ju's orders the beacons flared their nightly message of peace. And

night by night the peace-beacons flared, while day and night Chong



Mong-ju's messengers killed horses on all the roads of Cho-Sen. It

was my luck to see his messenger arrive at Keijo. At twilight, as I



rode out through the great gate of the capital, I saw the jaded

horse fall and the exhausted rider stagger in on foot; and I little



dreamed that that man carried my destiny with him into Keijo.

His message sprang the palace revolution. I was not due to return



until midnight, and by midnight all was over. At nine in the

evening the conspirators secured possession of the Emperor in his



own apartments. They compelled him to order the immediate

attendance of the heads of all departments, and as they presented



themselves, one by one, before his eyes, they were cut down.

Meantime the Tiger Hunters were up and out of hand. Yunsan and



Hendrik Hamel were badly beaten with the flats of swords and made

prisoners. The seven other cunies escaped from the palace along



with the Lady Om. They were enabled to do this by Kim, who held the

way, sword in hand, against his own Tiger Hunters. They cut him



down and trod over him. Unfortunately he did not die of his wounds.

Like a flaw of wind on a summer night the revolution, a palace



revolution of course, blew and was past. Chong Mong-ju was in the

saddle. The Emperor ratified whatever Chong Mong-ju willed. Beyond



gasping at the sacrilege of the king's tombs and applauding Chong

Mong-ju, Cho-Sen was unperturbed. Heads of officials fell



everywhere, being replaced by Chong Mong-ju's appointees; but there

were no risings against the dynasty.



And now to what befell us. Johannes Maartens and his three cunies,

after being exhibited to be spat upon by the rabble of half the



villages and walled cities of Cho-Sen, were buried to their necks in

the ground of the open space before the palace gate. Water was



given them that they might live longer to yearn for the food,

steaming hot and savoury and changed hourly, that was place



temptingly before them. They say old Johannes Maartens lived

longest, not giving up the ghost for a full fifteen days.



Kim was slowly crushed to death, bone by bone and joint by joint, by

the torturers, and was a long time in dying. Hamel, whom Chong



Mong-ju divined as my brains, was executed by the paddle--in short,

was promptly and expeditiously beaten to death to the delighted



shouts of the Keijo populace. Yunsan was given a brave death. He

was playing a game of chess with the jailer, when the Emperor's, or,



rather, Chong Mong-ju's, messenger arrived with the poison-cup.

"Wait a moment," said Yunsan. "You should be better-mannered than



to disturb a man in the midst of a game of chess. I shall drink

directly the game is over." And while the messenger waited Yunsan



finished the game, winning it, then drained the cup.

It takes an Asiatic to temper his spleen to steady, persistent,



life-long revenge. This Chong Mong-ju did with the Lady Om and me.

He did not destroy us. We were not even imprisoned. The Lady Om



was degraded of all rank and divested of all possessions. An

imperial decree was promulgated and posted in the last least village



of Cho-Sen to the effect that I was of the house of Koryu and that

no man might kill me. It was further declared that the eight sea-



cunies who survived must not be killed. Neither were they to be

favoured. They were to be outcasts, beggars on the highways. And



that is what the Lady Om and I became, beggars on the highways.

Forty long years of persecution followed, for Chong Mong-ju's hatred



of the Lady Om and me was deathless. Worse luck, he was favoured

with long life as well as were we cursed with it. I have said the



Lady Om was a wonder of a woman. Beyond endlessly repeating that

statement, words fail me, with which to give her just appreciation.



Somewhere I have heard that a great lady once said to her lover: "A

tent and a crust of bread with you." In effect that is what the



Lady Om said to me. More than to say it, she lived the last letter

of it, when more often than not crusts were not plentiful and the



sky itself was our tent.

Every effort I made to escape beggary was in the end frustrated by



Chong Mong-ju. In Song-do I became a fuel-carrier, and the Lady Om

and I shared a hut that was vastly more comfortable than the open



road in bitter winter weather. But Chong Mong-ju found me out, and

I was beaten and planked and put out upon the road. That was a



terrible winter, the winter poor "What-Now" Vandervoot froze to

• governor [´gʌvənə] n.总督；州长 (初中英语单词)


• torture [´tɔ:tʃə] n.&vt.折磨；痛苦；拷问 (初中英语单词)


• regiment [´redʒimənt] n.团；一大群 (初中英语单词)


• convince [kən´vins] vt.使确信；使认识错误 (初中英语单词)


• disgrace [dis´greis] n.耻辱 vt.玷辱；贬黜 (初中英语单词)


• generation [,dʒenə´reiʃən] n.发生；世代；同龄人 (初中英语单词)


• driven [´driv(ə)n] drive 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)


• absolute [´æbsəlu:t] a.绝对的 n.绝对 (初中英语单词)


• emperor [´empərə] n.皇帝 (初中英语单词)


• beaten [´bi:tn] beat 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)


• discipline [´disiplin] n.纪律；训练 (初中英语单词)


• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)


• wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)


• scarce [skeəs, skers] a.缺乏的；稀有的 (初中英语单词)


• sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)


• mainly [´meinli] ad.主要地；大体上 (初中英语单词)


• occasional [ə´keiʒənəl] a.偶然的；临时的 (初中英语单词)


• remarkable [ri´mɑ:kəbl] a.值得注意的；显著的 (初中英语单词)


• mission [´miʃən] n.代表团；使馆vt.派遣 (初中英语单词)


• admiral [´ædmərəl] n.海军上将，舰队司令 (初中英语单词)


• possibility [,pɔsə´biliti] n.可能(性)；希望；前途 (初中英语单词)


• wherever [weər´evə] conj.无论在哪里 (初中英语单词)


• otherwise [´ʌðəwaiz] ad.另外 conj.否则 (初中英语单词)


• nevertheless [,nevəðə´les] conj.&ad.然而；不过 (初中英语单词)


• chiefly [´tʃi:fli] ad.主要地；尤其 (初中英语单词)


• conceive [kən´si:v] v.设想；表达；怀孕 (初中英语单词)


• execute [´eksikju:t] vt.执行；表演；演奏 (初中英语单词)


• advantage [əd´vɑ:ntidʒ] n.优势；利益 (初中英语单词)


• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)


• ignorance [´ignərəns] n.无知，愚昧 (初中英语单词)


• messenger [´mesindʒə] n.使者；送信人 (初中英语单词)


• twilight [´twailait] n.黎明；黄昏 (初中英语单词)


• stagger [´stægə] v.&n.(使)蹒跚(震惊) (初中英语单词)


• sprang [spræŋ] spring 的过去式 (初中英语单词)


• midnight [´midnait] n.午夜；漆黑 (初中英语单词)


• whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)


• promptly [´prɔmptli] ad.敏捷地；即时地 (初中英语单词)


• disturb [di´stə:b] vt.扰乱；使不安；打乱 (初中英语单词)


• temper [´tempə] n.韧度 v.锻炼；调和 (初中英语单词)


• revenge [ri´vendʒ] vt.报复 n.报仇；报复 (初中英语单词)


• decree [di´kri:] n.法令；公告；天命 (初中英语单词)


• disposal [di´spəuzəl] n.处理；支配 (高中英语单词)


• invasion [in´veiʒən] n.入侵；侵害；侵犯 (高中英语单词)


• ingenious [in´dʒi:niəs] a.富于创新的；巧妙的 (高中英语单词)


• greatness [´greitnis] n.巨大；高尚；卓越 (高中英语单词)


• indies [´indiz] n.东(西)印度群岛 (高中英语单词)


• loneliness [´ləunliniz] n.孤独，寂寞 (高中英语单词)


• inspection [in´spekʃən] n.检查；视察；参观 (高中英语单词)


• patron [´peitrən] n.庇护人，保护人；赞助人 (高中英语单词)


• decade [´dekeid] n.十年(间) (高中英语单词)


• apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中英语单词)


• allegiance [ə´li:dʒəns] n.忠诚，效忠 (高中英语单词)


• volcano [vɔl´keinəu] n.火山 (高中英语单词)


• conspiracy [kən´spirəsi] n.密谋；协同作用 (高中英语单词)


• pirate [´paiərət] n.海盗 v.做海盗；掠夺 (高中英语单词)


• destiny [´destini] n.命运 (高中英语单词)


• unfortunately [ʌn´fɔ:tʃunitli] ad.不幸；不朽；可惜 (高中英语单词)


• plentiful [´plentifəl] a.丰富的；多的 (高中英语单词)


• whirlwind [´wə:l,wind] n.旋风；猛烈的势力 (英语四级单词)


• tactics [´tæktiks] n.策略；战术 (英语四级单词)


• myriad [´miriəd] n.极大数量 a.无数的 (英语四级单词)


• nightly [´naitli] a.&ad.每夜(的) (英语四级单词)


• aspire [ə´spaiə] vi.立志要；升高；热望 (英语四级单词)


• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)


• gathering [´gæðəriŋ] n.集会，聚集 (英语四级单词)


• asiatic [,eiʃi´ætik ,eizi´ætik] a.亚洲(人)的 n.亚洲人 (英语四级单词)


• devoted [di´vəutid] a.献身…的，忠实的 (英语四级单词)


• warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)


• catastrophe [kə´tæstrəfi] n.大灾难；(悲剧)结局 (英语四级单词)


• befell [bi´fel] befall的过去式 (英语四级单词)


• winning [´winiŋ] n.&a.胜利(的) (英语四级单词)


• persecution [,pə:si´kju:ʃən] n.迫害；残害；困扰 (英语四级单词)


• vastly [´vɑ:stli, ´væstli] ad.巨大地；广阔地 (英语四级单词)


• adherent [əd´hiərənt] n.拥护者 a.粘着的 (英语六级单词)


• cannibal [´kænibəl] n.吃同类动物的 (英语六级单词)


• strategy [´strætidʒi] n.兵法；战略 (英语六级单词)


• retired [ri´taiəd] a.退休的；通职的 (英语六级单词)


• isolation [,aisə´leiʃən] n.隔离，孤立 (英语六级单词)


• overland [´əuvə,lænd, ,əuvə´lænd] a.陆上的 ad.陆上 (英语六级单词)


• ceremonial [,seri´məuniəl] a.礼仪的，仪式的 (英语六级单词)


• dutchman [´dʌtʃmən] n.荷兰人 (英语六级单词)


• populace [´pɔpjuləs] n.平民；大众；人口 (英语六级单词)