Part 6 (1/2)

Peering out through the opening between the curtains, she saw two Korean women moving away from the sampan. Thus she knew her midnight fright had been caused not through any evil intention but from the exercise of pure curiosity. They had but carried into effect the desire for a closer inspection of her hair.

So soundly did the other occupants of the sampan sleep that none of them were aroused by this incident, not even Dorothy. Thus it was an astonis.h.i.+ng piece of news to them when Helen told it on the following morning.

Dorothy was overcome by admiration for Helen's coolness. ”O Helen, are you sure you didn't scream, not the least little bit? Oh, I never could have taken it as you did,” and she drew her breath quickly.

Others besides Dorothy had words of praise for Helen's fort.i.tude. ”Nine girls out of ten would have gone into hysterics,” declared Clarence.

”Put the percentage lower,” warned Dorothy, shaking her fist at him in well-feigned indignation.

”Well, seven out of ten then.”

”Oh, that is much better.”

It was long after breakfast when the magistrate condescended to appear.

Then he kept them waiting an hour or more through his insatiable curiosity, for he must needs inspect everything in the boat, even to the f.a.ggots and the chicken coop. But at last they were off. They had been afraid that the man might attach himself to them again ere they left the village. However, up to the time of pus.h.i.+ng off, they had seen nothing of him. He had been dropped on the way from the magistrate's the evening before, and evidently that was the last of him.

As they went along now, Mr. Reid and Mr. Wilburn were discussing the event, as well as the man's probable meaning when he had muttered the words ”Marble PaG.o.da.” Both missionaries knew of the old Marble PaG.o.da in Seoul, one of the curiosities of the place, though, strange to say, not many seemed to care to go about it. The natives especially shunned it, that is, a large percentage of them did. They declared that it was filled with demons and haunted by all kinds of evil spirits. It stood in one of the foulest parts of the city, just back of a narrow alley, and all around it were cl.u.s.tered wretched-looking hovels. It was said to be more than seven centuries old. It had been originally thirteen stories, but during the j.a.panese invasion of three centuries before, three stories had been taken off. Many of the chambers contained the richest carvings, especially that known as the room of the Five Hundred Disciples. That had the images of many of the Hindu divinities.

”I understand,” said Mr. Wilburn, ”that several bits of detached carving, some of them representing deities, and others the various stages of the progress of Buddha toward Nirvana, or the Buddhist heaven, have been found in the old paG.o.da up to a time within recent years.

There is the story, not very old, of the young a.s.sistant of one of the Buddhist priests at a monastery in the mountains, who nearly forfeited his life by stealing one of the images that had been brought from the paG.o.da, a very rare and valuable one, by the way. But he escaped by the narrowest chance, though the priest hunted and hunted him for a long time, and may be doing it yet, for all I know.”

”What a fortunate thing for our missionary labors,” remarked Mr. Reid, ”that Buddhism was long ago abolished throughout the kingdom, and only a little colony of the priests allowed here and there in remote places.”

”Ah, my brother, but there are the horrors of demon wors.h.i.+p with which to contend, and the stonelike barriers of ancestral wors.h.i.+p to break away. The former is as bad as Buddhism, where it has taken deep hold.”

”As it has in our sampan man here,” observed Mr. Reid with a sigh. ”Oh, if I could only see some impression made on him by our teachings, some little inclination toward the truth as it is alone found in the pure gospel of Jesus.”

”Do not despair. He may turn to the better way in time. It seemed to me during the services last evening that he listened more intently than I had ever seen him. He seemed to be impressed too, by the questions that were asked, especially by the earnest ones of the old man.”

”Oh, but he is so persistent in his devotions to that wretched little image he has. Only this morning I saw him fondling it. Sometimes I feel like taking it from him and pitching it far out into the stream.”

”Oh but, father,” said Helen earnestly, now joining the conversation because she felt that she must, ”that would not be best, believe me.”

”But how are we to teach them a better wors.h.i.+p until we take their miserable idols from them?”

”Oh, father, we mustn't tear down to build up. If a man were living in an old and insecure house, we wouldn't pull it down over him, for fear of the damage it would do. If we were his true benefactors, we would simply invite him away from the old and into a better one.”

”Well said!” declared Mr. Wilburn, his eyes s.h.i.+ning. ”You are a true reasoner, Miss Helen.”

”But so long as they have these horrid images that they believe can counteract the evil effect of the demons, they will go on wors.h.i.+pping them. We must get them away.”

”But not by compulsion, father.”

”How then, Helen?”

”By love.” She reached out and took his hand as she said the words, and began to pat it softly. Her lips trembled but her eyes met his bravely.

”Yes, my dear, yes, I know. When the heart is touched, love is the thing then with which to win them. But you can't pelt a stone wall with cotton, Helen, and hope to make any impression.”

”But, my father, if cannon were used, what would be the result? Only devastation. We can't drive these poor things away from their idols. We must coax them.”