CHINESE SECRET SOCIETIES. 77 



a troop of Imperial soldiers, and pointing" to the East and West ; 

 it immediately struck them that it was this man who had led 

 the soldiers to the attack on the monastery, in revenge for the 

 blow he had received some time before. The brethren deter- 

 mined that whatever should befall, they would at once take 

 the opportunity of revenging* themselves on Ji-hok, and this 

 being done, they would consider what further steps to take. 



Having made this decision, the priests rushed into the midst 

 of the Chheng* soldiers, dragged out Ji-hok, and cut himin pieces; 

 but the soldiers cried " kill these wicked priests," and as they 

 had no weapons, and most of the priests had been wounded 

 or burnt, they could do nothing against a body of armed 

 men, so had no resource but to escape if possible by flight. 

 They fled, till they arrived at a place of safety called the Long- 

 Sandy Beach, outside the district of the Yellow Spring, and 

 here they nearly perished of hunger and cold. As they were all 

 on the river bank, two men, Chia Pang Heng and Go-teng Kui, 

 fortunately came up, and rescued the brethren in their boat, where 

 we will leave them for the present, and relate how 7 Tan-Hiang 

 having' received the red scarf, proceeded on his Mission. 



Tan-Hiong having received the Imperial Command, left the 

 Capital, and went direct to the Military District of O-Kong, where 

 Kun-Tat came forward to meet him; and Tan-Hiong seizing the 

 opportunity, while in the road, read the Emperor's warrant, and, 

 upbraided Kun-tat for conspiring' to raise rebellion ; he told him 

 that excuses could be of no avail, and throwing around his neck 

 the red scarf, Kun-tat was strangled, and his body dragged to a 

 place called E-Kang-Boe. After this, Tan-hiong recalled his 

 troops, and they returned with him to the Capital, where he re- 

 ported the success of his mission. 



The murder of Kun-tat caused great consternation to his fol- 

 lowers, and deep was the grief of his relations when they saw 

 their head taken from them by a violent death, for no cause 

 Avhatever; they returned home, and carried the sad news to Kun- 

 tatfs father, wife, and children. 



The whole family were at first stunned with grief, heaven 

 and earth seemed to have deserted them ; but after the first grief 

 was over, the wife nee Koeh-Siu-Eng, her son To-Tek, 

 and her Sister-in-law Giok-Lien, with her son To-Hang, 

 went with all their household, and recovering Kun-Tat's corpse 

 from E-Kang-Boe, buried it peacefully in the family grave 



* The present dynasty is called Chheng or pure. 



