"Thy slaves have been diligent, and thy command anticipated, O Emperor; the miserable chief of the mathematics and his brethren have been carried before the three tribunals, their guilt proved, and most mercifully adjudged to be strangled; the sentence but awaits the vermilion pencil of the Emperor," said Li-Kong. "The judges have failed in the duties of their office by so mild a sentence, for which let them all be degraded three degrees of rank, and the priests be cut into ten thousand pieces," said the Emperor. "If the crime be proved, the sentence is light; if not, terrible must be thy remorse, O my sovereign, for the learned father's services have been great. Surely, then, thy wisdom alone should seek to discover the guilt or innocence of this enormous culprit, or much-injured priest," said Woo. "The words of the venerable Woo, O my royal father, are worthy of his years and the imperial dignity; let not thy indignation rather than thy justice adjudge this priest, but command that he be brought before thee," said the young prince, earnestly. "Thy words are but reasonable, my son; we will examine the Christian dog ourselves," said the Emperor. When, at a signal, the aged missionary, Adam Schaal, was brought before the throne, so laden with iron chains that his form was bent to the shape of a bow; still, with his long white hair and beard, and the unflinching, piercing blue eye of his German race, he looked, as he was, a willing martyr for the cause of his Saviour. At the sight of his old favorite thus humiliated, even the Emperor melted with pity and doubt as to his guilt. "Can it be under heaven," said he, "that so holy a body should contain so vile a heart? Have we not protected and fostered thee and thy companions in the heart of our empire, giving thee permission to build thy temples and even to convert the people to thy religion; nay, moreover, raised thee to the first rank among the learned? Canst thou answer, thou villainous old man?" "It is even these favors, O mighty Emperor, that have raised the envy of the enemies of Christ, who, jealous of the success of thy servant's cause, seek to destroy him, that they may triumph over his religion; and if their malice should prevail, the Christian priest will die blessing the great Emperor who enabled him to do so much good." "What says the accuser to these words?" said the Emperor, sternly, more than half believing in the father's innocence. "Stand forth, O Hung," said Li-Kong; when a mandarin of the second degree fell before the throne and held above his head some medals, a book, and a chaplet of beads, saying, "Are not these proofs of the old rogue's guilt?" "They are, O my sovereign, the mysterious symbols and secret marks used by the initiated in the great conspiracy, which is now insidiously spreading throughout the empire, and known to each other."