Afterwards the magician made no
further essay in the matter, chiefly because he was ever convinced
that the accomplishment of his desire was within his grasp.
The rumours of armed men in the neighbourhood of Si-chow threw the
magician into an unendurable condition of despair. To lose all, as
would most assuredly happen if he had to leave his arranged rooms and
secret preparations and take to flight, was the more bitter because he
felt surer than ever that success was even standing by his side. The
very subtle liquid, which would mix itself into the component parts of
the living creature which drank it, and by an insidious and harmless
process so work that, when the spirit departed, the flesh would become
resolved into a figure of pure and solid gold of the finest quality,
had engaged the refined minds of many of the most expert individuals
of remote ages. With most of these inspired persons, however, the
search had been undertaken in pure-minded benevolence, their chief aim
being an honourable desire to discover a method by which one's
ancestors might be permanently and effectively preserved in a fit and
becoming manner to receive the worship and veneration of posterity.
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