e evening, but rather late, there was a
feeble knock like that of an old woman at the gate outside.

Tsuna cried out, "Who's there?"

The squeaky voice of his aunt (as it seemed), who was a very old woman,
replied "Me, I want to see my nephew, to praise him for his bravery in
cutting the oni's arm off."

So Tsuna let her in and carefully locking the door behind her, helped the
old crone into the room, where she sat down on the mats in front of the
box and very close to it. Then she grew very talkative, and praised her
nephew's exploit, until Tsuna felt very proud.

All the time the old woman's left shoulder was covered with her dress
while her right hand was out. Then she begged earnestly to be allowed to
see the limb. Tsuna at first politely refused, but she urged, until
yielding affectionately he slid back the stone lid just a little.

"This is my arm" cried the old hag, turning into an oni, and dragging out
the arm.

She flew up to the ceiling, and was out of the smoke-slide through the
roof in a twinkling. Tsuna rushed out of the house to shoot her with an
arrow, but he saw only a demon far off in the clouds grinning horribly.
He noted carefully however that the direction of the imps' flight was to
the north-west.

A council was now held by Raiko's band, and it was decided that the
lurking-place of the demons must be in the mountains of Oye in the
province of Tango. It was resolved to hunt out and destroy the imps.

WATANABE KILLS THE GREAT SPIDER.

During the time in which Watanabe was forming his plan to destroy the
onis that lurked in the Oye mountains, the brave Raiko fell sick, and
daily grew weaker and paler. When the demons found this out they sent the
three-eyed imp called Mitsume Kozo, to plague him.

This imp, which had a snout like a hog's, three monstrous blue eyes, and
a mouth full of tusks, was glad that the brave soldier could no longer
fight the onis. He would approach the sick man in his chamber, leer
horribly at him, loll out his tongue, and pull down the lids of his eyes
with his hairy fingers, until the sight sickened Raiko more and more.

But Raiko, well or ill, always slept with his trusty sword under his
pillow, and pretending to be greatly afraid, and to cower under the
bed-clothes, the kozo grew bolder and bolder. When the imp was near the
bed, Raiko drew his blade, and cut the oni across his huge double nose.
This made the demon howl, and he ran away, leaving tracks of b