Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-31

chase medicines and food. She was
in the care of her grandmother, who was old
and weak, and powerless to protect her.
The Mori samuroi, all of them in state of
savage intoxication, had come to the house de-
manding and calling for Shimadzu They had
been drinking heavily all day, and swore they
would have their final cup with their former
comrade.
When Madame Mume assured them of his alb
sence, they insisted upon entering the house,
and, pushing past the old woman, straightway
took possession of the place One of their num-
Der suggested that in the absence Of Shimadzu
they must be entertained by his Eta wife,
whereupon the Others taking up the cry, bois
terousy began to shout for the hostess of the
house.
Meanwhile the young wife, very weak and
i'll from her recent confinement listened with
feverish excitement to the loud voices and the
bedlam Of noises now rafting through the lit
tie cottage Fearful for the safety of her lord,
in a moment of delirium she arose from her
sick bed to go to them, staggering through the
dividing rooms until she came to the ribald de-
bauchees.
AS she pushed aside The sliding doors and
stood in the opening, her white bedrobes about
brer, she seemed like an apparition. A sudden
silence fell upon the jewellers. 1t was broken
by samurai whose sake cup dropped from his
nerveless hand to the floor, where it shattered
into fragments.
The next instant there was a general move
ment towards the figure between the shoj
That simultaneous, half-savagc advance seemed
to snap the last vital cord in the woman. When
they reached her she no longer swayed between
the shoii. They bent over her in various atti-
tudes of horror, where she lay prone at their
feet, white crushed thing whose delicate life
had been brutally snuffed out forever.
With loud cry of fear and dismay they
rushed from the chamber, out from the house
into the open air, where their befogged brains
still seemed to behold vision of an avengng
pursuing spirit.
Hearing the wailing cries of the old grand
mother while he was yet afar off from the house,
Shimadzu began to at his utmost speed, Il
premoniton of disaster forcing itself upon him.
Up the hillcocks he sped. moment of fearful
striving effort and he was beside the old wo-
man. Something froze in Shmadzu, paralyzing
Mis- faculties. Power OF speech and movement
ss gone.
The old woman caught his arm, shook it, and
gazed with her fading eyesight into his staring
eyes.
master, master!' she cried.
He only stared at the figure upon the floor.
The old woman rushed from the house, shrek
ing and calling aloud for help. Neighbors came
rushing up from the little village below and be-
gan to fill the house. They tried to arouse the
stricken samurai, but he needed them not But
when they attempted to move the young wife,
la strange cultural sound OF savage protest es-
capped his lips, SO that they dared not touch her
Then the neighbors mingled their cries with
those of the old woman, and the house of death
was rendered hideous with their ceaseless moan
ing and the mufhed beating of Shinto drums.
All night long the samurai crouched in that
paralyzed attitude by the side of his wife. But
in the morning strong and stout armed men
from the village disregarding his cries of protest,
lifted the body of the wife upon the death
COUCH drew the lids over the staring eyes, closed
the frothed mouth, where the teeth shone out
like small white fangs, and folded the frozen
white hands across her breast Then the sa
mural came back to life-vivid, horrible, insane
life.
Some kindly woman brought in the little Wis
tara and held her towards him with ptying
exclamation, knowing that this little life could
lpot but comfort the bereft man. He seized the
Child wildly in his arms, Then holding his one
day old babe over the dead body of his wife,
he swore fearful oath of vengeance.
From that day the samurai had but one pur-
pose in life but one hope and ambition to en-
compass the ruin and death of those he deemed
the murderers of his wife. 1t happened that
he came Of a powerful family, who, in all his
troubles, had offered him their sympathy and
would gladly have received him back among
them in spite of his marriage to Eta girl.
They were in high favor at court, and now they
carried his case to the Shogtn himself. The
exiled samurai was forthwith ordered to appear
before the Shotgun, who had been deeply I'M
pressed and touched by his sorrows, and who
had cause for prejulice against his former lord.
The Shotgun offered to force his lord to re.
store to the samurai his estates and rank, but
Shimadzu fercely refused to accept these favors,
wildly declaring that he would rather be buried
alive than enter the service of such lord The
Shotgun, still anxious to please his family, beg
y Il him to make some request which it would
be in his power TO grant, whether for service
under another lord at court Ill attendance
upon his own person.
II have but one request to make, my lord,
responded the samurai,
f'That is?-"
"To be made the public executoner."
All these things the Lady Wistaria now
learned for the first time. She was one
struck down by sudden shock of grief In one
little hour she had fallen from great height,
and had learned of things that had caused her
to quver with anguish and shame. She could
not at once share the thought of the father
whose wrongs haunted him. demanding ven
other things She was the daughter of the pub,
lie executioner, the hangmanl-an Eta girl-an
outcast! The odium Of il all crushed her. In
that hour Of agony her Imagination conjured up
the noble, highborn face of her lover, torturing
her soul with its infinite distance from her.
She knew now that he was as far beyond her
reach as the sun.
Shrink not, my daughter" came her fathers
voice harshly upon her thoughts; "your fathers
his fellow-men save those who were his by di-
wine right To underlings l gave the punish
hands are not stained in the blood of any of
ment Of the public criminal but to myself kept
the sacred task of seeking, tracking, running
and killing with my own hands the destroyers of