18th May. 1.—AyD it came to pass in those ys that the children of the Lion took unto themselves a Lath t was painted to look like iron, and they set it up on high to rule over them and to speak in their name to their friends and their enemies in the 2—And the hearts of the Hyperboreans, even the children of the Bear, were greatly lightened and they said: We need s more fur the favour of the children of the Cock, even the Gauls that are in the West of Europe, for no harm shall come to us or to our plottings while this Lath rule th.
3.—Now the land of Sinim was a rich land and a fertile, and it brought forth tea and silk and hid And the other things that it brings forth are they not written in the yellow books of the Department that is called Statistical 4.—Now the people of the land Sinim were as the sands of the sea shore for multitude and they longed to clothe themselves in gatments of cotton from the going down of the sun, and their hearts longed for horseshoes and needles and kerosene oil and coal-tar dyes. And the rest of the things for which their hearts longed are they not written in the yellow books of the Department that is called Statistical 5.—Now this land of Sinim abound ded also in mines of coal, and out of her hills men might dig iron and quicksilver, gold also and silver, but the men of Sinim neglected their mineral opportunities, for, they said, the wrath of the earth-dragon shall be aroused and we shall perish miserably, and they fell down with one accord and worshipped their god who is called Féngshui.
6.—And this was the opportunity of the Syndicates.
7—But the Hyperboreans dwelt ina land of snow and ice, and they built them an iron road by which they might travel from the West to the East a hundred days' journey or more. But when they came to the sea their hearts failed them, for lo! the frost was upon the water and for many months their ships could not come nigh unto the shore.
—So they said: In the land of Sinim there a goodly harbor where the frost cometh not, and it is called after the name of the good King, even Arthur, and thither will we carry our road of iron.
they took the port that is called Arthur, and the ships that were there of the children of the Lion they removed by the use of soft words to the ruler who is known as the Lath.
10.—And then came all peoples, nations, and languages, and they said: Since the Hyperboreans have done this thing and the Lath hath jewed it, we also will have a share of the land that brings forth the tea and the silk and the hid of the hills wherein is coal and iron, and of the harbours wherein our argosies and our war-galleys may lie in safety.
11.—And the Syndicates came also, for they were a folk of much acquisition.
—And the people of the land of, Sinim bore it all with humility, for their meekness not the meekness of those that inherit the earth.
13,—And the rulers of the land of Sinim said: Lest we be swallowed up entirely let us build an iron road of our own from the capital of this our land to Yingtze that is called Newchwang: and they sent -for their faithful engineer, even Kinder, and as for the money, that was brought unto them by the money-changers that are in Hongkong, into whose lap the children of the Lion poured freely their shekels, and the usury was not excessive.
1i—But the Hyperboreans waxed wroth and s. "Go to now, thou engineer that art called Kinder; this Yingtze is our Yingtze and none but the children of the Bear shall build! iron roads eastward of the Wall that is called Great.
15.—And the Lath was sorely troubled in his mind.
16.—But it came to pass in those that the ruler of the Hyperboreans looked into his treasure-house and behold! it was empty, for he had spent many roubles on war-galleys and men-at-arms and iron roads and the extension of civilisation in the land of Sinim.
17.—So he took his pen and sat down quickly and wrote a letter to all peoples, nations, and languages saying: Let us disarm and so shall we have money to spend on the extension of civilisation. And they said:, We will meet together in the Low Countries even as thou pro-pesest.
18.—But the Lath said unto him: Thou proposes disarmament with one mouth and with the other thou wouldest defy my money-changers to build them an iron road to Yingtze.
19.—And the ruler of the Hyperboreans saw that his foot had slipped and he dissembled and said: I will no longer interfere with thy road and we will m ko an agreement tog ther, and I will not interfere with thy sphere of influence.
20.—For he and his friends had already obtained all that seemed good to them in the sphere of the children of the Lion.
21.—And thou, he said to the Lath, shalt interfere no longer in my sphere; and the Lath was pleased and his worshippers took up their pens and wrote many. scrolls in the reviews and magazines and said: Verily we have such a Lath as the wi hath not seen before.
'Then the ruler of the Hyperboreans softly closed one of his eyes, and he went to the rulers' of the land of Sinim and said: I have a demand to make, for I will build an iron road even for myself from the capital of the land of Sinim to my iron road that runneth to the harbour of the good King Arthur.
—But the rulers of the land of Sinim were sore troubled and their knees shook beneath them and _their hearts were turned to water, and they sent for their scribes and ordered them to write to the Lath and tell him of their sore distress.
24.—And the Thunderer that dwel-Icth in the Square of the House of the Printers in London, and whose scribes are in all peoples, nations, and languages, and to whom the wire bringeth the news from the capital of the land of Sinim, was greatly moved.
25.—And he made the hearts of the children of the Lion hot within them for they put their trust in the Thunderer, and they know that his scribes are good men and the wool is not pulled over their eyes, and the Thunderer said: Shall we lose our
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.