The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-10-06
By Ethel WattsNunntrd

He was ordered to play q solo.
He determined that this once-this
the last time, he would play-and
then--he would make an end of Il.
He MISUNDERSTANDING out from
his soul all that terrible day of
fear had held for him. He lost
trace Of everything but his music.
and his misery. He paused. The
audience burst into q roar. After
the applause subsidized. the host
gave him his own glass Of wine, the
hostess her gold bracelet. He was
dared for q few moments, then the
mists cleared-and he saw that his
man had gonei
Vaguely he murmured the
name. Some one told him that the
official had received q message
which called him away. The rest
Of the evening IL a blank. He re-
members only stumbling into the
outside darkness.
According to his code of honor
he must give himself up to the 30
ciety. That meant a disgrace he
could not bear-and deathl-that
he feared with oyerpowering ter
ror. He went home, secured his
little savings. and fled.
Realizing that his fellow-con-
spirators would leave nothing un-
done to find him, and make an ex.
ample Of him as q renegade and
coward, he lived panic STRICKEN
hiding, running, starving for days
at q time, possessed by q Fear
that daily grew upon him. OF
course, he overestimated the pow.
er Of the secret organization-all
its members do. But he had been
trained in its narrow circle till It
made the bounds for his world.
HE does not seem to know how |
long, or where, he wandered, but
after months Of anguished flight |
he reached the sea coast, and con-
cealed himself In a vessel whose |
destination he did not even guess.
She was an English tramp, bound |
for the China ports, Yokohama her
last call, he learned when hunger
forced him on deck. He was I'm
pressed as stoker. They did not
know his story but even on board |
the ship he did not feel himself
safe from the grasp of the men
whose confidence he had betrayed. !
when he reached the farthest |
East he was terrified at the prospect |
of the return voyage. He thought |
of embarking for America. and had |
almost completed arrangements
for that, when he imagined he re-
cognized q face In the crowd
fancied he saw q hand make q sig
nal Of his Society," Mad with fear,
he fled, wandering and begging
ever making for remoter regions.
Reaching the mountains, he buried
himself in a little village Of char
coal burners.
There he lived ten. years, per-
haps longer. He picked up the
and gradually became
with the people, who &C
cepted him at first with curiosity, |
at last with friendship, ever with
uniform gentleness.
"The Fear was with him always.
though its cause had after a time
from his clouded mind.
Only one longing, one need, re-
NAMED clear and persistent
music! He strung a samisen to a
European scale, and worked with
the koto, but their tinklings were
q poor solace.
an his restlessness he began
journeying, following pilgrimages
from place to place, till be hap
pened to fall in with the Nantai
San procession. Suddenly-you
an imagine what 1t must have been
10 him-out Of the blur Of white
road and dusty, blue shadows, came
The long lost tones-the melodies
Tor which his heart hungered. He
was drawn to them as by a spell.
Memories sprang to life! faint and
Indistinct at first, dim visions of
another existence. He followed the
sounds till he came to your veran-
la, and sat there looking in at the