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diff --git a/old/63681-0.txt b/old/63681-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4b01636..0000000 --- a/old/63681-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4296 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Tama, by Watanna Onoto, Illustrated by -Genjiro Kataoka - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Tama - - -Author: Watanna Onoto - - - -Release Date: November 8, 2020 [eBook #63681] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TAMA*** - - -E-text prepared by Mary Glenn Krause, Charlene Taylor, Barry Abrahamsen, -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from -page images generously made available by Internet Archive -(https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 63681-h.htm or 63681-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/63681/63681-h/63681-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/63681/63681-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/tama00wata - - -Transcriber’s note: - - Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores - (_italics_). - - - - - -[Illustration: - - See page 80 - THE FOX-WOMAN AMONG THE LOTUS] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -TAMA - -by - -ONOTO WATANNA - -Illustrated by Genjiro Kataoka - - -Publish’s Logo - - - - - - -New York and London -Harper & Brothers -Publishers ✥ MCMX - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - BOOKS BY - - ONOTO WATANNA - - TAMA Illustrated. Crown 8vo, net $1.60 - A JAPANESE NIGHTINGALE Ill’d. 8vo, net 2.00 - THE WOOING OF WISTARIA Ill’d. Post 8vo. 1.50 - THE HEART OF HYACINTH Ill’d in Tint. 8vo, net 2.00 - A JAPANESE BLOSSOM Illustrated. 8vo, net 2.00 - - HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, N. Y. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -Copyright, 1910, by HARPER & BROTHERS -───────── -Published October, 1910. -Printed in the United States of America - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - THE FOX-WOMAN AMONG THE LOTUS Frontispiece - - WELCOME TO TOJIN-SAN 16 - - “TOUCH HER NOT, BELOVED 106 - SENSEI! SHE IS ACCURSED, - UNCLEAN!” - - TAMA AT THE TEMPLE TOKIWA 188 - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TAMA - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - TAMA - - - - - I - - -FUKUI was in an unwonted state of excitement. For days the people had -talked of but one event. Even the small boys, perilously astraddle the -bamboo poles, the scullery wenches of the kitchen, the very mendicants -of the street, the highest and lowest of the citizens of Fukui talked of -the coming of the O-Tojin-san (Honorable Mr. Foreigner). - -For at last the exalted Daimio of the province had acceded to the -pleadings and eager demands of the students of the university, and, at -great expense and trouble, a foreign professor had been imported. - -Signs of preparation were everywhere visible. Vigorous housecleaning was -in evidence. The professional story-tellers, who took the place of -newspapers in these days, reaped small fortunes in their halls. Some of -them opened booths on the streets and regaled their auditors with -strange accounts of America and its people. - -Already the Tojin-san’s house and household had been chosen for him, -from the Daimio’s high officer and the four samourai body-guard, who -were to protect him from any possible Jo-i (foreign hater), down to his -body-servant. - -An enormous old historical Shiro (mansion), two hundred and seven years -old, was assigned as his residence, and was now undergoing certain -remarkable changes. For heavy woollen carpets, with flowers and figured -designs, were being nailed down over the ancient matting in the chief -rooms. Strange articles of furniture, massive and heavy as iron, were -pushed into the great chambers, under the supervising hand of a dapper, -rosy-cheeked young samourai who was to serve as interpreter to the -Tojin. His name was Genji Negato, and he had already lived among -foreigners in the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama. He spoke the English -language very well indeed, and his knowledge of the white man and his -ways was extraordinary. - -Now, as he ordered this or that article set in place, his full red lips -curled smilingly under his little bristly mustache. He called the -servants in one by one, lecturing each in turn in regard to his especial -duties. Incidentally he regaled them with tales of the habits and -desires of the white man. - -Food sufficient for six ordinary mortals must be prepared for his -individual consumption. Raw meat and game, slightly scorched before -fire, were essential. A never-failing spring of what the original -American had aptly called “fire-water” must be constantly flowing at and -between meals and day and night. Such was the thirst of the white man. -Brooms must be in readiness to follow the trail of the dust and -mud-laden boots of the professor, since he would not remove them even in -the house. Finally, his supreme favor could be won by having at hand -always the sweetest and prettiest maidens to entertain and caress him. -And so on through a strange list. - -If the students of the college where the Tojin-san was to teach were -elated at the prospect of his coming, their joy was hardly shared by his -household. It was in a flutter of excited fear. Even the stolid, -impassive-faced samourai guard discussed in undertones among themselves -the degrading service to which they were reduced in these degenerate -days. To guard the body of a mere Tojin! Well, such was the will of the -Daimio of Echizen, and a samourai is the right hand of his Prince. His -the task to obey even the caprice of his lord, or take his own life in -preference to service too far beneath his honor. - -In the humbler regions of the Shiro, however, the servants discussed the -matter less pessimistically. Some rumor of the generosity and wealth of -foreigners had floated across the vague tide of gossip. Anyhow, the -preparations for his coming went blithely on here, and already odors of -vigorous advance cooking were being wafted from the kitchen regions, -warming and savoring the great chambers, and awakening into noisy life -the vast army of rats and bats which had long made their homes in the -eaves and rafters of the old deserted mansion, now for the first time in -years to be occupied by a tenant. - -Everything was quite in readiness when the cook’s wife’s baby’s nurse -(for his entire family were, of course, also domiciled in the Shiro) -missed a portion of her rice. She had turned about to give better -attention to master baby-san, when, so she averred, a “white hand” -reached out of nowhere and seized the remnants of her supper. She ran -squealing with her tale to her mistress, who, in turn, rushed with it to -her lord, the cook. He put aside his apron and sought Genji Negato, who -solemnly called a council of war. To the four samourai guard the entire -household looked for a solution and ending of the impending trouble. - -Measures should be taken at once, it was unanimously decided. It would -be to their Prince’s everlasting disgrace should the exalted foreign -devil also become a victim of the dreaded Fox-Woman of Atago Yama, for, -undoubtedly, this mischievous and irrepressible sprite of the mountains -was at her tricks again. In the names, therefore, of the august -Tojin-san, nay, in the very name of the Imperial Daimio of Echizen, it -was the duty of the honorable samourai to spare in no wise the witch -should she be caught trespassing upon the estate of the Prince’s guest -and protégé. - -They fell to telling weird tales of the latest doings of the fox-woman. -A Tsuruga child had followed the witch-girl into the mountains, -believing her glittering hair to be the rays of the sun, and stretching -out his tiny hands to touch and hold it. To propitiate the dread -creature, the parents had set out daily food at the foot of the -mountains, and thus, for a time at least, the hunger of the fox-woman -had been satisfied, but the child had never been the same again, -fretting and crying constantly for the “Sun Lady.” As its peevishness -continued, the parents revenged themselves upon its abductor, and ceased -to set out the nightly repast, bravely facing down their fear of the -witch’s certain anger and retaliation. - -Since then she had been forced to seek her sustenance elsewhere. A -basket of fish disappeared overnight from a vendor’s locked stand. A bag -of rice was found on the mountain-side of the river, as if the thief, -finding it too heavy, had dropped it in her flight. - -And now—could it be possible that the most distinguished (though -augustly degraded) guest Fukui had known in years was to suffer by the -depredations of the fox-woman? - -Samourai Iroka voted in favor of killing the witch outright. But not by -the means of his own personal sword, for he was unmarried and had no -descendants to pray for his soul should it be forced to pass along on a -journey. - -Samourai Asado feared for the safety of his wife and family in the event -of his honorable sword being stained by the blood of the witch-girl. -Once a similar goblin had torn the head and arms from the body of a -sleeping babe, in revenge for the mere pin-prick of a samourai sword. - -Samourai Hirata suggested referring the matter to the Daimio himself; -but was urged against this by the others, for was not the fox-woman the -one black blot upon the escutcheon of their exalted Prince, seeing she -was indeed, and alas! of his own blood? - -Finally, Samourai Numura, an ancient, grizzled warrior of the most -stolid common sense, gruffly insisted that the matter was the affair of -the Tojin himself, and from him alone should they receive commands upon -the matter. It was agreed, therefore, that they should wait for the -coming of the Tojin-san. Out of his vaunted western wisdom certainly -should he be able to suggest the solution of the problem. - -And, in the Season of Greatest Cold, while the snow whirled in feathery -flakes over all the Province of Echizen, and the winds blew in laughing, -whispering murmurs through the glistening camphor and pine trees, across -the sacred bosom of Lake Biwa, and over the snow-crowned mountains -between, the Tojin-san came to Fukui, the “Well of Blessing.” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - II - - -THE room was so large that even with the seven lighted andon and the -three ancient takahiras glimmering dully where they hung from the -raftered ceiling overhead, it was chiefly in shadow. Set at intervals -against the sliding walls were a few large pieces of heavy black-walnut -furniture, grotesque objects in the otherwise completely empty chamber. -The room itself was cold, but a kotatsu in the centre of the room had -been filled with live coals, and over this the Tojin-san crouched. He -sat upon the floor, close to the fire-frame, his knees drawn up, his -hands encircling them. - -After a long and tortuous journey over land and water, by boat, by -horse, by kurumma, and often on foot—a never-ending, long-winding, cold -journey, the Tojin-san was at last at home! This was Fukui, where he had -contracted to live for seven years of his life; this vast, empty, bleak -mansion was his house. - -He had started upon the journey with an alert and quickened pulse, and -an ardent ambition to serve, to raise up, to love this strange people to -whom he had pledged himself. A short sojourn was made in Tokio and -Kioto—days of sheer delight in a charm so new it intoxicated. Then, -leaving the open ports, under the escort sent by the Prince of Echizen, -he had taken finally that plunge into the great unknown country itself, -where only half a dozen foreigners had been before him. - -The journey had been one of many weeks. Crossing waters in a fragile -craft, which tossed and heaved with every tide, he had come to know the -true meaning of the Japanese saying that “a sea voyage is an inch of -hell.” - -For days his party had been snow-bound on a desolate mountain, far from -even the smallest village or town, and, when finally they had issued -forth, it was only to encounter new perils, in savage-souled ronins who -hung about the vicinity of the Tojin-san’s party, their narrow, wicked -eyes intent upon his destruction. How many white men before him had -started upon a similar journey, in other provinces of Japan, and met the -then common fate—a stab in the back, or in the dark! And the -punishments, the indemnities, the humiliations forced upon the -government by the foreigners, but added to the hatred and malice of the -Jo-i (foreign haters). - -But the Prince of Echizen was of the most enlightened school. No foreign -teacher or guest within his province should suffer the smallest hurt! -His edicts in the matter were so emphatic that they reached even the -humblest of the citizens, and the Tojin-san, did he but know it, was -practically immune from attack. Indeed, his pilgrimage was in the nature -of one of triumph. Whatever their inner feelings toward the intruder, -the people met him with smiles and expressions of welcome. Every little -town and hamlet sent to him on its outskirts deputations of high -officials. There had been feasts here and banquets there, and always and -everywhere about him he saw the same brown face, the same glittering -eye, the same elusive smile. - -Now the last Daimio’s officer was gone, the last officious minister of -his Prince had chanted his singsong poem of welcome, and the Tojin-san -was alone! - -Even the individual members of his household had dispersed. They had -come in one by one in solemn procession, led by the samourai guard, who, -as they prostrated themselves, sucked in their breath fiercely, -expelling it in long, sibilant hisses. The cook, his assistants, and -wife and family formed a small procession of their own, one behind the -other, executing a series of such comical bows and bobs that the stern -lips of the Tojin-san had softened in spite of himself, particularly so, -when the tiniest one, a toddling baby no more than two years old, had -solemnly brought its diminutive shaven pate to the floor, and had almost -capsized in a somersault in its efforts to emulate its elders’ -politeness. - - -[Illustration: - - WELCOME TO TOJIN-SAN] - - -Now the weary, half-closed eyes of the Tojin-san were seeing other -faces, his mind travelling backward over other scenes, very far away. He -saw a great, green campus, overshadowed by towering elms. Bright-eyed, -white-skinned boys were singing huskily as they swept across the lawns -into the tall stone buildings, which seemed to smile at them with -maternal indulgence. The Tojin-san was seated at a desk, looking across -at that sea of boyish faces. Strange how they had repulsed him; how he -had even felt a bitterness that was almost hatred for them in that other -time and place! And now! Now he caught himself thinking of them with a -tenderness which almost stifled. - -Then the jaded mind of the Tojin-san wandered out into another scene of -the past, and out of a longer, darker memory a woman’s cold, unsmiling -face mocked him. - -“Marry you!” she had cried, and not even her native courtesy could -suppress the note of horror in her voice. “Oh—h!” she had cried out, -covering her eyes shudderingly, “if you could but—see—yourself!” - -The Tojin-san had indeed seen himself that night. Glaring back at him in -a tragic grimness his own fearful face had looked at him from the -mirror. Not that he had not known the blight upon him; but he had been -dull, stupid, slow to realize its full horror. - -Time was when the Tojin-san was as other men, smooth-skinned, -level-eyed, very good to look upon. But in a God and Man forsaken little -town crushed between the mountains and the sea, a young and ardent -doctor of long ago had given himself up to a sublime heroism. Shoulder -to shoulder with a few—one or two only beside himself—they had fought -the plague of smallpox. From this fight the Tojin-san had emerged -marked! With the optimism and blindness of youth, however, he had gone -back to the woman he loved, and she had struck at him! - -There is a Japanese proverb which says: “The tongue three inches long -can kill a man six feet tall.” The Tojin-san thought of this now. A -woman’s tongue, the mere brutal smiting of her words, had wrought a -curious effect upon his entire life. From that time on he had avoided -women as he had not a vile plague. He led the life of an ascetic, -wrapped in his books and sciences, making few friends, avoiding others, -with the sensitive fear upon him that the whole world avoided and shrank -also from him. And while still a young man—under forty—they had named -him “Old Grind” at the university. - -Then upon him suddenly had come a new upheaval, a pent-up, passionate -longing to break away from the dull hopeless treadmill to which he -seemed bound. - -“Old Grind!” So age was to be clapped upon him while the vital fires of -youth still throbbed in an agony in his blood. There was a new life, an -exhilarating, more inspiring life to be led, out in that old-new world -across the seas! It beckoned to those of adventurous souls and those who -were weary of a drowsy, torpid existence, wherein hope of a new dawn had -vanished beyond memory. The Tojin-san panted for this new life. He -wanted to swing his arms in a wilder world, to breathe less vitiated -air, to feel himself _alive_ again! He had made of himself, for half a -lifetime, a mummy for the sake of a woman he had not even really loved. -It was fantastic! - -Out of this curious rebellion against Fate which had swept upon him like -a tidal wave, the Tojin-san had broken his bonds. - -He was in the strange wild land he had yearned for, strange faces peered -at him askance, and strange gods mocked him from their temples with -their sphinx-like impenetrability. And he crouched, shivering, over a -kotatsu in a great, historical yashiki, cold and empty as a very -mausoleum, and the strong man within him recognized and fought the -weakness come upon him—the aching, longing, praying, for the mere sight -of a white, familiar face! - -So still was the night, even the glide of a gaki (spirit) across the -cracking snow without must have been heard. A breeze just trembled -through the frost-incrusted bough of a camphor-tree, and it bristled and -broke, the twigs snapping and bouncing down on the frozen ground -beneath. - -Something crept out of the shadows of the woods at the foot of the -mountains, leaped like a fawn across the wide arm of the castle moat, -and slid over the grounds between it and the shiro Matsuhaira. An army -of crows which lodged in the attic of a dilapidated ruin of what had -once been a go-down (treasure-house) suddenly began to flap their wings, -calling to each other querulously and making short, futile, terrified -flights. A rat fled from the go-down interior and scuttled across to the -kitchen in the rear of the mansion, and the Tojin-san raised a startled -face, listening to a new sound. - -It was as if one without were tapping or scratching ever so faintly upon -the amado (winter walls). He did not move, but fastened his gaze upon -the point whence he had fancied the sound proceeded. Now it came from -another direction and tapped lightly, timidly again, as a child might -have done. - -The Tojin-san came to his feet with a bound. He flung wide the screens -of his chamber, now on this side, now on that, and now those opening -upon the grounds. Not a soul was visible. Nothing but the white, still -snow, glittering like silver under the moon-rays. He looked up at the -outjutting eaves, felt along them with his hand, though a curious -instinct told him insistently that the touch upon his screens had been -intelligent and human. Slowly he drew them into place again, and, as he -did so, a voice, low as a sigh, called to him across the bleak snow: - -“To-o—jin-san! To-o-o-jin—san! To-o-o-jin—san! To-o-o—!” - -Tojin-san! That was the name he had heard everywhere. The one they had -given him. Some one was calling him, wanted him, needed him, perhaps! - -It was a step only down to the gardens below. He took it at a leap, -crossed the intervening lawn and plunged into the wooded grove beyond. -On and on he followed the sound of the voice, still sighing across to -him, now pleading, now wistful, now wild and now—mocking, with the tone -of a teasing sprite which laughed through a veil of tears. - -Suddenly he stopped, white-lipped. He had been within a step of the but -half-frozen moat. One more, and he would have plunged into it. A -shuddering sense of horror, of shock, seized him, and held him there -rooted to the spot, bewildered, stunned, his ears still strained -listening to the drifting voice, which had vanished across the heights -and lost itself in the white looming shadows of the mountains. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - III - - -“YOUR excellency, though he live a million honorable years, could not -estimate the augustly degraded chagrin experienced by my exalted Prince -in my humble and servile person.” - -So spoke the Daimio’s high officer, through the interpreter, Genji -Negato. - -The American held his shaking hands over the replenished kotatsu as the -Daimio’s officer, hastily summoned by the guard, set himself the -distasteful task of explaining to him the existence of the fox-woman. - -A fox-woman, so he explained solemnly, was a female human being into -whose body the soul of a fox had entered. In Japanese mythology the fox -occupies an important position, and the fox-woman is a creature greatly -to be feared. Her face and form, so said the Japanese, were of a -marvellous whiteness and a beauty so dazzling that a mortal must cover -his eyes to escape blindness. Her hair resembled the sun-rays, so bright -and glittering its color and effect. Gifted with this beauty of face and -form, but devoid of soul, she had but one ruling and controlling -ambition. She spent her days and nights lurking about the mountain -passes, behind and within rocks and caves, luring men—aye, and women and -children, too!—to destruction. - -Something in the half-skeptical smile on the taciturn face of the -Tojin-san stopped the officer’s recital. His expression became troubled, -revealing a sensitive pride unduly wounded. Plainly the foreign Sensei -looked upon his explanations in the light of a fairy-tale. - -“Your excellency disbelieves our legend of the fox-woman?” he queried -courteously. - -“Legends,” said the Tojin-san slowly, “belong to literature, and are -tales to charm and beguile adults and deceive children. In the West we -no longer heed them. We name them superstitions, and we’ve burned out -our superstitions as we did our witches in the early days.” - -The Japanese sat up stiffly, and in the chilly room he waved his fan -regularly to and fro. - -“You deny the existence of spirits in the West?” - -“At least we do not create them out of our fancy or thought,” said the -American gravely. - -The officer said vehemently: - -“They exist actively in Japan, honorable sir. Though you ignore them, -they will force themselves upon you—as to-night, excellency!” - -The Tojin-san frowned slightly. Then, thoughtfully, he emptied his pipe -on the old bronze hibachi. - -“You wish me to believe that my visitor to-night was a—spirit?” - -“She was worse,” said the officer earnestly, “for she was invested with -at least the form of a human being.” - -“How do you know she is not human?” - -It was the Japanese’s turn to frown. His narrow eyes drew sternly -together. His voice was stubborn. He spoke as if determined to justify -some indisputable course he had taken. - -“She is unlike us in any way, exalted sir. No human being ever was -created with such fiendish beauty. Her acts are those of the gaki, -moreover. She is mischievous, impish, wicked, delighting as much in -torturing and frightening the poor as well as the rich, little children -as well as their elders. The birds of the air come at her calling and -follow her whithersoever she bids them. Degraded dogs and cats, forlorn -beasts of the mountains and the forests are her body-guard, defying mere -human beings to molest or take her. Her home is among the tombs of Sho -Kon Sha. She is of the Temple Tokiwa, long forsaken of men and accursed -by the gods.” - -The Tojin-san raised himself with a show of more interest. - -“A temple housing your dreaded fox-woman!” he exclaimed, whimsically. - -“Yes, alas so, excellency,” admitted the Japanese miserably. “Her mother -was Nii-no-Ama (noble nun of second rank) and kin to our august Prince. -She broke her vows to the Lord Buddha, desecrated and disgraced his -temple. The gods visited their wrath upon her offspring. They gave it a -body only—no soul, save that of the fox. She is beyond the pale, honored -sir, and no clean being may look upon or touch her.” - -The Tojin-san, sitting up erectly now, was holding his lower lip -thoughtfully between thumb and forefinger. - -“Your fox-woman then is some sort of outcast, who has lived all her life -avoided by her kind?” - -“She had the company of her degraded parents,” said the officer gruffly, -“until she was the age of ten. Then a zealous band of former Danka -(parishioners) assaulted the temple by fire and sword. The parents of -the fox-woman met a deserved death, being literally torn to pieces -before the very altar of Great Shaka himself.” - -The Daimio’s officer paused, his little black eyes glittering with a -fanatical light. Then the exhilaration dropped from his voice. - -“But the ways of the Lord Buddha are strange. How could the devoted -Danka conceive that Shaka would turn his wrath upon them also, for thus -scorching his altar with unclean blood. Since the Restoration, -excellency, our city’s history has been one of blood and poverty. Some -assert the province is doomed. Others, more optimistic, that it is but -passing through its new birth pains, and that, as of old, its history -will be glorious.” - -The Tojin-san puffed at his relighted pipe in meditative silence. Then, -very quietly, he asked: - -“Do you lay the misfortunes of your province upon this fox-woman, as you -call her?” - -“Aye!” said the officer almost fiercely. “The hand of Fate fell heaviest -upon us after the assassination of the intruder. We have never recovered -from the humiliations heaped upon us by—the countries of the West. The -bombardment of beloved Kagoshima by the allied forces of the western -nations followed almost instantly after the death by violence of—” - -He stopped abruptly, and coughed in gruff alarm behind his now -sheltering fan. He had been upon the verge of telling what had been -forbidden. - -The Tojin-san looked puzzled, baffled. - -“I do not see the connection,” he said. - -“Yet—it is so,” said the Japanese vaguely, shifting his eyes from the -averted faces of the samourai guard. - -Said the American forcefully: - -“It seems to me an amazing thing that to-day when you are frankly hoping -to join the nations of enlightenment, you still give yourselves up to -barbarous persecution because of what, after all, is nothing but a -legend fit for children only. For my part, I intend to sweep from my -house vigorously the absurd belief I find actually seated on my -hearth-stone.” - -The Japanese said solemnly: - -“There are several things in life it is impossible to do, exalted sir. -We cannot throw a stone to the sun, or scatter a fog with a fan. We -cannot build a bridge to the clouds. With this little hand I cannot dip -up the ocean. We bow to the elevated wisdom of the West your excellency -has come to teach us in honorable chemistry and physics, but, though we -humbly solicit pardon for thus stating, there is nothing your augustness -can tell us of our own beliefs—and knowledge.” - -He made a slight, stiff sign to his attendants and they assisted him to -arise. The American stood up also. He was smiling grimly. - -“When the snows melt,” he said, “I shall ask for guides of your -excellency, and personally make a pilgrimage to the lair of this dreaded -fox-woman of the mountains.” - -At that the Daimio’s officer’s face distinctly paled. His impassive -features were anxious, troubled. - -“What does your augustness seek to do?—regenerate one without a soul?” - -“I wish merely to see her. She must be an interesting specimen—of her -kind.” - -“‘Making an idol does not give it a soul,’” quoted the Daimio’s officer, -solemnly. “Honored sir, a snake has its charm to some, and the vampire -is kin to the snake. In Japan we believe the fox-woman one form of -vampire. Condescend, exalted sir, to beware.” - -The Tojin-san laughed shortly, contemptuously. He was a man of gigantic -stature, and as he stood there towering above his gleaming-eyed visitor -there was something about his attitude careless, indifferent, fearless, -and beyond the understanding of the Oriental. With a morbid recollection -of specific instructions from his Prince, the officer restrained his -fingers, turned almost automatically toward the two short swords hanging -at his side. - -“It is my duty, excellent sir,” he said with forced courtesy, “to -convince you of the danger wherewith you seek to play. Condescend to -permit the humble one once again to be seated.” - -“By all means,” said the American, hospitably, and, in a moment, they -were back seated upon their respective mats, their pipes refilled at the -hibachi. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - IV - - -“YOU have stated, honored sir, that the Fox-Woman of Atago Yama is but a -superstition worthy of a child, and you have laughed, Mr. sir, at the -possibility of danger from proximity with the forsaken creature. Thus -spoke and laughed another before your time in Fukui. We of Echizen do -not forget the very recent fate of Gihei Matsuyama.” - -“And pray who was Gihei Matsuyama, and what was his fate?” asked the -Tojin-san, good-humoredly. - -The fanatical fire was back in the eyes of the officer. He had thrust -forward his thin, yellow face and was regarding the Tojin-san with an -almost venomous glance. His words, however, were pacific, and, as he -talked, the American showed a greater interest with every moment. - -“We sent seven of our youths to the universities of the West. They were -chosen from the most intelligent and noblest of our families. Gihei -Matsuyama was one of these, and in him we had particular interest, for -he was of Fukui. After two years’ sojourn in Europe he returned for -service in Dai Nippon, and we gave him a position of honor and housed -him in an honorable yashiki hard by Atago Yama. - -“As a youth—as a child, he had known the story of the fox-woman. His -honorable sire and other male kin had participated in the slaughter of -the parents of the creature. Now with this new wisdom he had acquired in -the West, as fresh as new-spread varnish upon him, Gihei laughed to -scorn the stories of her fiendish origin, and boasted he would dissipate -them as the air does the steam. Making a bold and ingenuous wager that -he would enslave the sprite, he set himself the task of tracking her. -Unaided by even the counsel of the priests of neighboring temples, he -blithely followed the trail of the witch over the river, through the -woods and mountains and in and out of the cemeteries, until he had -driven her to her final refuge—the Temple of Tokiwa, wherein no man had -stepped since the accursed blood spilt before the eye of the eternal -Lord.” - -Here the Daimio’s high officer reverently bowed to the floor, ere he -continued his narrative, his eyes gleaming more fiercely as he -proceeded. - -“As he hesitated upon the threshold, divided between a desire to -penetrate its mysteries, and an instinct which peremptorily bade him -depart, she came forth from the temple doors dancing, as the nuns of old -danced for the gods, with her wild, unbound hair outmatching the sun, -and her hungry, vivid, smiling lips scarlet as the deadly poppy. He, -having looked upon her face, became blinded to all else on earth. -Infatuated and maddened, he sought to touch, to seize the creature, when -she fled suddenly before him, mocking him with the silver laughter of -the sea-siren and hiding her face in the glimmering veil of her hair. - -“Thus they sped on, she ever before him, with her luring hair streaming -like a gilded cloud in the wind, springing as lightly as a breeze from -rock to rock, over brooks and slender streams that melted in between, up -this cliff and down that dell and through this valley, on and on she led -the infatuated seeker. - -“Suddenly, while his dazzled eyes were fastened solely upon her, and he -reached forth a hand to seize her, she darted like a nymph over some -unseen chasm of the mountains. He stumbled in her tracks, reached out -vainly to seize her, saw not the gulf at his feet, and plunged headlong -down into the abyss.” - -The mask-like face of the Daimio’s officer quivered. He wiped his face -with a hand that shook visibly. Then, rejecting his breath in that -hissing fashion so peculiar to the Japanese, he added fiercely: - -“This, honorable sir, is the story of Gihei Matsuyama and the Fox-Woman -of Atago Yama. It belongs not to the lips only of the children, as you -name them, but is true, well-authenticated history, which any one in -Fukui can prove to you.” - -The Tojin-san was silenced. He had followed the officer’s story with -unabated interest. He had no word now in defense of this Japanese -Lorelei. His voice was grave, stern: - -“What did she do—when the boy disappeared?” - -“There are different stories, honored sir. Some say she not even stopped -in her flight. Others that she came of nights and hung over the edges of -the chasm, shrouding her mouth in her hands and calling to her victim -beneath as if she had the power to lure him back. But we have no certain -version of this part of the tragedy. For the first part, we have the -tale, four times repeated, from the body-servants of Gihei Matsuyama, -who dutifully had followed their master upon his wild quest.” - -The Daimio’s high officer arose and made several profound obeisances to -the Tojin-san. His face had resumed its immobile melancholy. As he was -backing formally toward the exit, bowing at every step, the American -suddenly remembered his name. He took a step toward him, his hand -impetuously outstretched: - -“Pardon me, the boy you speak of was—near and dear to you, was he not?” - -Slowly the officer raised his head. Not a quiver broke the stony -impassivity of his face. His eyes met the Tojin’s blankly: - -“He was—my son!” he said. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - V - - -THE sense of discouragement and gloom which had seemed to take full hold -upon the Tojin-san on his first night in Fukui was, after all, but -temporary. He awoke the following morning, feeling refreshed and -invigorated. The sun was pouring into his room, gilding even the -farthest corner with a friendly touch. He jumped out of bed, donned a -warm bath-robe and shoved his feet into fur slippers. Crossing the room -in a few quick strides, he threw open one of the latticed sliding doors. - -It was a clear, cold day, but the snow, enshrouding trees and ground, -glistened with the warm sun upon it. The army of crows on the roof of -the go-down were chattering and fighting among themselves like magpies, -and a monkey, swinging by one foot from a camphor bough, shook its fist -playfully in his direction, screwing up its face in apparent derision. - -From the direction of the narrow river, which threaded its ribbon-like -way in the valley below, a rollicking voice was heard in song, and, -presently, the owner of the voice climbed up the crest of the slope, -skirted the sunken garden hard by the Tojin-san’s windows and moved -across the lawns toward the kitchen regions in the rear. She was a -great, fat girl, whose enormous, muscular arms were balancing on either -side huge pails of water. As she waddled along, wheezing and singing, -she resembled, to the Tojin-san’s humorous sense, a bag of jelly, her -bosoms and thighs shaking at every step, her fat soft cheeks keeping -time in unison. Close upon her heels, and, himself carrying two smaller -pails of water, the cook’s diminutive heir toddled solemnly after her. - -It was he who first perceived the Tojin-san at the opened door, and he -promptly dropped his pails upon the serving-maid’s heels, causing her to -kick backward in squalling alarm as the cold water splashed about her -bare legs and drenched her scanty skirts. Doubtless she would have -punished her small charge, had she not at this juncture also perceived -the Tojin. Her thick red lips fell instantly agape. She stared at him in -a stunned wonder. Then her knees began to wabble, and she attempted to -make an obeisance. With every kowtow she essayed, the waters from her -pails bounced up and merrily splashed her. The Tojin-san burst into -hearty laughter, and after a moment maid and youngster joined in his -mirth. They then scuttled off like a pair of panic-stricken rats, their -shining, wet heels flashing like snowballs in the sun behind them. - -This simple domestic incident put the Tojin-san into an excellent humor -at once. As he looked after the comical pair, and then turned back to -gaze, entranced, at the magnificent view on all sides of him, his garden -exquisite even in its winter dress, he marvelled at his gloom of the -previous night. Then his glance went upward, travelled across the pure -blue sky, and rested upon the snowy bosoms of Atago Yama and Hakusan. -Suddenly he thought of the fox-woman. There was something chill, -forbidding, sinister in those great, beautiful mountains of snow, -looming out there in the sunny sky. He pictured this forsaken creature -threading her bleak way under the towering frost-incrusted pines. The -gloom of the previous night fell upon him again like a shadow. -Shivering, he went indoors, snapping the closed latticed doors behind -him. - -A fine horse had been provided for the American teacher, and he rode -abroad through the streets of Fukui, under an escort sent by the Prince -of Echizen himself. Everywhere the friendly and curious citizens ran out -to see the white-faced teacher, and bows and smiles were the general -rule on all sides. - -Occasionally, however, he met the scowling, threatening glance of some -roving samourai, who, the interpreter explained, under the new order of -things, was out of office and consequently a ronin. It was one of the -unfortunate effects of the Restoration that so many men of the sword, -who had previously been supported by the people as retainers in the -service of princely houses, now found themselves without aristocratic -employment, and, too proud to turn to trade, or other equally debasing -labor, they wandered about the provinces, voicing their discontent of -the order of things, picking quarrels on the slightest provocation, and -prophesying dread things for the empire when it should fall under the -dominion and patronage of the nations of the West. The ronins were all -Jo-i (foreign haters), and they alone the Tojin-san need fear. Happily, -the Prince of Echizen had furnished an adequate guard for his -protection, and the students of the college, themselves samourai, or -sons of samourai, were all pledged to protect the Tojin-san from harm. - -Presently they arrived at the school, an enormous building, once the -citadel of the Castle, and here nine hundred students received the -Tojin-san with a veritable ovation. - -As he stood straightly before them, looking across at that sea of bright -friendly faces, is it any wonder he recalled another scene in America, -so similar, yet dissimilar, and that his heart went out yearningly to -the youths facing him? - -These intelligent, eager-faced boys were looking to him to guide and -lead them. And, in turn, already they had pledged themselves to be his -vital friends and allies. He felt emboldened, courageous, proud, elated. -Not for a moment would he have retraced his steps to that other land he -had regretted. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - VI - - -IN the Tojin-san’s absence several aggravating accidents had happened in -his house. While little Taro, the cook’s youngest child, was sitting on -the doorstep in the sun, nibbling on a sammari sembei (thunder cake), -suddenly from behind an adjacent pine-tree the fox-woman had appeared, -and before the frightened child could open its mouth to scream she had -pounced upon him, nipped the cake cleanly from his hand and was off. - -The child’s nurse (who was none other than the fat wench of the -morning), who adored her charge, and had already herself suffered at the -hands of the mountain witch, rushed out valiantly at the child’s loud -cry of alarm. Her fury getting the better of her fear, she started in -pursuit of their tormentor. - -The latter she discovered serenely seated upon the topmost bough of a -bamboo-tree, where she was demolishing the rice cracknel at her leisure. -From this perch she threw white pebbles, with which her sleeves seemed -loaded, down upon the head of the irate Obun, and while the latter was -execrating her and calling upon Ema (the Lord of Hell) to come to her -assistance the fox-woman slid down the bamboo trunk so swiftly and so -silently she was beside the terrified serving-maid before the latter -knew. She felt her arms caught in a sudden squeezing grip. Sharp fingers -sank into her thick, fat flesh, crept up along her arms to her -shoulders, nipped at her breast, her neck, her cheeks, her great -muscular legs, and with a last vicious tweak at her nose, the fox-woman -had again vanished. - -The kitchen was in an uproar, the cook’s wife in hysterics, and Obun -herself reduced to such a state of stunned terror it was impossible to -get her to stir from a corner of the kitchen whither she had fled like a -whipped dog for refuge. - -The Tojin-san, as master of the house, was besought to lend his -honorable assistance and advice. He ordered that Obun be brought before -him. - -After some delay there was a sound as of scuffling and shoving in the -hall, and presently the perspiring face of the cook was seen through the -parted screens. He was pushing something which looked like a great soft -ball along before him, and, in turn, ordering and pleading with the -object in question to stand upon its feet and help itself. He was -assisted in his pushing endeavors by a small army of lesser menials of -the kitchen, who took turns in pushing and shoving the unwilling Obun -into the presence of her dread master, the Tojin-san. Presently she was -at his feet, her face hidden on the floor. - -“Come, come!” said he, suppressing his inclination to laugh. “Stand up, -my good girl.” - -This was translated in sharp peremptory tones by his interpreter: - -“Thou worm of a slattern! Rise to thy degraded and filthy feet. How dare -thee bring agitation into the chamber of the Guai-koku-jin [outside -countryman] guest and protégé of His Imperial Highness the terrible -Prince of Echizen.” - -Whereupon Obun came tremblingly to her feet, and shaking from head to -foot, raised a pair of eyes that rolled with terror to the face of the -Tojin-san. What she saw there must have reassured her. The rugged -features of the giant foreigner were softened humorously. In the keen -gray eyes bent upon her she saw nothing but kindness and understanding. -Instantly she began to whimper, like a great baby unexpectedly -comforted. - -“You are in trouble, my good girl,” said the Tojin, in his deep, kindly -voice. “Pray tell me what ails you.” - -And the interpreter translated: - -“Repeat to your terrible and inflexible master the incidents of the -morning, and arouse not his dreadful wrath with vain exaggerations and -lies.” - -She opened her lips to speak, encouraged by his smile, closed them -again, and mutely uncovered first her arms, then her neck, and finally -her great soft breast. - -The Tojin-san, his brows now drawn in a slight frown together, examined -the girl’s wounds, and with the quick eye of a surgeon instantly -perceived their nature. She had been pinched sharply by little -relentless fingers which had evidently flown with lightning swiftness -from one portion of the hapless maid’s body to the other, and finally -with a last mischievous tweak had left their mark upon the round bit of -putty which served Obun for a nose. The Tojin-san whistled under his -breath. Obun had certainly been the victim of a most curious and -spiteful antagonist. - -He gave some brief directions for healing the wounds, and then turning -gravely to his interpreter admonished his servants for their excitement -and foolish fears. - -Undoubtedly, Obun had got the worst of her fight with this fox-woman, as -they chose to name her; but probably, had she not permitted herself to -be overcome with fears, she might have left her own mark upon her -assailant also. It was vain and foolish to regard this troublesome one -who annoyed them so often in the light of a spirit or witch or ghost, as -they believed her to be. There were no such things in the world. - -The interpreter repeated these instructions with personal -embellishments, and the little army of servitors with sidelong glances -of wonder and awe at their master sucked in and expelled their breaths, -and, with final servile bumping of heads to the floor, retreated -kitchenward. - -The Tojin-san remained for a moment apparently plunged in puzzled -thought. Suddenly he turned toward his interpreter, who was regarding -him with popping eyes of interest. Indeed no move, no word, no action of -the white man escaped the notice of Genji Negato, who found him an -object of absorbing interest and wonder. His manner of eating, his -manner of sleeping, his manner of thinking, talking—all things about -him, were a source of wonder and entertainment to the young samourai, -who was more than satisfied with this interesting position he had -obtained. - -“Genji,” now said the Tojin-san abruptly, “you have seen something of -the world. At all events you have lived in the open ports among people -of other lands. You speak English excellently and must have read -considerably. Tell me what is your opinion of this fox-woman?” - -Genji Negato was all flattered smiles. He drew up his well-groomed -shoulders in a profound French shrug. - -“It would give me supreme pleasure to agree with your excellency,” he -said ambiguously, and smiled apologetically. - -“I see,” said the Tojin-san, “you, too! Why?” - -The stiff expression on the interpreter’s face relaxed. In a blurt of -confidence he said: - -“I have felt the fox-woman’s touch also, honored sir,” and blushed like -a boy at the admission. - -The Tojin-san was smiling broadly. - -“Ah! When?” - -“The first night in your service, excellency—a month before your -coming.” - -“Indeed. Tell me about it.” - -“I was changing duty with Samourai Hirata. As a large amount of -provisions had been put in the storerooms it was necessary to mount -guard at various points of the Shiro and the grounds. I was assigned by -the Daimio’s officer to the lodge gates, and there, to my humiliating -condemnation be it said, I fell asleep. I carried with me a box -containing my rations for the night, and this was strapped upon my back. -I am addicted to sleeping on my honorable belly, which your excellency -is aware is the proper position for all sleeping animals—to which -kingdom I unworthily belong. - -“While I slept, I dreamed I was climbing down a mountain-side when -suddenly an avalanche of rock and earth swooped down upon my defenceless -back, pinioning me to the ground with the excess of its weight. I sought -to throw off the burden, shaking my shoulders from side to side, and as -I cast back my hands, the better to seize it, something caught them in a -quick, elastic grip. I rolled over bodily, and, as I opened my eyes, -perceived the fox-woman leaning over me. She had cut loose the straps of -my luncheon-box and was drawing it from under my back when, with a cry -of rage, I caught her by the shoulders and pulled her down upon me in a -vise-like grip. The blood rushed to her unearthly white face, her -piercing wild eyes blazed upon mine till my own eyeballs felt afflicted -as if with fire. I felt her breath, sweet as the Spring, coming yet -nearer and nearer to my face. I was like one inebriated by saké, with -but one impulse, one desire, to feel the actual touch of her unhuman -face against my own. As finally we touched cheek to cheek, honored -excellency, my fingers released their grip. Just as they did so a sharp -pain stabbed me in the cheek. Before I could regain my wits the witch -was gone.” - -He passed his hand nervously across his cheek. - -“For weeks afterward my face was marked with the imprint of teeth sharp -as a marmoset’s, your excellency.” - -“And the luncheon?” queried the American, smiling in spite of himself. - -“Gone, too,” said the interpreter, aggrievedly. - -The Tojin-san laughed. - -“What a curiously greedy elf it is! All its expeditions among mere -mortals seem to be solely for the purpose of food-getting.” - -Genji opened his little black eyes with an expression of surprise. - -“But that is natural. Even a fox-woman needs sustenance.” - -“Come to think of it, a fox-woman has the body of a human?” - -“Certainly.” - -“Then why not make proper provision, and thus protect yourselves from -her pilfering?” - -“Your excellency forgets that the fox-woman’s origin is malign. No clean -Japanese would undertake to nourish an evil spirit. The priests of our -temples give us certain charms which protect us, to a certain extent, -and we heed their advice, which is ever to avoid and forsake her.” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - VII - - -THEY had told the Tojin-san in Tokyo that he was to be the first white -man to set foot upon Echizen soil since that historical period when the -Jesuit fathers in the sixteenth century had come near to Christianizing -the nation. The subsequent edicts which expelled all foreigners from the -empire and made the study of Christianity a crime to be punished with -fire, crucifixion or torture, had had their due effect. All this was -long before the coming of the Tojin, however, and Japan had broken its -hermit-like seclusion, and now was fearfully and curiously holding out a -grudging hand to the Western nations pressing her on all sides. - -The foreigner was already a familiar figure in the open ports, but so -far, in the interior at least, no white faces were to be seen. It was -therefore with amazement that the Tojin-san first discovered signs that -one of his race had lived recently in Fukui before him. - -It was in the Season of Rain-water, the end of February, a dreary -period, when the inexhaustible store of drizzling gray rain dribbled -unceasingly from the skies. To break up the monotony and depression of -the period he had undertaken, with three favorite students, a short -pilgrimage up the Winged Foot River for the purpose of examining a cave -at the base of the mountains wherein, they said, had once been a curious -image. The country people had believed it to be the image of Buddha’s -mother, with her babe in her arms, and pilgrimages were made from all -parts of the country because of its supposed healing abilities. - -As the Tojin-san examined the cave, with the interest and eagerness of -the born scientist and archæologist, the youths explained to him the -fate of the image in question. A learned Bonze of the Nichiren sect had -recognized it as an image of the “Criminal Faith,” and, in an excess of -rage, had broken it into fragments. - -Over the entrance of the cave a large board was nailed, and on this was -emblazoned the same notice the Tojin had seen wherever he had -travelled—in every city, town or hamlet, at every entrance to temple or -palace, roadside or mountain-pass. He had often inquired what the notice -was, but his questions had always been politely evaded, and once he was -somewhat curtly told it was simply one of the laws of old Japan, now -rapidly becoming obsolete. Now he turned abruptly upon the young -students, who were all deeply devoted to him, and imbued with the new -spirit and thirst for knowledge sweeping like a fever over all the -empire. They, at least, would answer him. - -“Higo, just what is this notice? Translate it for me, will you not?” for -the three youths accompanying him spoke the English language with -fluency. - -Higo replied with a slight flush of embarrassment: - -“It simply refers to the Criminal God, your excellency.” - -“The Criminal God? You are very vague.” - -“Condescend to pardon the allusion, honored sensei,” said the boy, -apologetically. “To-day, we are ready to repel all such unworthy -references to your exalted nation’s faith.” - -“Indeed,” put in earnest-eyed Junzo, “we are not prepared to name any -religion or god criminal. Our august Emperor has set us a divine -example, since he has honorably thrown open the doors to any and all -sects, however odious.” - -“And for my part,” contributed Nunuki in his brusque and somewhat surly -manner, “I agree with our ancient philosopher: ‘Dogma is a box in which -small minds are kept.’” - -“Dogma is a form of superstition,” said Junzo, “and superstition awakens -the meaner, crueler passions. Do you not agree with me, honored sensei?” - -But the latter, his brows drawn in puzzled wonderment, was examining -something which had been cut into the wood of the board on which the -notice appeared. - -“What—” he began, when in a singsong voice, after a slight shrug of his -shoulders, Higo began translating the text: - -“It reads thus, honored teacher: ‘The evil sect called Christians is -strictly prohibited. Suspicious persons should be reported to proper -officers and rewards given,’ but be not afraid,” he added hastily, “for -it is an old law, and even if still in force to-day your excellency is -exempt.” - -“I am trying to decipher what is written under it—in English!” said the -Tojin-san slowly. He took out and applied a magnifying glass to the -board. - -A swift, oblique look passed from one student to the other; but when the -American turned toward them for enlightenment, their faces were as -impassive as their feudal ancestors. - -“It appears to me,” said he, thoughtfully, “as though some one had cut -words into the woodwork, and that—there are marks as if an attempt had -been made to blot out the words. Now let us see: ‘On—this—Thomas -Mor—18—’ Why, it is recent—within the last ten years!” - -He turned about in a state of intense excitement. Something in the -averted faces of his companions increased his curiosity and suspicions. -Ere he could frame another question, Nunuki spoke up abruptly: - -“It is well you should know the truth, Mr. Teacher. A Guai-koku-jin -[outside countryman] lived in Fukui before your time.” - -“Recently?” demanded the Tojin-san eagerly. - -“Seven years since,” said the boy shortly. - -The Tojin-san drew a great breath. His eyes kindled. He looked -wonderfully pleased. - -“Then that is why some of you students speak English so creditably?” - -“No, teacher. Many of us studied in Yokohama. Many have learned by the -book alone. After the coming of your exalted Lord Perry, it became the -chief ambition of all thoughtful men of the New Japan to learn the -English language and its sciences.” - -Higo volunteered the above information, but the gruff Nunuki quickly -followed him: - -“Be not deceived, excellent sensei, in regard to the baku [fool] who was -here before you. He was not like you, honored sir.” - -“No? What was he, then?” - -“He was—damyuraisu,” blurted the boy angrily. - -The Tojin-san burst into laughter. It was a colloquial word well known -in the open ports, and was applied to the foreign sailor of whatever -nationality. It was the Japanization of the sailor’s favorite -expression: “Damn your eyes.” - -Suddenly his face went grave, remembering how the sailors of the white -nations had misrepresented their nations! How, in a constant condition -of drunkenness, they rioted around the open ports. The gravity in his -face was reflected in that of the students. - -“It is a subject,” said Junzo gently, “ignored by common consent in -Fukui, because it is painful to our Daimio. He was the fellow’s patron -and protector till the time when the honorable beast betrayed him. Pray -thee, honored sensei,” he added almost pleadingly, “do not seek to know -further in the matter.” - -“At least tell me what became of him.” - -“Your excellency’s honored feet are surely tired. Your honorable insides -must be entirely empty. Food is good in that event. Let us call the -kurumma.” - -They were moving along the road toward the waiting vehicles, which were -to carry them back to the little boat that had brought them down the -river. It was indeed chilly and dreary, and their rubber-coats and hats -of straw were dripping. The Tojin-san, his arm linked in that of the -gentle Junzo, cast a look back at the dimly shadowed mountains, and, as -he did so, the boy dreamily remarked: - -“The Fox-Woman of Atago Yama will find wet passage back to Sho Kon Sha -this night. It is said the streams and rivers are all billowing over, -and not even a sprite may spring across them.” - -“Have no fear,” said Nunuki gruffly, looking back over his shoulder. -“The fox-woman will find wings suitable to her degraded feet. She’ll not -lack the shelter so illy deserved.” - -The words were so brutal, the tone of the boy so full of animus and -hatred that the Tojin-san stopped abruptly. He laid a firm, kindly hand -on either lad’s shoulder. - -“Who was it spoke this afternoon of superstitions engendered by a -fanatical dogma?” - -For a moment neither of the students answered, then growlingly Nunuki -snarled: - -“It is hard to spit against the wind. Facts cannot be altered.” - -“By facts—you mean the fox-woman?” - -“Her origin, learned sir. It is impossible for the offspring of so vile -a union to be otherwise than unclean, as says the law.” - -The Tojin-san said solemnly, his hand emphasizing with its pressure on -their shoulders his words: - -“I know nothing of her origin, but to quote a favorite proverb of your -own Japan, remember: ‘The lotus springs from the mud!’” - -The Japanese were silenced, deeply moved. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - VIII - - -IT became common knowledge in Fukui that the fox-woman had taken up her -residence on the Matsuhaira estate. The palace grounds covered nearly -twenty acres, and were surrounded like a veritable wall on all sides of -the estate by smaller buildings, which had once housed the retainers of -the Daimio, but which had not been occupied for years and were in a -dishevelled and forlorn condition of ruin and decay. Two of these -dwellings had been put in order, and these were occupied by the samourai -guard, the aged gateman who guarded the road leading to the mansion and -the family of the Tojin-san’s interpreter, who, himself, however, had an -apartment in the Shiro. - -It was, therefore, quite possible for the fox-woman to find lodging in -almost any of the remaining structures, and she could, if she desired, -move from one to the other, and when unduly pressed, return to her old -refuge of the woods and foot-hills of the mountains that bounded them on -two sides of the estate. - -More than one of the household had thought they had seen and recognized -her. On a still, hazy night, when the golden moon barely showed an -inquiring face in promise of the summer nights to come, Genji Negato had -shown her to the samourai guard. Just a white, fleeting face glimmering -out like that of some hunted thing between the slender, towering trunks -of a grove of bamboo. A moment only under the streak of moonbeam, and -then it had vanished like a mist at twilight. - -Was it a dream, they asked themselves, or indeed a manifestation of the -just anger of the Buddha for sins committed in a former state. Were they -henceforth to be harassed, goblin-haunted? - -And in the dawn, before the sun had barely shown its first glimmer of -light across the eastern sky—in the misty, dewy, clammy dawn—the maid -Obun had again come face to face with her. - -Obun was bent upon her usual task of the morning, the bringing of water -from the pond to the house. Her eyes were swollen with sleep, she yawned -cavernously, and as she stooped to dip the first of the pails into the -water, something stirred the other side the pond, and she looked across -to gaze, with fascinated eyes, at the fox-woman, whose long, sunlit hair -dripped in and out among the lotus and the water-lilies, as if she -bathed it in their perfumed purity. Through this dripping veil of hair -her face gleamed whitely. Her lips fell apart as though she listened, -her eyes were startled, wild, and looked not at but through and beyond -the dumbstruck serving-maid as though she saw her not at all. Slowly, -stealthily, the fox-woman came to her feet, still with that weird, -seeking, listening look upon her face, and thus with backward, shivering -glances, she retreated to the bamboo grove. - -To his own amused dismay, the Tojin-san found himself constantly on the -watch for her. He had never seen the witch, but he had heard and felt -her. She crept upon him in the evenings when he strolled about his -garden, and she seemed to follow his footsteps with the stealthiness of -a wildcat, disappearing as fleetly as the wind at his mere turning. - -He was aware of her constant nearness if he merely stepped out of his -house. Once when something brushed his cheek he was startled to find -himself believing at once that it was she who had touched him. He -plunged into the brush at his side, and, in the dark, thrust back the -branches of the low-growing trees and bushes only to find himself up to -his knees in water where he had stepped unawares into an overgrown -rookery and fish-pond. As he floundered helplessly about he heard her -softly laughing in a weird, mocking voice, which nevertheless seemed to -overrun with tears. - -Holding his breath unconsciously he found himself straining his ears to -listen to the sound, which indeed was so faint a whisper of a laugh he -could have believed he dreamed it. - -Sometimes as he drove abroad through the country she called to him from -behind sheltering hillocks, and sometimes it seemed her voice floated -down to him from some height—some giant tree-top, heavy laden with -foliage; for it was the time of “Little Plenty” (May) and all the land -was green and warm. - -He found himself listening for her call—stopping, waiting for it, and -returning with a sense of bitter disappointment when he heard it not. -The servants gossiped, the samourai whispered among themselves. They -said the fox-woman had put a spell upon him. Genji Negato repeated this -to him, and was rewarded by a look of startled contempt and anger. - -“Spell!” The man of science repelled the very thought; but he began to -avoid the mountain-sides of his estate, and turned in preference to the -river-road, whither she could not follow unless she revealed herself. - -Late that month, with no advance warning of its coming, whatever, a -typhoon swept venomously across the province, leaving in its wake a -shattering storm that shook and beat upon the aged Shiro for a day and -night; and, in the night, one encountered the shadow of the fox-woman in -the great deserted halls of the Matsuhaira mansion. - -A wildly shrieking housemaid, calling “Hotogoroshi!” (murder) at the top -of her voice, gave the alarm, and from all parts of the palace the -menials scuttled like frightened rats, taking refuge in the great -kitchen in the rear. - -Even Genji Negato, with blanched face and shaking knees, followed the -last agitated obi into this dubious shelter. Here fortifying himself -with heavier, if not trustier, implements than his swords he recovered -his wits sufficiently to attempt to rally the panic-stricken army of -servitors. Each in turn was ordered, urged, besought to go to the -Tojin-san’s apartment. It was dastardly, so he averred, to leave the -foreigner alone to face the unknown peril menacing him. For plain it was -to be seen that she who had hitherto confined her malign activities to -the large outdoors, had stepped at last across the threshold of the -doomed palace. Undoubtedly, the typhoon which had crushed half the city -so cruelly had been summoned by the witch in token of her power over -them. Something horrible, sinister, was about to happen. Who could tell -exactly what; but the signs were evil, evil! - -He forgot the difference in his state and rank to these creatures of the -kitchen, and found himself confiding to them his worst fears. - -The Tojin-san slept from north to south, the position proper for a -corpse alone! Genji Negato had pleaded with him to change, but the -foreigner had laughed and insisted it was the true, scientific position, -from pole to pole, in harmony with the electric currents of the -atmosphere. - -The night before all four of the samourai guard had heard the plaintive -howling of a dog; an owl was seen black athwart the moon; a tail-less -cat fled under the Uki (goblin-tree). The samourai had dutifully -reported all these happenings to the Tojin-san, and now, when the blow -seemed about to fall upon him, this stalwart guard, provided by their -prince, were sleeping comfortably in their yashiki on the very edge of -the estate. It was the workings of the gods! - -Goto, the cook, found his fluttering tongue. - -“This very morning,” said he, “I trod thrice upon an egg-shell.” - -“I miserably entangled my obi when dressing,” said another. - -“And I, alas! bit my tongue when eating. My mistress said it was a sign -some one begrudged me my food. Who indeed but this spiteful fiend of the -mountains?” - -“Twice this week,” wailed the cook’s wife, “little Taro broke his -chopsticks when eating.” - -She fell to sobbing violently into her sleeve. - -“Condescend to hush!” said Genji Negato. “Remaining silent is good.” The -interpreter’s yellow face had turned ashen, his hair appeared to stand -almost on end, as he listened with suspended breathing. - -Outside the wild rain beat against the wind-swept trees, and dashed -peltingly against the ancient Shiro. Jagged flashes of lightning -zigzagged across the skies showing clearly through the walls, though the -amado were in place. It was not, however, to the sound of the tempest -that the interpreter was giving ear. Somewhere within the Shiro itself -new sounds were heard. It was as if a wind passed along the great halls -and corridors and close upon its soft-footed flight there dashed -something heavy, pursuing. - -Suddenly the main sliding screen or door, which led into the halls, fell -inward with a crash. Over it something bounded like a ball of fiery -light, passed through the kitchen swift as a lightning flash and shot -out into the storm, letting in a gust of rain and wind and thunder -through the shaking doors. - -A moment later only, and panting like an animal in the chase, the great -Tojin burst into the chamber. He stopped short, staring as if confounded -at the group shuddering against the farthermost wall. Slowly his gray -face relaxed its tension. He tried to speak normally, but in spite of -himself his voice shook, though his words were terse, commanding. - -“There is nothing to be afraid of,” he said. “Translate that, if you -please, to the servants,” he sternly ordered his interpreter. - -The latter’s teeth were chattering. He could barely speak. - -“Your excellency—you yourself have seen—” - -“I saw nothing,” said the Tojin-san, doggedly, “save the figure of -a—woman!” - -“A woman!” cried the interpreter, almost in tears at the evident -stubbornness of this fool-white-man. “Ah, most high-up sir, would you -have condescended pursuit of a mere female creature?” - -The Tojin-san looked care-worn, haggard, as if he struggled within -himself. His deep, stern voice quivered in spite of himself. - -“She was pressed against my wall, and fled fleetly as a wild thing when -I threw the doors open. The halls were unlighted. I could barely see -her. My eyes were dazzled at the sudden darkness. I may have been -mistaken. And yet—and yet—it seemed to me—her hair was—_gold_!” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - IX - - -“I AM determined to satisfy my—call it curiosity if you will—in regard -to this fox-woman,” the Tojin-san told the three students who were his -almost constant companions outside the school. - -“I can get no help whatever from my servants and less from the guard. -Genji Negato is worse than a woman, and the Daimio’s officer has point -blank refused to give me a guide to direct me to her home on Atago -Yama.” - -He paused and looked at the embarrassed faces of the students. They were -devoted to him he knew, eager to serve and please him; yet even they, -sons of the new, sane Japan, feared the fox-woman. He was determined to -win them over. - -“So I want your help, Junzo, and yours, and yours, Nunuki and Higo. You -can help me if you will.” - -“In what way?” demanded Nunuki cautiously. - -“In any way you wish. Devise some scheme to trap this creature of the -mountains.” - -“Can we trap the north wind when it raves over the wilderness? Can we -trap even the gentlest zephyr when it dances across sunlit paths?” asked -Junzo, wistfully. - -“But the fox-woman is neither the rough north wind, nor the playful -zephyr of the south. She has a physical body, which even you will admit. -The wildest thing of the wildest forest can be caught,” and he added, -half under his breath, “and tamed.” - -Higo was considering, his young patrician face very thoughtful and -intent; but Junzo with a burst of boyish pity put his hand timidly, -affectionately into that of the Tojin’s. - -“Ah, dear sensei,” he said, “you are tortured, obsessed by this wretched -witch. She has put her evil spell upon you.” - -“Nonsense,” said his teacher, almost roughly, releasing his hand. “This -is not helping me, Junzo.” - -“But you have never heard the story of Chuguro. It happened in Yedo, -many years ago, your excellency. He was in the service of a Hatamoto -named Suzuki, and seemed like any other contented and healthy ashigaru. -Then came a time when his comrades missed him in the night, and they -would not again see him till just before the dawn, when he would creep -back to his quarters looking very strange and white and exhausted. He -became weaker and weaker from day to day, and at last was unable to -leave his couch at all, though he pleaded and begged to be carried to -the foot of a little bridge not far from the main gateway. But his -friends were obdurate. They called in a great Chinese surgeon, who made -an examination of the dying man and declared his veins had been -literally drained dry of blood! All declared it was the fox-woman; but -the Chinese doctor said: ‘It was a frog, which took to the soldier’s -eyes the form of a woman.’” The boy paused, eying his teacher wistfully. -“It is only a legend you will say, sensei, but I beseech thee, honored -sir, to avoid contact with even a stray fly, a spider, any crawling -thing that may beat its way into your yashiki. Who knows what form this -dreadful fox-woman may take to lure you.” - -Higo broke in impatiently: - -“If indeed our sensei is tortured, why waste words on idle tales of the -past? It is our duty to conceive some sensible scheme by which to rid -his excellency of the torture.” - -He began to talk swiftly and eagerly to his friends in Japanese, and -gradually their resisting and doubting faces changed. With boy-like zeal -they discussed the adventure proposed by Higo. Then the latter turned -abruptly back to the Tojin-san. - -“You will permit us free access to your grounds at all and any hours?” - -“Most certainly. I will so instruct the gateman.” - -“And, if necessary, we may call upon the guard for assistance?” - -The Tojin-san slightly smiled. - -“Come now, surely you don’t anticipate so hard a task?” - -“We cannot tell. Even the guard may prove insufficient, but with Shaka’s -aid we may succeed!” - -A look of alarm came to the Tojin-san’s face. - -“I wish no harm whatever to befall her. If you can surprise her upon one -of her nightly peregrinations in our neighborhood, and induce her gently -but firmly to accompany you, it will be gratifying. Once brought face to -face with other people—for I am convinced she is the same as we are—I -hope to be able to lay this bugaboo of a fox-woman.” - -“As for that, impossible to say,” said Higo vaguely. “Now sinking, now -floating, thus is life says the poet. If disaster befall us in the -undertaking it will be as decreed of the gods. All things are beforehand -ordained.” - -“You anticipate hazard in the adventure?” - -“We would not attempt it otherwise,” proudly asserted Nunuki, his hand -unconsciously caressing his sword-hilt, for these boy-samourai all wore -the sword. Higo indeed was of a princely house, and kin to Echizen -himself. - -As the American looked at them, nerving themselves thus bravely for an -encounter which to them at least was a deadly one, he suddenly thought -of that frail, fleeing shadow which had gone before him in the gloom of -the unlighted halls, and, unconsciously, he smiled. Why, boys as they -were, any one of them could surely have crushed her between the palms of -his sinewy young hands. If there were a real risk to run, he knew he -would be the first to thrust himself in their way. But no! The -undertaking was worth while, necessary, indeed, if only for the purpose -of demonstrating the foolishness and cruelty of superstition. Even the -melancholy tones of his favorite pupil, chanting almost monotonously the -Buddhist text: - -“Brief is the time of pleasure, and quickly turns to pain, and -whatsoever is born must necessarily die,” failed to move him. - -Young heroic fatalists! His heart went out to them overwhelmingly. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - X - - -THEY had dug a trench hard by the castle moat. Over this they spread a -net made of stout hempen rope, the edges of which were threaded in and -out with elastic of great strength. This was stretched out and pinned, -not too firmly, till it encircled and covered the pit. Then the sod and -leaves and flower petals were carefully, though thinly, replaced, and -the trap was ready for the Fox-Woman of Atago Yama. - -Over all the Matsuhaira Shiro a tense, silent excitement pervaded. -Though the students had worked in secret, swiftly and silently on a -dusky, rainy night, when their prey would not be likely to be abroad, -nevertheless no smallest menial on the place but knew that measures had -been taken to entrap the fox-woman. They shivered deliciously over the -dreadful prospect, for dire things had been promised them by the too -garrulous Genji Negato, should any slightest inkling of the plans leak -out from the Shiro itself. - -Even the Tojin-san, who had been kept in complete ignorance of the -actual methods they had taken to entrap her, was affected by that -nameless feeling of uneasiness and unquiet, of repressed excitement and -strained fear, which animated every other individual of his household. - -Throughout the evening he paced his great chamber in a moody, wretched -silence. The sense of aloneness, of homesickness that sometimes came -upon him in this land, seemed somehow this night to be deeper, more -depressing. For days, indeed, he had been affected by a feeling of -impending gloom and disaster. He had been restless, dissatisfied, -nervous—unconsciously listening and waiting for something he seemed to -expect was about to happen. Now he found himself analyzing this sick -sense of depression which had pervaded his whole being these latter -days, and seemed to reach its culmination on this silent night. - -Was it something in the look or tone of a student who recalled one of -his own people, or was it the letters that had come to him from across -the seas that made him realize they had cared for him more in that other -country than he had realized? No—he faced the situation. This was not -what had awakened the fever within him. - -It was something deeper, something very beautiful and mystic. It was the -golden hair of this Japanese Lorelei which had ensnared his longing! He -could not banish its glitter, its “sun” as they called it here, its wild -appeal from his mind. What was this creature of the mountains then, whom -the gentlest of people had outcast? And what was this spell they said -she had cast upon him? The words seized upon his fancy, writhed his lips -into a tortured smile. He, whom a mere woman had scorned, under the -spell of a witch—a wild creature of these Japanese mountains whose face -he had never even seen! It was preposterous—fantastic! And yet! - -The blood forsook his face, his lips. For days, for weeks, aye, for -months he had thought of little else. Through half the luminous nights -he had watched and waited for her—had sought her desperately, hungrily. -Day and night he had been waiting for her—waiting and listening, always -listening, for that appealing voice of mockery and anguish that called -to him insistently—to him alone! What mad fancies were these that had -woven themselves like a subtle spider’s web into his clear, sane mind? -It was the country, the people! He was in a land of gods and spirits! - -The night was very still and humid. The rain was gone, but its wet touch -still clung in the air and was moist upon the grass and trees. The shoji -of the chamber had been removed entirely on the garden side, so that he -practically was out-of-doors in an open pavilion or verandah. He could -see the moon-tipped branches of the trees under whose shade myriad -fireflies flickered in and out, rivalling the distant stars above them -in brilliancy. - -A cherry grove, from which blew fairy flakes, like confetti at a -carnival, was at the extremity of the garden, and ever and anon a shower -of these dancing-petals blew into his apartment, giving it an almost -festive air. Great drifts of them lay in the corners of the room, like -snow, and upon his couch, his tables, chairs and other furnishings, -marking them with a white touch. In the shadow of a bamboo grove an -uguisu thrilled forth its liquid song, and the wind-bells on the eaves -tinkled musically back and forth in a faint breeze, as if in unison with -the song of the wood-bird. - -From across the mountains came the gentle booming of the temple bells, -telling the hour of the night, and, as if they were a signal listened -for, the fox-woman crept out of the dense bamboo grove and felt her way -among the shadows till she came to the brink of the castle moat. Along -its edge she wended her fleet, cautious way, till she came to a narrow -wing, and over this she stepped silently. In the vague light of the -moon, she seemed indeed a wraith, in her clinging gown of white, -enshrouded in the wild veil of her hair. On and on she moved, as though -she travelled over known and familiar paths. - -Suddenly, piercingly, in the still moonlight sounded the cry of the -fox-woman, and, as suddenly, a silence fell, still as death itself. It -was as if every living thing had paused to listen to that appealing cry -of agony and terror. - -Silence! No one stirring. No one breathing. - -Then, as if brought violently into life, the Tojin-san bounded to his -feet, and in the light of the swinging takahiras, for a moment his great -form loomed up menacingly. From all parts of the estate now came the -sound of movement, and he saw the samourai guard, their gleaming swords -drawn fully and flashing eerily in the moonlight, charge down blindly in -the direction of the cry. Within the woods came the sound of battle, the -rumble of men’s savage, triumphant voices—a wild stirring and crying, -and then again—the silence! - -Presently from out the brush they came, bearing their burden—stalwart -men of war, all with their hands upon her. Out along the whitewashed -paths, across the green-clipped lawns and through the garden of -fragrant, blowing flowers they carried the fox-woman into the -cherry-petalled chamber of the Tojin-san. There they set her down, still -entangled, like a wild beast of the woods, in the net they had made to -snare her. - -Unmoving she lay, as one indeed in whom life was extinct; but when the -Tojin-san moved with an impulse of passionate yearning toward her, the -boy Junzo, who loved him, sprang in his path. - -“Touch her not, beloved sensei! She is accursed, unclean!” - - -[Illustration: - - “TOUCH HER NOT, BELOVED SENSEI! - SHE IS ACCURSED, UNCLEAN!”] - - -He put the boy roughly, savagely aside, and in a moment was kneeling -above her. It was the task of a minute to cut free the bonds that bound -her. Still she did not move. With hands that trembled in spite of -themselves, gently, softly, he put back from her face the glittering -veil of her hair, and as he did so his heart came up in his throat in a -great, suffocating bound—for the face he uncovered was that of a white -woman! - -So perfect, so exquisite the small, sensitive face, he could only gaze -upon it spell-bound. The great purple eyes, wide open, and shadowed with -their long, gilded lashes; the thin little nose; the lips red as a new -blown rose, and as sweet!—and crowning it all, the golden glory of her -hair. - -In this land where only the brown face and densely black hair and eyes -had been known for centuries, was it strange that this creature of the -mountains seemed as of another world—a sprite indeed. This persecuted, -hunted creature, whom they had trapped with ropes, as the hunter does -the wild animals of the forests; this fragile, trembling, quivering -little child—of his own skin and blood—_this_ was the fox-woman! - -She spoke not at all, though her wide-open eyes never moved from the -Tojin’s face. Something in their glassy stare, their curious look as of -a mist before them, brought an exclamation to his lips. He bent nearer -to her, looked deeply, keenly into those unflickering eyes, and an -imprecation swept his lips. - -“And blind! My God!” he cried. - -As if his voice had moved her spirit into a sudden life, the fox-woman -stirred soundlessly as a cat would have done. Suddenly she leaped -blindly in the face of the Tojin. He stood unmoving, a great stolid wall -against which she might hurl her puny strength in vain. - -Presently, gasping, exhausted, she drew backward, her fluttering hands -crushed upon her heart as if to stop its frantic beating. A sound that -had the vaguest, most piteous of human notes came from the fox-woman’s -lips, and suddenly, with the motion of a lost child in despair, she -buried her face in the fragile shelter of her hands. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XI - - -SHE was the daughter of the damyuraisu (foreign sailor) and of the -Nii-no-ama (Noble Nun of second rank). Bit by bit he drew forth her -history from the students, who remained with him throughout the night. -There was little enough they could tell him, beyond the fact of her -parentage. Her father had betrayed his friend and benefactor, an Echizen -prince; her mother had broken her vows to the Lord Buddha. And the -creature herself! Now the Tojin-san could see for himself that the tales -told about her were by no means chimerical. - -She was free to go, for he had cut the ropes that bound her. Though -blind, she could have found any exit of the chamber unaided. She made -not the slightest move to go. Crouched back there against the farthest -wall she stayed, with her wild flushed face peering out from between her -parted hair, the eyes wide open, unblinking, scarcely moving. If she -understood what they spoke, she made no sign; yet her face had a -strained, listening look—as though she heard strange sounds that both -baffled and troubled her. - -The dawn crept into the chamber, murky and sunless, and found them still -there on guard as it were, with the distance of almost the entire room -between them and the fox-woman, but watching her with unabated emotion. -It was the Tojin-san who at last approached her. She sensed his coming -and shrank back farther, if that were possible against the wall. Now he -stood directly before her, studying her in a profound silence. - -Slowly, cautiously she raised herself to her knees, and then to her -feet. Now she stood fairly facing him, her back against the wall. A -thin, searching little hand felt blindly before her, touched him. With a -quick, animated movement her fingers now flew from his hand, up along -his arm and shoulder, paused upon his pitted cheek, moved to his lips -and rested there, soft as a feather, fragrant as a flower. - -Never in all the days of his life had he looked upon such a face as -hers. Every quivering, sensitive feature seemed alive with the -quickened, subtle sense of the blind. Even the little feeling fingers, -how mortally alive they were, as they swept with their light, electrical -touch across him! - -When he put his great, firm hands upon her shoulders, he felt the shock, -the startling tremble that agitated her. She stood poised for flight, -uncertain, fearful, with the wild defiance of her nature only in part -checked; but as his deep, compassionate voice addressed her, she became -gradually passive and very still. - -“You may not understand my words,” he said, “but you will their meaning. -I want to help you. I am your friend.” - -Her eyes became curiously blue, and the misty look faded like a shadow -from their depths. Across the tremulous, scarlet lips a smile crept like -the dawn. She moved a step nearer to him, and as he regarded her, -fascinated, thrilled, the student, Junzo, broke the spell of silence. He -had thrust himself forward with an impetuous, imploring motion. - -“Sensei!—honored sir, teacher—!” - -She turned her head craftily in the direction of the new voice, then -slowly back to the Tojin-san. There was a low, accusing note in her -voice: - -“To-o-jin-san! Thou too!” she said. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XII - - -THE Palace Matsuhaira, wherein the courteous Prince of Echizen had -housed the foreign teacher, had lost all but two of its tenants. The -odorous kitchens where but lately the army of servants had happily and -noisily labored were now quite empty. So were the vast, cool halls, and -the great, bare chambers. Like an army of rats, one and all, they had -deserted the place, leaving the Tojin-san alone, save for that unseen -one, who alternatively teased and entreated him. - -Even the faithful students, who had brought about her capture, had -ceased to visit the Shiro, having vainly implored the Tojin-san to -abandon the place. With a grim and stubborn patience, he kept doggedly -to the course he had set himself. - -All over the house he found traces of her. Now she had slept in this -chamber, now in that. Here she had prepared her diminutive, stolen meal -of fruit, honey, and rice. - -He was aware of her constant nearness, and had he so desired, at almost -any moment, he could have again seen her; but he was taking a more -subtle means this time to entrap her. She must come forth of her own -free will; then he would know he had her confidence, that she knew him -for a friend. He found himself talking to her, sometimes sternly, in the -chiding, coaxing tone one uses to a child. He would move from screen to -screen as he talked, until he knew behind which one she pressed; but he -made no effort to force her from her hiding-place. - -Never a word would she speak in response until he was seated far removed -from the sheltering screens, then she would begin reiterating the one -appealing, accusing sentence: - -“Tojin-san, thou too! thou too!” - -It was as if she knew no other words of her father’s language. He -pondered their meaning. What was it she asked of him? Of what accused -and reproached him? Did she hold him responsible for the manner of her -capture—its cruelty? He told her in slow, forceful words that he had -known nothing of this, and waited in anxiety for some word or sound from -her to indicate that at least she understood. She only laughed, that -soft, mocking, tremulous little laugh with its inner sound of tears. - -The burning, humid days of June slipped by on drowsy wing. School was -closed for the season, and the foreign sensei was at liberty to travel -if he wished upon his vacation. The samourai body-guard were anxious to -attend him upon any expedition that would take them away from the Shiro. -Genji Negato was available, outside the place. Every cringing, fearful, -cowardly servant, who still drew wages from the Daimio’s high officer, -was anxious again to serve him. They made up deputations and committees, -which fearfully approached the mansion, and threw their messages in -little balls that pelted against the paper summer walls of the shoji and -pierced their way into the Tojin-san’s apartment. And still not once did -he venture forth. - -Every sliding door and screen he had himself put in place. He did not -venture outside the house, even to step into the grounds. And a strange -restless rumor began to float about the little town below, which told of -the spell which chained the white man. - -Meanwhile within the mansion itself, the Tojin-san was winning a strange -victory. Timidly, like a fascinated wild bird, now approaching, now -retreating, nearer and yet nearer, had come the fox-woman. There came a -day when, though he did not turn to look at her, fearing instantly to -lose her, she stood at last revealed. Only a few paces from him, there -of her own free will, timorous, trembling, but unafraid. - -Her name was Tama (Jewel). She told it to him voluntarily, her hand upon -her breast. He had not even asked her, nor did he by the slightest -motion reveal the eager emotion her words aroused when he found they -were spoken in his own tongue. Haltingly, uncertainly, like a child for -the first time feeling for its words, she essayed to speak. - -“I am Tama,” softly she said, and then, as if enchanted by her ability -to speak actual words to one who might hear and understand, she lapsed -into excited, trembling speech, wholly unintelligible to the Tojin-san, -for it was a medley of both her father and her mother tongue, neither of -which she could properly speak. - -Suddenly she stopped abruptly, as if affrighted by her own bravado, and -her fears again besetting her panically she retreated behind the -screens. For the rest of that day, at least, he saw nothing further of -her. But he was well pleased with matters as they were. It was worth -waiting for this, he told himself. As he paced his chamber, he made no -effort to curb the exhilarating excitement that pervaded his whole -being. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XIII - - -TWO days later she again came forth from her hiding-place. He had been -aware of her hovering nearness all through the morning, but made no -effort to induce her to come to him. One may entrap a wild bird; one -cannot make it sing. He knew the course he was taking with her was -right; he was exuberantly, boyishly happy at its evident success. - -Shyly, trustingly, of her own free will, again she had come to him. On -the sensitive questioning face there was scarcely a trace of the wild, -impish defiance that had seemed on that first day its only expression. -She even smiled tentatively, pleadingly, as though she sought in this -wise to win his approval. He spoke to her quietly, as though her -presence there were but natural: - -“Won’t you be seated?” he said. - -She hesitated a moment, sat a moment, rose to her knees uncertainly, and -gradually subsided to the mat. Her face was down-drooped, the little -white hands folded meekly in her lap. - -“You are not Japanese,” said the Tojin-san, gently. It was a simple, -clear statement. If she understood anything of his language, it would be -plain to her what he meant. A marvellous flush spread over her eager -little face. The humid, misty eyes were clear as blue-bells now. A sound -like an excited sob, half laugh, escaped her. - -“Nipponese?” she said. “No—me? I am—To-o-jin-san!” - -Her hands went out to him in a sudden impulsive motion. She moved on her -knees nearer to him. - -“Ah,” she cried, “speag those words of my father! Thas—beautiful!” - -He was deeply moved, and took the little hands closely in his own. They -were soft and small, clinging and confiding as a child’s. How they -trembled and fluttered at first; then rested still, as if with a joyous -new confidence. - -He could not bear to look at her beseeching face. In all the days of her -life he knew he was the first she had not held at bay. She knew mankind -only as creatures of prey. Was this the mocking sprite of the mountains, -who even when entangled in the ropes of the hunter had fought so -desperately, so savagely? What could he say to her, what words of -assurance that would penetrate her full understanding? As he pondered -the matter, he saw the startled change that swept suddenly across her -face. The hands in his own grew tense, rigid, clung to his own in a -passionate frenzy of fear. - -“You are afraid of something? What is it?” - -The old hunted, listening look was upon her face again. She was -shivering, trembling violently. Her voice came in a whispering gasp: - -“I hear—those sound!” she said, her head uplifted. - -Only a lazy breeze was stirring, and moving the wind-bells to and fro. -Suddenly he saw the silhouetted shadow on the shoji wall. It moved -silently, cautiously. Then the screens were slid soundlessly open, and -the student Junzo appeared. For a moment he remained staring down upon -them, his young face becoming gray and stern. - -“Sensei! Then it is true!” he burst out, and the look of despair on his -face deepened. - -The Tojin-san arose to his full gigantic height. His hand fell like a -heavy weight upon the shoulder of the youth. His voice was rough, -commanding. - -“Look at this child, Takemoto Junzo. What is there you see in her to -fear—to hate?” - -“Ah, you, beloved sensei,” cried the boy passionately, “are bewitched, -enchanted. Do I not see with my honorable eyes the change that has -befallen you? It is spoken of all over Fukui that you are in the toils -of this siren. I could not longer bear it, and, against my honorable -parent’s stern command, I came here to see for myself. Alas, it is too -true! You are bewitched, obsessed!” - -The Tojin-san curbed his temper. His voice, though stern, was calm, as -though he sought to humor the boy. - -“What is the change you observe in me then?” - -“Your eyes are weak and soft like the dove’s. There is a melting, tender -look unfit for man upon your face. Your voice is gentle, like unto a -woman’s. It is as if—as if—the enamored weakness of a love possessed -you!” - -“A love!” repeated the Tojin-san, as though the very word were new to -him. Suddenly a look of anguish came into his face, giving it a -poignant, withering expression. - -The fox-woman had crept softly across the room. Now she leaned upon the -farthest shoji, her head lifted in a dreaming trance. - -“Leave this accursed place with me to-day,” urged the boy entreatingly. -“My honorable father will gladly receive you as our honored guest. Throw -off the burden of this foul witch of the mountains. She can only soil -your excellency, and Fukui is prepared to mete out to her at last her -proper fate.” - -“I am a white man,” said the Tojin-san slowly, in a deadly voice, and -never had his student seen such an expression upon his face before. “As -such I protect, not abandon, the women of my race. It will not be well -for Fukui if harm comes to either me, your guest and teacher, or to her, -whom I choose to befriend.” - -“Sayonara, then, excellent sensei,” said the boy brokenly, “I have done -my best.” - -As he pushed back the doors, the fox-woman glided soundlessly across his -path. The boy found himself looking directly into that shining face that -had distracted all who had gazed upon it. Breathing heavily, almost as -if he sobbed, he drew backward from her, his young face drawn and -shaken. She spoke not at all, though she touched him with a timid, -questioning hand. Something in the expression of the upturned face, in -the tears that stood like dew in the wide, sightless eyes, aroused a new -strangling emotion in the Japanese youth—reached at last his innermost -sense of chivalry. He threw up his arm, with a sudden motion almost as -of defense. Then, without a word or look backward, he jumped into the -garden below, and fled along its paths. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XIV - - -THE days stole by with light tread. Without the Shiro Matsuhaira events -of great national import were taking place. Fukui was disrupted, torn by -the new tide of events that was to alter its destiny, for the Yaku doshi -(evil years) were again upon them. - -No longer were the provinces to be ruled by individual princes, for one -and all had come under the dominion of the Emperor. - -People were packing their household goods in haste and wending their -ambitious ways toward the greater cities. In a single month Fukui lost -half its population, and those left behind seemed to move about the -affairs of life as if in a dream, from which presently they would awake. - -Thus the political upheaval served for a time, at least, to distract the -people’s mind from the Tojin and the fox-woman. It was but a temporary -distraction. A whispering, sinister voice was at work. It ran in and out -the houses of Fukui, and breathed its suggestive message to the -disaffected, impoverished ones, and pointed out the cause of the -calamity that had befallen them; for so sudden and drastic a change of -government was bound to react disastrously upon the people at first, no -matter how fortunate its ultimate end. The people of Fukui, like those -of other feudal strongholds, were at present feeling only the first -blighting, threatening touch of coming poverty. - -For hundreds of years the samourai and their families had been dependent -aristocrats, who shared the rich fortunes of their lords. Now they found -themselves suddenly thrust out of service; in the same position as the -despised merchant or farmer, forced to seek employment no matter how -repugnant or menial. Many of them chose what they considered the noblest -and most heroic solution of the problem—suppuku! The entire destruction -of themselves and families. Many sought the larger cities intent on -obtaining lucrative positions under the new government; many families -were reduced to the direst poverty, and became dependents upon their own -servants and tradespeople. - -Fukui had known the noblest of princes, and it was with a feeling of -despairing confidence that the people awaited his return from Tokio. He -was high in the councils of the Imperial Government. He could and -would—he must do much to save his beloved province from disaster. So -they waited patiently, helplessly. Hope is at best but the comforter of -despair, and as the days passed drearily by a new feeling took its -place. - -A sullen, rebellious hatred for the white nations who had brought this -new state of affairs about—a murderous, resentful impulse of revenge. It -was the same feeling that had animated the misguided patriots of -Satsuma, when they fought the allied fleet at Kagoshima, but it was -uglier, meaner, for its force was directed upon two individuals, who, to -the Fukui mind, represented the detested nations of the West. One of -these, so Fukui firmly believed, was directly responsible for the -disaster. She, the accursed outcast, who had descended from the -mountains and taken up her abode in their very midst; who had laid her -spell upon the great Tojin-san, who had been their friend! - -Many a samourai’s itching hand crept stealthily to the forbidden sword, -for, by the new law, they were not permitted to wear the sword, as he -measured his misfortunes through the blighting nearness of the -fox-woman. Many a distracted mother crooned a promise to her sleeping -babe that the dread gagama (goblin) of Atago Yama that had menaced them -for so long was at last to be extinguished. - -And meanwhile, in the Shiro Matsuhaira, another kind of dream was -unfolding its rose-lined wings. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XV - - -“TO what are you listening, Tama?” - -He had come upon her pressed closely against a latticed screen, whose -opening looked out upon the river leading to the city below. - -She started at his coming, and turned toward him, her back against the -screen. - -“I listen to the noise of thad river,” she said, and there was a -conciliating, pleading note in her voice. - -“You cannot hear the river from here. It is very shallow—barely stirs. -There is something else you are listening to?” - -“It is the uguisu,” she said quickly, as though she sought to disarm his -fears. “It no longer sings, Tojin-san. I listen for hees voice again.” - -“It never sang, my child, save at night. What is it that troubles you? -You seem always to be listening, waiting—so fearfully—so anxiously. You -are afraid of something. Tell me what it is?” - -His deep, lowered voice was as caressing and tender as a mother’s. She -faltered, turned from him. Her voice overran with vague sighs. - -“I hear even those mos’ sof’ of honorable whisper. I hear some noise -of—trobble! I am afraid—for you—kind Tojin-san.” - -“For me! I am amply protected here in Fukui. I have a body-guard of -samourai, besides Genji Negato, who will come back quickly enough when -he has mastered his foolish fears.” - -“The samourai gone,” she said, simply. - -He was silent a moment, realizing there was nothing to be gained by -attempting to deceive her. How, when or where she learned of these -matters he never knew; but she knew perhaps more than he did of what was -happening in Fukui. - -“Even if it is so,” he finally said, “and the samourai too are gone, you -have nothing to fear. Less than a week ago a courier brought word to me -from Tokio. I am expecting friends in Fukui very shortly now.” - -“Frien?” she repeated wistfully. “Like unto you, kind Tojin-san?” - -“Yes—white men, and Japanese, too, for that matter. I have good friends -in Tokio. They are coming here to see you, my child.” - -“Alas!” she said, shrinking slightly from him, “Why do they come?” - -“I asked them to come,” he said, very gravely. “I feel I am right, and -that by a simple operation we will be able to make you see, as other -people do, my child.” - -The word appeared to trouble her. - -“I see already, Tojin-san,” she said. - -“What do you see, Tama?” he asked her huskily. - -The words came floodingly, tumultuously to her lips. The misty eyes were -blue as the sea and as beautiful. - -“I see thee, Tojin-san. Thou art beautiful ad my sight, lig’ unto the -gods.” - -A look of suffering left its mark upon the face of the Tojin. He gazed -at the kindling face of the girl before him, and the old strangling, -yearning emotion swept over him. - -“Give me more sight—if it is your honorable wish,” she said, “bud -already I see—I know!” She pressed her fingers impetuously to her eyes. - -“I see the light—the dark. It is a worl’ of shadows on my eyes, and -shadows are lig’ unto our dream—mos’ beautiful of all!” - -His voice was firm, almost solemn. - -“You have been wandering around in a black wilderness all of your life; -you do not know what it is, my poor little one, to see the sun! But, -with God’s good help, I am going to lead you out of the wilderness—into -the light!” - -“You are the light!” she said, throbbingly, and slipped to her knees, -putting her face against his hand. - -Something bounded against the wall and came whistling through the shoji. -It grazed the cheek of the kneeling fox-woman, and imbedded itself -against the woodwork of the opposite wall. She put up her hand with a -quick, startled movement, but though she turned a questioning, fearful -face upon the great Tojin, she could not see how deathly white he had -become. He bent suddenly above her. - -“Make me a promise. Repeat after me, that no matter what might befall -us, you will remain with me—you will not desert me!” - -With her face pressed against his hand, her eyes fervently closed, she -repeated the words as a veritable prayer. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XVI - - -IN the sunken garden directly beneath his rooms he saw that sinister -thing below, waiting in a throbbing silence. It seemed as if his gardens -were alive with them. Who had summoned them? For what were they waiting? - -From his elevation above them he spoke, his clear voice booming out -above their heads. - -“Genji Negato, I desire your services.” - -From somewhere in the shadows the voice of the interpreter came back at -him like a cold slap in the face. - -“When the evil spirit of Atago Yama shall have left the abode of the -exalted Tojin-san, Genji Negato will humbly return for service.” - -The Tojin-san’s incisive, perfectly controlled voice continued coldly: - -“By command of the Prince of Echizen you are in my service. In his name, -I order you to control your foolish fears, or take the consequences of -your Prince’s displeasure.” - -A strange voice, rumbling, sneering, responded to this statement. Like a -flash, upon the retort, came the Tojin’s ringing order to the -interpreter: - -“Translate the words just spoken, if you please.” - -“He says, your excellency, that the Prince of Echizen has been summarily -called to Tokio. If the new law is indeed enforced he may not return.” - -For a moment the far-seeing mind of the Tojin staggered before this -appalling news, which, if true, meant the possibility of his being -suddenly cast adrift and left to protect himself from the Jo-i menace, -against which Echizen himself had taken such precautions in his behalf. -While his mind revolved all the possible perils of his position, a new -voice sprang ringingly out of the shadows of his garden—a boy’s clear, -unfaltering voice with its reassuring note of loyalty and affection. - -“Beloved sensei, we, your students, offer ourselves in place of your -guard.” - -“What may babes know of a sword’s honor?” snarled the samourai, who had -already spoken. “Upon what strength may the foreign devil lean for his -new support?” he demanded with cutting sarcasm. - -The burly laugh that followed was suddenly stopped, as the student Higo -flung himself defiantly before them all. - -“I, Higo, kin of your absent Prince, will answer you. There are nine -hundred students, samourai themselves, and sons of a thousand samourai -before them. All of these are loyal to our teacher. They will protect -and fight for him, if necessary.” - -Now the answering voice snarled merely in explanation. - -“Who spoke of harm to your sensei? It is not him we seek. We have come -for the Fox-Woman of Atago Yama, who blights our fortunes, who brings -sickness, poverty, and disaster upon our ancestors and our children, and -whose doom has been spoken by Fukui. You have trapped her, young sirs of -the college, like any other female beast of the woods. Let older, more -experienced hands finish your honorable work. There are those of us -whose hands performed a like service upon the debased parents of the -gagama, and whose palms itch now to mingle her blood with her sire’s. -Let but the Tojin-san eject this siren of the mountains, and we will be -satisfied.” - -“It cannot be done,” frantically cried the boy Junzo. “I myself have -touched the wretched, helpless one, and, as the gods in heaven hear me, -she is but—human, as ourselves!” - -A roar of derision greeted the boy’s passionate outcry, and there was a -concerted movement toward where the Tojin-san stood towering above them, -his arms crossed, his keen, stern eyes regarding them piercingly. - -Some one pushed forward the interpreter, and the craven, agitated fellow -now faced his master. He made several ineffectual efforts to speak, -gulped at the lump which rose persistently in his throat. Before him -loomed the grim, sardonic face of this west-countryman he had always -inwardly feared and respected; behind him the rabble of dissatisfied -ronin. - -Gasping, trembling, he repeated to the Tojin the verdict of the mob. -They called upon him to deliver into their hands the fox-woman. Failing -to do that, they would storm the Shiro and take her by force. Whiningly, -pleadingly, he begged his master to hurl from his house the wretched -spirit he was harboring. - -To this demand the Tojin-san returned slowly, as though he carefully -chose his words, that if one hair upon the head of the one he protected -were touched, the whole Fukui should feel a vengeance such as never had -befallen it before. He, the Tojin-san—a citizen of a mightier country -than this—was the guest of one of their princes. Not alone his friends -at home, but those here—the very Emperor himself, who had pledged -himself publicly to uphold the new enlightened laws, borrowed from the -West—would avenge insult and wrong done to him—the Tojin. - -His answer, translated by Negato, raised a turmoil of angry discussion, -and that one who seemed to be the leader of the company, sprang headlong -forward, as if to show the way to those who hesitated. He climbed -half-way up the steps to where the Tojin stood, and quick as a cat drew -forward his swords. - -Every eye was turned upon the Tojin-san. He was standing tautly erect, -his heavy, pugnacious chin thrust out. As the sword of the samourai -touched him he drew slightly backward, then with a swift, merciless -bound sprang headlong upon his assailant, his great white fists flashing -more vividly than the steel had done. Backward went the samourai, his -swords flying out of either hand. Without a cry, he fell upon the grass -path beneath. - -And the Tojin-san was back in his place, facing them, waiting for them, -calm, still unmoved, but very terrible and mighty to look upon. - -In the deadly silence that followed, the student Nunuki passed the -castle gates, followed by his valiant, stalwart little army of -fellow-students. They moved in a line steadily onward, spread out on all -sides and completely surrounded the house of the Tojin. - -Ere the samourai could realize it they found themselves encircled by an -army four times their own in number. Their leader lay before them, -unmoving; and above them towered the grim, terrible figure of this -west-countryman, who represented in his gigantic person all the power -and strength they had come to know and superstitiously believe belonged -to the West. - -One by one, they moved toward the gates, broke into smaller groups, -passing the long line of student warriors without a word or sign of war. - -Presently the Tojin moved a step lower down into the garden. He stood a -moment, staring frowningly at the still form lying at his feet. Then -slowly, unwillingly he stooped, and turned it over. A deep breath -escaped him. For a moment things swam dazedly before him, for the white, -agonized face upturned was that of the Daimio’s high officer, the -Samourai Gihei Matsuyama! - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XVII - - -AS a mother seeks a lost child, so the Tojin-san frantically scoured -every nook and corner of the Shiro Matsuhaira for the fox-woman. - -In the interval in which he had faced that threatening, blood-hungry -mob, she had gone! He was torn with sick forebodings of the fate that -might have befallen her. That she had gone of her own free will, he -could not believe—no, not after the promise she had made him! - -And so, with his wound untended, his brain swimming in vertigo, he -staggered from room to room, until the morning dawned dim and gray, and -the sun crept over the horizon with its bright, hard eye. - -Wild and haggard-eyed, shaking as though he were afflicted with ague, he -came finally back to his own chamber. Here his students awaited him, -eager to show him their good-will, to congratulate him and gossip over -the certain punishment that would overtake those who had molested him. -But he heard no word that they spoke, and presently they seemed to -realize that something was wrong with the great Tojin, and they drew -apart, whispering, and regarding him with awed glances. - -The maid, Obun, snivelling and shaking with fear, crept into the vast, -deserted kitchen and fell to putting it in order. In another wing of the -house the voice of the lately craven Genji Negato was heard, and out -along the road, loaded down with their belongings, trailed the little -caravan of menials, creeping humbly back to their old employment. - -Oh, these were dark, impoverished days for Fukui! Who could refuse -remunerative employment such as this? The honorably enlightened students -of the university had vanquished the disgruntled, fighting ones; -Samourai Matsuyama, their leader, was desperately sick, shorn of his -power, and deserted even by his friends. - -And the fox-woman was gone! No one knew how or when she had gone. They -told, in whispers, of her ghostly vanishing, and some said the -bottom-less lake of Matsuhaira, with its white, chilly lotus, held a -secret all its own. But “The Lotus tells no tales,” as the proverb has -it, and how should they know, and why should they care whether the -fiendish gagama, who had haunted their master for so long, floated -beneath the smiling water-flowers or not? - -They gathered together, these gabbling, faithless servants, and -discussed ways and means to propitiate the Tojin-san. Following the lead -of Genji Negato, finally, they took their courage into their hands and -came to his apartment. Barely had they entered the room, however, ere -they fled again. - -One look only at the distorted face was enough. Like a pack of startled -sheep they turned tail and fled from his presence, leaving him once more -alone, pacing and repacing, with staggering, irregular steps, the floor, -crunching his great hands together as if in some mortal agony. - -What weakness was this that robbed him of his manhood! What anguish that -pierced to his very marrow? Was this what the son of the Daimio’s high -officer had endured when he had followed the fox-woman out into the -mountains? Persistently, dazedly he thought of Gihei Matsuyama, and he -asked himself repeatedly why—why? Suddenly it was clear—he knew why. He -had killed the Daimio’s high officer! With his own mighty hands he had -killed the father of Gihei Matsuyama! - -A Chinese doctor, brought by the students Junzo and Higo, examined him -at a safe distance, and he said the foreign sensei was afflicted with a -malady of the brain. - -Outside in the summer gardens, serious-eyed, grave-faced boys looked at -each other with startled glances, and in the city people were telling in -the streets of the dreadful punishments certain to be meted out to those -who had molested the guest of their absent Prince; for word had, at -last, come from Tokio that he had started on his way back to Fukui. - -The day with its sun and fragrance passed away unseen to the great, -blank-minded Tojin. But when the night came, with a whispering breeze -about the ancient Matsuhaira, he raised a listening head. - -As on that first night in Fukui, plainly, distinctly he heard the -fluttering, human knocking upon his shoji. Holding his breath, treading -on tiptoe, he found his way to the doors, drew them apart and looked out -into the dusky woods beyond. How his ears tingled now, straining for -that old caressing call: - -“T-o-o—jin-san! Too-jin-san!” - -Gently, softly, wooingly, he answered the fox-woman, breathing her name -into the still air about him: - -“Tama! Tama!” - -And, as on that other night, again he dropped down into the garden. Over -the green-clipped lawn he went, across the wing of the moat, into the -bamboo grove, and on and on into the beckoning, luring woods of Atago -Yama. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XVIII - - -TO awaken on an afternoon in summer upon a bed of moss and fragrant -leaves; to rest tired, aching eyes upon a clear, pale sky, which smiled -divinely through interlacing boughs of towering pines and hemlocks; to -hear the whistling calls of the wood-birds; the murmuring, sobbing -laughter of some fairy brooklet close at hand; to feel the touch of a -fugitive gentle breeze upon one’s brow—this was the fate of the -Tojin-san! - -For how long he could not have told he lay unmoving, staring dreamily at -the sky above him, a sense of contentment, of rest, of comfort—such as -one might feel after a long, exhausting race, permeating his whole -being. - -Then suddenly upon his consciousness there stole another sense—the dim, -exquisite feeling of a loved presence close at hand, and he raised -himself slowly, weakly upon his elbow. It was like music in his ears, -that faint, caressing voice he had listened for for so many days: - -“To-o-jin-san! Goran nasai!” (august glance deign). - -She was kneeling by his side, her questioning, wistful face hovering -above his own; her soft, timid little fingers touching his brow, his -eyes, his lips. - -He felt himself falling backward again, as if in some delicious swoon, -from which there could be no awakening. Then like the dimly remembered -scenes of a vague dream, he seemed to recall a time wherein he had -wandered through some unending woods, seeking, seeking! Now the dream -had ended in this—this that was part of the dream itself! - -She stirred ever so slightly, and as if he feared she might vanish by -her mere stirring, he reached up the great, once mighty arms, and sought -to envelop her within them. - -Her hair had the odor of the pine woods; upon her lips there was the -breath of some sweet incense. She remained passive within his grasp, but -presently her voice, with its tremulous tone of tears, broke the spell -between them—reached him with the gentle appeal of a child distressed. - -“Honorable water good for thirsty throat,” she said. - -Now he released her, and she drew back to find the little cup beside -her. He let her raise his head and bring the cup to his lips, and with -his eyes still hungrily upon her he drank the water. - -He was content merely to gaze at her, though it troubled him that she no -longer smiled. She said in a very stricken voice: - -“August food also good for Tojin-san. Bud, alas! I god nudding bud rice! -Thas good enough for Tama—bud nod for you, Tojin-san.” - -Even in his weakness he laughed joyously at the mere notion of food fit -for her being unfit for him, and at the sound of his low laughter her -face lighted up wonderfully. - -“You gittin’ better!” she exclaimed joyously. “Now I bring you thad -rice. Too bad—bud thas all I got! I go ad grade temple at top those -hill. Priest too fat run quick to catch at me.” She laughed with an -element of her old mischievous defiance. - -As he did not speak, too intent upon gazing at and marvelling on the -fairness of her face, her expression changed to one of melting anxiety. - -“I am lig’ unto those foolish karasu [crow], who mek chatter all thad -time. Condescend forgive me, Tojin-san. I nod speag agin mebbe for—for -twenty hour—yaes?” - -No one had ever kissed her hands before. The sound, the touch aroused -her wonder, her apprehension. She drew her hands instinctively from his, -and for a moment held them up before her, almost as if she looked at -them. Then with an impetuous, laughing little sob she thrust them back -upon him: - -“Do agin ad my hands, Tojin-san! I lig’ those,” she said. - -It was not alone the pallor of bodily illness, but of some mental pain -that swept over his face, as he set the little hands back into her lap, -reverently, gently. - -Later, when strengthened with the simple meal she made for him, she told -him how the night before she had come upon him in the Atago Yama woods. -It was but two days since the terrible events at the Shiro had driven -them both forth into this enchanted wilderness. He had been ill but a -night; yet it seemed to him many days. - -No, she had not heard him calling her, nor had she called him. This, -too, was part of the dream; but something louder than any human cry had -reached her in her hiding-place in the mountains, the intuitive, certain -sense of the blind. She had retraced her steps down the mountain-side, -and had gone cautiously seeking in the woods for him; and the gods had -guided her aright. Ah! to his very feet. - -She humbly begged him to pardon her for leaving him; but she had thought -this was the only way she could save him from those who hated her. -Now—now she wished to repeat the prayer and promise she had made him -down in the old Shiro. Never again would she desert him. She would -always abide by his side. She humbly entreated that he would permit her -to remain with him, even if she must follow him throughout the world as -a slave, the meekest and lowliest of servants. - -He did not reply, so obsessed was he still with the vision of her -loveliness. Throughout the golden afternoon he lay there watching her -every little movement, her slightest change of expression; thrilling -under the touch of her hands, the sound of her voice; obeying her -slightest request; permitting her to serve him as if he were a babe and -she his mother. - -Gradually the murmuring of the crickets in the grass, the soft chirping -of the birds, even the babbling of the brook, the sighing of the gentle -breezes seemed to soften their tone to one concerted murmuring lullaby. -A veil crept gently over the sky, shutting out the sun and its light. - -She put a pillow of pine needles beneath his head, and she covered him -over with a downy, silken mantle that smelled of temple incense and was -gorgeous beyond words with the golden embroidery of some sacred order. - -And presently as he drowsed deliciously under the warm fragrant silk, he -felt her stirring at his feet, and her tired little voice came -whispering to him as if from very far away: - -“Sayonara, Tojin-san! Imadzuka!” (Now we rest). - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XIX - - -ONE does not always count the gilded days of summer in the mountains. It -might have been a month, a week, or a few days in which the Tojin-san -and the fox-woman wandered over Atago Yama. But the season of Little -Heat passed into that of the Great Heat, and they did not know it. - -The mountains were cool; there was a green wonder world about them. Soft -shadows flickered across the sun-burned paths; intangible breezes fanned -them with their scented breaths. They trod a carpeted paradise that was -all beauty, all harmony. They felt like the birds which blew over them, -or came shyly, timorously at her calling to share her morsel of rice and -berries. - -Even had he desired to do so, the Tojin could not have found his way -back to the city. Seven-eighths of the province is mountain land, and -she had led him over paths she alone knew, and indeed had made—narrow, -hidden little paths that traced their unending way in and out the -densest portion of the wooded mountains. - -They passed no humblest lodge, no smallest temple even, though he knew -that there were many in the mountains, and the music of their bells -reached them at times like the tingling call of a familiar voice very -far away. - -She knew every secret corner of the mountains. The purest springs, -hidden pools and lakelets, caves of unbelievable wonder and beauty, she -showed now to the Tojin-san. - -Clouds of sacred pigeons followed her as if they knew her. They were of -her own Temple Tokiwa, she told him, and were part of her heritage from -the ancestors of her mother who had founded the temple. She knew them -all—every single bird, so she told him proudly; knew, too, why they were -wandering thus far from home. They were seeking her, their guardian, who -had been gone for so many, many days. - -For the first time she recoiled from him when he suggested that they -utilize the birds for food. Up till then they had depended entirely upon -the seemingly inexhaustible stores of rice she seemed to have hidden in -a hundred different places in the mountains, and upon the fish trapped -in the streams, the fruit and wild vegetables which were plentiful -enough. She had never dreamed of the pigeons as an addition to their -diet, and her expression was quite tragic and piteous. - -“They are of the temple,” reverently she said. “The gods love them, and -I—I may not eat the forbidden meat.” - -“Forbidden meat?” - -She looked at him timidly with a new expression in her face. It was as -if a flame had crept into her eyes and set its touch upon her lips. She -had crossed her hands upon her bosom. - -“I, too, am Ni-no ama, like unto my mother,” she softly said. “For both -our sin I got mek thad atonement unto Buddha!” - -He regarded her in a spell-bound silence. There was something about her -words, her actions, withal their simplicity, that held a sacredness. -She, against whom the hostile hands of an entire Buddhist community had -been raised, a priestess of the Buddha! It was impossible, preposterous! -She had been but a child when her parents were killed. What could they -have taught her thus early? - -She seemed to realize from his silence his doubts, and suddenly she -stepped back, raising her hands high above her head, bringing the tips -of the fingers together. A moment she stood with her face upraised, her -eyes closed. - -“For you, oh Tojin-san, I will danze! It is as my mother have tich me -the danze for the gods. Haiken suru!” (Adoringly look). - -From side to side she swayed, her small, exquisite hands moving in the -languorous motions of the dance. Never in even the greatest temples of -Kioto or Nikko had he seen a priestess perform as she was doing. He -thought of the glittering robes of the hundred nuns chanting their -splendid ritual before some gorgeous altar, of their impassive, stony -faces, their ebony hair, their narrow, inscrutable eyes. But she, with -her unbound hair of gold, her bosom and face of snow! - -Yes, they were right, they of Fukui! She was an incarnation of the Sun -Goddess, tripping like the Spring upon the earth, and inspiring in the -hearts and eyes of all who saw her sensations of adoration, and of those -who dared not look, of fear—fear and hatred! - -She had stolen the face and vestments of the goddess, so they had said; -but her soul was that of a fox! - -There burst upon him suddenly a realization of the impassable gulf -between them, and with the knowledge came an overwhelming sense of -revolution, the mad, irresistible passion of the primitive man who knows -only his desires. - -But a moment later she was at his feet, her pure, trusting face smiling -appealingly up at him. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XX - - -NOW came the Season of White Dew. The days were unbelievably beautiful. -The first russet touch of the autumn barely cast its shadow upon the -green about them, the yellow tints of leaf and flower mellowed into a -dull crimson glory. - -But the nights turned chill, and in the early mornings there was the -heavy print of the frosted dew upon the ground. - -Unconsciously they quickened their lagging footsteps, and turned into -shorter paths that would bring them sooner to Sho Kon Sha, the cemetery -of “Soul Beckoning Rest,” which was to be the end of their journey. This -was her home, so she said—the gardens of the temples of her ancestors. -Only a few hill-lengths from the cemetery was the Temple Tokiwa, -deserted, almost in ruins, but—her home! - -There her parents had lived—and died! Here she had been happy in her -solitary childhood, hidden and sheltered by fearful but loving parents. -Here her mother had taught her to dance for the gods and entreat them -with her prayers; here her father had told her of another God, another -heaven. After her parents were gone, the aged temple had been her only -sure place of refuge, a sanctuary wherein even the stoutest of hunters -dared not penetrate; for the wrathful gods still stared with their -dreadful eyes upon the affronted altar, and at the very portals the -demons Ni-o, guarding the sacred gates, might no longer be propitiated. - -Now confidently, happily, with the pride of a child thither she was -leading the Tojin, eager to show him this beautiful shelter she wished -to share with him forever. But, ah! how sweet had been the mountain -paths this summer, and why need they hasten? The restless, vindictive -little city was very far away, and the fox-woman trod upon territory all -her own, hers by right of every instinct, and by the very law of the -land, did she but know it, which made her proper heir to her ancestors’ -property. - -Now they were very near to the temple, and soon she would spread forth -her arms and say to the Tojin: - -“Behold, dear exalted one, here is my honorable home. Condescend to step -upon its floor.” - -And in her mind she fancied the face of the Tojin would shine with a -great light of happiness. - -Now he said to her dreamily, as he followed her through a shadowy -by-path which crept into a sunlit forest of dripping willow-trees: - -“Some day I shall awake. It cannot be true that I am here with you alone -in these wild mountains, wandering along in this aimless bliss!” - -Because she put back her hand, and he took it perforce in his own, he -continued in his low, wooing voice: - -“And when I wake, little Tama, I will know the truth of what you once -said to me: that our dreams are the most beautiful of all.” - -She stopped and turned back to him, with the tall foliage and grass -almost burying her in its thickness: - -“You god no udder dream more beautiful?” she questioned wistfully. - -“No other,” he answered softly. “Have you?” - -“No. This is mos’ bes’ dream of all—jost be ’lone wiz you ad those -mountains! Thas bes’ dream in all the whole worl’, Tojin-san!” - -In the silence that fell between them, and as he still clasped her -hands, a momentary shadow flitted across her face, and she stood -wide-eyed, as though she saw a vision. - -“Alas!” she said in such a mournful tone: “Dreams like unto thad mist. -Now here so sweet, so—so beyond our touch. Next hour gone—gone perhaps -foraever! Nod even the gods know where they gone!” - -He scarcely knew his own voice, so full of a deep encompassing -tenderness and yearning was it: - -“Our dream is to be different from others,” he said solemnly. “It will -never end. Not for a lifetime, little Tama!” - -“It surely goin’ last foraever ad this worl’?” she asked with sceptical -wistfulness. - -“If you wish it,” said he huskily. - - * * * * * - -When the sun was dipping down in the west, and but half its red face -showed above the shadowy hills of Hakusan, the fox-woman felt the fears -seize her in their throttling grip again. - -She stood like one under some spell, her back against the trunk of a -giant oak, her hair like a veritable aureole above her. - -Down in a little ravine, but a few feet from where she stood, the -Tojin-san was gathering dried sticks to build their evening fire. She -could hear him as he moved from point to point. Sometimes he whistled -softly to himself, sometimes hummed vague snatches of song. - -Farther away—at a distance beyond her sight, even if she could have -seen—she knew, with that intuitive certainty of the blind, that others -were passing over their tracks. - -Her hand sought her heart, and clung to it, as if to stop its beating. -Fear lent sudden wings to her feet, as with a little gasping cry she -fled downward to the hollow where the Tojin labored. She was beside him -before he had heard or seen her, and now in surprise he looked at her -white little face of anguish. - -“Tama!” - -“You speag right,” she said, and could not smile with her white lips so -tremulous, “thas only—beautiful dream. Thad mist gone—away!” - -“Dream! No, it’s a beautiful reality. We are here, together, and nothing -in the world shall ever tear us apart again.” - -“Nothing in the worl’,” she repeated. - -Suddenly she covered her eyes, as if the light pained them. From behind -her little sheltering hands came her voice, still with that note of -pleading terror: - -“They come—tear you ’way from me now, Tojin-san! All the way—how many -miles I kinnod say—I see them! In my heart I know! Ad my ears I hear! -Those feet—ah, cannot you hear them also, kind Tojin-san? Listen!” - -She put up her hands, and they stood in a silence, straining for the -sound that only she could hear, or believed she did. - -He knew she was right. Her instinctive sense was keener than mere sight. -Simply, with a tender strength that could not be resisted, he took her -little hand in his. - -“Come, Tama. We must reach Sho Kon Sha to-night.” - -“Yaes,” she murmured, and now there was a note of plaintive weariness in -her voice. “I thought she said the gods were good, an’ that perhaps they -goin’ forgit us here in those mountains.” - -She sighed and moved along step by step beside him. - -“Now I know,” she said, “I god new visitor ad my heart!” - -“What is it, little Tama?” - -“Fear,” she said, “—for you!” - -“What blessed nonsense!” - -“You are Tojin, like unto my father,” she said, in a voice of anguish, -“and oh, all those days my life how I kin forgit what happen unto my -father!” - -“That was many years ago,” he said. “It is a New Japan we live in -to-day, and I have friends—even in Fukui!” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XXI - - -A NEW impulse drew them now more closely together. Side by side, pressed -closely to each other, they travelled swiftly toward Sho Kon Sha. They -dared not wait to eat, to sleep, to rest but a moment, and the night -found them still moving onward. - -They spoke scarcely at all to each other; but she rested like a child in -the curve of his arm, her head against his breast. Once she sighed, ever -so faintly—a little breath of weariness that escaped her almost -unconsciously. - -Instantly he stopped, lifted her face in his hands, and, in the dark -woods, anxiously examined it. - -“You are crying, Tama.” - -“No-o,” she said. - -“But your face is wet.” - -“It is the dew upon my face,” she said. - -Again they moved onward. About them towered the giant trees, silhouetted -against the starlit skies. Sometimes as the ascent became more steep, -they clung to outjutting shrubs and bushes, and once when he fancied her -footsteps slightly dragged, he lifted her bodily in his arms and carried -her for a space. But she begged to be permitted to walk. There was still -a great distance to go. He must not be hampered by her burden. She -wished to help—not hinder him. - -The night grew more still, and a penetrating chill descended about them. -He drew off his coat, to put about her; but she showed him where she had -strapped to her back, with the string of her obi, the quilt. He had -thought it part of her sash, and was all compunction that he had -permitted her to carry even so slight a load. She laughed in her little -tremulous way, and challenged him to untie the knot. In the dark his -big, clumsy fingers picked at it in vain. Again she laughed, -caressingly, with a teasing tenderness, and she drew the little bundle -round in front. It fell at her feet in a soft, silken heap. - -He was for wrapping it several times around her; but she insisted she -would not proceed even the fraction of a step unless he shared the quilt -with her. And so, his arm again about her, under the down-padded temple -quilt, they moved along in the chilly darkness, defying with the new -warmth of their hearts and bodies the cold of the autumn night. - -Thus all night long they travelled, their feet moving mechanically, but -never unwillingly, pausing not at all to look backward over the paths -they had followed, but pressing steadily onward toward their goal. And -the first pale streak of dawn found them climbing up the last height, -within the very sight of Sho Kon Sha. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XXII - - -AS the laggard sun crept stealthily out of the east, a vision of -extraordinary loveliness burst upon them. There, within but the length -of a single hill and field from them, the ragged peaks of the old Temple -Tokiwa raised a lordly head above the sun-flecked pines. - -Stripped of its wealth, but not its beauty, showing the ravages of fire -and assault upon its burnished walls, deserted, falling to the decay of -neglected age, it was more compellingly majestic than any of the famous -structures the Tojin-san had seen. - -The approach was over terraces made of countless stone steps, many of -them now loose and entirely overgrown with grass and weeds. - -The pagoda was of seven stories, its crimson eaves still fringed with -shattered wind-bells. - -A swarm of pigeons flew about its eaves and roof, and came to meet them -in a voluble, almost intelligent cloud. She ran to meet them, holding -out her arms and calling and chirping to them. Dipping into her long -sleeves, she brought up handfuls of the rice she had not forgotten to -bring with her, and threw it generously among them. They pecked at her -hand, seeking scoldingly for the food, and sprang upon her shoulders, -her head, her hands. Presently, chidingly, she drove them off, shaking -her sleeves at them and waving them back. - -Now she drew the Tojin into the temple, pushing back its rusty doors -with a careful hand. - - -[Illustration: - - TAMA AT THE TEMPLE TOKIWA] - - -He was struck with the empty majesty of the interior. It had been -stripped of all its treasures, save the great stone images, which still -sat inscrutably upon their thrones. - -The altar was devoid of vestments; no twinkling lights or swinging -censers burned their incense for the delectation of the gods; yet the -penetrating odor of sandalwood and the dim fragrance of umegaku and the -pine seemed to cling about the very air. - -By the great main altar, the hideous old god Bunzura glared at them from -beneath his sleepy eyelids, resting fatuously upon his haunches. Before -him was the bar where once thousands of slips of paper containing -written prayers, were tied. Now it was entirely stripped and glittered -up in the face of the god in a mocking irony. - -Tama moved softly by the image, pausing only to put her hand upon its -knee, caressing it gently, as if with a conciliating, loving pat. It was -evident she did not stand in awe of the gods. She had been born among -them; knew them as part of her own silent family, exiled like herself -upon the mountains. - -She even put her cheek against the head of a peculiarly sinister-looking -image, who was attended by three smaller gods. The Tojin-san recognized -the group. They were in every Buddhist temple. Ema, the Lord of Hell, -with his assistant torturers, one of which wielded a sword, one a pen, -and one a priest’s staff. - -Now she made her first prostration, bowing lowly, and slipping devoutly -to her knees. She was in a little alcove wherein no image whatever was -to be seen. - -As he stood wondering why she should choose this empty corner for her -prayers, he perceived upon the wall a curious print or scroll. It was a -faded paper chromo, apparently many years old, the picture upon it -almost obliterated, the ends of the paper showing charred marks where it -must have once started to burn. - -A curious sensation stirred within the Tojin, such a feeling as one -might only know when in a land of gods one sees for the first time an -emblem or a token of one’s own true God; for the tattered, shabby scroll -upon the wall was a picture of the Christ! - -She seemed to sense his emotion and excitement, and, still kneeling, -raised a pair of smiling eyes: - -“It is my father’s God,” she said. “To him, mos’ of all; I speag me my -petitions.” - -“Why to him?” he asked, deeply moved. - -“Because,” she answered simply, “he, too, lig’ me, knew trobble. Thas -why I speag to him my heart—account I _know_ he—listen!” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XXIII - - -THE Tojin-san took what measures he could for their future protection. -An exploration throughout the seven-storied pagoda brought to light some -old weapons—a rifle and a sword, once evidently her father’s. They were -out of date, and in bad condition, but better than nothing, he decided. - -As she had shown him a small exit in the rear, of which the outside of -the pagoda gave no inkling, he decided to barricade the main entrance. -This he did, after a gigantic effort, by piling several of the images -before it until they effectually blocked the entrance. As their faces -were turned outward he surmised their weird effect upon the marauders -when, after forcing the doors, they should find themselves fronted with -so formidable a guard as these. - -No one, so she said, had stepped across the threshold since that -frightful day when, in their fanatical hatred, the danka had murdered -her parents. - -She had always been kept hidden in one of the upper stories of the -pagoda, and at this time no one had seen her save her parents. - -On that day she had fled to the very roof in her first impulse of mortal -terror; but even from there, with her ears covered by her hands, she had -heard the cries of her father and her mother, and the wild, brutal, -triumphant shouting of those who had killed them. - -A strange sense of quiet came suddenly upon her. She crept stealthily, -but fearlessly, back down the seven stories of the pagoda, and opened -the great doors that gave ingress to the temple. There for the first -time the people of Fukui saw her, standing like a flame upon the altar -of the great Shaka, whither she had leaped from the door in a single -bound. - -Her hair was more glittering than the altar itself; her eyes, her skin -were of a color no man in Fukui had ever seen before. She seemed to -their dazzled eyes a vengeful spirit, whom the Lord Buddha had uplifted. -They stood as if petrified, staring at her as she swayed before them on -the very lap of the god. Then, with a concerted cry of superstitious -fear and horror, they slunk from the temple, leaving her alone—with her -dead! - -As the Tojin looked about the great chamber, he felt himself almost -unconsciously rehearsing that grim scene of the past. He knew why her -hand had been set against the whole world, why she had terrified and -defied her tormentors. Even now, as she repeated the tale to him her -face was white and fixed. - -“Now you know,” she said, “why I am call the fox-woman! Perhaps thas -true ’bout me. Mebbe I am gagama!” - -“You are not,” he said, “even in spite of them.” - -She was silent, staring out before her in some abstracted trance. -Suddenly she sighed: - -“I nod lig’ udder people! Thas bedder nod come near unto me. I mek the -trobble, and sometimes—the death for those who seek me! Down in Fukui -perhaps already they have tol’ you of thad—Gihei Matsuyama?” - -“They told me,” he said, “but I do not believe them.” - -“Thas true,” she said, and there was a plaintive note of weariness in -her voice. “He cum lig’ unto a storm that fall down from those sky wiz -no warning. When I am come from my door, he there to await me. He speag -my name sof’—kind—lig’ you, Tojin-san! No one aever speag unto me lig’ -thad before. No! They bud cry to me those name and curse and throw the -stone upon me! Bud he! he speag lig’ you augustness. - -“Ad firs’ my heart stan’ still—it ’fraid. I thing of my father—my -mother, and I am ’fraid he come kill me also. Then again he speag my -name sof’ and kind, an’ I say ad my heart: ‘Thas god come veesit me!’ -An’ so—an’ so—for him I mek the sacred danze. But when I am through, I -know I mek meestake—thas nod god ad all! Thas jost man from Fukui! - -“Then my heart laugh wizin me, and my feet carry me quick across those -mountain. I loog nod bag, though I hear his voice, for I am thad ’fraid -agin. I know nod why, Tojin-san.” - -Her voice faltered. She went a timid step nearer to him, touched his -hand questioningly with her own. - -“The blind see wiz one thousand inner eye, bud, ah, alas! they see nod -also for another. How could I know thad the foolish one would nod loog -upon his steps?” - -She shuddered and covered her face with her little shaking hands. - -“How many days I waiting ad thad pool—jos’ waiting, Tojin-san, wiz the -hope that mebbe some day he goin’ come bag out those water.” - -“You must never think of it again,” he said. “You were entirely -blameless.” - -“Sometime I thing,” she went on wistfully, “thad mebbe those Fukui -people right, an me?—I am truly a fox-woman. For see what trobble, -what—death I mek for those who see me. Even for you, kind Tojin-san, -alas! I mus’ bring you those pain!” - -“No—that is not so,” he said. - -“I know nod when or how firs’ I have hear of your comin’. They talk of -nothing else at Fukui, an’ I am always listen, though they see me nod. -Something tell me, when you come all those worl’ goin’ change for me! -Thas’ why I wait, wait, all thad winter for your comin’.” - -A smile, wistful, yet joyous, crept over her lips. - -“You din know,” she said, “thad firs’ day in Fukui, thad I too am ad -your house to welcome you. Bud me? I am nod wizin thad house. I am out -in thad snow. I kinnod speag unto you lig’ those others. I may nod even -touch you honorable hand. Bud all same I know you are Tojin—lig’ unto my -father! Oh, how glad—how joy I am! Though my feet, my hand, my nose, my -honorable ears perish wiz those cold, still I am wait for you. When all -those honorable exalted ones gone—then—then I, too, call you name! -To-o-jin-san!” - -She made a little shivering motion. - -“Bud sup-pose I bring you also thad—thad death?” - -“There is nothing to fear,” he said steadily, “and if there were, I am -strong enough to face any peril with you at my side!” - -“Oh, my mind travel bag on thad past! I hear again my father’s voice—my -mother’s cry! I am toaching their beloved body. I am tek them in thad -black night unto the Sho Kon Sha, and wiz these liddle hands, all alone, -I am put them in their—grave! Tojin-san! Ah-h!” - -She hid her face against his arm. - -“If they should do to you the same!” she said. - -“For myself I have no fear,” he said. - -“Why nod leave me now?” she urged. “Go bag alone down those mountain. No -one speag hard to you who so moch mek respect. Wiz me there is moch -trobble, an’ mebbe worse!” - -“Without you,” he said, “there is more trouble, and a deep pain—an -aching void that could never again be filled. With you here alone, cut -off from all the world, holding your little hands in my own, looking -into your face, why, even facing death, I am content—happier than I had -ever dreamed it possible to be.” - -“Thas beautiful word you speag,” she said. “Bud if the gods—” - -She folded her hands across her breast and closed her eyes in prayer. - -“Temmei itashikata kore maku!” she whispered lowly. (From the decree of -heaven there is no escape.) - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XXIV - - -THE rapping on the temple doors was not loud or menacing, but it was -insistent, questioning. The Tojin-san drew the fox-woman to the winding -staircase which led up the seven stories to the tower above. - -Once before Tama had been sent up yonder. Then she had gone willingly, -even frantically. Now she made no movement up the stairs. Instead, she -turned her back upon them, and faced the Tojin fairly. Upon her face a -smile shone luminously as a star. Simply, steadily, she laid her hands -in those of the man. - -For a moment he held them in his own, his eyes fixed yearningly upon her -face, and even while the knocks resounded louder upon the door the -clouds cleared from his mind. - -Looking into those uplifted, adoring eyes he forgot all else. A sound -that was half a sob, half a passionate cry escaped him. He reached out -irresistibly and took her into his arms. For the first time his lips -hungrily, passionately found her own, and clung in a kiss that over all -the years of a lifetime neither he nor she might ever forget. They saw -nothing, heard nothing, felt only that close, encompassing embrace that -made them one indeed. - -Then upon their dream at last broke the lowly calling, almost whispering -voice of the one without. They drew apart, though their eyes and hands -still clung unconsciously together. - -“Sensei. Sensei! Sensei!” - -It was the voice of the student, Junzo! - -With a low cry, the Tojin was at the doors, wrenching and tearing the -great images away with the strength of a veritable giant. At last the -doors were reached, and these in turn thrust aside. - -There, with their anxious, faithful young faces pale with apprehension -in regard to his fate, were his three loyal boys, Junzo, Higo, and -Nunuki. They fell literally upon him with tears and shouts of joy. They -devoured him with their youthful embraces. Higo clung to one hand, Junzo -to the other; and at the back of him Nunuki hovered, seeking to examine -the wound upon his neck where the sword of the Daimio’s high officer had -pierced. It was healed, so well had the fox-woman cared for it. - -Now, step by step, slowly, uncertainly, she crept toward them, -white-faced, wild-eyed, every nerve in her thrilling, and reaching out -blindly for the arms that had held her, the lips that had clung to her -own. But she stopped with her tragic little face clasped on either side -with her hands as the joyous voices of the students reached her. They -were telling the Tojin of the coming of his friends to Fukui; of the -return of the Echizen Prince; of the punishments to be meted out to -those who had attacked him; the rewards for those who had defended. - -“Even we,” said Higo, with boyish pride, “are to have our due reward, -for we have honorably been chosen as the body-guard of the Be-koku-jin -(American), who has come to Fukui to minister to the unfortunate one, -and to take her, if your excellency is willing, to the capital.” - -“The unfortunate one?” repeated the Tojin dully. “To whom do you refer?” - -The boys stared at him in round-eyed amazement. - -The fox-woman of course! Who else? That unfortunate one to whom the -whole heart of Fukui had melted like the snows of her native mountains -in the Spring. It was the work of the Tojin himself that had -accomplished the miracle; for he had pointed out to them all the -absurdity, the wrong of the ancient superstition, which had been kept -alive chiefly throughout the years by the hatred of those who were -ignorant or fanatic. - -Now the Prince himself was convinced a wrong had been committed, and -Fukui was taking its cue from him. The friend of the Tojin coming at -such a time had also had its effect upon the people; and now the -remorseful ones were prepared to atone for the past if that were -possible. It was the suggestion of the Be-koku-jin, however, that the -girl should be taken out of Fukui. - -Her history had created a sensation among her father’s race in Tokio, -and there they were eager, anxious to receive her among them. But it was -for the Tojin alone to say. The change of heart in Fukui was complete. -There was nothing further to fear. - -“Even I,” said Nunuki with Spartan-like courage, “am prepared to look -upon her. We have learned from the tongue of our own Prince and from the -Be-koku-jin that many females of your race have her skin and hair and -eye-color. Is it not so, honored teacher?” - -But the Tojin-san was silent. His face had turned strangely gray; his -arms hung limply by his side. He was staring out before him fixedly as -though he saw a vision. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XXV - - -“BUD speag to me as before! Touch me wiz those hands—those lips! -Adoringly look upon me! My honorable heart and body are cold. Condescend -to warm them!” - -She had followed him down a declivity, unmindful of the students who -pressed with their grave, wondering young faces closely about her. - -She could not understand why now no longer she might travel beside him, -his sheltering arm supporting her; why she might not even take his hand, -or rest her wet cheek against his sleeve. In the three days they had -been upon the journey back to Fukui, he had seemed to avoid her, almost -as if he feared her. - -Once he tried to explain, stupidly, and with a forced coldness. - -Things were very different now. When alone, they were like lost children -and the silent woods and mountains had put strange dreams and fancies -into their heads, so that they had wandered along in a blind, gilded -delirium. Now they had awakened. They must go back to the city, where -they would be like other people, and where, shortly, their ways must -separate. It was for her good. She would understand some day. - -She must forget the mountain days, or think of them only as a dream that -had vanished, as she herself had predicted it would, like the mist. - -She was very stupid, very stubborn, pathetically dense. She did not wish -their paths to separate—she would not have it so. No, though they tore -her from him by force. She would return to him. Did he not recall the -words he had spoken when he declared the dream would never end unless -she wished it. She did not wish it. She never would. Patiently, -persistently she entreated him, until he was beside himself and felt his -strength of mind weakening, and in desperation turned to his students -for help. He bade them explain to her more clearly than he could do the -new life she was soon to lead—of the change in fortunes that had come to -her. - -Manfully, but in the bungling, uncertain language of boys they tried to -obey him. The unfortunate one, as unconsciously they called her, was -soon to see, promised the gentle Junzo. There was to be an honorable -operation upon her eyes. These western wizards of science, said the -Japanese student, had given sight to hundreds in their own land. The -Tojin, himself once a doctor, had diagnosed her trouble as an invisible -cataract of a congenital nature, not uncommon nor difficult of removal. -He had sent for a great and eminent surgeon who was sojourning in the -capital. He had come all the way to Fukui, at the bidding of the Tojin. -He was a miracle-worker, whose fame encircled the globe, said the boy -with a kindling eye. - -A hundred friends awaited her in Tokio, so Higo courteously informed -her. They were eager and anxious to receive her—Japanese as well as -foreigners. To them Tama was to be sent; for Fukui had been unkind to -her, and she would be happier away from it. She would understand -by-and-by, they promised her. - -She listened patiently, but densely, as if what they told her but half -reached her understanding. That she was to be sent away into some -distant country—very far from the Temple Tokiwa and Atago Yama—an -immeasurable distance away from the Tojin-san—this alone she -comprehended. - -Her mother had taught her that the life of a Buddhist nun must be one -long act of expiation for sins and faults committed in some former -state. She tried dazedly to conceive of the terrible crimes of which she -must have once been guilty that now she was to be punished so -dreadfully; and she reached out blindly for the only comfort possible -for her in the world now—the voice, the touch of the Tojin-san, who had -held her in his arms! - -They travelled by the public roads of the mountain that she had so -carefully avoided. They passed the nights as guests of the priests of -the mountain temples, who read the letters of the Prince of Echizen, -which the students proudly exhibited, and with courteous and profound -obeisances welcomed the travellers, even regarding the fox-woman with -eyes that were more speculative than resentful. Perhaps they alone of -Echizen had best understood this little creature who had lived among -them, yet beyond their pale, for so long; for though they had not sought -her, neither had they persecuted her, as they could readily have done. -Indeed for years she had practically subsisted upon the food she -surreptitiously obtained from the temples—some of which was -unostentatiously placed as if prepared for her. - -The journey back to Fukui was long and tortuous. Summer was gone -completely. The days were cold; wind and rain came about them and drove -them constantly into refuges of one sort and another; but after many -days they came at last to the foot-hills of the mountains, passed -through these into the pine woods, through bamboo groves and camphor -groves, till they came to the Winged Foot River, which brought them to -their destination. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XXVI - - -THE last courteous and obsequious emissary of the Prince of Echizen had -bowed himself out of the apartment of the Tojin-san, having sonorously -delivered the speeches of regret of their master. - -The room was piled with the rich gifts sent by the now soon departing -Prince, who was to take office directly under his imperial master. Now -he was sojourning in Echizen merely for the purpose of setting his -affairs in order, and to do what lay in his power to set his former -vassals in the new path they were to follow. Because he was the soul of -chivalry and of justice, he was righting the wrong and slight paid to -the foreigner he had himself invited to his province. - -The Tojin was inexpressibly weary. One deputation after another of the -citizens of Fukui had been arriving all day. They had commenced coming -before daybreak, for the earlier a Japanese makes a call the greater he -expresses his respect. - -Delegations from the college presented petitions asking him to continue -in Fukui, despite the change of government, and promising to make his -stay there as happy and prosperous as lay within their power. He -listened to them all a bit grimly, making no effort to emulate their -politeness. Through the new interpreter who had entered his service, he -merely signified that he would take the matter under consideration. It -could not be decided at once. - -At last he found himself alone with the Be-koku-jin, as they called his -American friend, who was in fact what the Japanese youth had said, an -eminent surgeon, with whom the Tojin had once been associated. - -He was a small, but very dignified and important individual, whose most -noticeable features were his bright eyes, which twinkled incongruously -beneath a pair of fierce and uncompromising eyebrows. In his -well-fitting English clothes he was as out of place in the Tojin’s great -chamber as was the awkward furniture the deluded Genji Negato had chosen -for his master. - -Now he wandered about the room examining this and that article, and -fingering the gifts brought by the Japanese with anticipatory fingers. -His eyes, however, turned constantly toward his friend, who, now that -they were for the first time alone together, had nothing to say. - -The American surgeon was blessed with more than an ordinary -intelligence, and he had learned a great deal from the students. A man -seemingly absolutely wrapped up in his work, he had for years secretly -cherished what he had become to believe was positively a vice. He was in -fact as sentimental as a girl. When supposedly he was deeply engrossed -in the study of some scientific work, locked in his study with stern -orders without that on no account was he to be disturbed, he was in fact -reading some love-story—or some romance of adventure usually enjoyed by -very youthful persons. - -Now he felt himself, as it were, part of a moving captivating drama cut -out of life itself. No written page had ever absorbed him quite like -this love-story of the fox-woman and his friend the Tojin-san. - -There was something appallingly tragic in that little listening, waiting -figure crouching there in the hall against the Tojin’s door! The -Be-koku-jin knew very well indeed what it was this forlorn little -creature of the mountains wanted; he knew, too, why it was that the -Tojin believed he could not give it to her. - -He had come to Fukui chiefly because he had been unable to resist the -lure of the story of the fox-woman as the Tojin-san had written it to -him. Now here he had stumbled upon a more entrancing story still. - -He looked at his friend with his bright, clear eyes, and it occurred to -him that there was something wonderfully attractive about the man’s -face, grim and stony as was its expression, marked and marred as were -the features. The mouth was that of the revolutionist, grim, unyielding, -almost bitter; but the eyes were those of the poet, full of vague dreams -and tenderness. The Be-koku-jin, assuming his most professional and -uninterested manner, drew up a chair before his friend, and settled his -plump little body comfortably into its depths. - -“What are your plans?” he asked abruptly. - -The other did not look up. - -“That depends on you,” he said quietly. - -“Your refusal or acceptance of the position here depends on me?” - -“Absolutely.” - -“What do you mean?” - -The Tojin-san leaned forward in his chair. His eyes were no longer dull, -there was a flame behind them. - -“If you are successful—I remain here, in Fukui.” - -“Ah. Er—you mean as regards the operation?” - -“Yes.” - -The Be-koku-jin regarded the tips of his fingers, which he had brought -precisely together, reflectively. He purposely avoided the other’s -almost pleading glance. He cleared his throat gruffly, and frowned as he -crossed and recrossed his legs. - -“Why stay in any event?” he demanded shortly, and put up his hand before -the other could answer. “Your attitude is sentimental moonshine. You -have nothing to fear—even if the operation is successful. I don’t agree -with—er—what you have upon your mind.” - -“That is because you do not understand,” said the Tojin wearily. “She is -indeed what these people have imagined her—a creature almost of another -world. She has lived only in her exquisite imagination, and because she -is so beautiful and good and pure, to her all things too are fair. I was -the first to treat her humanly. She has made me something in her mind’s -eye that it is preposterous even to think of. To her I—_I_—think of -it!—am a thing of beauty—a flawless, perfect god!” - -He glared in a fierce sort of anguish at his friend, then stood up -suddenly and began pacing the floor in long irregular strides, to bring -up suddenly again before the other. - -“I do not wish her to see me—at all! It will not be necessary. I ask you -to take her for me to Tokio. There my sister will meet you, and take her -with her to America.” He smiled for the first time. “At least I can do -that for her. I claimed the right to care for her, and refused even the -smallest help from Echizen and others. I have means—other than my work; -and what I have will be hers. I want no one else to do for her,” he -added jealously. “I can give her everything she needs or may want.” - -The Be-koku-jin was still studying his finger-tips, and there was a -curious expression upon his face. Suddenly he looked up directly at the -Tojin-san. - -“Why have the operation?” - -The Tojin-san had turned very pale, but his voice was steady and strong. - -“I have been through all that, my friend—have wrestled, tortured my very -soul threshing it out. That’s the solution of a coward. I am a man!” - -Said the other: - -“I decline to perform the operation.” - -The Tojin-san stared at him as if he could not believe his ears. Then he -brought his hand so heavily down upon the other’s shoulder that the -smaller man jumped under the touch. - -“You prefer to leave it to my bungling hands? Is that what you came to -Fukui to tell me?” - -“As I said,” said the other, wincing still under the Tojin’s hand, “in -any event you exaggerate the effect upon her. Just as you say—you are a -man!” - -He stood up abruptly. - -“You will do it?” demanded the Tojin hoarsely. - -“Yes,” said the other, blinking angrily, “I suppose I must.” - -He glared for a moment at his friend and then for the first time -permitted himself to show some emotion in his voice and expression: - -“We’ll fight it out between us. Sight or no sight, I know you will be -the same to her!” - -“It is not alone my physical deformity,” said the Tojin, steadily, “but -the fact that I am old enough to be her father. I have no longer the -splendid courage of youth to take her in spite of my misfortune. ‘Old -Grind,’ that was what they called me, even in America!” - -“Stuff!” grunted the other. “‘Old Bones’ was the affectionate term -applied to me. At this rate you’ll put us in our dotage. A man under -forty is in his best youth. I never felt younger in my life!” he snorted -indignantly. - -“But she is only a child,” said the Tojin softly, “—a child in years—and -in heart!” - -“If you could see her,” said the other, with intense earnestness, “as I -have had occasion to since last night, you would say differently. Child! -why, man, she is a suffering, neglected, forsaken little woman! Open -your door to her. Don’t let her think it as stony as your heart!” - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XXVII - - -“TAMA!” He opened the sliding doors at last. She did not stand, even -when he spoke to her, but with a mute, wordless sob moved a pace nearer -to him on her knees, and put her head submissively at his feet. - -He stooped above her, his face working, his hands trembling. Gently he -lifted her to her feet, only to release her instantly. - -“Stand there,” he said, “while I speak to you. You must do whatever the -Be-koku-jin wishes of you. He tells me you have resisted his attempts to -help you. If I tell you it is my wish, my very dear wish, you will go -with him, will you not?” - -She had put out her hands in the old blind way, and would have found him -had he not stepped back soundlessly as she approached him. She sighed in -her distress, sighed and sobbed, like a tortured child. As he looked at -her he felt his resolve far from weakening, becoming even more fixed. He -would not have her this way, blind in mind and in sight. She must know -the truth. - -“The Be-koku-jin will help you, Tama. Soon you are going to see, and -then things will appear very differently to you. What you believe now to -be beautiful may prove to be otherwise. For example,” he continued -steadily, “you believe me other than I am in fact. My face is horrible. -It may even frighten you, as it did another woman once!” - -A hush fell between them. Her eyes, very wide and dark, were fixed upon -his face, almost as though they were endowed with sight. - -“Though all keep dark foraever ad my eyes, still I would know your -face—ad—my heart!” she said. - -“If you could really see—” he murmured hoarsely, almost imploringly. - -“Tojin-san!” she said, “though all the worl’ come before my eyes, I -would know you only! I would follow you—yaes to thad worl’s end—if you -bud would permit me.” - -He made a motion toward her, and with that smile still upon her face she -went blindly to meet him; but as quickly he had drawn back again, and a -moment later turned desperately toward the doors. She heard him slide -them open, felt the cold draught of air enter; then they closed again, -and she heard only the sound of his steps as he passed along the paths. - -She stood unmoving, listening until even the faintest sound of him was -gone. Then suddenly she ran forward, feeling her way with her hands till -she came to his chair. Upon her knees she sank, sighing, sobbing, and -buried her face upon her arms in the lap of the chair. Here the -Be-koku-jin found her, sleeping her first sleep in many, many days, -exhausted, but with a strange look of peace upon her face at last! - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XXVIII - - -THE whole of the city of Fukui had turned forth into its streets. -Jostling, pushing, shoving each other aside they elbowed their way to -the front. Children were raised to the shoulders of parents, boys -climbed upon roofs and poles and trees to see the spectacle. - -The runners could hardly make a passageway through the throngs; but -there was no disorder, nor the slightest trace of antagonism, as the -norimono passed slowly down the streets. A respectful silence—a silence -that had in it an element of torturing remorse more than curiosity—fell -upon the throng. - -The bamboo hangings had been drawn back from the norimon, for it was the -desire of the Tojin that all of Fukui might see the fox-woman -themselves, see and judge what manner of creature was this they had -outcast and persecuted through all her short life. - -Beside the Be-koku-jin, who had performed the miracle upon her eyes, she -sat, her face white as snow, her wide, dazzled eyes gazing bewilderedly -about her, as if she were but half conscious of what she saw, but half -comprehended its meaning. They had confined most of her golden hair in -some shimmering gray veil that floated about her like a cloud, but -little moist curls clung about her brow and blew from beneath the veil -in tender, kissing tendrils about her cheeks. - -At her feet, with her fascinated, infatuated eyes pinned upon her face, -crouched the maid Obun, who was pledged to her service by the Tojin-san. - -The carriage was full of flowers that those friendly inclined had sent -her, and the white hands of the fox-woman now aimlessly held a sheaf of -poems and of love-letters penned her by ardent and impetuous youths, who -found their warm hearts and imaginations suddenly fired by her appealing -history and beauty. - -She spoke not at all, neither to answer the occasional word of -re-assurance from the Be-koku-jin, nor the sometimes sobbing utterances -of Obun, who seemed to find in her triumphal progress through the city -an occasion for tears. - -It grew darker, the air chillier. It was the Season of Cold Dew, when -even the last gasping, fading beauty of the autumn ceased to appeal. - -As the cortège reached the city’s limits the crowds following gradually -drew back, and as it passed out into the great road whereon they were to -travel on the long journey, the last of the followers departed. - -Besides the Be-koku-jin and the maid Obun there were three students, -proudly acting as body-guard. Several dozen bearers and servants also -accompanied the party. No halt was made until the last rays of the -setting sun had disappeared entirely from the sky. Then the runners -rested, and the Be-koku-jin alighting walked with his head bent, his -hands behind him, as if plunged in some troubled thought. The students -drew together in a whispering group and watched the famous surgeon, or -threw furtive glances in the direction of the fox-woman, whom none of -them, as yet, had found the courage to look upon unmoved. - -She was sitting upright in her norimon. The veil had blown back partly -from her head, and her hair shone like the moon above her. Obun -entreated her to rest, and when she received no response, herself drew -the hangings about them, and prepared the carriage for the night. As if -she had been a child, she laid the fox-woman down among the quilts, and -then herself crept under the covers, falling into a heavy sleep which -lasted without a break the long night through as jerking, swinging, -tossing on high upon the shoulders of the kurumaya they travelled on and -on toward Tokio. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - XXIX - - -IN the Shiro Matsuhaira the Tojin sat alone. They had taken away the -untasted meal upon the trays; his pipe lay unlit upon the hibachi; upon -a table hard by his American mail and papers lay untouched, unopened. He -sat staring at something he held in his hands. It was no larger than his -hand, worn, ragged, and soiled—a little sandal of straw! This was all he -had left of her. She had passed out of his life as completely as the -mist vanishes into the clouds. - -What were her thoughts now, he wondered dully—now that she knew! He had -seen her but once, after the operation. She had come like a shadowy -little spirit into his chamber; and she had said nothing at all; had -merely looked at him out of her wide, hungry eyes. As silently as she -had come, so she had gone! Passively, obediently she had gone with the -Be-koku-jin. This was what he had wished, had required of her. Then why -this aching, harrowing sense of anguish? - -He closed his eyes, and gave himself up to the last luxury left him—the -casting of his mind adrift upon a sea of memories, wherein he might -recall her as she had been, see her again pressed against his side, -breathe the dear fragrance of her hair, hear the music of her voice. - -Outside the wind was whistling and moaning through the leafless gardens, -and a rain began to fall, pelting against his shutters, dripping in -melancholy splashes from the eaves. How barren, how God-forsaken seemed -this Yashiki of feudal days! He recalled his first night in this same -chamber. How cold it had been, how penetratingly desolate! - -Now the winter was coming again. Soon the white snow would wrap its icy -shroud about the Palace Matsuhaira, and there would be a silence—a -silence less bearable than the grave—out there on those mountains of -snow. - -But the people of Fukui would come to him daily with their problems, -their ambitions, and questions; and they would look to him as a guide -and supporter along the new glittering road they wished to tread; for -the fever of the New Japan was animating the entire nation, and Fukui -had caught the epidemic. And they would bestow honors and favors upon -the Tojin-san, fame and riches, too; for at the period of the rebirth of -a nation its teachers become its prophets—its leaders! Yes, there was -such a career to his hand as he could never have attained in that other -land, whither they were taking the fox-woman now. It was this, had said -the Be-koku-jin, which must be his solace, his comfort. - -He stood up unsteadily, his hand resting upon the table. Some one had -knocked upon his door. He smiled, in the old grim, bitter way. - -He could not be tricked by his imagination again. She was very far away -by now, miles from Fukui, for it was past midnight, and her cortège -would take an unbroken course toward the great highway which eventually -would lead them to the metropolis. - -But the knocking was repeated, softly, gently, a sound such as a little -timid bird in the wet night might have made in beating its wings upon -the wall. - -He heard the soft moving of the doors, and still he did not stir. - -Now she stood between them, her eyes fully upon him, drawing, compelling -his gaze. Upon her vivid, passionate little face there was, at last, -that look of peace and rest that comes to one upon a journey’s end. - -The water dripped from her haori, and clung in glittering drops upon her -hair, her lashes. - -He could not even speak her name. He could only gaze at her entranced, -as at that other time when he had come to consciousness within the -woods, and had found her face hovering like a spirit’s above his own. - -She said as if answering the question he could not speak: - -“Yaes—it is I—To-o-jin-san!” - -With a motion, inexpressibly sweet, she put out her little hands, just -as she had done ere she could see, and a beseeching, quivering little -smile was on her lips. - -“In the honorable wet dark—all those way—I have come bag to you, kind -Tojin-san!” - -His voice shook so that he did not recognize it as his own. - -“You found your way—” - -“Wiz these my eyes closed,” she said, “ad udder end those whole -worl’—tha’s same thing Tojin-san—I find way bag unto you!” - -“Why?” he demanded with a rough passion that yet tore and intoxicated -him. - -She reached out her arms to him yearningly, pleadingly. - -“Tek me ad you arms again!” she said. “Toach me on my lips wiz yours. I -will tell you—then!” - -His last reserve was gone; he had no wish to hold it. Subtly, -irresistibly, she had drawn him to her; now he had taken her back into -his arms! - -He felt her little fingers, as of old, passing across his face until -they found his lips, and there she placed her own. - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ● Transcriber’s note: - - ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. - - ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. - - ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only - when a predominant form was found in this book. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TAMA*** - - -******* This file should be named 63681-0.txt or 63681-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/3/6/8/63681 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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