No reader of these lines can conceive of the consternation among the Li's. They called a family conclave. herr frst resolution was one of secrecy til! death. he next was to confer with the priests and lamas.
When. the latter were called into the gathering their judgement was unanimous: the foal should be purchased from the Wang family and should be treated witn the consideration due to the head of the clan. The judgement of the Gods had been rendered and any effort to alter this judgement would only bring fresh calamities upon the condemned soul. This seemed an easy solution to all the members of the Li family so they bought pledges of secrecy from the holy men, and sent them away, determined to procure the foal on the following morning. The younger Li proposed simply to confiscate it as a debt instalment.
The following morning therefore he rode to the hovel of the younger Wang prepared to remind him of the tong-standing obligation, to vant upon this subject for a time, then to discover the foal, express surprise and demand it. It seemed very simple. But the first sight which met his eyes when he came upon the little threshing floor in front of the hut was the younger Wang belabouring the little donkey with a heavy rod and cursing its ancestors. Imagine his con-stomation! He stood aghast for a moment; all thought of the old debt fled from his memory and all that occupied his mind was this sight of a miserable, grimy man in rags beating his father with a club and cursing his forebears—the sacred ancestors of the Li clan.
Tue VENGEANCE or Wana.
"Stop it!" he cried, as he seized the younger Wang by the arm and raised his riding whip above his head, "ILI teach you not to beat and curse my—'
He was about to say "my father," but checked himself in time as it came to him that to say this would betray all. He paused confusion and the younger Wang, swinging about and putting his big club before him, shouted with indignation.
"Your ass, you would say, your ass! You are not satisfied with having reduced us to misery, but you would take from us even the last means of livelihood. We owe you money but you do not own us. We owe you money—truly, you do not let us forget it for long—but
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.