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 58 samurai—the daimio found his decimated command forced back to the edge of a steep cliff. The boulder-strewn gully lay several hundred feet below. The victorious enemy, expecting certain surrender, sent forward emissaries to arrange for the capitulation. The daimio gave the quiet answer that surrender was out of the question. With his thin little force backed against the edge of the cliff this fine old prince waited until he saw the enemy moving forward with a strength of numbers that he knew could not be resisted. Then he stepped through the broken ranks, looked down into the gully below, and shouted:

"Follow me!"

Down along the ranks the order was repeated. A few moments later the daimio leaped over the cliff and went to instant death. Before his body had struck the rocks below hundreds more of his men were in the air. Within a few seconds the last man of the command was on his way to death. Not one had stopped to question the order. It was a command—and that was all there was to be said. Such instant obedience sprang from the