kill
his father's murderer upon the spot. But Matagoro had already fled,
and he found only the mother, who was making her preparations for
following her son to the house of Abe Shirogoro: so he bound the old
woman, and searched all over the house for her son; but, seeing that
his search was fruitless, he carried off the mother, and handed her
over to one of the elders of the clan, at the same time laying
information against Matagoro as his father's murderer. When the affair
was reported to the Prince, he was very angry, and ordered that the
old woman should remain bound and be cast into prison until the
whereabouts of her son should be discovered. Then Kazuma buried his
father's corpse with great pomp, and the widow and the orphan mourned
over their loss.

It soon became known amongst the people of Abe Shirogoro that the
mother of Matagoro had been imprisoned for her son's crime, and they
immediately set about planning her rescue; so they sent to the palace
of my Lord Kunaishoyu a messenger, who, when he was introduced to the
councillor of the Prince, said--

"We have heard that, in consequence of the murder of Yukiye, my lord
has been pleased to imprison the mother of Matagoro. Our master
Shirogoro has arrested the criminal, and will deliver him up to you.
But the mother has committed no crime, so we pray that she may be
released from a cruel imprisonment: she was the foster-mother of our
master, and he would fain intercede to save her life. Should you
consent to this, we, on our side, will give up the murderer, and hand
him over to you in front of our master's gate to-morrow."

The councillor repeated this message to the Prince, who, in his
pleasure at being able to give Kazuma his revenge on the morrow,
immediately agreed to the proposal, and the messenger returned
triumphant at the success of the scheme. On the following day, the
Prince ordered the mother of Matagoro to be placed in a litter and
carried to the Hatamoto's dwelling, in charge of a retainer named
Sasawo Danyemon, who, when he arrived at the door of Abe Shirogoro's
house, said--

"I am charged to hand over to you the mother of Matagoro, and, in
exchange, I am authorized to receive her son at your hands."

"We will immediately give him up to you; but, as the mother and son
are now about to bid an eternal farewell to one another, we beg you to
be so kind as to tarry a little."

With this the retainers of Shirogoro led the old woman inside their