Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/351

Rh rejected him. He was so overcome with spite and wrath, that he killed her on the spot.

Shortly afterwards Gōsuké went to Kamakura, where Hōjō Ujimasa lived. The latter was the daimyo of the eight provinces of Kwantō, and was a relative of the rascal Gōsuké. Gōsuké secretly met Ujimasa, and asked for his protection. The latter willingly consented, and gave him employment as his military adviser. To avoid detection, Gōsuké changed his name to Takiguchi Kōzuké. He had not long been in the service of Ujimasa, before he began to exercise a considerable amount of authority in his new capacity, and behaved arrogantly towards his inferiors.

Sampei had a younger brother named Katsugorō, who although he was still merely a stripling, was a warrior as brave as Sampei had been. His father had died when he was but a child, and he had been brought up by Sampei. He therefore had come to regard Sampei with as much affection and piety as he would towards a real father. When he heard of his brother's death, he was overcome with grief. On learning that the murderer was Satō Gōsuké, he was chagrined out of measure, and immediately made up his mind to find the