to say anything, the priest related the drift of our
conversation to the layman, who, tongs in hand, was trying to make
the fire blaze. Blaze it would not, but sent forth an increasing
volume of smoke, and the layman, invisible to me in the dense
cloud, though only about two yards away, spoke up and said that for
months he had been a scholar of Jesus, and that if the priest would
join him they would become Christians together. Whether the priest
would join him or not, his mind was made up, he would trust the
Saviour. By this time the cloud had settled down lower still. I was
lying flat on the platform, and the two men were crouching on the
floor--I could just see dimly the bottom of their skin coats--but
the place was beautiful to me as the gate of heaven, and the words
of the confession of Christ from out the cloud of smoke were
inspiriting to me as if they had been spoken by an angel from out
of a cloud of glory.

'But neighbours came in, duty called the blackman (layman) away,
the evening meal had to be prepared and eaten, and it was not till
late at night that I had opportunity for a private talk with him
who had confessed Christ; and even then it was not private, because
we were within earshot of a family of people in their beds.

'Of all the countries I have visited Mongolia is the most sparsely
peopled, and yet it is, of all the places I have seen, the most
difficult to get private conversation with any one. Everybody, even
half-grown children, seems to think he has a perfect right to
intrude on any and all conversation. Bar the door and deny
admittance, and you would be suspected of hatching a plot. Take a
man away for a stroll that you may talk to him in quiet, and you
would be suspected of some dangerous enchantment. Remembering that
one must always have some definite message or business to perform
when he travels, and hoping to be able to do something with this
same blackman, I had purposely left, in the Chinese inn, some
presents which I could not well carry with me, and after a day's
rest the blackman and I started to bring them. That gave us
twenty-three miles' private conversation, and a good answer to give
to all who demanded, "Where are you going?" "What to do?" He gave
me the history of the origin and growth of his belief in Chri