The herald., 1893-08-06

| thought of turning his horse and making
his escape, but then he reflected that
| death would be no worse than disgrace
| and the old life Of toll, and SO listlessly
kept on toward the infested mountain.
He had reached the foot of this when
he heard loud, hoarse shouts. as If Of tri-
umph, and filed with terror he sprang
from his horse and rapidly climbed a
tree. In q few moments the robbers
were upon him. "Where is the rider?''
called out one, looking about him with
an aspect Of such ferceness that Yomei
well nigh fell to the earth.
1.-THE horse is miner cried another.
''This is my saddlep exclaimed a third.
"Seel It is heavy with silver"
"Ah" from q fourth as he tore open
the hamper. II have found the dainty
fellows lunch. Let us feast upon it be-
fore we find and kill the owner"
Yomei, knowing nothing Of the hidden
poison, thought these moments his last.
With the apathy of despair he gazed up
on them as they portioned out, with
many rude jest and remark, the food
which had been destined for him.
S"What carrion the aristocrats do eatl"
cried the captain, throwing from him the
remains of small devil fish stuffed with
rice, sugar and vinegar. 'sThe thing is
filed with medicinel It is bitterl By
all the devils of earth and seal 1t is poi
sonl We are trickedw
"It is poisonl It is poisonr they all
shrieked, running frantically past one
another with horrible EXPLANATIONS and
contortions of physical agony. "Where
is the manY' they cried. 1--WE are poi
soned like frogs in welll Where is he
who, has tricked us?"
"There he isl" called the dying chief,
who had just caught sight of the COVER
ing Yomei. 'sShoot hint Up after himi
Burn the tree Ah-h-hi" But it was too
late. They lay about on the lush noun
tain grass in various attitudes of violent
death, and their CLASSY eyes were all
turned upward toward Yomei. The fears
of that valiant youth, however, were at
an end. He descended with bold and
careless air, and walking from one to an
other stuck an arrow deep into the left
eye of each. Then mounting his horse
he rode home.
The first person to meet him was his
stepmother. At the sight of him she
fell to the ground, faint and stricken
with fear.
'Are you not pleased to see me, moth
err" he asked brightly. II must thank
you for the delightful lunch you pre-
pared for me. See" opening the hamper,
"every morsel has been eatenw
His fathers joy at seeing him alive
was deep and sincere. "Why, my son."
he said after the ceremonials Of welcome
were through, syour armor is untouched,
your hair is as smooth as when you left
the house. How did you slay such
fierce body of men with SO little exer-
tion?
"Ohl It was simple matter" said
Yomei proudly. "When they caught
sight Of me, they came toward me, run
ming side by side. took the II arrows,
fitting them all to my bow, which l held
horizontally, instead of in the usual man
ner, and the arrows were placed SO ex-
actly that, as they few, each was point
ed toward robber and struck him di-
rectly in the left eye. You will find
them all there now, each with the arrow
sticking upright"
'Your skill is more than mortalw cried
the happy father. "Nowyou are noble
man in your own right and will be given
daughter of the mikado in marriage.
foresee that you will add luster to the
ancient name which you bear" And he
fell upon his sons neck and wept with
pure joy.
After this the stepmother ceased in her
evil designs, fully convinced Of Yomei's
supernatural powers.
He married princess, built great
castle for himself, and to this day his
name is synonym in Japan for shrewd-
ness and luck.-Translated From the
Japanese For Romance.