too long outside
the wall, lest his father should become anxious.

It was in the fifth moon: the heat was excessive. No-cha had not gone
a _li_ before he was in a profuse perspiration. Some way ahead he saw
a clump of trees, to which he hastened, and, settling himself in the
shade, opened his coat, and breathed with relief the fresher air. In
front of him he saw a stream of limpid green water running between
two rows of willows, gently agitated by the movement of the wind, and
flowing round a rock. The child ran to the banks of the stream, and
said to his guardian: "I am covered with perspiration, and will bathe
from the rock." "Be quick," said the servant; "if your father returns
home before you he will be anxious." No-cha stripped himself, took his
red silk trousers, several feet long, and dipped them in the water,
intending to use them as a towel. No sooner were the magic trousers
immersed in the stream than the water began to boil, and Heaven and
earth trembled. The water of this river, the Chiu-wan Ho, 'Nine-bends
River,' which communicated with the Eastern Sea, turned completely
red, and Lung Wang's palace shook to its foundations. The Dragon-king,
surprised at seeing the walls of his crystal palace shaking, called
his officers and inquired: "How is it that the palace threatens to
collapse? There should not be an earthquake at this time." He ordered
one of his attendants to go at once and find out what evil was giving
rise to the commotion. When the officer reached the river he saw that
the water was red, but noticed nothing else except a boy dipping a
band of silk in the stream. He cleft the water and called out angrily:
"That child should be thrown into the water for making the river red
and causing Lung Wang's palace to shake."

"Who is that who speaks so brutally?" said No-cha. Then, seeing that
the man intended to seize him, he jumped aside, took his gold bracelet,
and hurled it in the air. It fell on the head of the officer, and
No-cha left him dead on the rock. Then he picked up his bracelet and
said smiling: "His blood has stained my precious horizon of Heaven
and earth." He then washed it in the water.

The Slaying of the Dragon-king's Son

"How is it that the officer does not return?" inquired Lung Wang. At
that moment attendants came to inform him that his retainer had been
murdered by a boy.

Thereupon Ao Ping, the third son of Lung Wang, placing himself at the
head of a troop of marines, his