uest which he at
first refused, through fear of offending the priests. But Yoshitsune
insisted, saying that they would be glad enough to be rid of him, and
the trader at length consented. Yoshitsune was right: the priests were
very well satisfied to learn that he had taken himself off.

On the journey the youthful noble gave proofs of remarkable valor and
strength. He seized and held prisoner a bold robber, and on another
occasion helped to defend the house of a man of wealth from an attack by
robbers, five of whom he killed. These and other exploits alarmed a
friend who was with him, and who bade him to be careful lest the Taira
should hear of his doings, learn who he was, and kill him.

The boy at length found a home with the prince of Mutsu, a nobleman of
the Fujiwara clan. Here he spent his days in military exercises and the
chase, and by the time he was twenty-one had gained a reputation as a
soldier of great valor and consummate skill, and as a warrior in whom
the true spirit of chivalry seemed inborn. A youth of such honor,
virtue, courage, and martial fire Japan had rarely known.

In the war that soon arose between Yoritomo and the Taira the youthful
Bayard served his brother well. Kiyomori, in sparing the sons of the
Minamoto chief, had left alive the two ablest of all who bore that name.
So great were the skill and valor of the young warrior that his brother,
on the rebellion of Yoshinaka, made Yoshitsune commander of the army of
the west, and sent him against the rebellious general, who was quickly
defeated and slain.

But the Taira, though they had been driven from the capital, had still
many adherents in the land, and were earnestly endeavoring to raise an
army in the south and west. Unfortunately for them, they had a leader to
deal with who knew the value of celerity. Yoshitsune laid siege to the
fortified palace of Fukuwara, within which the Taira leaders lay
intrenched, and pushed the siege with such energy that in a short time
the palace was taken and in flames. Those who escaped fled to the castle
of Yashima, which their active enemy also besieged and burned. As a last
refuge the Taira leaders made their way to the Straits of Shimonoseki,
where they had a large fleet of junks.

The final struggle in this war took place in the fourth month of the
year 1185. Yoshitsune had with all haste got together a fleet, and the
two armies, now afloat, met on the waters of the strait for the greatest
naval batt