its way at Nagasaki, where rifles and other firearms and ammunition were
purchased with which to arm the military escort, steered a course to the
mouth of the Han river. Among the eight Europeans of dubious character on
board was a Frenchman, a Jesuit priest, who called himself Farout, but
whose real name was Feron, and who played an important part in the
piratical scheme, for, having lived some time previously in Corea, he had
mastered the language. Besides, he had travelled a good deal along the
river Han, so that he was entrusted with the responsible position of
guide and interpreter to the body-snatchers!"

"Curious position for a missionary to occupy," I could not help
remarking.

"Yes. They reached Prince Jerome's Gulf on the 8th of May, and the next
day, sounding continually, slowly steamed up the river Han to a point
where it was deemed advisable to man the tender and smaller rowing-boats
with a view to completing the expedition in these.

"This plan was successfully carried out, and during the night, under the
command of Oppert, and escorted by the marauders, who were armed to the
teeth, they proceeded to the point where l'Abbé Feron advised a landing.
Here, making no secret of their designs, they ill-treated the natives,
and pillaged their poor huts, after which they made their way to the
tomb, where the relics lay of some royal personage supposed to have been
buried there with mountains of gold and precious jewels, which relics
were held in much veneration by the great Regent, the Tai-wen-kun. The
impudent scheme, in a few words, was this: to take the natives by
surprise, dig the body quickly out of its underground place of what
should have been eternal rest, and take possession of anything valuable
that might be found in the grave. The disturbed bones of the unfortunate