Page:Strange stories from a Chinese studio.djvu/60

A CHINESE STUDIO 31

Its eyes shot forth yellow fire : it had nothing either upon its shoulders or feet ; but held a bow in its hand and had some arrows at its waist. Mr. Yii was terrified ; and thfe devil discharged an arrow at him which he struck to the ground with his sword. On Mr. Yii preparing to strike, the devil let off another arrow which the former avoided by jumping aside, the arrow quivering in the wall beyond with a smart crack. The devil here got very angry, and drawing his sword flourished it like a whirlwind, aiming a tremendous blow at Mr. Yii. Mr. Yii ducked, and the whole force of the blow fell upon the stone wall of the house, cutting it right in two. Mr. Yii then ran out from between the devil's legs, and began hacking at its back — ^whack I whack ! The devil noAV became furious, and roared like thunder, turning round to get another blow at his assailant. But Mr. Yii again ran between his legs, the devil's sword merely cutting off a piece of his coat. Once more he hacked away — ^whack ! — ^whack ! and at length the devil came tumbUng down flat. Mr. Yii cut at him right and left, each blow resounding Uke the watchman's wooden gong,® and then, bringing a light, he found it was a wooden image about as tall as a man. The bow and arrows were still there, the latter attached to its waist. Its carved and painted features were most hideous to behold ; and wherever Mr. Yii had struck it with his sword, there was blood. Mr. Yii sat with the Ught in his hand till morning, when he awaked to the fact that all these devils had been sent by the necromancer in order to kill him, and so evidence his own magical power. The next day, after having told the story far and wide, he went with some others to the place where the necromancer had his stall ; but the latter, seeing them coming, vanished in the twinkling of an eye, Some one observed that the blood of a dog would reveal a person who had made himself invisible, and Mr. Yii immediately procured some and went back with it. The necromancer disappeared as before, but on the spot where he had been standing they quickly threw down the dog's blood. Thereupon they saw his head and face all smeared

• Watchmen in China, when on their nightly rounds, keep up an incessant beating on what, for want of a better term, we have called a wooden gong. The object is to let thieves know they are awake and on the look-out.