ghtening the enemy.
Thus for a second time was Su-nan victorious.

During the following year several battles occurred that counted for
little, except that in each of them many of Su-nan's followers were
killed. At last one of the viceroy's best friends came to him, saying,
"Noble lord, it is useless to continue the struggle. I fear you must
give up the fight. You have lost more than half your supporters; the
remaining bowmen are either sick or wounded and can be of little use.
The Emperor, moreover, is even now raising a new army from the distant
provinces, and will soon send against us a force ten times as great as
any we have yet seen. There being no hope of victory, further fighting
would be folly. Lead, therefore, your daughter to the palace. Throw
yourself upon the mercy of the throne. You must accept cheerfully the
fate the gods have suffered you to bear."

Ta-ki, chancing to overhear this conversation, rushed in and begged her
father to hold out no longer, but to deliver her up to the greed of the
wicked Chow-sin.

With a sigh, the viceroy yielded to their wishes. The next day he
despatched a messenger to the Emperor, promising to bring Ta-ki at once
to the capital.

Now we must not forget Fox Sprite, the demon, who had been commanded by
the good goddess Lu-o to bring a dreadful punishment upon the Emperor.
Through all the years of strife between Chow-sin and the rebels, Fox
Sprite had been waiting patiently for his chance. He knew well that some
day, sooner or later, there would come an hour when Chow-sin would be at
his mercy. When the time came, therefore, for Ta-ki to go to the palace,
Fox Sprite felt that at last his chance had come. The beautiful maiden
for whom Chow-sin had given up so many hundreds of his soldiers, would
clearly have great power over the Emperor. She must be made to help
in the punishment of her wicked husband. So Fox Sprite made himself
invisible and travelled with the viceroy's party as it went from central
China to the capital.

On the last night of their journey Su-nan and his daughter stopped for
rest and food at a large inn. No sooner had the girl gone to her room
for the night than Fox Sprite followed her. Then he made himself
visible. At first she was frightened to see so strange a being in her
room, but when Fox Sprite told her he was a servant of the great
goddess, Lu-o, she was comforted, for she knew that Lu-o was the friend
of women and children.

"But how can _I_ hel