ised and naked feet.

"Greeting," said Ten-teh, when they had regarded each other for a
moment; "yet, alas, no more substantial than of the lips, for the
hospitality of the eleven villages is shrunk to what you see before
you," and he waved his arm feebly towards the empty bowl and the
blackened hearth. "Whence come you?"

"From the outer land of Im-kau," replied the other. "Over the
Kang-ling mountains."

"It is a moon-to-moon journey," said Ten-teh. "Few travellers have
ever reached the valley by that inaccessible track."

"More may come before the snow has melted," replied the stranger, with
a stress of significance. "Less than seven days ago this person stood
upon the northern plains."

Ten-teh raised himself upon his arm. "There existed, many cycles ago,
a path--of a single foot's width, it is said--along the edge of the
Pass called the Ram's Horn, but it has been lost beyond the memory of
man."

"It has been found again," said the stranger, "and Kha-hia and his
horde of Kins, joined by the vengeance-breathing Fuh-chi, lie encamped
less than a short march beyond the Pass."

"It can matter little," said Ten-teh, trembling but speaking to
reassure himself. "The people are at peace among themselves, the
Capital adequately defended, and an army sufficiently large to meet
any invasion can march out and engage the enemy at a spot most
convenient to ourselves."

"A few days hence, when all preparation is made," continued the
stranger, "a cloud of armed men will suddenly appear openly, menacing
the western boundaries. The Capital and the fortified places will be
denuded, and all who are available will march out to meet them. They
will be but as an empty shell designed to serve a crafty purpose, for
in the meanwhile Kha-hia will creep unsuspected through the Kang-lings
by the Ram's Horn and before the army can be recalled he will swiftly
fall upon the defenceless Capital and possess it."

"Alas!" exclaimed Ten-teh, "why has the end tarried thus long if it be
but for this person's ears to carry to the grave so tormenting a
message! Yet how comes it, O stranger, that having been admitted to
Kha-hia's innermost council you now betray his trust, or how can
reliance be placed upon the word of one so treacherous?"

"Touching the reason," replied the stranger, with no appearance of
resentment, "that is a matter which must one day lie between Kha-hia,
this person, and one long since Passed Beyond, and to this end have