" PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING " 277 



"Me Hu Dra," he explained over and over again, 

 in vain repetition. 



"Ye 're Tsing Hi, I tell yer. Ye 're Tsing Hi in the 

 name of Her Majesty. Haven't I arrested ye as 

 sich?" 



"Me Hu Dra," reiterated the captive as they jogged 

 on. "Me come Coo 'tow' one yar." 



"Shut yer mout ! Didn't I tell yer before that 

 ye 're Tsing Hi ? Didn't yer wilfully and knowingly 

 escaape from me whin I was having a bite to ate, and 

 I had yer tied to the post at the shanty back beyant 

 there ! Naw, I'll hear no more of yer Hu Rahin'. 

 Kape a civil tongue betune yer taath, or, be gorra, 

 worse '11 happen yer." 



Hu Dra was patient. He thought of his pilgrimage 

 long ago to the top of Mount Omei. Was this the 

 reward he had gained ? 



He solaced his soul by murmuring the pious invoca- 

 tion which all pilgrims to the Sacred Mount have per- 

 petually on their lips — "Om mane padme om !" 



Torn from his secluded garden and happy and profi- 

 table toil, bruised and manacled, bundled on to a fear- 

 provoking horse, hurried off he knew not whither, 

 through a drought-stricken land under a searing sun, 

 the road reeking with dust — what a plight for a devout 

 Buddhist, who had sought to avert calamity and pro- 

 long life by the ascent of the chill mount where, alone 

 in all the world, is revealed the "Glory of Buddha." 



Mystic that he was, he found sure comfort in pious 

 meditations. Present pains of body and mind vanished 

 as with half-shut eyes he drifted into the chill realm 

 where he hearkened to chants of priests, the tinkling 

 of the temple bells, the fervent response of hundreds 

 of pilgrims as meek as himself — "Om mane padme 

 oml" 



