e crashing of steel
upon helmets, the plunging of slain in the flood. And to left and right
of him, in the pauses of his playing, he could hear voices murmuring
praise: "How marvelous an artist!"--"Never in our own province was
playing heard like this!"--"Not in all the empire is there another
singer like Hoichi!" Then fresh courage came to him, and he played and
sang yet better than before; and a hush of wonder deepened about him.
But when at last he came to tell the fate of the fair and
helpless,--the piteous perishing of the women and children,--and the
death-leap of Nii-no-Ama, with the imperial infant in her arms,--then
all the listeners uttered together one long, long shuddering cry of
anguish; and thereafter they wept and wailed so loudly and so wildly
that the blind man was frightened by the violence and grief that he had
made. For much time the sobbing and the wailing continued. But
gradually the sounds of lamentation died away; and again, in the great
stillness that followed, Hoichi heard the voice of the woman whom he
supposed to be the Rojo.

She said:--

"Although we had been assured that you were a very skillful player upon
the biwa, and without an equal in recitative, we did not know that any
one could be so skillful as you have proved yourself to-night. Our lord
has been pleased to say that he intends to bestow upon you a fitting
reward. But he desires that you shall perform before him once every
night for the next six nights--after which time he will probably make
his august return-journey. To-morrow night, therefore, you are to come
here at the same hour. The retainer who to-night conducted you will be
sent for you... There is another matter about which I have been ordered
to inform you. It is required that you shall speak to no one of your
visits here, during the time of our lord's august sojourn at
Akamagaseki. As he is traveling incognito, [6] he commands that no
mention of these things be made... You are now free to go back to your
temple."

After Hoichi had duly expressed his thanks, a woman's hand conducted
him to the entrance of the house, where the same retainer, who had
before guided him, was waiting to take him home. The retainer led him
to the verandah at the rear of the temple, and there bade him farewell.

It was almost dawn when Hoichi returned; but his absence from the
temple had not been observed,--as the priest, coming back at a very
late hour, had supposed him asleep. During