Yodogima apparently faltered in the face of positive victory. Was it
soul that stirred her to larger comprehension, or had God himself
intervened to stay an absolute, a total, the fatal?
Jokoin came in from the field, aglow with expectation, fairly dawning
and resolving at the prospect of Hideyori's famed, unquestioned
gallantry. His furbelows shone out bewilderingly beautiful under the
influence of a risen sun, and her light heart danced the more in
consequence of its apparently disassociated illusionment--the food she
really relished.
"It's a jolly fair day, this, Yodogima," promised she, bounding in,
without so much as a permission. "Have you seen the artillery? Oh, but
it's an odd looking thing--a gun on wheels! I'm sure if Ieyasu had had
one like it he could have made some impression on these walls. I should
like to have seen the fun--but, I suppose, it's lucky there was only one
of them to be had; and luckier still that we've got it. We couldn't have
made out at all without the Christians, and they're a bully lot, too;
gold is no temptation to such people."
"Perhaps," remarked Yodogima, unconcernedly--
A shell burst near by, in the palace grounds. The impact deafened them.
"Horrors!" exclaimed Jokoin, nestling close under Yodogima's shelter.
"I am afraid there must have been two of them, after all," surmised
Yodogima, attempting to calm the fears of Jokoin. "But it is too late
now, to be firing at random into the castle. They had better save
themselves the trouble. Oh, well; I shouldn't mind a little thing like
that; Hideyori shall soon enough put an end to any further nonsense of
the kind. Have courage, Jokoin."
"I pray they don't shoot again, this way."
Esyo had directed a return message in care of Jokoin, at the hands of
Kyogoku; she understood this particular sister, suspicioned her true
proclivities, and surmising that a well directed shot would startle her
into the activities desired--should induce the younger to implore the
elder sister--had, herself, unbeknown either to her husband or his
father, brought into use an old mortar, a companion piece to the one
boasted of Hideyori, purchased in consequence by Ieyasu at great
expense and stored away safely under cover of his compound, admiredly,
if not for service.
"I'll give them a taste in advance, of what is to come," threatened she,
as the inexperienced gunners fell back in terror and she herself tripped
forward to light the fuse.
The aim proved blunderingly good: though the citadel her intended target
had been missed, a small addition to one of the minor buildings was in
fact demolished and some two or three of the occupants--serving maids to
Yodogima--were as observed at this either maimed or killed outright.
The explosion had its desired effect, and no amount of assurance or
coaxing would or could allay the fears or quell the anxiety of concerned
Jokoin. She must at once and at all hazards get Yodogima out of that
demoniacal inferno--her own security quite overlooked--and when Kyogoku
came in with the message supposedly from Ieyasu, Yodogima, perhaps to
quiet Jokoin, but more likely to carry out a deeper-laid plan of her
own, readily yielded to her little sister's persuasion.
"YODOGIMA:
Meet me, at Kyogoku's residence, outside the castle; I must see
you, and would ask no further guarantee than yours.
Ieyasu."
It was all there was of the message--presumably an answer to the one she
had sent--yet no greater influence than Jokoin's pleading were necessary
to induce an immediate cessation of hostilities on Yodogima's
part--insofar as a meeting with Ieyasu was concerned.
Hideyori protested. For once his will rebelled against his mother's. The
opportunity proffering overwhelmed every other consideration, and the
young man proudly threatened to die behind those walls rather than let
the enemy enter otherwise than as vanquished.
"Meet my mother, upon friendly terms? It is impossible!"
"But, my son, Ieyasu out of the way the empire shall fall directly into
your hands; there is none else to dispute you, and war is--"
"Hell--all of which Kitagira advised me long ago; but you see them
anxious on all hands--just now, since that message was written, a shell
has been fired into our midst. There is no end to fighting as long as
men's blood runs red."
Yodogima paused; it had come to a parting with the one or the other.
Blood and love are elemental within the human, but only for love there
had been none to measure in the light of soul; heart and instinct might
have gone on hand in hand, yet an Infinity's unvarying prudence saw fit
to match understanding against the one; love is an affinity.
"Then accept my blessing," urged the mother, thoughtfully, after a
while; "mine is run."
"And give you, as well, my protection; have no fear; go as you like; do
what conscience bids, and the gods shall render you justice."
"Harunaga?" commanded he, directing his further conversation to him.
"Yes, my lord."
"Do not call me lord--not to-day; to-morrow you may, but if you would
serve me now attend my mother; old men should yet be of some help, and
if there are any others, of a like mind, behind these walls, let them,
too, depart; this is going to be a hot place, perchance worse, if I
interpret Esyo's message correctly."
"Esyo!" gasped Jokoin.
"Yes; it is she; and, you are safe at Kyogoku's."
"I shall remain here," replied Jokoin, unobserved by Yodogima; whose
interests had already settled upon one thought only.
These went their way, Yodogima accompanied by Kyogoku, to the latter's
yashiki, a commodious dwelling, nestled away among the samurai huts
fringing the castle grounds all round well under the outlying city's
over-crowding borders. It was a sightly place and a safe one to which
the honor-bound Kyogoku, a trusted intermediary, had led the proud, if
anxious, princess, there to meet and do with life's final consummation.
The very walls around seemed to echo some fain portent, in keeping with
time's most cruelly adjudged, if seemly ending.
Harunaga lay hidden in the fastness of an humbler shrine builded farther
up on the hillside overlooking the walls and guarding eagerly each
approach. No deed of the hand or foulness of a heart should harm or
hinder his ladyship's grace as long as he might serve; he had divined
well her secret, and marshalled afresh his own hardening courage: sought
as best he knew to induce the moral which every man must finally know as
in prudence wisely revealed.
She had gone there that Hideyori's hand might not be stained, that a
nation should rise upon the hard-burned figments of ambition, that her
love attain its just reward, and an ideal come down from heaven to
earth--a life's work rounded out in God.
Weighing over against his own feelings a greater force, the obligations
that he had incurred, this gray-haired bonze, faith's most truly
devoted, resolved in his own heart that she had chosen well, and that so
long as he might prevent, her confidence should not be abused or
Ieyasu's word broken. Harunaga sat there, as he had lived, the sphinx,
grinning against the gray and the dawn of duty.
Little birds twittered in the tree-tops, the frosts of winter threatened
coming on, the shadows of evening were lengthening and casting their
grim visages toward the treasured homestead she had left--
Two chairs, one bearing the three asarum leaves, the other an under
man's crest, came tottering up the long, crooked, narrow, and overshaded
alley-way, the first ahead and the other after, their heads bobbing and
poles creaking, to the patter of hurrying feet and bating of heated
breaths. Harunaga, springing to his feet, edged closer to the wall, and
peering hard through its miserly cracks muttered:
"It is well," and the two passed on, to their vainly induced, if death
averting, task.
Dismounting and dismissing the carriers, the two entered, at one side
the larger passage, through a small, low gate in the massive unscalable
stone fence surrounding the house; leaving and abandoning thus any means
of defence or escape, for the gate once closed could not be again opened
without assistance. Ieyasu apparently bore no weapon at all, and Honda
carried only the customary appendages allowable to a gentleman of his
worth and rank. Harunaga, it would seem, had adjudged rightly, for he
gave the matter no further concern.
Kyogoku met them at the inner entrance, in response to Ieyasu's loud
knocking upon the door-case.
"Welcome, my lord," vouched the former; whereat the latter responded:
"Thank you, but not as lord; I seek, am harmless, hence lordless. I
trust I find myself still bidden and the princess in good parts. May I
enter?"
The leaves upon the trees, standing here and there like sentinels,
rustled gently in the day's abiding round, yet there arose out of its
vigor as it were the meaning of a rebirth, the resurrection of man, the
inspiration of soul--an ever-present God, whom the grind of time or the
compensations of living alone reveal.
Conjure that God as we may, borrow if we can, proclaim Him from the
house tops though we do, worship whom we will, there is no salvation
till the eye has responded to conscience; and going there, as he did,
had Ieyasu but answered to the call that emanated betwixt duty and
neglect? Had Yodogima found a haven that is neither of the real nor of
the ideal? Had the circle that encompasses encountered its magnet?
The broad vistas opening to the eastward carried their gaze back over
the same fields they had but trodden: a Star illuminated the universe,
and their hearts throbbed with the freshness of a regenerated past. No
earthly thing could have parted them: might a heavenly grace have
cemented more deeply the affection they two had wrought in the fiery
cauldron of human endeavor? Ieyasu bowed low in her presence, and she
responded as no other living thing responds--the light of intelligence
made certain the order intended.
Sitting there, in quiet contemplation, upon the floating bridge they
trod, the future alone bursting jealously, they greeted each other; he,
"How good to meet a lovely woman"; she, "How lovely to meet an honorable
man": thence love ruled and blessings showered.
Out upon the field, in front, Hideyori thundered the cry of, "To
battle," and Esyo marshaled, as well, the hosts against him. War reigned
there.
Transcriber Notes:
Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.
Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS.
Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of the
speakers. Those words were retained as-is.
Throughout the text there are words that are almost understandable, but
fail spell check, (e.g., unmovedly). Those words were retained as-is.
Throughout the text "Iyeasu" was replaced with "Ieyasu". The historical
figure was named Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Errors in punctuations and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected
unless otherwise noted.
On page 4, "azaelia" was replaced with "azalea".
On page 6, "projector" was replaced with "protector".
On page 7, "bushida" was replaced with "bushido".
On page 9, a comma was added after "a small baron".
On page 10, "hackling" was replaced with "haggling".
On page 12, "simiter" was replaced with "scimitar".
On page 16, "tenatless" was replaced with "tenantless".
on page 18, a quotation mark was added before "Ah!".
On page 19, "loked" was replaced with "looked".
On page 22, "tenents" was replaced with "tenets".
On page 24, "defy" was replaced with "deity".
On page 28, "interferring" was replaced with "interfering".
On page 28, "bushida" was replaced with "bushido".
On page 30, "expendiency" was replaced with "expediency".
On page 32, "hi" was replaced with "him".
On page 35, "Valient" was replaced with "Valiant".
On page 39, "bushida" was replaced with "bushido".
On page 42, "so called" was replaced with "so-called".
On page 60, "moulten" was replaced with "molten".
On page 61, "CHAPTED" was replaced with "CHAPTER".
On page 64, a period was added after "more heavily his energies".
On page 69, "con cubine" was replaced with "concubine".
On page 70, "hirakara" was replaced with "harakiri".
On page 71, "bushida" was replaced with "bushido".
On page 79, a quotation mark was added before "On one condition--but
will not to-morrow do".
On page 79, a quotation mark was added before "What? Have you not heard
of the hostilities?".
On page 80, a quotation mark was added before "Ha, ha--you think me
easily done."
On page 87, "abondoned" was replaced with "abandoned".
On page 111, "discernable" was replaced with "discernible"
On page 119, "hirakara" was replaced with "harakiri".
On page 122, "bushida" was replaced with "bushido".
On page 124, "Ujisata" was replaced with "Ujisato".
On page 124, "hypocracy" was replaced with "hypocrisy".
On page 126, "subtiler" was replaced with "subtler".
On page 127, "fainly" was replaced with "vainly".
On page 141, "confidecne" was replaced with "confidence".
On page 141, "villified" was replaced with "vilified".
On page 146, "ultimation" was replaced with "ultimatum".
On page 146, "dissilition" was replaced with "dissolution".
On page 149, "reëstablish" was replaced with "reestablish".
On page 150, "builded" was replaced with "built".
On page 153, "prysms" was replaced with "prisms".
On page 161, "gratuitiously" was replaced with "gratuitously".
On page 167, "unexpecterly" was replaced with "unexpectedly".
On page 167, a quotation mark was added after "more tolerable than
Hideyoshi's"
On page 173, "suggesing" was replaced with "suggesting".
On page 183, a quotation mark was added before "He has poisoned the
princess"
On page 187, "Ishada" was replaced with "Ishida".
On page 189, the apostrophe after "No!" was replaced with a quotation
mark
On page 194, "vistage1" was replaced with "visage".
On page 209, "reëncouraged" was replaced with "reencouraged".
On page 211, "consequnece" was replaced with "consequence".
On page 215, the quotation in front of "The princess verily laughed" was
removed
On page 218, "barbarious" was replaced with "barbarous".
On page 218, "enlightment" was replaced with "enlightenment".
On page 225, "tactis" was replaced with "tactics".
On page 225, "bushida" was replaced with "bushido".
On page 226, "incidently" was replaced with "incidentally".
On page 230, "unstability" was replaced with "instability".
On page 231, "azaelia" was replaced with "azalea".
On page 232, "unvisaged" was replaced with "envisaged".
On page 233, "resplendant" was replaced with "resplendent".
On page 233, "terrated" was replaced with "terraced".
On page 235, "counselling" was replaced with "counseling".
On page 236, "irrevence" was replaced with "irreverence".
On page 239, "misapprhended" was replaced with "misapprehended".
On page 239, "ingaining" was replaced with "ingraining".
On page 239, "azaelia" was replaced with "azalea".
On page 242, a comma was added after "mused she".
On page 242, a quotation mark was added after "no longer remembered of
man."
On page 244, "beattitudes" was replaced with "beatitudes".
On page 245, "sophiticated" was replaced with "sophisticated".
On page 247, a quotation mark was added before "let us send two to"
On page 253, "Dilplomacy" was replaced with "Diplomacy".
On page 256, a quotation mark was added before "you are the last of the
family".
On page 256, "howevermuch" was replaced with "however much".
On page 257, "espoinage" was replaced with "espionage".
On page 258, "invoilable" was replaced with "inviolable".
On page 260, "woe" was replaced with "woo".
On page 261, "denfense" was replaced with "defense".
On page 262, "reënergized" was replaced with "reenergized".
On page 262, "harakari" was replaced with "harakiri".
On page 264, "runing" was replaced with "running".
On page 264, "forsees" was replaced with "foresees".
On page 267, "plethoratic" was replaced with "plethoric".
On page 272, "replenshing" was replaced with "replenishing".
On page 272, "crums" was replaced with "crumbs".
On page 274, "mercinary" was replaced with "mercenary".
On page 284, a quotation mark was removed after "had she been the
mother.
On page 288, a quotation mark was added after "Depend upon it."
On page 286, "rolé" was replaced with "role".
On page 288, a quotation mark was removed before "They had come well"
On page 290, "bushida" was replaced with "bushido".
On page 292, a period was added after "as nervously as anxiously"
On page 294, "henvenward" was replaced with "heavenward".
On page 297, "demonical" was replaced with "demoniacal".
On page 300, "fainly" was replaced with "vainly".