Page:Fantastics and other Fancies.djvu/230

 — we can feel the voiceless despair that for a moment chilled the heart and faith of Hiouen-thsang,—alone in the desert of skeletons,—alone in the infinite platitude of sand broken only by the mockeries of the mirage. But the might of faith helped him on; prayers were his food, Buddha the star-compass that illuminated the path to India. For five days and five nights he traveled without meat or drink under blistering suns, under the vast throbbing of stars,—and at last the sharp yellow line of the horizon became green!

It was not the mirage,—it was a land of steel-bright lakes and long grass,—the land of the men who live upon horseback,—the country of the Oigour Tartars. The Khan received the pilgrim as a son; honors were showered upon him,—for the fame of Hiouen-thsang as a teacher of the Law had reached into the heart of Asia. And they desired that he should remain with them, to instruct them in the knowledge of Buddha. When he would not,—only after having vainly