Page:Ernest Bramah - Kai Lungs Golden Hours.djvu/293

 awe-inspired surprise, and without a pause he stepped off the raft and submerged himself beneath the waters.

It was even as he asserted; Ten-teh turned his eyes and lo, his two cormorants, instead of rising in anger, as their contentious nature prompted, had sunk to the ground and were doing obeisance. Much perturbed as to his own most prudent action, for the bird was nearing the raft, Ten-teh judged it safest to accept this token and falling down he thrice knocked his forehead submissively. When he looked up again the majestic bird had vanished as utterly as the flame that it quenched, and lying at his feet was a naked man-child.

"O master," said the voice of the assistant, as he cautiously protruded his head above the surface of the raft, "has the vision faded, or do creatures of the air before whom even their own kind kowtow still haunt the spot?"

"The manifestation has withdrawn," replied Ten-teh reassuringly, "but like the touch of the omnipotent Buddha it has left behind it that which proves its reality," and he pointed to the man-child.

"Beware, alas!" exclaimed the youth, preparing to immerse himself a second time if the least cause arose; "and on no account permit yourself to be drawn into the snare. Inevitably the affair tends to evil from the beginning and presently that which now appears as a man-child will assume the form of a devouring vampire and consume us all. Such occurrences are by no means uncommon when the great sky-lantern is at its full distension."

"To maintain otherwise would be impious," admitted his master, "but at the same time there is nothing to indicate that the beneficial deities are not the ones