d a collision with any evil characters, whether men or
spirits, who might be inclined to have a passage of arms with them.

One day they had passed over a great plain, where herds of sheep could
be seen in all directions browsing under the watchful care of their
shepherds, and they had come to the base of the foot-hills leading to a
mountainous country beyond, when the profound meditation in which
Sam-Chaong was usually absorbed was suddenly interrupted by a startled
cry from Monkey.

Drawing close up to him, he said in a low voice, "Do you see those six
men who are descending the hill and coming in our direction? They look
like simple-minded farmers, and yet they are all devils who have put on
the guise of men in order to be able to take us unawares. Their real
object is to kill you, and thus frustrate the gracious purpose of the
Goddess, who wishes to deliver the souls in the Land of Shadows from
the torments they are enduring there.

"I know them well," he went on; "they are fierce and malignant spirits
and very bold, for rarely have they ever been put to flight in any
conflict in which they have been engaged. They little dream, however,
who it is you have by your side. If they did they would come on more
warily, for though I am single-handed they would be chary of coming to
issues with me.

"But I am glad," he continued, "that they have not yet discovered who I
am, for my soul has long desired just such a day as this, when in a
battle that shall be worthy of the gods, my fame shall spread
throughout the Western Heaven and even into the wide domains of the
Land of Shadows."

With a cry of gladness, as though some wondrous good-fortune had
befallen him, he bounded along the road to meet the coming foe, and in
contemptuous tones challenged them to mortal combat.

No sooner did they discover who it was that dared to champion
Sam-Chaong with such bold and haughty front, than with hideous yells
and screams they rushed tumultuously upon him, hoping by a combined
attack to confuse him and to make him fly in terror before them.

In this however they had reckoned without their host. With a daring
quite as great as theirs, but with a skill far superior to that of the
six infuriated demons, Monkey seized a javelin which came gleaming
through the air just at the precise moment that he needed it, and
hurled it at one of his opponents with such fatal effect that he lay
sprawling on the ground, and with a cry that migh