Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/419

Rh but became violently angry, and immediately dismissed me from his service, and rode away in hot pursuit of the enemy."

At this moment a warrior staggered into the courtyard. He was a ghastly-looking object, being covered with blood. "News! News!" he cried faintly, and fell to the ground. He was none other than Shinozuka Hachirō, mentioned above. He was severely wounded in several places, and gasping for breath. Hyōgo rushed to him and cried: "Courage, Hachirō! Give us the news of the battle."

The wounded man made an effort to pull himself together, and gasped out: "After the victory of the Imperial troops, our lord ordered them to pursue the enemy, and he hastened with them towards Kamakura. But previous to this, the traitor Takezawa Kemmotsu, with the assistance of Eda Hangwan, had given orders for the bottom of the Yaguchi ferry-boat, of the River Tama, to be bored through, and the hole to be temporarily filled with a plug. The ferryman then waited for our lord's arrival. He and some ten officers got on board, quite ignorant of the mean artifice which had been played on them. When the boat