CIHM Microfiche Series (IVIonographs) ICMH Collection de microfiches (monographies) Canadian Institute for Historical Microredroductions/lnstitut canadien de microrep-oductions historiq jes ©2000 Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming are checked beiow. I /I Coloured covers / L-^ Couverture de couleur □ Covers damaged / Couverture endommag^e □ Covers restored and/or laminated / Couverture restaur^e et/ou pellicul^e Cover title missing / Le titre de couverture manque I Coloured maps / Cartes g6ographiques en couleur □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black) / Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) r~7| Coloured plates and/or illustrations / L^ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur n n n n Bound with other material / Reli6 avec d'autres documents Only edition available / Seule Edition disponible Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin / La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion le long de la marge int^rieure. Blank leaves added during restorations may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming / II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout6es lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela etait possible, ces pages n'ont pas ^\6 film^es. Additional comments / Commentaires suppl6mentaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6\6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exem- plaire qui sont peut-6tre uniques du point de vue bibli- ographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la m^tho- de nonmale de filmage sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. I I Coloured pages / Pages de couleur I I Pages damaged / Pages endommag6es □ Pages restored and/or laminated / Pages restaur^es et/ou pellicul6es r~7r Pages discoloured, stained or foxed / LlJ Pages dteolor^es, tachet^es ou piqu^es I I Pages detached / Pages d6tach6es I y/f Showthrough / Transparence Q Quality of print varies / Quality in^gale de I'impression Includes suoplementary material / Comprend ou materiel suppl^mentaire Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image / Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 film^es k nouveau de fa9on a obtenir la meilieure image possible. Opposing pages with varying colouration or discolourations are filmed twice to ensure the best possible image / Les pages s'opposant ayant des colorations variables ou des decolorations sont film6es deux fois afin d'obtenir la meilieure image possible. D D This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below / Ce document est filme au taux dt rMuction indiqu4 ci-dessous. lOx 14x 18x 22x 26x 30x y 12x 16x 20x 24x 28x 32x The copy filmed hare has baan raproducad thanki to tha ganarosity of: National Library of Canada Tha imagat appaaring hara ara tha bast quality possibia considaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract spacifications. Original copias in printad papar covara ara fllmad beginning with tha front covar and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back covar whan appropriate. All other original copias ara filmed beginning on the first page with a printad or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printad or Illustrated impreaaion. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain tha symbol — ^ {meaning "CON- TINUED"}, or tha symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, ate, may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. Tha following diagrams illustrate the method: L'axemplaira filmA fut raproduit grica i la g*n4rosit* da: Bibllotheque nationale du Canada Las images suivantas ont At* raproduites avec la plus grand soin. compta tanu da la condition et da la nanet* de I'exemplaira film*, at 9n conformity avec lea conditions du contrat de fiimage. Lea exemplaires originaux dont la couvartura en papier est imprimie sont filmAs en commencant par la premier plat et en terminant soit par la derniAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par la second plat, salon la cas. Tous las autres exemplaires originaux sont fitmis en commenpant par la pramiire page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustretion et en terminant par la derniire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un dea symboles suivants apparaitra sur la darniire image de cheque microfiche, salon le cas: la symbols — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE ". le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent etre film^s A des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour etre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film* i partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche i droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant la nombre d'images nicessaire. Las diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No 2| 1.0 I.I 1.25 Jr ^ IIIIM !^ t*° Hill 2.0 1.4 1.8 1.6 ^ APPLIED IN/HGE ^^ '653 East Main Street y«a Rochester. Ne. York 14609 u= '■i^ (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone ^S C6) 288 - 5989 - Fat I^" "'^ iiwnRi^ ■ ^ aNADA NATIONAL LIBRARY BIBLIOTHEQjJE NATIONALE :> I I i THr roxwOMAV AWON,-; THf- i_r,Ti, i'AM ^ ■\ ' ^• F. ft ^' O R > ; J A R P E I a s- ■ V! if -,.j TAMA BY ONOTO WATANNA ILLUSTRATED BY GENJIRO KATAOKA NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS ■ MCMX 262242 Books by ONOTO WATANNA Tama Illustrated. Crown 8vo, net 91.60 A Japanesk Niuiitingalk. . IlI'd. 8vo, net 2.00 The Wooing of VVistakia . Ill'd. Post 8vo. 1.50 The llBAKT OF Hyacinth. Ill'd in Tint. evo,Het 2.00 A Japanese Blossom . . Illustrated. 8vo, Het 2.00 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, N. Y. Copyright, 1910, by Hakpir & Brothers Published October, lyio. PriHttd in Iht UniUd States e/Amtritm ILLUSTRATIONS THE FOX-WOMAN AMONG THE tOTUS Frontiipiece WELCOME TO TOJIN-SAN . . . Facing p. 1 6 "TOUCH HER NOT, BELOVED SENSEI ! SHE IS ACCURSED, unclean!" " I06 TAMA AT THE TEMPLE TOKIWA . " l88 * TAMA TAMA 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 0-Tojin-san (Horor- able 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 T TAMA great expense and trouble, a foreign professor had been imported. Signs of preparation were every- where visible. Vigorous houseclean- ii p^ was in evidence. The profession- al 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 resi- dence, and was now undergoing cer- tain remarkable changes. For heavy TAMA woollen carpets, with flowers and fig- ured 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, un- der 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 for- eigners 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 bris- tly mustache. He called the ser- vants in one by one, lecturing each in turn in regard to his especial duties. Incidentally he regaled them with 3 TAMA tales of the habits and desires of the white man. Food sufficient for six ordinary mortals must be prepared for his in- dividual 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 en- tertain and caress him. And so on through a strange list. If the students of the college where the Tojin-san was to teach were 4 TAMA elated at the prospect of his coming, their joy was hardly shared by his household. It was in a flutter of ex- cited fear. Even the stolid, impas- sive-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 Echi25en, 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 ser- vice too far beneath his honor. In the humbler regions of the Shiro, however, the servants discussed the matter less pessimistically. Some ru- mor of the generosity and wealth of foreigners had floated across the vague tide of gossip. Anyhow, the prepara- tions for his coming went blithely on here, and already odors of vigorous 5 TAMA 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 mas- ter 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. 6 TAMA To the four samourai g'lard the en- tire 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 dis- grace should the exalted foreign devil also become a victim of the dreaded Fox Woman of Atago Yama, for, un- doubtedly, this mischievous and ir- repressible sprite of the mountains was at her tricks again. In the names, therefc: of the august Tojin-san, nay, in t' j very name of the Imperial Daimio of Echizcn, 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 pro- t6g6. They fell to telling weird tales of the latest doings of the fox- woman. A Tsuruga child had followed the witch- 7 TAMA 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, find- 8 TAMA ing it too heavy, had dropped it in her flight. And now — could it be possible that the most distinguished (though au- gustly degraded) guest Fukui had knovm 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 refer- 2 9 4P TAMA ring 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 escutch- eon of their exalted Prince, seeing she was indeed, and alas! of his own blood? Finally, Samourai Numura, an an- cient, grizzled warrior of the most stolid common sense, gruffly insisted that the mauer was the affair of the Tojin himself, and from him alone should they receive commands u^^on the matter. It was agreed, there- fore, 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 solu- tion 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, lO TAMA whispering murmtirs through the glis- tening 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 ko- tatsu 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 en- circling them. 12 TAMA 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. 13 TAMA 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, wick- ed 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 pun- ishments, the indemnities, the hu- miliations forced upon the govern- ment by the foreigners, but added to 14 TAMA 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, wa; practically immune from attack. In- deed, 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 ban- quets there, and always and every- where about him he saw the same brown face, the same glittering eye, the same elusive smile. IS 1 TAMA I I' 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, ex- pelling it in long, sibilant hisses. The cook, his assistants, and wife and family fonriv^d a small procession of their own, one behind the other, executing a series of such comical bows and bobs that the stem 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 i6 « J«01f«;fr'1WTAOT?A^ ^1 • , wrLCivi'-ir: to tojin san 4 TAMA in a somersault in its efforts to emu- late its elders' politeness. Now the weary, half-closed eyes of the Tojin-san were seeing other faces, his mind travelling backward over other scenes, very far avvay. He saw a great, green campus, over- shadowed 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 17 TAMA t * I ^ of the past, and out of a longer, darker memory a woman's cold, un- smiling 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 fear- ful 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 i8 TAMA 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. Prom 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 19 TAMA 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 exist- ence, 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 20 11 mi TAMA air, to feel himself alive again! He had made of himself, for half a life- time, a irummy for t)ie sake of a woman he 'ao not eveu 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 mockea 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 recog- nized and fought the weakness come upon him — the aching, longing, pray- ing, for the mere sight of a white, familiar face! So still was the night, even the 21 TAMA 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 bounc- ing down on the frozen ground beneath. Something crept out of the shadows of the woods at the foot of the moun- tains, 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 dilapi- dated 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- 32 :i '1 TAMA 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 out jutting eaves, felt along them with his hand, though a curious instinct told him insistently that the touch upon his screens had been 23 t '^ 1^ TAMA 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 be- yond. 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 24 ■I 1,1 i TAMA half-frozen moat. One more, and he would have plunged into it. A shud- dering sense of horror, of shock, seized him, and held him there rooted to the spot, bewildered, stunned, h.s 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. 1 1*% !^ III "Your excellency, though he live a million honorable years, could not estimate the augustly degraded cha- grin 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 sum- moned by the guard, set himself the distasteful task of explaining to him the existence of the fox-woman. A fox-woman, so he explained sol- emnly, was a female human being into whose body the soul of a fox had entered. In Japanese mythology 26 !f TAMA the fox occupies an important posi- tion, and the fox-woman is a creat- ure 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 blind- ness. 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, re- vealing a sensitive pr'vlr unduly wounded. Plainly the foreign Sensei 37 •> !: !i TAMA 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 slow- ly, "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, 28 Ji TAMA 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 to- gether. 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, more- over. She is mischievous, impish, 39 ■f '1 'f- f, TAMA wicked, delighting as much in tor- turing 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 lollow her whithersoever she bids them. De- graded 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, whim- sically. "Yes, alas so, excellency," ad- mitted the Japanese miserably. ' ' Her mother was Nii no Ama (noble nun of second rank) and kin to our august 30 TAMA Prince. She broke her vow. to the Lord Buddha, desecrated and dis- graced 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 fore- finger. "Your fox- woman then is some sort of outcast, who has lived all her hfe avoided by her kind?" "She had the company of her de- graded 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 31 n '1 If' II TAMA the very altar of Great Shaka him- self." The Daimio's officer paused, his little black eyes glittering with a fanatical light. Then the exhilara- tion 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, ex- cellency, 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 glo- rious." The Tojin-san puffed at his re- lighted pipe in meditative silence. Then, very quietly, he asked: "Do you lay the misfortunes of 32 TAMA your province upon this fox-woman, as you call her?" *'Aye!" said the officer almost fiercely . ' ' The hand of Fate fell heav- iest upon us after the assassination of the intruder. We have never re- covered 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 in- stantly after the death by violence of—" He stopped abruptly, and coughed in gruff alarm behind his now shelter- ing fan. He had been upon the verge of telling what had been forbid- den. The Tojin-san looked puzzled, baffled. "I do not see the connection," he said. "Yet — it is so," said the Japanese 3S i ii ! I ,5'i k f TAMA 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 en- lightenment, 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 ele- vated wisdom of the West your excellency has come to teach us in 34 t TAMA 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 ex- cellency, and personally make a pil- grimage to the lair of this dreaded fox-woman of the mountains." At that the Daimio's officer's face distinctly paled. His impassive feat- ures 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." 35 t > f J »P TAMA " '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, con- temptuously. He was a man of gi- gantic 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 con- vince you of the danger wherewith 36 TAMA 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 respec- tive mats, their pipes refilled at the hibachi. 3 1^; If 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 Matsu- yama, and what was his fate?" asked the Tojin-san, good-hun-oredly. 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 al- 38 pi li TAMA most 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 39 'i i ^ I !< I 'i. TAMA 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 him- self the task of tracking her. Un- aided 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 pro- ceeded. "As he hesitated upon the thresh- 40 i i TAMA old, divided between a desire to penetrate its mysteries, and an in- stinct 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. In- fatuated and maddened, he sought to touch, to seize the creature, when she fled suddenly before him, mock- ing 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 be- fore him, with her luring hair stream- ing 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 be- 4 41 TAMA I m I' tween, 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 un- seen chism 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- 42 I. 1 i i TAMA 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 ?" "lliere are different stories, hon- ored 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 Mat- suyama, who dutifully had followed their master upon his wild quest." 43 TAMA 'J. fi H 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 towarl 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 im- passivity of his face. His eyes met the Tojin's blankly: "He was — my son!" he said. I i .,'f ,1 . ■ » ! I* <• • -i 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 in- vigorated. The sun was pouring into his room, gilding even the farthest comer 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 spow, enshrouding trees and ground, glistened with the warm sun upon it. 45 lil ;! I In? i i< ^1 '11 1 TAMA The army of crows on the roof of the go-down were chattering and fighting among themselves Hke magpies, and a monkey, swinging by one foot from a camphor bough, shook its fist play- fully 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, pres- ently, 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 bal- ancing on either side huge pails of water. As she waddled along, wheez- ing and singing, she resembled, to the Tojin-san's humorous sense, a bag of jelly, her bosoms and thighs shak- 46 J ■ *^ ft TAMA ing 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 pi'nished 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 47 1 i li t Ml TAMA 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. Sud- denly he thought of the fox-woman. There was something chill, forbidding, sinister in those great, beautiful 48 TAMA mou.itains of snow, looming out there in the sunny sky. He pictured this forsaken creature threading her bleak way under the towering frost -in- crusted 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 ■"riendly 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 conse- 49 I TAMA quently a ronin. It was one of the unfortunate effects of the Restoration Ihat so many men of the sword, who had previously been supported by the people as retainers in the service of princely houses, now found them- selves without aristocratic employ- ment, 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 prophesy- ing 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 50 i*f TAMA 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 Ue n, 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 em- boldened, courteous, proud, elated. Not for a moment would he have retraced his steps to that other land he had regretted. 51 t ff > I' t I t VI n :i^ ill 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, 52 TAMA 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 demol- ishing 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 fin- gers sank into her thick, fat flesh, crept up along her arn\s to her shoulders, nipped at her breast, her neck, her S3 I< i Hil I , M TAMA 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 comer 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, order- ing and pleading with the object in 54 TAMA question to stand upon its feet and help itself. He was assisted in his pudiing 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, suppress- ing his inclination to laugh. "Stand up, my good girl." This was translated in sharp per- emptory 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 pro- t6g6 of His Imperial Highness the terrible Prince of Echizen." Whereupon Obun came trembling- ly to her feet, and shaking from head 55 \ ! hfl TAMA 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 feat- ures of the giant foreigner were soft- ened humorously. In the keen gray eyes bent upon her she saw nothing but kindness and understanding. In- stantly 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 in- flexible master the incidents of the morning, and arouse not his dreadful wrath with vain exaggerations and lies." She opened her lips to speak, en- couraged by his smile, closed them again, and mutely uncovered first 56 U TAMA 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 light- ning 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 ant^onist. 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. 5 57 I; i TAMA 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 in- structions with personal embellish- ments, 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 mo- ment apparently plunged in puzzled thought. Suddenly he turned toward S8 r TAMA. 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 won- der. His manner of eating, his man- ner of sleeping, his manner of thinking, talking — all things about him, were a scarce of wonder and entertainment to c'le young samourai, who was more than satisfied with this interest- ing 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 con- siderably. Tell me what is your opinion of this fox-woman?" Genji Negato was all flattered smiles. He drew up his well-groomed 59 m tt ! TAMA shoulders in a profound French shrug. "It would give me supreme pleas- ure to agree with your excellency," he said ambiguously, and smiled apolo- getically. "I see," said the Tojin-san, "you, too! Why?" The stiff expression on the inter- preter's face relaxed. In a blurt of confidence he said: "1 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 Sam- ourai Hirata. As a large amount of provisions had been put in the store- 60 TAMA rooms 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 con- demnation 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 ad- dicted to sleeping on my honorable belly, which your excellency is aware is the proper position for all sleeping animals — to which kingdom I un- worthily 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 de- fenceless 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, 6i ^: TAMA 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 eye- balls 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 sak6, 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 re- leased their grip. Just as they did 62 "^tx TAMA 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 mor- tals 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?" 63 TAMA i\ I ft; "Certainly." "Then why not make proper pro- vision, 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 dharms which protect us, to a certain extent, and we heed their advice, which is ever to avoid and forsake her." 1! 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 Christian- izing the nation. The subsequent edicts which expelled all foreigners from the empire and made the study of Christianity a crime to be pun- ished 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 West- 65 IP TAMA 1:1 ii lit em 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 driz- zling gray rain dribbled unceasingly from the skies. To break up the mo- notony and depression of the period he had undertaken, with three favor- ite students, a short pilgrim^e up the Winged Foot River for the pur- pose 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 66 TAMA the image of Buddha's mother, with her babe in her arms, and pilgrimages were made from all parts of the coun- try'- because of its supposed healing abilities. As the Tojin-san examined the cave, with the interest and eagerness of the bom scientist and archaeologist, 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 67 TAMA II 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 sweep- ing 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 al- lusion, honored sensei," said the 68 Ml TAMA boy, apologetically. "To-day, we are ready to repel all such unworthy references to your exalted nation's faith." "Indeed," put in earnest-eyed Jun- zo, "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 an- cient philosopher: 'Dogma is a box in which small minds are kept.' " "Dogma is a form of superstition," said Junzo, "and superstition awak- ens the meaner, cruder passions. Do you not agree with me, honored sensei?" But the latter, his brows drawn in puzzled wonderment, was examining 69 TAMA 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 trans- lating the text: "It reads thus, honored teacher: 'The evil sect called Christians is strictly prohibited. Suspicious per- sons 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 ex- empt." "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 70 J TAMA 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 1" 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 shoukl know the truth, Mr. Teacher. A Guai-koku-jin [outside cotmtryman] lived in Fukui before your time." "Recently?" demanded the Tojin- san eageiiy. 71 I' »■ I TAMA "Seven years since," said the boy shortly. The Tojin-san drew a great breath. His eyes kindled. He looked wonder- fully pleased. "Then that is why some oi you students speak English so credit- ably?" "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 in- formation, 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 ?" 72 TAMA "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, re- membering 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 gent- ly, "ignored by common consent in Pukui, 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 6 73 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART (ANSI ond ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 1.0 I.I 1.25 ■ so II 2.8 !3.2 1^ 1.4 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 ^ TIPPLED INA^GE 1653 East Mom Street Rochester. Ne« York 14609 USA (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone (716) 288- 5989 - Fa, i TAMA thee, honored sensei," he added al- most 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. LfCt 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 74 r*l TAMA 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 gruff- ly, looking back over his shoulder. "The fox-woman will find wings suitable to her degraded feet. She'll not lack the shelter so illy de- served." 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 stu- dents answered, then growlingly Nun- uki snarled: " It is hard to spit against the wind. Facts cannot be altered." 75 I 'll " i If m 1 1 i* TAMA "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. M 1 1 .» VIII It became common knowledge in Fukui that the fox-woman had taken up her residence on the Matsudaira estate. The palace grounds covered nearly twenty acres, and were sur- rounded like a veritable wall on all sides of the estate by smaller build- ings, which had once housed the retainers of the Daimio, but which had not been occupied for years and were in a dishevelled and forlorn con- dition 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- 77 hi ,) ■^\\ :l . t! TAMA san's interpreter, who, himself, how- ever, had an apartment in the Shiro. It was, therefore, quite possible for the fox-woman to find lodging in almost any of the remaining struct- ures, 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 foothills of the mountains that bounded them on two sides of the estate. More than one of the household had thought they had seen and recog- nized 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 bam- boo. A moment only under the 78 TAMA streak of moonbeam, and then it had vanished like a mist at twilight. Was it a dream, they asked them- selves, 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 cavemously, 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, 79 4 f TAMA 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 dumb- struck 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 re- treated to the bamboo grove. To his own amused dismay, the Tojin-san fovmd 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 80 ^U VI 4 TAMA footsteps with the stealthiness of a wildcat, disappearing as fleetly as the wind at his mere turning. He was aware of her constant near- ness if he merely stepped out of his house. Once when something brushed his cheek he was startled to find him- self 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 vater 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 nev- ertheless seemed to ovemm with tears. Holding his breath unconsciously he found himself straining his ears to listen to the sound, which indeed was 8i ^!. TAMA M. I-. ' 11; 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 dis- appointment 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 re- pelled the very thought ; but he began 82 TAMA 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 shat- tering 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 Matsu- haira mansion. A wildly shrieking housemaid, call- ing "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 83 111! ., ,'.- n : r h '• I ^ f ^ ' I " • TAMA 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, be- sought to go to the Tojin-san's apart- ment. 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 sum- moned by the witch in token of her power over them. Something horri- ble, sinister, was about to happen. Who could tell exactly what; but the signs were evil, evil! 84 I, TAMA He forgot the difference in his state and rank to these creatures of the kitchen, and found himself con- fiding 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 atmos- phere. The night before all four of the samourai guard had heard the plain- tive 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 85 I ,j iii: !■?• if- ^ II TAMA 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 86 I Hi TAMA 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 daslied 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. Some- where 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 87 ! 'I t] I ! TAMA 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 cliamber. He stopped short, staring as if con- founded 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- 88 TAMA san, doggedly, "save the figure of a — ^woman!" "A woman!" cried the interpreter, almost in tears at the evident stub- bornness 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 quiv- ered 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!" 7 1 IX I'M J I "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 em- barrassed faces of the students. They were devoted to him he knew, eager to serve and please him; yet even 90 TAMA they, sons of the new, sane Japan, feared the fox-woman. He was de- termined 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 Nimuki 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 wild- est forest can be caught," and he add- ed.half under his breath, "and tamed." 91 ill i ! i||> « 1 TAMA 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, al- most roughly, releasing his hand. "This is not helping me, Junzo." "But you have iievcr heard the story of Chuguro. It happened in Yedo, many years ago, your excel- lency. 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 92 1. ■* TAMA 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 sa*' , 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 dread- 93 »» li ¥1 •i '^1 '1, I I ' ! ;4 TAMA ful 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 gradu- ally their resisting and doubting faces changed. With boy -like zeal they discussed the adventure proposed by Higo. Then the latter turned ab- ruptly 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. 94 TAMA "Come now, surely you don't an- ticipate 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 be- fall 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 undertak- ing it will be as decreed of the gods. All things are beforehand ordained." 95 I'S TAMA ,■■! 'I N i I "You anticipate hazard in the adventure?" "We would not attempt it other- wise," 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 Echi- zen 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, unconscious- ly, 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 wouid be the first to thrust himself in their way. But no! The under- 96 TAMA taking 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 bom must necessarily die," failed to move him. Young heroic fatalists! His heart went out to them overwhelmingly. n 'M 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 care- fully, 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 98 TAMA 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 methouw -hey had taken to entrap her, was ^..fected by that name- less 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 alone- ness, of homesickness that sometimes came upon him in this land, seemed 99 bl i ■^ TAMA somehow this night to be deeper, more depressing. For days, indeed, he had been affected by a feeHng 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 per- vaded his whole being these latter days, and seemed to reach its cuknina- tion 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. lOO TAMA It was something deeper, some- thing very beautiful and mystic. It was the golden hair of this Japanese Lorelei which had ensnared his long- ing! 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 lOI In TAMA 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 I02 m '•^M' TAMA the distant stars above them in brill- iancy. A cherry grove, from whi^^i 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 apart- ment, giving it an almost festive air. Great drifts of them lay in the comers 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, an'1 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 moimtains 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 103 TAMA 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 nar- row wing, and over this she stepped silently. In the vague light of tlie moon, she seemed indeed a wraith, in her clinging gown of white, en- shrouded 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 si- lence 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 104 '!/• TAMA 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, tri- umphant voices — a wild stirring and crying, and then again — the silence! Presently from out the brujh 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 cham- 8 los f i TAMA ber 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!" 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 io6 TOUCH \iFR NOT fiFLOVETI) SENSEI' SHF IS ACrilRfirn lINrl.rAM TAMA uncovered was that of a white wo- man! So perfect, so exquisite the small, sensitive face, he could only gaze upon it spell-bound. The great pur- ple 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 crown- ing 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 perse- cuted, 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! 107 1 TAMA She spoke not at all, though her wide-open eyes never moved from the Tojjn'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 leap- ed 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 io8 « 5 I TAMA 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. t if' 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 re- mained 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 lOjin-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 no m TAMA the ropes that bound her. Though blind, she could have found any exit of the chamber imaided. 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 ahnost the entire room between them and the fox-wom- an, but watching her with unabated emotion. It was the Tojiu-san who at last approached her. She sensed his coming and shrank back farther, if III if- r 'ii« '?i it- I'l- TAMA that were possible against the wall. Now he stood directly before her, studying her in a profound silence. Slowly, cautiously she raised her- self 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 be- fore 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! 112 ^:/ Mil TAMA When he put his great, firm hands I'pon her shoulders, he telt the shock, the starting tremble that agitated her. She stood poised for flight, uncertain, fearful, with the wild de- fiance of her nature only in part checked ; but as his deep, compassion- ate 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. "3 *i i TAMA "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. /! '11 1% ! <'y: XII i The Palace Matsuhaira, wherein the courteous Prince of Echizen had housed the foreign teachjr, had lost all but two of its tenants. The odor- ous 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 alter- natively 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 115 I* ' TAMA abandon the place. With a grim and stubborn patience, he kept dog- gedly to the course he had set him- self. 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 en- trap 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 ii6 TAMA 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 re- moved from the shell .ring 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 pon- dered 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 117 TAMA 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 ap- proached the mansion, and threw their messages in little balls that pelted against the paper siunmer 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 ii8 TAMA 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 tht wnite man. Meanwhile within the mansion it- self, the Tojin-san was winning a strange victory. Timidly, like a fas- cinated 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 tie eager emotion her 119 Hi I Pi TAMA 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, nei- ther 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, as least, he saw nothing further of her. But he was well pleased with matters as they were. It was worth 1 20 m TAMA waiting for this, he told himself. As he paced his chamber, he made no effort to curb the exhilarating excite- ment that pervaded his whole being. :. t 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 efifort 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, boy- ishly 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, pleading- 122 iJf '1' A M A ly. as though she < -»ught 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 uncer- tainly, 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 mar- vellous 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!" 123 '! m I 7AM A 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— beauti- ful!" 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 124 TAMA 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 shiver- ing, 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 mo- ment he remained staring down upon 125 I TAMA them, his young face becoming gray and stem. Sensei ! Then it is true !" he burst out, and the look of despair on his face deepened. The Tojin-san arose to his full gigan- tic 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 stem command, I came here to see for myself. Alas, it is too true ! You are bewitched, obsessed!" 126 :i J ;, '., I TAMA The Tojin-san curbed his temper. His voice, though stem, was cakn, 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, ten- der 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 pos- sessed 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 poig- nant, 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 127 f,'' TAMA me to-day," urged the boy entreat- ingly. "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 128 'wi f TAMA looking directly into that shining face that had distracted all who had gazed upon it. Breathing heavily, almost as if he sobbed, he drew back- ward 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 bax^kward, 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 house- hold goods in haste and wending their ambitious w .ys toward the greater cities. In a single month Fukui lost half its population, and those left behind seemed to move about the 130 f '. TAMA 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 disaflfected, 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 for- ttmate 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 131 ' ;\v \ \\. '! If. \t ' TAMA aristocrats, who shared the rich for- tunes of their lords. Now they found theniselves 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 no- blest and most heroic solution of the problem— suppuku! The entire de- struction 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 Im- perial Government. He could and 132 \i : TAMA 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 murder- ous, resentful impulse of revenge. It was the same feeling that had ani- mated 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 133 TAMA 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 ex- tinguished. And meanwhile, in the Shiro Mat- suhaira, another kind of dream was unfolding its rose-lined wings. XV "To what are you listenimj, 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 con- ciliating, pleading note in her voice. "You cannot hear the river from here. It is very shallow— barely stirs. There is something else you are list- ening to ?" "It is the uguisu," she said quickly, 135 i 1^ \^ .( I H TAMA 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 Jeep, 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 hon- orable 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." 136 li::, TAMA "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 Pukui. ^^ "Even if it is so," he finaUy 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 Pukui 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?" 10 137 1 A : I' i TAMA "I asked them to come," he said, very gravely. "I feel I am nght. and that by a simple operation we will ly> 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, tnnmlt- uously 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 138 TAMA 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 139 ♦in- TAMA 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. Bl- , i r XVI In the sunken garden directly be- neath 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 ser- vices." 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 141 I H Ik TAMA exalted Tojin-san, Genji Negate 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 con- sequences of your Prince's displeas- ure." A strange voice, rumbling, sneering, responded to this statement. Like a flash, upon the retort, came the Tojin's ringing order to the inter- preter: "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 re- turn." For a moment the far-seeing mind 142 TAMA 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 pre- cautions in his behalf. 'Thile his mind revolved all the possible perils of his position, a new voice sprang rii^ingly out of the shadows of his garden- - 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 samou- rai, who had already spoken. ' ' Upon what strength may the foreign devil lear for his new support?" he de- manded with cutting sarcasm. The burly laugh that followed was suddenly stopped, as the student 143 I I t' II TAMA Higo flung himself defiantly before them all. "I, Higo, kin of your absent Prince, will answer you. There are nine hundred students, samourai them- selves, and sons of a thousand sam- ourai before them. All of these ai-e loyal to our teacher. They will pro- tect and fight for him, if necessary." Now the answering voice snarled merely in explanation. "Who spoke of harm to your sen<;ei ? It is not him we seek. We have come for the Fox -Woman of Atago Yama, who blights our fort- unes, 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 oldei, more experienced hands finish your honorable work. 144 '1 ' ■i ii TAMA 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 moun- tains, 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, stem eyes regarding them piercingly. Some one pushed forward the in- terpreter, and the craven, agitated fel- low now faced his master. He made several ineffectual efforts to speak, gulped at the lump which rose per- 145 B- TAMA sistently in his throat. Before him loomed the grim, sardonic face of this west - countryman he had always in- wardly 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 re- turned 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 146 V i < • -J .1 TAMA 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 head- long 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 To- jin-san. He was standing tautly erect, his heavy, pugnacious chin thrust out. As the sword of the samourai touched him he drew slightly back- ward, then with a swift, merciless bound sprang headlong upon his as- 147 in m m : il ?■ V V-i Ml TAMA sailant, 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, stal- wart little army of fellow -students. They moved in a line steadily onward, spread out on all sides and com- pletely 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 148 TAMA towered the grim, terrible figure of this west - countryman, who repre- sented 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! I t. vl Pi la XVII As a mother seeks a lost child, so the Tojin-san frantically scoured every nook and comer 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, ISO V' "1 1 1 TAMA 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 chamHer. 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 mo- lested him. Rut 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, Obxm, snivelling ai.d shaking with fear, crept into the vast, deserted kitchen and fell to putting it in order. In another wing ot the house the voice of the lately craven Genji Negato was heard, and out along the road, loaded down with 151 ■ f} I TAMA 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 stu- dents of the university had van- quished 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, 152 'I TAMA who had haunted their master for so long, floated beneath the smiling water-flowers or not? They gathered together, these gab- bling, faithless servants, and dis- cussed 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 rob- bed him of his manhood! What anguish that pierced to his very 11 153 TAMA hi m marrow? Was this what the son of the Daimio's high officer had endared when he had followed the fox-wom- an out into the mountains ? Persist- ently, 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 dty people were telling in the streets of the dreadful punish- ments certain to be meted out to those who had molested the guest of 154 TAMA 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 flut. ir- ing, 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 an- swered the fox-woman, breathing her name into the still air about him: "Tama! Tama!" »5S Ill 'I II. i^'f 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. J ■ r ii Ml Vi': ( 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 hem- locks; to hear the whistling calls of the wood-birds ; the murmuring, sob- bing 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 dream- ily at the sky above him, a sense of contentment, of rest, of comfort — 157 ' ■ i TAMA such as one might feel after a long, exhausting race, permeating his whole being. Then suddenly upon his conscious- ness there stole another sense — the dim, exquisite feeling of a loved pres- ence close at hand, and he raised himself slowly, weakly upon his el- bow. 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!" (au- gust 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 awaken- ing. Then like the dimly remembered scenes of a vague dream, he seemed is8 if ^ TAMA to recall a time wherein he had wan- dered 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 dis- tressed. "Honorable water good for thirsty throat," she said. Now he released her, and she drew back to find the little cup beside her. '59 m ': r i fif. t