THE PAGODA He was spared that inconvenience.

The untimely rain and cold, some persons said, the few days of untimely heat following, had drowned or dried, frozen or burnt out, the seeds of peril.

But accounts varied, reasons were plentiful.

Soldiers had come down from the chow city, two-score _li_ inland, and charging through the streets, hacking and slashing the infested air, had driven the goblins over the walls, with a great shout of victory.

A priest had freighted a kite with all the evil, then cut it adrift in the sky.