e reception which would be accorded to anyone who appeared there
on such a mission would be of so fatally destructive a kind that the
consideration of his return need not engage a single conjecture.

"Entirely tranquil in intellect--for the possibility of King-y-Yang's
intention being in any way other than what he had represented it to
be did not arise within Sen's ingenuous mind--the person in question
cheerfully set forth on his long but unavoidable march towards the
region of Yun. As he journeyed along the way, the nature of his
meditation brought up before him the events which had taken place since
his arrival at Hankow; and, for the first time, it was brought within
his understanding that the story of the youth and the three tigers,
which his father had related to him, was in the likeness of a proverb,
by which counsel and warning is conveyed in a graceful and inoffensive
manner. Readily applying the fable to his own condition, he could not
doubt but that the first two animals to be overthrown were represented
by the two undertakings which he had already conscientiously performed
in the matter of the mechanical ducks and the inlaid boxes, and the
conviction that he was even then engaged on the third and last trial
filled him with an intelligent gladness so unobtrusive and refined that
he could express his entrancing emotions in no other way that by lifting
up his voice and uttering the far-reaching cries which he had used on
the first of the occasions just referred to.

"In this manner the first part of the journey passed away with engaging
celerity. Anxious as Sen undoubtedly was to complete the third task, and
approach the details which, in his own case, would correspond with the
command of the bowmen and the marriage with the Mandarin's daughter of
the person in the story, the noontide heat compelled him to rest in the
shade by the wayside for a lengthy period each day. During one of
these pauses it occurred to his versatile mind that the time which was
otherwise uselessly expended might be well disposed of in endeavouring
to increase the value and condition of the creatures under his care by
instructing them in the performance of some simple accomplishments,
such as might not be too laborious for their feeble and immature
understanding. In this he was more successful than he had imagined could
possibly be the case, for the discriminating insects, from the first,
had every appearance of recognizing that Sen was