Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/137

Rh One day a female warrior, having a halberd in her hand, forced her way through the ranks of the besieging army and rushed to the entrance of Hidéyoshi's headquarters and cried, with gasps:

"Is General Hidéyoshi within?"

Hidéyoshi, wondering who it could be, went to the door. He was astonished to see Ano-no-Tsuboné, exhausted, pale as death, and covered with wounds, supporting herself by the shaft of a blood-stained halberd. He grasped the fact that she had brought some momentous news; so he softly arranged her clothing, and gave her a stimulating draught, and urged her to tell him her message. The lady fixed her eyes sadly on the general's face and burst into a torrent of tears. But she controlled herself with a great effort, and told between gasps all that had happened. She informed him how Mitsuhidé had treasonably marched on the Honnōji; how Nobunaga and Rammaru and all the other retainers had come to a tragic end; how the nobleman, before his death, had ordered her to communicate to Hidéyoshi his ardent wish that he should be avenged on the traitor. She also told how she had cut