The sun had set in the land where the dragon reigns, and darkness and silence and rest and sleep, the ministers of the night, waited to come to their own. But their presence was not needed in the eastern portion of the province of Hunan, for a wonderful stillness hung over all the barren landscape, and there was no sign of life. On the banks of the streams the patient buffalo no longer went his ceaseless rounds, working the pumps that sent water over the thirsty earth; the shrill cries of the boatmen that were wont to echo on the river were hushed; not even a bird crossed the quiet sky; and where the waving rice-fields had once stretched out proud and green under the summer sun, was now but a lonely waste that gave no hope of harvest, for man and beast had either perished or fled. The great Tai-ping rebellion had stirred this peaceful country to its very centre, and war and war's grim follower, famine, had swept through this once fertile province, and naught was left to tell of what had been, save a few scattered ruins.

Suddenly, against the purplish shadows of the distant mountains, a little group could be seen moving slowly along, the only living things in all this vast solitude. On they came over the parched levels, but the man who was leading the way walked with bowed head, as one that saw not, but only went forward because he must. He was small in stature, and thin and lithe, while his complexion showed through its dark, the pallor of the student. His face was of the Oriental type peculiar to the Chinese Empire, and his carefully braided cue also indicated his nationality. He had dark, sloping eyes that you might have thought sleepy if you had not seen them light up as he talked, his forehead was low and broad, his mouth large, and most amiable in its expression, and when the long sleeves of his tunic fell back, they disclosed soft, delicate hands, unused to toil. His costume consisted of an outer tunic of worn and faded silk, girded at the waist with a sash, from which hung a bag containing flint and steel for lighting his pipe, a soiled pouch that had once held tobacco, but was now empty, another bag for his pipe, and a satin case shaped like the sheath for a short sword, from which protruded nothing more formidable, however, than the handle of a fan. His loose pantaloons, dust-stained and frayed, were met below the knees by cloth stockings, once white, but now dyed with mud, and his shoes of embroidered felt, the toes of which curled up in a curious fashion, showed many gaping holes. Upon his head he wore a cone-shaped hat of bamboo, the peak at the top adorned with a blue button from which fell a blue silk fringe, and his tunic being cut low at the neck and buttoned diagonally across his breast, left exposed his slender bronzed neck.

He was followed by a woman whose dress was similar to his own, and also much the worse for wear, who led by the hand a little boy about four years old, while on her other side was a daughter, now almost as tall as her mother.

But as the father walked slowly, even majestically, at the head of his little family, bearing on a pole thrown across his shoulders, all his worldly goods, there was an independence in his carriage, a pride in his mien, that told of better days not yet forgotten, and made the evident poverty of his appearance seem of but little moment.

A learned man once advanced the theory that in the olden days the children of Abraham and Keturah, driven forth by unkind kinsmen, wandered on until they reached the flowery Kingdom, and there the family of the old patriarch multiplied as the stars of heaven, as the sand upon the sea-shore, and became a mighty nation. But the centuries came and went in silence, and man kept no record of their flight; and of the early settlers of this, one of the first countries inhabited by human beings, history can tell us nothing. The sons of Han have lived their lives calmly, borrowing nothing from other nations, asking nothing of the outside world, caring naught for what lay beyond their vast borders, and change has been an unknown word in their shut-in kingdom. Progress, the daring child of modern times, has not found entrance there, and the Niu Tsang of to-day, leading his family through the forsaken country, was but a repetition of his long dead forefathers. That was the reason why, even now, as he toiled wearily along, his mind left the scenes of the present, so full of sorrow and suffering, and dwelt in placid contemplation on the events of the past. He was musing on the wisdom of the sages, on the maxims of Confucius, when, chancing to raise his head, he saw in the distance the dim outlines of a building.

"It is the temple of Buddha," he cried, joyfully, turning to his wife. "There we shall find food and shelter for the night."

She made a gesture of assent, but her pale lips framed no word, and they pressed hurriedly forward. When they came nearer the temple, he noticed the traces of many footsteps, as if a great throng had entered there, but the same mysterious silence reigned everywhere. There was no murmur of voices raised in chants of praise, no priests waiting at the entrance, no din of gongs and drums, not even a sound from the consecrated animals that had once waited within the enclosure in pampered stupidity for release from their beastly forms. Bewildered, oppressed by a nameless fear, Niu Tsang ran past the open portal, and there he stopped, dismayed at the scene before him, for the rebels, drunk with success, had in their wild zeal turned against the dumb gods of the land, and wrought havoc in the temple. Gilded and painted fragments of helpless idols strewed the floor, the great stone altar, carved in writhing dragons, had been broken into many pieces, and incense vases of priceless porcelain, candlesticks of richest cloisonnÉ, tables of carved ebony, stands of polished jade, and rosaries torn from the hands of frightened priests, had been ruthlessly destroyed, and now lay in great heaps of rubbish. The guardians of the temple had fled before the wrath of the rebel reformers, and the dead gods were left alone in their temple. Niu Tsang made his way sadly through these ruins of the once beautiful structure, and came at last into the dismantled court where his wife and children were already awaiting him. She had taken the boy in her lap and was tenderly stroking his little wan face, while the girl, her eyes filled with unshed tears, squatted beside her. A head of Buddha that had been broken off and rudely tossed into the court, lay near by, watching them with the same queer smile it had once bestowed upon its worshippers. The father made a gesture of despair.

"All is ruin—all is lost—and desolation is spread over the land," he said despairingly. "Nothing is left here."

The boy in his mother's lap moved restlessly about and uttered a low moan.

"Is there no rice, father?" he cried plaintively.

"None, my son," Niu answered with a sigh. "I have searched the temple, only to find it bare. You must wait."

His wife's mouth trembled pitifully as she listened, and noticing this he said to her:

"We must endure as best we can. Night now overshadows us, and there is no human habitation in sight. We must rest here until the dawn and then hurry on, hoping ere the day is done to find food for all. If our strength fail we can but die," he added in a lower tone, as if speaking to himself, but the woman heard it and looked up.

"I am very tired now," she murmured, "and the pangs of hunger torment me. All that I had to eat to-day I gave to the children."

"I know," Niu said. "I too am hungry, but there is no help for it." So saying he sat down; but the girl, despite her weariness, built a pedestal out of the fragments around her, upon which she gently placed the head of her dishonored Buddha, for she was a most devout little heathen, and then she crept quietly back into the temple.