Of course he knew the ins and outs of the official’s house which he had haunted for ten long fruitless years, and as it was summer time and very hot all the windows were open. So he had no difficulty in marking down his prey. He found him sleeping profoundly. Cho knelt beside the recumbent form and taking only two of the sticks began tapping very gently upon the sleeper, but not hard enough to awaken him. By the dim light of the moon he soon saw two horns grow out of the sleeper’s head and his two hands gradually turn into hoofs. This was enough. He arrested the operation at this point and silently departed.
When morning came there were hurryings to and fro and whispered consultations in that high official’s house. A celebrated physician came hurrying up in his two man chair and disappeared within the house. On a distant hill a devil shrine awoke to life at the howlings and twistings of a mudang who was begging the imps in frenzied terms to lift their heavy hands from the person of a high official.
But there was no relief. The great man sat there dumb as a brute with two great horns protruding from his forehead and his two hands turned into horny hoofs.
At this juncture Mr. Cho appeared upon the scene, announcing that he had just come from the country, and when told of the terrible affliction of his former patron expressed the utmost concern. Admitted to the chamber of the official he inquired what had been done for him. He learned that physicians had exhausted their skill and that, at the instance of the lady of the house, mudangs had done their best but all to no avail.
Mr. Cho assumed a mysterious air and asserted that there was one remedy that had been left untried and that he was sure it would prove effective. He promised to secure some of it and hurried away. Purchasing a turnip at the corner grocery he cut it up fine, macerated it and dried it into a powder. Late in the afternoon he returned to the official’s house and in the presence of the family administered the potent drug. An instant later the two horns were seen to recede slowly into the cranium of the patient and the hoofs to change their form, and at last all evidence of the bestial metamorphosis was wiped out. The official’s voice came back and he joined with the rest of the family in heaping thanks upon Mr. Cho. But if anyone supposes that his reward ended with mere thanks he will make a grievous mistake. Honors poured in upon him, peysil unlimited and kwansey without alloy.
Yi Chong-won.
The Seoul-Fusan Railway.
The completion of this important line of communication is an event of international importance, for it marks a definite period in the construction of a through line that will connect Fusan with the whole of Europe. The trip from Tokyo to London will then require but a few hours of sea travel. The Korean Straits and the Straits of Dover are the Eastern and Western sea barriers which separate the two Island Empires from the great continent. To think that only a few miles of track require to be laid before this stupendous piece of work is completed is almost enough to take one’s breath away. A few years ago it was laughed at as being the dream of a fanatic. Today it is an accomplished fact. The dreams of yesterday are the realities of today.
The formal opening of this branch of the through line called for appropriate ceremonies. No other one thing has done so much to strengthen Japan’s hold upon the peninsula, and the way Japan has poured money into Korea to complete it shows how confident she was of ultimate victory in this present conflict. Of all known things capital is the most timid, and the unreservedness with which money was handed out for this purpose is a measure of Japan’s confidence in herself.