, was of a light chestnut +color. One woman had even gone so far as to offer a dozen eggs for a +piece of it. Then she wanted to handle it, but this Helen declined. The +woman's eyes and her manner made her nervous. But Dorothy, more assured +than Helen, took hers from its fastenings, shaking it about her +shoulders, then stood beyond reach of the outstretched hands, laughing +merrily at the expressions of countenance and the somewhat wild +gesticulations.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dorothy, how can you do that?" remonstrated Helen.</p> + +<p>"If it gives the poor things any enjoyment, I don't mind," replied +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"But don't you see that the sight of it that way excites them the more?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's good as a show," declared Joyce, almost shouting out in his +delight. "Don't you mind sister, Miss Dorothy."</p> + +<p>Things were in this hubbub when Mr. Reid, Clarence, and the runners +appeared. Mr. Reid joined in the effort to induce the people to withdraw +from the sampan, but without success. Then the thought struck him that +he would appeal to the runners. It is safe to say he hadn't the least +conception of the result or, much as he wanted to get rid of the people, +he would have hesitated.</p> + +<p>The runners at once charged pell-mell upon the surging crowd, shouting +and yelling as though they were seeking to stampede a herd of cattle. +Big hats, green coats, topknots, and wide trousers were soon jumbled +together in a series of kaleidoscopic flashes, then quiet reigned once +more around the sampan. The runners had done them this much good, if no +more.</p> + +<p>The sun had almost disappeared behind the neighboring hills, and the +night, traveling fast in that region, would soon be upon them. Still the +magistrate had not appeared. They felt now that he would not come until +morning. They were much provoked. Mr. Kit-ze especially showed +displeasure. He had planned to reach the next town ere tying up for the +night. There had already been too much delay at Han-Kang. He felt +considerable compunction over this, and had been doing his best ever +since to make up for lost time, and now felt thoroughly exasperated over +this unnecessary detention. But there was no other course save to await +the magistrate's pleasure.</p> + +<p>Supper eaten, with curious eyes all around watching their every +movement, Mr. Reid prepared for the evening service. "We will go +ashore," he said to Mr. Wilburn, "and take Mr. Chefoo. The others can +join in from the sampan."</p> + +<p>They had no trouble to gather the people about them. Great was the +wonder that spread as the services proceeded. A hymn was sung, a prayer +made, a Bible lesson read, which Mr. Chefoo explained. Then with Mr. +Chefoo still as interpreter, Mr. Reid began to speak to them. His words +were about Jesus, our one ever-loving, steadfast friend. Exclamations of +surprise, then of interest, began to be heard. "Could it be possible," +they asked each other, "that there was One in the world who could love +as this one loved? who could and did give his friendship 'without money +and without price'?"</p> + +<p>As Mr. Reid ceased speaking, an old man approached him. Would the +honorable teacher tell him again the name of this wonderful Friend? When +told he kept repeating it over and over. Other touching incidents +occurred. Many questions were asked. When Mr. Reid lay down to sleep +that night, it was with the happy feeling that more than a passing +impression had been made upon some hearts, as it was also with the +determination that he would come again to break the bread of life to +these hungry souls.</p> + +<p>Even when the crowd had left the sampan, scattered by the impetuosity of +the runners, Helen still felt nervous. The persistency with which the +women had pressed about Dorothy and herself, their incoherent words, +burning glances, and fierce gestures had wrought her up to a high pitch +of excitement. It was a long while ere she could go to sleep, even +though her father assured her that it was to the interest of the runners +to keep close watch upon the sampan. When at last Helen fell into +slumber, it was to be disturbed by unpleasant dreams. In the midst of +one of these she awakened with a start. She surely was conscious now, +and what a moment of horror it was! for a rough hand was feeling its way +along the meshes of her hair. A voice she knew from both tone and accent +was no friendly one, was muttering in a manner that made her heart +almost stop its beating.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Before the treaty of Korea with the United States, while +yet it was known as the Hermit Nation, tablets bearing inscriptions +similar to that quoted by the magistrate were placed at intervals +throughout the country.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>A FRIENDLY HAIL</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig061-600dpi.png" alt="H"/></div><p>elen's first impulse was to scream, but with a great effort she +controlled herself. Then, reaching up quickly, she grasped the hand +between both of her own, holding on to it tightly. Instantly there was a +frightened exclamation, and a violent movement on the other side of the +straw curtain almost against which Helen's head lay. The next moment, +the hand was wrenched away, and she heard a heavy splash in the water. +Peering out through the opening between the curtains, she saw two Korean +women moving away from the sampan. Thus she knew her midnight fright had +been caused not through any evil intention but from the exercise of pure +curiosity. They had but carried into effect the desire for a closer +inspection of her hair.</p> + +<p>So soundly did the other occupants of the sampan sleep that none of them +were aroused by this incident, not even Dorothy. Thus it was an +astonishing piece of news to them when Helen told it on the following +morning.</p> + +<p>Dorothy was overcome by admiration for Helen's coolness. "O Helen, are +you sure you didn't scream, not the least little bit? Oh, I never could +have taken it as you did," and she drew her breath quickly.</p> + +<p>Others besides Dorothy had words of praise for Helen's fortitude. "Nine +girls out of ten would have gone into hysterics," declared Clarence.</p> + +<p>"Put the percentage lower," warned Dorothy, shaking her fist at him in +well-feigned indignation.</p> + +<p>"Well, seven out of ten then."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is much better."</p> + +<p>It was long after breakfast when the magistrate condescended to appear. +Then he kept them waiting an hour or more through his insatiable +curiosity, for he must needs inspect everything in the boat, even to the +faggots and the chicken coop. But at last they were off. They had been +afraid that the man might attach himself to them again ere they left the +village. However, up to the time of pushing off, they had seen nothing +of him. He had been dropped on the way from the magistrate's the evening +before, and evidently that was the last of him.</p> + +<p>As they went along now, Mr. Reid and Mr. Wilburn were discussing the +event, as well as the man's probable meaning when he had muttered the +words "Marble Pagoda." Both missionaries knew of the old Marble Pagoda +in Seoul, one of the curiosities of the place, though, strange to say, +not many seemed to care to go about it. The natives especially shunned +it, that is, a large percentage of them did. They declared that it was +filled with demons and haunted by all kinds of evil spirits. It stood in +one of the foulest parts of the city, just back of a narrow alley, and +all around it were clustered wretched-looking hovels. It was said to be +more than seven centuries old. It had been originally thirteen stories, +but during the Japanese invasion of three centuries before, three +stories had been taken off. Many of the chambers contained the richest +carvings, especially that known as the room of the Five Hundred +Disciples. That had the images of many of the Hindu divinities.</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Mr. Wilburn, "that several bits of detached +carving, some of them representing deities, and others the various +stages of the progress of Buddha toward Nirvana, or the Buddhist heaven, +have been found in the old pagoda up to a time within recent years. +There is the story, not very old, of the young assistant of one of the +Buddhist priests at a monastery in the mountains, who nearly forfeited +his life by stealing one of the images that had been brought from the +pagoda, a very rare and valuable one, by the way. But he escaped by the +narrowest chance, though the priest hunted and hunted him for a long +time, and may be doing it yet, for all I know."</p> + +<p>"What a fortunate thing for our missionary labors," remarked Mr. Reid, +"that Buddhism was long ago abolished throughout the kingdom, and only a +little colony of the priests allowed here and there in remote places."</p> + +<p>"Ah, my brother, but there are the horrors of demon worship with which +to contend, and the stonelike barriers of ancestral worship to break +away. The former is as bad as Buddhism, where it has taken deep hold."</p> + +<p>"As it has in our sampan man here," observed Mr. Reid with a sigh. "Oh, +if I could only see some impression made on him by our teachings, some +little inclination toward the truth as it is alone found in the pure +gospel of Jesus."</p> + +<p>"Do not despair. He may turn to the better way in time. It seemed to me +during the services last evening that he listened more intently than I +had ever seen him. He seemed to be impressed too, by the questions that +were asked, especially by the earnest ones of the old man."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but he is so persistent in his devotions to that wretched little +image he has. Only this morning I saw him fondling it. Sometimes I feel +like taking it from him and pitching it far out into the stream."</p> + +<p>"Oh but, father," said Helen earnestly, now joining the conversation +because she felt that she must, "that would not be best, believe me."</p> + +<p>"But how are we to teach them a better worship until we take their +miserable idols from them?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, father, we mustn't tear down to build up. If a man were living in +an old and insecure house, we wouldn't pull it down over him, for fear +of the damage it would do. If we were his true benefactors, we would +simply invite him away from the old and into a better one."</p> + +<p>"Well said!" declared Mr. Wilburn, his eyes shining. "You are a true +reasoner, Miss Helen."</p> + +<p>"But so long as they have these horrid images that they believe can +counteract the evil effect of the demons, they will go on worshipping +them. We must get them away."</p> + +<p>"But not by compulsion, father."</p> + +<p>"How then, Helen?"</p> + +<p>"By love." She reached out and took his hand as she said the words, and +began to pat it softly. Her lips trembled but her eyes met his bravely.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear, yes, I know. When the heart is touched, love is the thing +then with which to win them. But you can't pelt a stone wall with +cotton, Helen, and hope to make any impression."</p> + +<p>"But, my father, if cannon were used, what would be the result? Only +devastation. We can't drive these poor things away from their idols. We +must coax them."</p> + +<p>"A woman's way, Helen. But, my daughter, you are doubtless right," he +said a moment later. "I get so provoked at their persistency, their +blind infatuation, I feel that I must use force, or at least warn them +of God's wrath if they persist in their idolatry."</p> + +<p>"Tell them of God's love ever waiting to receive them, you mean, +father?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of God's love," repeated Mr. Wilburn, his eyes moistening as he +looked at Helen, "the warm sunlight, gentle yet powerful, the one agent +that, using no force, yet accomplishes what force cannot."</p> + +<p>They made pleasant progress all that day and the next. The views of the +river and from the river grew more and more picturesque. They had now +passed beyond the range of hills on the highest point of which stood the +fortress of Nam Han, with its garrison of Korean soldiers. The river had +grown broader and its banks lower. They passed many beautiful islands +and had more than one experience with rapids. While navigating these, +Mr. Reid had insisted on the girls' going ashore attended by Mallard and +Mr. Wilburn. This they did, joining the sampan a mile or so above after +some rather exciting adventures with the natives. However, as there was +no worse spirit displayed than that of curiosity, they suffered more +annoyance than alarm.</p> + +<p>Through a considerable part of that third afternoon they moved along in +sight of several small villages inhabited by woodcutters and charcoal +burners. At one of these Mr. Reid said he must stop, not only for the +night but for much of the next day, for it was one that had been brought +to the attention of his mission Board as an inviting field for the +establishment of a station.</p> + +<p>At first the people were alarmed when they caught sight of the +strangers. But on the assurance of Mr. Chefoo and Mr. Kit-ze that all +were friends, they released their chickens and their queer-looking +little pigs, not much bigger than rabbits, which they had begun to put +in pens at the approach of the sampan. They listened eagerly to what the +missionaries had to say, pressed closely to them during the services, +and had many questions to ask, all of an earnest character.</p> + +<p>The magistrate too, at this place, to whom Mr. Reid had brought letters, +treated them cordially and offered to assist him in any way he could. +The chief men were also friendly and assured the missionaries that if +they wanted to come and teach the new doctrine, they should have +respectful attention.</p> + +<p>One thing in connection with their stay at the village caused special +happiness to Mr. Reid. Mr. Kit-ze had not only paid deep attention +during the services, but he had remained thoughtful for some time +thereafter. He had also come to both Mr. Reid and Mr. Wilburn with +questions.</p> + +<p>They remained all the next day, which was Friday, and that night at the +village. Early the next morning the sampan was heading again up the +river.</p> + +<p>"Where shall we spend the Sabbath?" asked Mr. Reid.</p> + +<p>"At Yo-Ju, I think, exalted teacher," replied Mr. Kit-ze. "If we pass +the rapids without ill-luck, and push on steadily, we can reach there by +the fall of the night."</p> + +<p>But they had trying times at the rapids, the longest and the most +dangerous yet encountered, so that the late afternoon found them a good +half-day's journey from Yo-Ju. They had now come to the mountains in +all their wildness and ruggedness. Silence fell upon the little party. +No word could be spoken amid all that awe-inspiring beauty. Then Mr. +Reid's voice broke the stillness as he repeated the ninety-seventh +Psalm, "The Lord reigneth."</p> + +<p>Though the way was so wildly picturesque on either side, yet the river +at this place flowed peacefully along, washing about the shore of green +islets or lapping the steep banks with a gentle murmur.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, from the midst of some overhanging vines near which they were +passing, there came a loud hail. Then a voice added in very good +English: "Pause, friends! O exalted teacher, do I see you once more?"</p> + +<p>"Why, that voice sounds familiar," said Mr. Reid. "Head the sampan +toward the cliff, Mr. Kit-ze, and let us see what it means."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze had no more than started to obey when a small flat boat came +out from the overhanging bank and made toward them. It had three +occupants, an elderly man who was sitting midway of it, and two younger +ones who were propelling it. The old man was bolt upright despite his +years, and made an interesting and picturesque figure with his +snow-white hair, which, as is altogether unusual in Koreans, was falling +about his shoulders, and with his partly civilized dress.</p> + +<p>"Why, it is Mr. Ko!" cried Joyce.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Helen, a smile breaking over her face, "it is he, sure +enough. Oh, how glad I am!"</p> + +<p>"Old friend," cried Mr. Reid delighted, "can it be that I greet you +again?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, exalted master. Your old servant heard you were coming up the +river. So, lo, since the evening of yesterday he has been watching for +you."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig069-500dpi.png" alt="THE OLD MAN WAS BOLT UPRIGHT, DESPITE HIS YEARS." title="THE OLD MAN WAS BOLT UPRIGHT, DESPITE HIS YEARS." /> +<a name="ILLO6" id="ILLO6"><br/><span class="caption">THE OLD MAN WAS BOLT UPRIGHT, DESPITE HIS YEARS.</span> +</a></div> + +<p>Mr. Reid now introduced Mr. Ko to Mr. Wilburn and the others. The old +Korean had lived for years at the capital. There he had known the +missionary and his family through three or four years. During two of +these he had lived at the mission as gate-keeper and errand man. Mr. +Reid had heard that he had inherited some property and had gone away +from Seoul.</p> + +<p>The old man was quite a character. He had shown considerable devotion to +the missionary and his family, but Mr. Reid, with all his efforts in Mr. +Ko's behalf, had never been able to get the old man further than the +admission that the Jesus doctrine was a very fair sort of doctrine and, +if he only had the time, he would give himself over to the practice of +it.</p> + +<p>Now the old man was delighted at seeing the missionary and his children +again. They must spend some time with him, he declared. Everything had +been prepared for them. He had even secured a cook who could give them +the food as they liked it. Oh, this was a wonderful man, indeed. Only +yesterday he had come. "The good spirits sent him," asserted Mr. Ko, "I +am certain they did."</p> + +<p>Nothing would do the old man but that Helen, at least, must have a +glimpse of this wonderful cook the moment she reached the dwelling.</p> + +<p>"There he is," said Mr. Ko, with the delight of a child, pointing +through an opening into the kitchen.</p> + +<p>A tall figure was bending over the <i>ang-pak</i>, or great rice jar. At +sound of Mr. Ko's voice he raised his head and glanced around. It was +the stowaway of the sampan.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>AN ENTREATY</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig071-600dpi.png" alt="H"/></div><p>elen uttered an exclamation, then moved toward Mr. Ko. He read the +expression of her face quickly.</p> + +<p>"You know him?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I do not know him, but I have seen him. He was on the sampan with us +after we left Han-Kang."</p> + +<p>"Why, he did not tell me that! He only said that he had seen the +honorable teacher and that he was coming. But no matter," continued Mr. +Ko, and looking encouragingly toward the man. "He did not tell me +because he had some reason not to. It is all right," he added +cheerfully. "You may go on with the cooking."</p> + +<p>"I know him," he said, turning again to Helen. "He was my neighbor in +Seoul two years ago. He is a good sort of fellow, only there seems to be +something on his mind. I don't understand that. Never did."</p> + +<p>A deep perplexity now came to Helen. She could not decide whether or not +to let the others know of the presence of the man at Mr. Ko's. She +finally reached the decision to tell her father and Clarence and maybe +Dorothy. There was, perhaps, after all, nothing wrong about the man. He +had really done nothing to arouse their suspicions, only remained silent +and sullen when he was questioned. She knew that her father believed +that he had merely been stealing a ride. The only mysterious thing about +him at present was his having so swiftly preceded them to Mr. Ko's. She +afterward learned that he had fallen in with another sampan almost as +soon as he had left them, and had worked his way up the river. While +they lingered at the villages he had traveled.</p> + +<p>Though Mr. Ko had adopted some of the ways of civilization, he still ate +very much after the Korean fashion. Thus when they sat down to supper it +was at little round tables not more than a foot or a foot and a half +high. Instead of cloths, they were covered with sheets of glazed paper. +Rice was the principal diet. It was set in an earthenware bowl near the +center of each table. In addition there was a soup of beef and onions +thickened with barley, a batter bread made of flour and oil and a slight +sprinkling of sugar, chicken curry, eggs, and rice fritters. Mr. Ko also +had tea, a rarity for the rural districts of Korea.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Ko, Mr. Kit-ze, and Mr. Chefoo ate, they made a great noise with +their mouths. This was done to show their appreciation of the viands, +for in Korea, the greater the noise made while eating, the more +forcefully defined is the compliment to the food.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ko's house was much better than that of the average farmer. It was +built of poles, mud-daubed, but the walls of the principal rooms were +covered with paper. There were little windows of thick glazed paper +while the doors were set in frames of light bamboo. The sleeping +arrangements consisted principally of mats with blocks of wood for +pillows. In the winter the beds were made over the brick flues that ran +through the rooms connected with the great oven where the baking was +done. Thus, in winter, to sleep in a Korean house means to roast and +freeze by turns, for while the fire is kept up it is hot indeed, and +when it is allowed to go out then "cold as a stone" gives the literal +condition of a brick bed.</p> + +<p>The house stood in a grove of mulberries, for to his other pursuits Mr. +Ko added that of silkworm raising. There were clumps too, of the walnut +and persimmon, with vines of the white and yellow clematis tangled amid +their branches. Here the birds built, and here they poured forth their +morning songs or chattered to their mates as they were going to bed at +night. In front were the fields of wheat and barley, and farther down, +in the very heart of the valley, the crops of rice. As it was near the +end of April, the barley was already in ear and beginning to take on its +russet coloring.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ko, being an old bachelor, there were only men about the house. He +had a saying with reference to which Clarence teased Helen and Dorothy +rather unmercifully. It was to the effect that where there were women +there was sure to be trouble.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but Mr. Ko likes girls!" asserted Helen. "You can't make me believe +otherwise, Master Clarence. He and I have been too long good friends."</p> + +<p>"What was that I heard him say last night?" asked Dorothy, a mischievous +light in her eyes, "about sons and how they were like dragon's teeth in +the sides of their parents?"</p> + +<p>Clarence looked rather sheepish at this quick turning of the tables on +himself, and in a moment or so dexterously changed the conversation.</p> + +<p>On the following day, which was the Sabbath, two services were held in +Mr. Ko's mulberry grove. At the first not many were present, but by +afternoon scores had flocked to the place from the neighboring farms and +from the village. Curiosity was plainly depicted on all the faces, but +as Mr. Reid proceeded, it changed to eager attention on the part of +several. Mr. Chefoo made a good interpreter. He was both careful and +earnest. Already the sweet, simple truths the missionary taught were +beginning to make their appeal to his own heart. It was the old story of +Jesus and his sweet ministrations to men, his sympathy for them, his +understanding of their needs, the great, warm, deep love that took in +all, even the poorest and humblest.</p> + +<p>"And this Jesus is the same now as then," continued the missionary. "He +is waiting to enter each heart and to possess it, to have our lives +drawn nearer to his own, to bestow upon us the sweet knowledge of that +companionship with him that may be ours through all the way."</p> + +<p>The services were barely concluded when Mr. Kit-ze came to ask +questions. Gladness was in Mr. Reid's heart as he saw the moved, +wondering look upon the boatman's face. He wanted to know if this Jesus, +who could do so much for men, who wanted to be their friend, was very +rich and powerful? Could he bestow honor and wealth as well as +friendship?</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze was told that the provisions of honor and wealth did not +enter into Jesus' plans for the happiness of his people. He himself had +shown his condemnation of the grasping hand, the covetous heart, by +declaring that he who desired to be the greatest should be the least of +all and servant to all.</p> + +<p>"But he gives that to us which is better than all the honor and riches +of earth," continued Mr. Reid; "he gives us contentment of life and +peace of heart. Would not you think these far better than money or land, +my friend?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze did not know. He had thought that it would indeed be a very +fine thing to possess land and cattle and so comfortable a home as that +of Mr. Ko.</p> + +<p>This, then, had been the thought uppermost with Mr. Kit-ze when +contemplating the character of Jesus, the Divine Friend, and the thought +of the possible worldly elevation the friendship might bring him. The +missionary felt a deep pain at his heart as he realized whither Mr. +Kit-ze's thoughts had led him. But at the same time there was something +in his attitude to inspire hope. Mr. Kit-ze had been impressed. That +was plainly evident. His mind was in a deep whirl of thought. Other and +better things would surely be evolved from it in the end. Many times +during that day he made fervent petition for Mr. Kit-ze.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze's perplexity increased as one thought after another came to +him. The exalted teacher had not answered as he had hoped. All was still +so uncertain, so unsatisfactory. Ah, now he knew what he would do! He +would go to the daughter of the honorable teacher, to her who had the +soft voice, the gentle ways, the kind heart. She could make it plain, +she would tell it so that it would reach his understanding.</p> + +<p>Helen's heart leaped as Mr. Kit-ze asked her the questions. She could +see how deeply in earnest he was. Oh, could it be that he was at last +awakened, that he would search until he had found the truth, would +accept Jesus as the one faithful Friend? His first and second questions +aroused these thoughts; but the third, how it disturbed her, as it had +also disturbed her father. It was the same question about earthly honor +and wealth.</p> + +<p>"Dear Mr. Kit-ze," said Helen, taking his hand, and at that moment he +felt that he would have done anything for her, "those who truly love +Jesus, who have taken him as their Friend, do not think of such things +in connection with what Jesus does for them. They know that whatever is +best for them he will send, that whatever of good gifts they will use +happily, he will bestow. But further than this they do not go, for, Mr. +Kit-ze, when once we have taken Jesus, we must trust him for everything. +We must not question or ask him for this thing or the other. Thus, Mr. +Kit-ze, if you had a worldly friend, one in whom you believed with all +the mind, in whom you trusted with all the heart, would you not +willingly follow that friend wherever he bade you go and take everything +from him as meant for your good?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Mr. Kit-ze, "oh, yes."</p> + +<p>"Well, thus it is with Jesus. When we take him for our Friend, truly +take him, we do not require anything of him. We leave all that to him +and only trust him. He loves us. Oh, how he loves, Mr. Kit-ze! He is the +truest lover in all the world. Could he, or would he, then, do aught +else but what is best for the one beloved?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, daughter of the exalted teacher," said the boatman, his voice +tremulous with some new-found emotion, "you have put that into Mr. +Kit-ze's heart which will make him think, think!" He went away with his +hand still pressed upon his heart and murmuring to himself.</p> + +<p>Helen had told her father of the presence of the stowaway in Mr. Ko's +kitchen, and of her great surprise at finding him there.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I suppose there isn't anything mysterious about it, Helen," her +father made answer; "nothing to be dreaded from him, I know. He looked +inoffensive enough, though sullen, and you remember we didn't find +anything on his person. I am only astonished at the rapidity with which +he has made his way up the river; but from what you have since learned +and have told me, that too is clear."</p> + +<p>Helen was glad her father took the man's presence in this way. She +really felt sorry for the poor fellow. He had looked at her so +pathetically the evening before ere she left the kitchen with Mr. Ko, +and had murmured something in which she caught the words, "No harm, no +harm." His eyes had not then the burning look she had noticed when they +were fixed upon Mr. Kit-ze. Instead, they were soft and pleading.</p> + +<p>She was ready now to tell Clarence and Dorothy. They had walked down to +the bluff for a view of the river and of the track of the setting sun as +it moved across the water like some golden-freighted craft.</p> + +<p>Clarence, boylike, whistled his astonishment at the communication. "Why, +Helen, how did he ever manage to get here so far ahead of us?" he asked +at length. "It seems almost incredible."</p> + +<p>"On a sampan, as I have told you Mr. Ko informed me. There isn't +anything so strange about that. What troubles me is the feeling that he +is following us."</p> + +<p>"I think this time we followed him," observed Clarence trying to be a +little witty.</p> + +<p>"But he was evidently awaiting us here."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll ask him his business," declared Clarence.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig079-500dpi.png" alt="THEN, EXTENDING HIS HANDS, ENTREATED." title="THEN, EXTENDING HIS HANDS, ENTREATED." /> +<a name="ILLO7" id="ILLO7"><br/><span class="caption">THEN, EXTENDING HIS HANDS, ENTREATED.</span> +</a></div> + +<p>"No, Clarence, no," entreated Helen. "That might be the worst thing. I +am sure he means no harm. Let us wait and see if he attempts to follow +us away from here. Then we might inquire into his conduct."</p> + +<p>"I feel sorry for him," said Dorothy. "I can't help it, though he may +mean no good. He looked so pitiful when he was being dragged away to the +magistrate. He was frightened too, but he didn't have the appearance of +one who contemplated wrong-doing."</p> + +<p>"I feel in that way myself," said Helen. "I——"</p> + +<p>But ere she finished the sentence, they were attracted by the noise of a +step behind them. Turning, they saw the one whom they were discussing. +With a hasty movement he prostrated himself before them; then extending +his hands, entreated: "O friends, hear the story of poor Choi-So!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE STORY OF CHOI-SO</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig081-600dpi.png" alt="S"/></div><p>uch a pathetic story as it was for the most part! One that caused the +young people to listen to it with the deepest interest.</p> + +<p>Choi-So's mother had died when he was very young, too young to remember +her. The woman who raised him had cruelly treated him. She had not only +half-starved him, but she had often severely beaten him. Choi-So had not +said it in so many words, but he gave his young hearers the impression +that this treatment had so dazed him that his head was not altogether +right. Sometimes he was like one in a mist, as he expressed it.</p> + +<p>His father was a very religious man. He was a dreamer too, a bad +combination, since when one is constantly wandering away in thought, +many of the plainest duties that are allied to a religious profession +are apt to be neglected. He was a worker in straw. He made shoes and +ropes and mats, the latter beautifully woven. He received a fair price +for his work, and there was no reason why his child should have been +starved except that the money that ought to have gone to his nourishment +was appropriated to her own use by an unscrupulous woman while the +father wove his mats and dreamed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ang-su, Choi-So's father, had spent many years of his life in Japan. +There he had married Choi-So's mother. There too, he had acquired his +deep religious convictions. He was a devout Buddhist. As he sat and +dreamed his young son entered into many of these dreams, was, in truth, +the chief figure therein. Far better would it have been could he have +occupied even for half the length of time his father's practical +thought. Thus it came about that at eighteen Choi-So was sent to one of +the Buddhist monasteries in the mountains, there to be prepared for the +priesthood. Five years were spent in the dreary, monotonous routine that +made up his life there. So many times during each period of twenty-four +hours, from midnight till midnight again, he must hasten to the temple +at sound of drum or bell, there to prostrate himself on the stone floor +before the bow-kneed, brass-faced god, repeating, "<i>Namu Amit abul!</i> +<i>Namu Amit abul!</i>" (I put my trust in Buddha! I put my trust in Buddha!) +One hundred and eight times he did this without stopping, to an +accompaniment of bells, sometimes sounding soft and silvery, or again +ringing out with harsh, loud clangor.</p> + +<p>He was also taught to take no life, not even that of a mosquito. If one +troubled him more than he could endure, the venerable abbot instructed +him that he was simply to get up and "shoo" it gently out of the room. +His fare was hard and unsatisfying, consisting all the year round of +rice and pressed seaweed, for no one who lived to the glory of Buddha +must touch meat. Sad to say, this life was just the one that appealed to +the melancholy boy. He had inherited much of his father's religious +concentration and dreaminess of manner. Instead of having the desire to +run away from this hard life, he daily applied himself the more +earnestly to the task of learning to please Buddha, of so living that he +might attain <i>Nirvana</i>! That was his highest desire.</p> + +<p>One day, just at the close of his five years, he came upon Mr. Kit-ze +stranded upon the river bank, bruised and broken. He had had a desperate +struggle for life in the rapids. Three ribs were broken and an arm badly +injured. He had lost his cargo, and had very nearly lost his sampan; +but, injured though he was, he had managed to cling to the latter and to +get it safely to shore. However, it would need much in the way of +repairs ere it could be used again. Choi-So, in deep pity for the +wounded boatman, went for help, and had him assisted to the monastery. +Mr. Kit-ze was conducted through the great arched gateway and into the +reception hall. There the venerable abbot had come to him, and uttered +the words of welcome, "Peace be unto you," and had then bidden that he +be led away and his wounds treated.</p> + +<p>For two weeks Mr. Kit-ze had remained at the monastery. He had +ingratiated himself into the favor of the priests. Especially had he won +the trust and goodwill of Choi-So. The young man was his devoted +attendant. The boatman was given many privileges. He was even permitted +to look through a small sliding panel upon the priests at their +devotions. This room, to which the monks were called so many times each +day to their prayers, began to hold a deep fascination for Mr. Kit-ze. +Its rich carvings, its many images, above all, the great bronze statue +of the Buddha with the various smaller ones grouped about it, so chained +his attention that for moments at a time he would continue to gaze as +though spellbound.</p> + +<p>Choi-So had explained to him the mission of these smaller images. They +were to teach man the various stages through which he was to pass ere +Nirvana could be attained. Thus they were helps in the progress of life. +Any one of them could bring to mind what man hoped, what he inherited +through the strength and the faithfulness of Buddha. Much of this was +unintelligible to Mr. Kit-ze. He knew nothing of Buddha, nor cared to +know. But the images represented something that did appeal to him. This +much he understood, or at least thought he understood. Any one of them +brought good fortune to its possessor. That is the way he had read +Choi-So's explanation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze's mind was ripe for a suggestion of this kind. Among the +losses he had sustained through the catastrophe in the rapids was one he +felt more keenly than the others. Deeply superstitious, as is the +greater part of his race, Mr. Kit-ze believed devoutly in the efficacy +of certain charms. A grotesque figure he had carried on his person for +years had again and again helped him to elude the demons that waited for +him in the rapids. But for this his sampan would never have had the many +safe journeys through the dangerous parts of the river, and but for the +loss of this image during the earlier part of his late struggle in the +rapids, calamity would never have befallen. He must replace this charm, +this wonderful image of protection and helpfulness. What better could be +found than what was here represented in this chamber, sacred to the +great god before whom the priests prostrated themselves, and of whose +power they made such astonishing recitals? Had he not been informed of +the marvelous things that could be accomplished through the possession +of even one of the images, of the part each bore in the fortune of man? +He could not enter the chamber himself. He must work through Choi-So.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig085-500dpi.png" alt="HE WAS PERMITTED TO LOOK ... UPON THE PRIESTS AT THEIR + DEVOTIONS." title="HE WAS PERMITTED TO LOOK ... UPON THE PRIESTS AT THEIR +DEVOTIONS." /> +<a name="ILLO8" id="ILLO8"><br/><span class="caption">HE WAS PERMITTED TO LOOK ... UPON THE PRIESTS AT THEIR + DEVOTIONS.</span></a> +</div> + +<p>Poor Choi-So was in a sore state of mind at that time. Again and again +he had felt, as he had described himself, like one walking in a mist. +His father had recently died. For weeks now he had remained unburied, a +custom very prevalent in Korea until such a funeral as the mourners +desire can be given. His savings had been squandered by the wife who had +so ill-treated Choi-So. There was nothing with which to lay the corpse +away as the dutiful son felt would be fitting. So he waited and waited, +praying and hoping and longing for the means to do honor to his father, +or else become a wretched, miserable son, despised of all who knew him. +It was then that Mr. Kit-ze tempted him, repeating the temptation until +poor Choi-So had finally yielded. The image was stolen, but, to Mr. +Kit-ze's shame, only a part of the price agreed upon had been paid. When +Choi-So had followed him, beseeching the remainder, it was but to be +cast off roughly. Another time he was threatened with the magistrate, +and with exposure. This last threat drove Choi-So back to the monastery. +But the theft had been discovered and traced to him. A companion priest +informed him in time for Choi-So to make his escape ere the terrible +punishment in store overtook him.</p> + +<p>Since then he had been a wanderer. He knew that his brother priests had +sent one of their number in pursuit of him. His one object now was to +recover the image, return it, and suffer the consequences. He could +never be happy again until he had done it. He could never attain +<i>Nirvana</i> until reparation had been made and the image placed once more +in the mystic circle about the Buddha. For three years now he had +wandered in search of Mr. Kit-ze, but as the boatman had moved away from +his old quarters at Seoul, poor Choi-So, for all his search, had never +laid eyes upon him until that day on the river bank at Han-Kang.</p> + +<p>This story had been told in a broken way, and as Choi-So had but a small +knowledge of English and his youthful listeners far from a full one of +Korean, it was only by putting it together piece by piece, one supplying +a link here and another one there, that they finally understood him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, friends," he entreated, holding out his hands pathetically to his +hearers, at the conclusion of his story, "pity the sorrows of poor +Choi-So. Help him to recover that which is the only thing that can bring +peace to him again!"</p> + +<p>"The red <i>miriok</i>!" exclaimed Clarence, and looked at Helen +significantly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Helen, "the red <i>miriok</i>. I had already felt that it had +something to do with this poor man's following us."</p> + +<p>Then she told them of her impressions on the river bank as she had first +noted Choi-So and the manner in which his gaze had been riveted upon Mr. +Kit-ze and the red <i>miriok</i>. "Poor thing," she continued, her eyes fixed +pityingly upon Choi-So, "it is all very serious to him, and we can see +how he has suffered through it."</p> + +<p>"But how can we help him?" asked Dorothy. Her sympathies too were deeply +aroused. "Mr. Kit-ze will never give up the image, I fear," she +continued.</p> + +<p>"We might make him do it," said Clarence quickly, "or pay him to do it."</p> + +<p>"No," said Helen emphatically; "we cannot. Neither will do."</p> + +<p>"What then?" asked Clarence.</p> + +<p>"We might win him to the better way," said Helen softly. "We might coax +him to give up this wretched little image for the sweeter things we +could help him to attain."</p> + +<p>"What! Mr. Kit-ze?" cried Clarence incredulously. "Never! He is too +hardened."</p> + +<p>"Clarence, how wrong to say that! Has not God's love shown its power to +reach even those more hardened than Mr. Kit-ze?"</p> + +<p>"But what can we do for this poor fellow here?" repeated Dorothy.</p> + +<p>Helen turned her eyes upon Choi-So. As she noted the lean and pallid +face, the deep-set eyes in which the light of fanaticism burned +steadily, courage, hope, both left her. "Oh, I am sure I don't know!" +she cried in despair.</p> + +<p>Just at that moment Mallard was seen hastening down the path toward +them. From the manner in which he came they felt sure he was the bearer +of a message of some kind. "I have bad news," he said as he approached.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what is it?" cried Helen, thinking instantly of her father.</p> + +<p>"Do not be alarmed, cousin," he hastened to assure her. "It is nothing +so dreadful. There has been an accident. Mr. Chefoo slipped at a steep +place on the river bank, fell, and has broken his arm."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A THEFT</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig090-600dpi.png" alt="Y"/></div><p>es, Mr. Chefoo had broken his arm. It was too bad! for aside from the +pain and discomfort that it gave him, how were they to get on with the +sampan without him? It is true, it was not a very severe fracture, only +one of the smaller bones having been broken; but it would be at least +two weeks ere he could use it again. In the meantime, what was to be +done? Mr. Kit-ze could not manage the sampan alone. Some one must help +him pole as well as keep the boat within the proper channel. It would be +a very one-sided and unsatisfactory progress if the sampan were +propelled from only one end.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ko thought of a half-dozen men who were at hand, but none were +reliable. It would be better without them than with them, especially as +there were rapids to be passed. Mr. Ko was very much disturbed over the +accident to Mr. Chefoo, because of its having occurred at his place. He +was sure a demon had caused it. It was the demon in the well, he finally +decided, since Mr. Chefoo had been at the well ere proceeding down the +path where the accident occurred. The demon must be appeased, he +declared, and forthwith proceeded to throw rice into the well. Now Mr. +Chefoo's arm would rapidly mend, he asserted.</p> + +<p>Monday morning had come, and still there seemed no prospect of resuming +the journey to Yo Ju.</p> + +<p>"We must get on," said Mr. Reid, "our time is limited. We must make some +arrangement for an assistant for Mr. Kit-ze."</p> + +<p>Mr. Chefoo had now a high fever and was unable to sit up. It had been +decided to leave him with Mr. Ko until their return, which would be in +about three days, as they were not going much beyond Yo Ju.</p> + +<p>In the midst of their perplexity Mr. Ko came to them with a beaming +face. He knew the very thing! Why had he not thought of it before? They +could take Mr. Choi-So. Now that his honorable guests were about to +depart, he, Mr. Ko, would not need his cook. Mr. Choi-So himself was +anxious to go along with them. He had approached Mr. Ko on the subject. +He was an excellent poleman, quick and careful. He had several times +assisted in carrying sampans up and down the river, twice for Mr. Ko +himself. Besides, he bore an excellent character. Mr. Ko knew him. He +had known his father too.</p> + +<p>"I see no reason why we shouldn't take him," said Mr. Reid.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig092-500dpi.png" alt="HE FORTHWITH ... PROCEEDED TO THROW RICE INTO THE +WELL." title="HE FORTHWITH ... PROCEEDED TO THROW RICE INTO THE + WELL." /> +<a name="ILLO9" id="ILLO9"><br/><span class="caption">HE FORTHWITH ... PROCEEDED TO THROW RICE INTO THE +WELL.</span></a> +</div> + +<p>But Mr. Wilburn opposed this. He had not liked the man's concealment of +himself in the sampan, neither had he been favorably impressed by his +appearance on that occasion. His sullen, hang-dog look had betokened +anything but innocence. He could have been after no good. Mr. Wilburn's +suspicions had been strengthened by the presence of Choi-So at Mr. Ko's.</p> + +<p>Neither Mr. Reid nor Mr. Wilburn had learned the story of the red +<i>miriok</i>, or image of Buddha, as it ought more properly to be +designated. The young people, after consulting among themselves, had +decided to tell no one, at least not until they could agree on some +plan. Mr. Choi-So had given them his confidence. He evidently trusted +them and believed that they could help him. If he wanted the others to +know too, then he would tell them. He showed plainly that he feared Mr. +Wilburn and was not at ease with Mr. Reid. Helen and Clarence both felt +that they wanted their father to know, but they respected Mr. Choi-So's +feelings. Perhaps he would himself tell the missionary.</p> + +<p>Things were in this unsatisfactory state when Mr. Choi-So's offer to +attend them as poleman was made known. The young people were pleased. It +was the very thing, they thought. It would give them more time to decide +upon some action, for the desire was now keen with each one to secure +the <i>miriok</i> from Mr. Kit-ze and return it to Mr. Choi-So.</p> + +<p>"The poor fellow will go demented if we do not," declared Clarence. "He +is half crazy on the subject, anyhow. We can at least try to give him +peace of mind."</p> + +<p>"I wish we could give him something else," added Helen wistfully.</p> + +<p>"But we can't," asserted Clarence; "at least not now. His mind is too +upset about the <i>miriok</i>. Besides, Mr. Kit-ze has really treated him +dishonestly. He ought to be made to give the image back to him. The poor +fellow has pinched and saved until he has the amount Mr. Kit-ze paid, so +he told us."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Helen, "if only I could talk to this poor Choi-So so that it +would go to his mind and then to his heart, how happy I should be! If +only I could show him that this image for which he is willing to +sacrifice life itself is only a wretched little piece of metal!"</p> + +<p>"But he ought to carry it back," said Clarence.</p> + +<p>"And run the chance of being thrown into a dungeon, fed on bread and +water, and kept there perhaps for years without ever hearing of a single +one of the sweet and precious things Jesus wants to do for him? Oh, it +is dreadful! He had better lose the <i>miriok</i>."</p> + +<p>"And lose his mind with it? No, my sister, believe me that is not the +right way for poor Choi-So. Let us get the <i>miriok</i> for him—that is, if +we can—and perhaps afterward we may induce him to return it by +messenger and listen to us."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wilburn was finally induced, through Mr. Reid's clear and forceful +way of presenting the matter to him, to withdraw his opposition to +Choi-So's accompanying them as poleman; but not so Mr. Kit-ze. He had +been the last one to discover Choi-So's presence at Mr. Ko's, and this +had been only a short time before the stowaway's offer to take Mr. +Chefoo's place. The old boatman made quick and stormy objections. He +would not, he declared, permit such an idiot to handle a pole of his +sampan, for he was one who had no sense for moving his hands two ways at +once. If ever he had had any sense it was under his arm, for it +certainly had never been put into his head for the lack of room there.</p> + +<p>But after a time Mr. Kit-ze grew cooler and seemed, to some extent, to +be ashamed of his outburst, especially as Helen had now drawn near to +him and taking his hand, was gazing at him reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"Don't say that, Mr. Kit-ze," she said. "You don't really know that he +can't help you with the sampan, do you?" regarding him steadily. "Only +try him, won't you? Think what it means to us to be delayed here. Oh, we +must go on, and you must help us, Mr. Kit-ze, by your consent. Perhaps +it will only be to Yo Ju, as we may find another poleman there to suit +us."</p> + +<p>Thus Helen pleaded, and little by little Mr. Kit-ze's heart relented, +his opposition relaxed, till he at length agreed to Choi-So's +accompanying them as far as Yo Ju. But the stipulations were that he was +not to move from his end of the sampan, and at night he was to leave +them.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Kit-ze is afraid of him," commented Mr. Wilburn. "He can read the +rascal in him as plainly as I can."</p> + +<p>"I hope it will be proved ere we part from our poleman, that both you +and Mr. Kit-ze are mistaken," said Mr. Reid earnestly. "I can't believe +that there is anything vicious in the man. He hasn't at all that +appearance to me. To my eye it is more an anxiety to get up the river +than anything else I can detect."</p> + +<p>Mr. Ko was pleased that they had finally decided to take Mr. Choi-So. +"You won't regret it," he asserted. "He'll take you over the rapids +better than any one I know; and," he concluded, looking at Mr. Reid a +little peculiarly, "it's my opinion you won't dismiss him at Yo Ju. At +any rate, I'll have you a good poleman by the time you come back."</p> + +<p>By ten o'clock they were ready to be off, having bidden good-bye to poor +Mr. Chefoo after having spoken all the consoling words to him they +could.</p> + +<p>In honor of their departure, Mr. Ko had donned a spotless suit of white. +He had also sought to enhance his appearance by adding an immense pair +of spectacles, which he had purchased at considerable outlay, from an +old scholar. It mattered not that one lens was entirely lacking and the +other was so badly cracked that it was a question as to whether Mr. Ko +could use the vision of that eye with any satisfactory effect. All the +same, he stood upon the bank waving his fan majestically, his little +black eye gleaming from out the great round space where the lens ought +to have been, and all the time shouting out to them in Korean, "Come +back again to-morrow!" That meant, "Return as soon as you can."</p> + +<p>Mr. Choi-So soon proved his right to all the good things Mr. Ko had +spoken of him. He was an excellent poleman, both alert and careful. He +helped engineer the boat safely through the rapids in a manner that +called forth grunts of approval from even Mr. Kit-ze.</p> + +<p>About four o'clock in the afternoon they came in sight of Yo Ju. Besides +being a city of considerable size, it was noted as the birthplace of the +queen, and the king had caused two or three public structures to be +erected in her honor.</p> + +<p>There were many sampans, junks, and other rude craft at anchor in front +of the city, and they had much difficulty in making their way through +them. But at length they reached the shore safely. They had not more +than tied up when an immense crowd began to gather about the sampan, +even wading out into the water. The crowd was not only curious, but +annoying. They handled the clothes and hair of our friends, and even +tried to run their hands over their faces. But to this not only protest +but resistance was offered.</p> + +<p>Soon after reaching the bank, Mallard had climbed out on an end of the +sampan and steadied his camera for a snap of the city. He thought it a +splendid opportunity, as the sun was falling full upon the great gateway +and the queer looking buildings grouped near to it. He at once attracted +the attention of the crowd. Great curiosity was aroused as to his +intention, and soon men, women, and children were rushing toward him. +They clambered up the side of the sampan. They pressed about him until +there wasn't space to hold another foot. They poked fingers into eyes +and ears and nose; they shouted in glee as they caught the flash of the +lens in the instrument, and tried to pull it out. In consternation +Mallard endeavored first to protect himself, then his camera, and was +finally pushed into the water, saving the latter from both a smashing +and a wetting by the narrowest margin.</p> + +<p>The same curiosity followed them as they went up into a gate tower for a +view of the city. The crowd pressed about them so they could barely +enter. Even after they began to ascend the stairs the curious throng +crowded about them so that the entire space was filled. When they +attempted to come down again, to their consternation they found they +could not. They had finally to make their way back from the outside, a +rough and somewhat dangerous undertaking. Fortunately neither was Joyce +nor were the two girls with them.</p> + +<p>"This will never do," said Mr. Reid. "We must get away from this +terribly curious crowd, for the annoyance they give us will become more +than a burden after a while. Mr. Kit-ze, is there no place, not so far +away, where we can tie up without the prospect of having such curiosity +as this to endure?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, honorable teacher, not so far away is the temple of the great +Dragon. There are overhanging trees, a quiet river bed, and not many +people who will come to gaze."</p> + +<p>"Then let us go there by all means. To-morrow morning we'll find our +chance to enter the city."</p> + +<p>They made their way out through the forest of river craft and up the +stream again. The great temple stood directly on the banks of the Han, +some little distance from the city. It was a beautiful spot, +picturesquely so, for in addition to the brick and stone pagodas that +gleamed through the trees, there was a number of small islands clustered +about, covered with low-growing verdure and spangled with the blossoms +of the pink and white azalea.</p> + +<p>The temple in itself had much with which they could occupy their time. +Among other things was a quaint bell, in a perfect network of dragons, +said to be more than five hundred years old. But as the sun was near to +its setting as they came to anchor in a quiet spot along the banks, they +decided to do no exploring for that afternoon.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze had spoken truly, "there were not many who came to gaze." +Though it was a kind of outlying village and had several hundred +inhabitants, yet only a few of them appeared on the arrival of the +sampan. Most seemed closely occupied with their pursuits. However, a +little group of women and children pressed near to the sampan, but no +one proved offensive except a mutang (sorceress), who, in the end, gave +them considerable trouble. She contended that she must be given two +<i>yen</i> so as to decide for them whether or not the Dragon would be +pleased at their stay in the front of the temple. She finally fell to +one <i>yen</i>, then to six hundred "cash," but still our travelers paid no +attention to her.</p> + +<p>She had an evil eye, Dorothy asserted, and further declared that she +knew she could not sleep that night for thinking of her.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze showed even more impatience with her than the others. They +didn't need her divinations, he told her, for they had that with them +that could overcome any evil from the dragon. Then he injudiciously gave +her a view of the red <i>miriok</i>. How her keen little black eyes glowed as +she caught sight of it! and the sudden look she cast upon Mr. Kit-ze +made Helen, who was closely watching the scene, feel uneasy despite +herself.</p> + +<p>Helen had been earnestly regarding Mr. Kit-ze through a large part of +that afternoon. There was that in his manner that at times disturbed +her, but again it seemed as though hope were creeping into her heart. He +had been absent-minded and dejected for much of the way, but now and +then he had aroused himself. At such times he had turned with keen +glances in the direction of Choi-So, studying every lineament of the +young man's face, it seemed to Helen. Always these searching looks were +bestowed upon Choi-So when he was not in turn regarding Mr. Kit-ze. +Helen was sure that better feelings were stirring at the heart of Mr. +Kit-ze on these occasions, for she could see how his eyes softened and +his lips moved nervously as he continued to gaze.</p> + +<p>According to agreement Choi-So had been dismissed as night approached; +but Helen, who had been very observant, was sure he was not far away. +Indeed, while walking on the bank for exercise, she had caught sight of +his face from a small clump of bushes only a few steps from where she +was. She decided at once that she would not call attention to him. Her +heart was tender for him. She did not believe that he would do harm. +Soon silence settled down around the sampan, for its inmates had retired +to rest. Several hours of the night passed away. All were supposed to be +asleep except Mr. Kit-ze, whose watch it was. But, after a while, Mr. +Kit-ze too yielded to slumber.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Helen awoke. It was with a strange, restless feeling. It seemed +to her that there had been an uneasy consciousness even in the midst of +her slumber. She tried to go sleep again, but could not.</p> + +<p>"I think the air in here must be a little too close," Helen thought +after a few moments. She raised herself and leaned toward the heavy +curtain of straw. Then she rolled it partly upward, secured it to the +fastenings, and looked out. She was sleeping at the side of the sampan +next to the shore. All was quiet. She could see no one. Then she let her +eyes glance toward the bow of the boat. Mr. Kit-ze was huddled down in +his little boxlike apartment sound asleep.</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Helen, "this will never do! I must call my father to awaken +him."</p> + +<p>But even as she started to move toward her father's apartment, she +stopped again, almost transfixed. A hand had cautiously made its way up +the side of the sampan, and was now directing itself toward Mr. Kit-ze's +breast.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>AN ARRESTED SACRIFICE</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig102-600dpi.png" alt="T"/></div><p>he hand moved nearer and nearer Mr. Kit-ze's breast; a moment more and +it had buried itself in the folds of his robe. Even as Helen continued +to gaze like one transfixed, ere yet she had the power to recover +herself, a face appeared above the hand. But it was not the face she had +expected to see—that of Mr. Choi-So. Instead, the moonlight showed her +clearly the repulsive countenance of the old <i>mutang</i>.</p> + +<p>There are moments when sudden excitement leads us into a line of action +our cooler moments would by no means approve, when quick emotions bring +impulses that are followed without a pause for reasoning. Such a time +had now come to Helen. Mr. Kit-ze was being robbed. She could see that +plainly. The thief was the old <i>mutang</i>, and the object of her theft, it +almost instantly flashed into Helen's mind, was the red <i>miriok</i>. In +truth, even as the intuition came to her, she saw the hideous little +image in the woman's hand.</p> + +<p>All Helen's energies were now bent toward a frustration of the old +woman's design of carrying away the <i>miriok</i>. She, Helen, must recover +it ere the <i>mutang</i> got off with it. For if the <i>miriok</i> disappeared, +how could she ever carry out her good intentions for either Mr. Kit-ze +or Choi-So? All would be frustrated. For would not Mr. Kit-ze be +violently angry? and would he not at once charge the theft to Choi-So? +And what might not happen? As to poor Choi-So, he would surely grow +demented when he found that the image had gone beyond his reach—oh, she +felt that he would!</p> + +<p>In her sudden excitement, Helen never stopped for reasoning. Hence it +did not occur to her that her testimony would exonerate Choi-So with Mr. +Kit-ze, nor that, so far as the part relating to Choi-So was concerned +the old <i>mutang</i> might be located and the stolen image recovered.</p> + +<p>All that Helen then thought of was the recovery of the <i>miriok</i>. She +must get it and at once. Even now the woman was slipping away with it. +If she waited to arouse the others the old woman would be gone, for at +the first sounds of alarm, she would speed away like a hunted animal up +the bank. Helen knew the magic influence of money, especially of shining +<i>yen</i>. Had not the old woman shown her greed for them during the +afternoon? If the <i>miriok</i> could be recovered, it would surely be +through the agency of the <i>yen</i>.</p> + +<p>Both girls had lain down in the loose wrappers they wore for comfort +during a part of the day. In the pocket of hers Helen had her purse. +Besides a few smaller silver pieces there were in it three <i>yen</i>.</p> + +<p>She leaned quickly over Dorothy; she placed her arm under her neck and +gently shook her, all the while whispering: "Get up quickly, dear, and +come with me. Don't speak out, don't question; only come and be quick! +quick!"</p> + +<p>Fortunately, Dorothy was not hard to arouse when once she had been +touched. Like some even heavy sleepers whom a vigorous call cannot +awaken, the touch was like magic. In a second or so she was fully awake, +and gazing at Helen in deep wonder but alert.</p> + +<p>"It is the red <i>miriok</i>!" said Helen to Dorothy again in a whisper. "The +old <i>mutang</i> has come and stolen it from Mr. Kit-ze. He does not know +it, and there is no time to arouse him and the others. We must recover +it. If we are quick we can overtake her before she gets away. Then this +will accomplish the rest," she added, confidently holding up the purse.</p> + +<p>The <i>mutang</i> had now sprung down from the side of the sampan into which +she had crept, and was moving rapidly up the slight incline when Helen +and Dorothy in turn reached the bank. She saw them almost instantly and, +with a muffled cry, very much like the growl of an animal, increased her +speed.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" said Helen in low tones, and as persuasively as she could. +"Stop! We only want to talk to you. We mean no harm."</p> + +<p>But the old woman either did not understand them or she would not stop. +It was evidently the latter, for as much as she could, she quickened her +pace. But swift as she was, Helen and Dorothy were even swifter. They +were only a pace or two behind her as the top of the bank was reached.</p> + +<p>It was not far from daylight. The signs of the approaching dawn had +already begun to appear along the eastern sky. At the brow of the bluff +and stretching away from the temple, was the village of rude mud huts, +with now and then a more pretentious one showing in their midst. There +was one principal street which ran along between the rows of huts. The +<i>mutang</i> made for this with Helen and Dorothy close behind her.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" entreated Helen again, and louder than before. "Oh, do stop! We +mean no harm. We only want to talk to you." But the more earnestly she +entreated, the more determined the old woman seemed to be to resist her, +to escape from her.</p> + +<p>Helen had now drawn near enough to lay hold of the old woman's clothing, +but her grasp was violently shaken off, as the <i>mutang</i> sprang away +again with renewed energy.</p> + +<p>The two girls, intensely excited, stuck to the chase. All their thoughts +were concentrated upon it; their one desire to overtake the old woman +and to induce her, by offering <i>yen</i> in exchange, to return the +<i>miriok</i>. Absorbed in these thoughts, this desire, they lost sight of +all else, especially of how every moment that they were getting nearer +and nearer to the woman they were going farther and farther away from +the sampan.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig106-500dpi.png" alt="'STOP!' ENTREATED HELEN!" title="'STOP!' ENTREATED HELEN!" /> +<a name="ILLO10" id="ILLO10"><br/><span class="caption">'STOP!' ENTREATED HELEN!</span> +</a></div> + +<p>"Oh," said Helen breathlessly, "we must overtake her! We must get her to +give us the <i>miriok</i>. We can't let her escape with it in this manner, +for what then could we do about poor Choi-So and Mr. Kit-ze?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Dorothy, "we must get it back. I am like you, Helen, I +can't bear to see the old woman get off with it. Oh, every time I think +of that poor man Choi-So and his melancholy, pleading eyes, I feel that +we must keep on, that we must overtake her and secure the image by some +means!"</p> + +<p>"Why," said Helen suddenly, "I have forgotten to tell her about the +<i>yen</i> I have for her." Then she began to call, holding up her purse: +"See! I have <i>yen</i> for you. Stop and let me tell you about it."</p> + +<p>At last she had used the magic words. At sound of them, twice repeated, +the <i>mutang</i> slackened her pace. Then she turned her head. Encouraged by +these signs, Helen renewed her efforts.</p> + +<p>They were now some distance into the village, and a half-mile or more +from the sampan. The red glow of the coming morning had fully dyed the +east. Already there were signs of stirring life in the huts about them. +Then too, the noise of running feet and of Helen's loudly spoken words +had attracted attention. One by one forms began to appear on the street. +Soon there was quite a group in the neighborhood of the pursued and +pursuers. By the time Helen had succeeded in gaining the old <i>mutang's</i> +interest, there were many curious spectators surrounding them.</p> + +<p>"What is all this commotion about?" asked one man as he approached. Then +as he noted the <i>mutang</i> he stopped respectfully. The old woman had now +paused in her running, and had turned toward Helen. "What were the +words? Say them again."</p> + +<p>Helen repeated them.</p> + +<p>"Why are you running after me in this way? Why do you offer me <i>yen</i>?" +she now asked angrily.</p> + +<p>Helen told her as simply and as plainly as she could.</p> + +<p>At this the old woman's eyes blazed more than ever. But she seemed to +take a second thought, and asked cautiously, "How many <i>yen</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Two," replied Helen, closely watching her face.</p> + +<p>The old woman shook her head vigorously, then began to stamp. "Too +little! too little!" she said. "Your head is under your arm to think I'd +be such an idiot!"</p> + +<p>Then she set off again.</p> + +<p>"Three!" called Helen desperately, for she knew this was the limit of +her resources so far as <i>yen</i> were concerned.</p> + +<p>"No! no!" shouted the old woman. "Too little! too little! Five or none."</p> + +<p>As the last sentence was uttered, she turned to see its effect on Helen, +but as there was not the response she expected, she renewed her efforts +to get beyond their reach.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I only had my purse too!" said Dorothy. "But I gave it to my +brother yesterday just before we left Mr. Ko's."</p> + +<p>In her despair Helen called after the old woman again and again to stop, +to turn back with them to the sampan, promising her the <i>yen</i> she +desired if only she would do so, and further assuring her that no harm +should come to her, for Helen knew Mallard would gladly supply the +amount of <i>yen</i> she lacked. She would tell him about the <i>miriok</i>. She +had been intending to do it the first favorable opportunity.</p> + +<p>There was now quite a hubbub in the street, for in addition to Helen's +calls and Dorothy's added entreaties, there were the shrill cries of +defiance of the old <i>mutang</i> herself. People had come running from all +directions, and their loudly voiced questions and exclamations added to +the noise. Among others there came five runners, the court officers of a +near-by <i>yangban</i> (gentleman), who was serving as magistrate.</p> + +<p>When they saw the two girls they began to cry out something against the +hated foreigners, and three of them at once took Helen and Dorothy into +custody, while the other two hastened away to capture the <i>mutang</i>. They +were too hardened to mind the old sorceress and her wiles. Moreover, the +court was no respecter of persons.</p> + +<p>Helen and Dorothy were now much frightened and, for the first time, +began to realize what they had done in setting off on this mad chase +after the old <i>mutang</i>.</p> + +<p>Helen was the first to recover herself. "I guess," she said, "it won't +be so dreadful. They won't dare hurt us. And soon our dear ones in the +sampan will come to the rescue, for surely we can get them word. Anyhow, +it won't be long ere they miss us, and they'll search the town over till +they find us."</p> + +<p>A young man, whom Helen declared looked more honest than any of the +others, was soon engaged, in consideration of the offer of two of +Helen's smaller silver pieces, to carry the news of their predicament +to the sampan. But alas for Helen's confidence! After securing the +silver he had taken only about a dozen steps toward the river when, +overcome by curiosity to see the thing out, he turned back.</p> + +<p>The <i>mutang</i> had now been captured, but not until she had made such +vigorous resistance that not only the clothing of the runners had been +torn, but their faces also scratched.</p> + +<p>In close company with the old <i>mutang</i>, and with the runners encircling +them so that there could be no chance of escape, and a leering, hooting +mob following them, the two girls were conducted along the street to the +house of the <i>yangban</i>.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dorothy," said Helen, "this is dreadful!" and, in her pain and +mortification, she sought to conceal as much of her face as she could +with her hands.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Dorothy, on the verge of tears. "Oh, Helen, it would have +been better, many times, to have let the <i>miriok</i> go."</p> + +<p>"No," said Helen, "no!"</p> + +<p>It was now sunrise, but far too early for the magistrate. They were +informed that they must wait an hour or more.</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Helen were finally permitted to enter the women's +apartments. They afterward learned that it was through the overwhelming +curiosity of the <i>yangban's</i> chief wife. At the entrance they were laid +hold of by the serving-women and fairly dragged into the apartment. +There they had a trying experience which lasted nearly an hour. To them +it seemed five times that length. Their clothing, their faces, and their +hair in turn were inspected, and by each wife. They were bidden to take +off their shoes, their wrappers, and other wearing apparel, and each +wife in turn must try on each article. But the bulk of the curiosity was +directed toward Helen's hair. It seemed that the women would never tire +of handling it. They even wanted to cut it off, and but for Helen's +heroic efforts, aided by Dorothy's quick ingenuity, would have +succeeded.</p> + +<p>At length they were summoned before the <i>yangban</i>, the wives, unable to +restrain their curiosity, following them to the room, where they sat +behind a screen.</p> + +<p>The <i>yangban</i>, who was quite a young man, was lounging on his platform +and smoking an immense cigar. He was dressed in a pea-green silk robe +confined by a red girdle, and on each hand was a very showy +paste-diamond ring.</p> + +<p>He had ordered the outer door to be thrown open, and had allowed as many +of the curious crowd to enter as could be accommodated within a certain +space. Near him stood his interpreter, for he had early been informed +that two of the accused were foreigners. After smoking awhile in +silence, he commanded the offenders to be brought before him for the +usual form of questions. He began with Helen. As she stepped a little +apart from the others, and nearer to the magistrate, in her earnestness +to tell him her story, she happened to raise her eyes for a moment and +let them rest upon the crowd gathered at her left. As she did so a +little muffled cry escaped her. There, standing almost in the front +line, and with his dark eyes fixed mournfully upon her, was Choi-So. How +had he come there? Afterward she learned that he had not been far away +from the sampan, and, sleeping very lightly because of the thoughts that +disturbed him, had been attracted by the sound of running feet and by +Helen's calls to the old woman. He had overtaken them just as they had +been arrested and started to the <i>yangban's</i>. He had heard Helen try to +tell one of the runners the cause of the trouble. He had gleaned just +enough to set him on fire with interest and excitement. For an instant +Choi-So's presence at the magistrate's court so disconcerted Helen that +she could not remember the words she had been on the point of uttering. +But soon more confidence returned, and she began bravely to tell her +story.</p> + +<p>The magistrate listened patiently, but he was evidently full of +curiosity and deeply excited over the appearance of the two young girls. +Though he had seen the white foreigners on the streets of Seoul, yet he +had never before been brought in such contact with them. The fearless, +earnest manner of both girls impressed him and had much to do with his +decision.</p> + +<p>The <i>mutang</i> should return the image, he declared. He had not asked to +see it yet, and so was in no wise impressed by it. Helen and Dorothy had +proved to be of such tremendous interest that all minor objects had been +for the time obscured.</p> + +<p>Yes, the <i>mutang</i> should return the image, and the <i>yen</i> that Helen had +offered should go to himself.</p> + +<p>This decision was barely rendered when there came a communication from +his chief wife. He appeared to frown over it for a few moments, all the +while smoking hard. Then he further announced, and in the most laconic +manner, that Helen was to sacrifice her hair ere receiving the image.</p> + +<p>A cry of dismay escaped Helen, while Dorothy, hot with indignation, +began to pour out her protests, first to the magistrate, then to Helen.</p> + +<p>"It can't be done! You can't think of such a thing! Don't! <i>Don't!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Helen, who had now grown strangely quiet and calm. "It +isn't such a dreadful sacrifice, dear. There are many far worse. I can +endure it. My hair will grow out again. Oh, surely it is worth this when +we remember what it means to get back the <i>miriok</i>!"</p> + +<p>All the while she was speaking, though she was looking at Dorothy, yet +Helen saw those mournful eyes that she knew were fixed upon her from the +other side of the room.</p> + +<p>"Take the scissors, Dorothy," she entreated. "I had forgotten until now +that I had my folding ones here in the little case in my pocket. Oh, it +will be so much better for you to do it, dear, for I couldn't bear any +of those rude hands to touch me."</p> + +<p>Dorothy took the scissors, but still making vigorous protest.</p> + +<p>"Do, Dorothy, <i>do</i>, my dear," pleaded Helen.</p> + +<p>With trembling hand Dorothy grasped the rich, shining braid. The +scissors were raised; but ere the two gleaming blades could close on the +glossy strand, a voice cried out authoritatively:</p> + +<p>"<i>Stop! Stop!</i>"</p> + +<p>Helen and Dorothy raised their eyes simultaneously. It was Mr. Kit-ze. +He had pressed to the extreme limit of the line of spectators, and with +his hat gone, his clothing in wild disorder, his eyes gleaming like two +globes of fire, was gesticulating frantically to the magistrate.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>"ONE SOUL"</h3> + + +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/fig115-600dpi.png" alt="M"/></div><p>r. Kit-ze continued to gesticulate and to cry out to the magistrate, +although those near-by sought to restrain him. He even tried to pass the +barrier, but was each time pushed back by the guards.</p> + +<p>The magistrate at first appeared not to notice him, but after a while, +overcome by his curiosity, he turned his head and called to Mr. Kit-ze: +"What do you want, fellow? I'll put you in the <i>cangue</i><a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> if you don't +cease that noise."</p> + +<p>"A word!" cried Mr. Kit-ze. "A word with you, O most high and exalted!"</p> + +<p>The magistrate eyed him a moment nonchalantly. Then he said to a runner: +"Bring him here."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze approached and, falling upon his heels, prostrated himself +three times before the <i>yangban</i>, touching his forehead to the floor +each time.</p> + +<p>As he arose, there fluttered from his fingers a strip of yellow ribbon, +and those who were near to him saw stamped upon it in red a dragon with +four wings and tongue extended.</p> + +<p>"See!" said Mr. Kit-ze, as he held it before the magistrate. "See! O +renowned son of a renowned father. O most exalted, I claim the promise."</p> + +<p>A look of intelligence began to dawn in the magistrate's eye. He looked +closely at the streamer of yellow ribbon. "Go on," he said to Mr. +Kit-ze. "Go on, but keep your head above your shoulders, so as to make +clear what you are trying to say."</p> + +<p>"On a blessed day for your poor, miserable servant," began Mr. Kit-ze, +"your exalted person came down the Han in a craft that went to grief in +the rapids. Your polemen, losing their heads, deserted, and but for the +assistance of the unworthy being now speaking to you and his poleman, +there would have been neither craft nor cargo belonging to your exalted +self to enter Seoul. You gave me <i>yen</i>, but you gave me this too," +holding the ribbon nearer as he spoke, "and your most eloquent tongue, +that always speaks straight, declared that if there was ever anything +this miserable wretch desired of you that could be granted, it should be +so."</p> + +<p>"I remember," said the magistrate. "Go on."</p> + +<p>"I ask you now, O renowned and honorable, to spare the hair of the +daughter of him who is known as the exalted teacher," and here Mr. +Kit-ze turned toward Helen, who, ever since his sudden appearance, had +been regarding him with a questioning if not puzzled wonder. How had he +come there, and where were the others? Had he alone learned of their +whereabouts, and how had it so happened?</p> + +<p>"Take instead something of your wretched servant's," continued Mr. +Kit-ze to the magistrate, "and leave undisturbed the beautiful strands +that are a happiness to her whom they adorn and a joy in the eyes of +those who love her."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Kit-ze," said Helen softly, a great, warm flood of feeling +sweeping over her heart as she comprehended what he had asked and noted +the deep earnestness in his eyes as he turned them upon her, "don't mind +about my hair; please don't. It won't be so dreadful to me to lose it. +Don't get yourself into trouble for my sake," and now she laid her hand +upon his shoulder in earnest pleading.</p> + +<p>"I'll fear to suffer nothing if done for <i>you</i>, O daughter of the +honorable teacher." And now his eyes were misty with feeling as their +gaze lingered upon her.</p> + +<p>"Come, is this all you want?" asked the magistrate impatiently and +evidently resenting the conversation now going on between Helen and Mr. +Kit-ze.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is all your wretched servant has to ask of you," replied Mr. +Kit-ze. "O most honorable," he began to plead, "spare, I entreat you, +the beautiful hair of her who is the daughter of the exalted teacher, +and nothing more will I ask of you. Nothing!"</p> + +<p>"But the <i>miriok</i>, Mr. Kit-ze, the <i>miriok</i>?" said Helen in an undertone +and surprised that he had seemed to take no thought of it in his appeal +to the magistrate. For he surely had heard enough of the proceedings to +understand why she and Dorothy had been brought before the <i>yangban</i>.</p> + +<p>"The <i>miriok</i>?" said Mr. Kit-ze softly and looking at her with eyes +whose confidence touched her beyond expression. "He will give you the +<i>miriok</i>. He has said it."</p> + +<p>Then, as a sudden, strange expression came into his eyes, he glanced up +quickly and straight toward the line of spectators. "There is another," +he said, his lips moving nervously, "and I must!" He paused; then she +heard him say again, "Oh, I must!"</p> + +<p>Helen's heart leaped. Did he mean Mr. Choi-So? Had he seen him among the +spectators? It was more than likely that he had, as the latter stood +near to where Mr. Kit-ze was when he began to gesticulate to the +magistrate.</p> + +<p>"I can't see why your request shouldn't be granted," said the magistrate +after a pause, and to Mr. Kit-ze; "especially as you have brought that +at sight of which no gentleman could break his word," and he pointed to +the streamer of yellow ribbon that Mr. Kit-ze still held. "I remember +the service. Now let me hear the request again."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze repeated it with all the eloquence that heart and tongue +could bestow upon it.</p> + +<p>"Take the image from the old woman and give it to the young foreigner," +said the magistrate, "and there will be no cutting of her hair," he +added firmly.</p> + +<p>As he uttered the last sentence, he threw his head up and glanced +somewhat defiantly at the screen behind which he knew his wives were +sitting. But the chief lady of his household was inexorable. Another +message came to him, and quickly. She would renounce her desire for all +of Helen's hair, but she must have some of it. A strand would now +suffice her.</p> + +<p>"No," said Mr. Kit-ze, "no!" and moved nearer to Helen as though to +protect her. "It must not be!"</p> + +<p>"I can spare a strand," said Helen soothingly to Mr. Kit-ze, "without +its ever showing where it has been cut."</p> + +<p>Then she turned to Dorothy. "Help me undo the braids quickly, dear, and +get a part of one of them. You will know where to cut. Get a good-sized +piece," she added with a smile. "We must give her her curiosity's +worth."</p> + +<p>As the braids were loosened and the strands swept in shining waves over +Helen's shoulders, falling below her waist, there was a chorus of quick +exclamations, followed by prolonged murmurs of astonishment. Only Mr. +Kit-ze groaned.</p> + +<p>Urged by Helen, Dorothy severed the portion of hair, which was at once +conveyed to the <i>yangban's</i> chief wife. They could hear the excited +expressions that sounded from behind the screen.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kit-ze looked miserable. He stood with folded hands mournfully +regarding Helen. His eyes said plainly, though his lips did not, "I +tried to save it. If only you had let me!"</p> + +<p>"Dear Mr. Kit-ze," said Helen, "how I do thank you for——"</p> + +<p>But here she stopped, for the runner, who had at length succeeded, with +the assistance of another, in getting the <i>miriok</i> from the old <i>mutang</i> +was now offering it to her. He was also demanding for the magistrate the +yen that had been mentioned.</p> + +<p>Helen gave them to him, then reached for the <i>miriok</i>. But how her hand +trembled! A pang too struck her heart. How different was the feeling to +that with which she had thought she would receive the <i>miriok</i> if only +she could succeed in recovering it! Though it had been stolen from Mr. +Kit-ze, yet her chief thought when pursuing the old <i>mutang</i> had been of +poor Choi-So, and of how frantic he would be should the <i>miriok</i> pass +away from him. Now the <i>miriok</i> had been given back to her. She stood +there with it in her hand. But there too stood Mr. Kit-ze, and she felt, +if she did not see, his burning glance fixed upon the image in her +clasp. How much he had dared for her! For it is considered a serious +matter in Korea to interrupt a magistrate in the midst of his court. +With what earnestness and eloquence had he pleaded for her hair, seeming +to forget even the precious <i>miriok</i> in his desire to save to her that +which he knew was pleasing to herself and a delight to her loved ones. +He had even used his one claim to the favor of the magistrate in her +behalf.</p> + +<p>Yes, there stood Mr. Kit-ze with burning eyes regarding her, and there +too, not more than ten paces away, was Choi-So. Only the moment before +she had seen him, standing at almost the same spot and in almost the +same position, his eyes riveted upon her every movement. How singularly +quiet he had been! But it was, she felt, the quiet of concentrated +emotion—emotion that might at any moment break forth.</p> + +<p>Oh, what was she to do? A fervent prayer winged its way upward as she +thought quickly, intently. Now of all times she must not make a mistake. +The peace of a soul, maybe in the end the peace of two souls, was at +stake. Suddenly her resolution was formed. She would give the <i>miriok</i> +to Mr. Kit-ze, then, when they were released from the court and were +away from all those inquisitive eyes, she would bravely plead with him +to return it to Choi-So. She would see Choi-So too. She would entreat +him to wait and to leave it to her.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Kit-ze," she said, speaking slowly and trying to make each +expression plain to him, "I saw the old woman when she robbed you. I +called to Dorothy, for I knew I had not the time to awaken you and the +others, and we chased her. Oh, how anxious we were to get the <i>miriok</i> +for—for——"</p> + +<p>But she could not tell him yet. Besides, the magistrate was through with +them, and was even now instructing the runners to conduct them away.</p> + +<p>As they turned to leave the room, Helen gently pressed the <i>miriok</i> into +Mr. Kit-ze's hands. "Take it," she said; "but later, when we get away +from here, I must tell you something."</p> + +<p>His fingers closed about it nervously, and he paused for a moment as +though his emotion at receiving it again had overcome him. Then she +heard him murmur, "Wrong, wrong. I must give it back," and, ere she +could speak to him, he had moved hastily away.</p> + +<p>Surprised, Helen, with a word to Dorothy, turned to follow him. After so +bravely coming to the rescue, was he going to abandon them in that +strange place to make their way back to the sampan alone?</p> + +<p>"Stop, Mr. Kit-ze, stop!" entreated Helen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do wait for us, Mr. Kit-ze!" pleaded Dorothy.</p> + +<p>He paid no heed to them, only kept on; and now Helen, for the first +time, realized whither he was going. It was straight toward Mr. Choi-So. +Her heart almost stopped beating. What would happen? She must follow him +and know. As she reached them, it was to see Mr. Kit-ze holding the +image toward Choi-So, and to hear his tremulously uttered words, "Sorry. +Sorry. It was wrong. She showed me."</p> + +<p>Then he raised his head and added another word, but with almost pathetic +entreaty, "Go!"</p> + +<p>"No," said Helen quickly, "no," and reached out her hand to detain Mr. +Choi-So, but too late.</p> + +<p>With a muffled cry of joy that fell distinctly upon the ears of those +around him, Mr. Choi-So grasped the image, dropped something into Mr. +Kit-ze's hand and, turning, sprang away. He passed swiftly through the +crowd that opened at once to let him by, believing that he was running +in search of his mind, as they expressed it, and to their journey's end +the inmates of the sampan did not see nor hear of him again.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig123-500dpi.png" alt="'SORRY. SORRY. IT WAS WRONG! SHE SHOWED ME.'" title="'SORRY. SORRY. IT WAS WRONG! SHE SHOWED ME.'" /> +<a name="ILLO11" id="ILLO11"><br/><span class="caption">'SORRY. SORRY. IT WAS WRONG! SHE SHOWED ME.'</span> +</a></div> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Kit-ze," said Helen, "I——"</p> + +<p>But the sentence was never finished, for a joyous cry from Dorothy +arrested her in the act of speaking the words, and, at the same time, +she felt an arm slipped about her waist and heard a voice deep with +emotion saying, "My daughter, this has been dreadful for you."</p> + +<p>It was her father, and there too, was Mallard. How rejoiced they were to +find her and Dorothy safe.</p> + +<p>Soon the story of the search for them was told, and then Helen, for the +first time, had light on a subject that even in the midst of far more +engrossing things had caused her much wonder. This was as to how Mr. +Kit-ze had found his way to the court-room without the others.</p> + +<p>The old boatman had slept on until sunrise. The other inmates too had +finished their morning naps, had performed their toilets, and were ready +for breakfast ere the disappearance of the two girls was discovered. It +was after repeated calls and numerous sarcastic remarks on Clarence's +part had failed either to bring them forth or to win even a retort from +them, that Mr. Reid had raised the curtain of their sleeping apartment +for an examination. But still their absence had not caused alarm, for +the first thought was that they might be walking on the bank near by. +However, as a search in that direction failed to discover them, a well +defined fear soon spread. In a short time it became evident that they +had either wandered away and become lost or had been abducted.</p> + +<p>It was quickly arranged that Mr. Reid, Mr. Kit-ze, and Mallard should +set off in search for them, while Mr. Wilburn, Clarence, and Joyce +remained to take care of the sampan.</p> + +<p>In the town they soon heard of the arrest; but as there were two +magistrates, there were, of course, two trails to follow, as no one they +met seemed to know before which one the girls had been carried. In the +eagerness of inquiry, Mr. Kit-ze became separated from Mr. Reid and +Mallard and, while they went on the wrong trail at first, he went on the +right one, arriving almost as soon as the court had begun.</p> + +<p>There was a joyful reunion at the sampan. Only Mr. Kit-ze looked sad. +Helen watched for the first opportunity to speak to him when alone and +said: "Oh, Mr. Kit-ze, that was a good, brave thing you did. How glad it +has made me!"</p> + +<p>The gloomy look began to leave his face. He turned toward her, a joy +awakening in his eyes. "I did it," he said, "because you told me."</p> + +<p>"I?" asked Helen astonished. "Oh, no, Mr. Kit-ze, I never told you."</p> + +<p>"Not with lips, but with eyes," declared Mr. Kit-ze. "Oh, when you +looked at me so, I knew I must. I felt it here," laying his hand with a +pathetic movement on his heart. "And when you talked to me, daughter of +the most honorable teacher, oh, it was like light coming, coming, that +is almost here."</p> + +<p>"But how did you know that I knew about the <i>miriok</i>?" she asked, now +more astonished than ever.</p> + +<p>"I heard him. The day on the bluff. Oh, how frightened poor Kit-ze, and +wretched, wretched!"</p> + +<p>So he had heard Choi-So tell the story, and though he had hotly +protested against his accompanying them as poleman, all the time +vigorously declaring to himself that he would never give up the +<i>miriok</i>, yet the seeds of better things had taken root in his heart, +were even then beginning to push their tender shoots upward. And how +Helen's deep interest, her kindness to him, her evident concern, above +all, the sweet, earnest words she had spoken—how these had brought just +the nourishment to make the seed grow! The hand that no harsh force of +compulsion could ever have made give up the idol to which it clung had +brought it tremblingly to the feet of love, won by its all-conquering +power.</p> + +<p>They turned back from the old temple above Yo-Ju after thoroughly +exploring it. They also spent a day in Yo-Ju, where Mr. Kit-ze +fortunately found a poleman whom he knew and in whom he had confidence. +They stopped at Mr. Ko's long enough to pick up Mr. Chefoo, whom they +found well on the road to recovery, and to leave with their old friend +some remembrances brought from Yo-Ju.</p> + +<p>What a joy it was to Helen, on the homeward journey, to watch Mr. Kit-ze +coming more and more into the light.</p> + +<p>It was one afternoon, just as they were passing along beneath the +beautifully verdured bluffs that indicate the nearness of the mountain +range which encircles Seoul, that Dorothy, slipping her arm with warm +pressure about Helen's waist, laid a book across Helen's knee with a +passage marked.</p> + +<p>After a moment, Helen looked up, her eyes suffused with tears, for this +is what she had read:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">Perchance in heaven, some day, to me<br/></span> +<span class="i2">Some blessed saint will come and say:<br/></span> +<span class="i0">"All hail, beloved, but for thee<br/></span> +<span class="i2">My soul to death had fallen a prey";<br/></span> +<span class="i0">Then oh, what rapture in the thought<br/></span> +<span class="i0">One soul to glory to have brought.<br/></span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig127-600dpi.png" alt="THE END." title="THE END." /><br/> +<span class="caption">THE END.</span> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> A wooden collar worn by Korean offenders against the law.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TRANSCRIBERS_NOTES" id="TRANSCRIBERS_NOTES"></a>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:<br/></h2> +<p>No significant changes have been made to the original work, except to the table of contents, +which has been streamlined for ease of use with this edition.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Red Miriok, by Anna M. 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