10 



officer or burgher, priest or sorcerer, if he possessed the required abilities, could take the 

 command over an army to fight the Eleuths. "When I heard this, I took clown the proclama- 

 tion and went to the capital to see His Majesty; and in this way I have come here." 



After this explanation they talked ahout ordinary things: supper was prepared in the 

 meantime, and they sat down to a substantial dinner. 



The repast being finished, the abbot asked some questions respecting the Eleuths: how it 

 fared with them lately, and where they had pitched their camp. 



The two commanders then gave him an account of it. He asked also: //At the time you 

 fonght with them, did you lose or gain?" //The Eleuthian soldiers are ferocious and fïerce," 

 replied Liu-king; „1 once left the frontierplace to fight them, but dared not commence a gene- 

 ral engagement, and drew my troops back again. Yesterday they have been shouting all day 

 long, and therefore we took still more care and kept rigorous watch. Fortunately, the walls 

 and moats of the fortress are strong and maintainable, so that we have been able to preserve 

 it. But to day your Excellency has arrived to save and protect us by some excellent stra- 

 tagem; you excell in military tactics above all other generals, and, to be sure, you will gain 

 the victory. But it is proper that we arrange now our plan of attack, and plot some good 

 stratagem, that we may obtain a complete victory. If we don 't do that, Phang-lung-thian 

 will not be easely vanquished." //You have been long resident here," replied the abbot, //and 

 are surely fully acquainted with the topography and condition of the place, as you, proba-, 

 bly, also know the movements of the ennemy. Be kind enough to explain all this to me 

 distinctly." //I ordered, some time ago, Hwang-sze-tsiuen to make a map from the 4th to the 

 8th degree," replied Liu-king; //the important passes, where a passage is to be found, are 

 distinctly noted and drawn upon it and I will give it now to your Excellency, that you may 

 make your plans on it and stucly it." 



The abbot, having looked carefully over the map, and having fixed it in his memory, 

 said: //To morrow, when they commence the attack, we shall look to their movements, and 

 most surely obtain the victory." 



The next morning the abbot choose his men one by one, and communicated his stratagem 

 to them. He placed the one here and the other there, in an ambush, in all sorts of ways. He 

 then drew his sword and, making some magie passes, muttered an exorcism. He adressed 

 Heaven and the spirits Luh-ting ( x ) and Luh-kah ( 2 ), to come to his assistance and decide the 

 battle. "VVhen the battle was at its height these spirits, indeed, poured down a rain of sand and 

 stones: a violent storm arose, and the dust and earth obsciired heaven, so that the Eleuthian 

 soldiers crushed each other and, thoroughly routed, took to flight. 



Having reached the ravine Hü-hu-chuh, ( 3 ) bombs and mines burst every where, and from 

 every place fire-darts came whistling. The whole pass was obscured by smoke, and the sol- 

 diers and officers of Phang-lung-thian all perished. The abbot then recalled his troops, and 



i 1 ) ^ T h ^ ¥ < 3 > W % Ys 1% 



