ur quilts,
good sir; to your fool companions who wear summer garb in depth of
winter, and triple garments in the heats of the sixth and seventh
months; stuff themselves with hot food and wine in summer, and freeze
the viands and _sake_ in winter. Get you hence to your companions of the
Gaman Kwai (Endurance Society). Make report to them of Aoyama's venture,
and bray and brag to them of spending a night outside the sheets."
Shu[u]zen strove to be calm on receipt of these insults to his kind. In
haughty condescension he explained--"Those of the Gaman Kwai wear
_katabira_ (light summer wear) in winter, triple gear in summer, to
undergo the hardships of the battlefield. In war one regards not heat or
cold. He drinks from the puddle on the field, and cooks the rice straw
for food in his helmet. This is the great time of peace. The experiences
and the hardships of the battlefield are lacking. It is as substitute
for these...." He was interrupted by a mighty burst of impolite
merriment from the heavy man, who held his sides as like to split from
laughter. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Naruhodo! These chitterlings; stuffed
sausages! 'Sufferings of the battlefield; hardships'! They are not to
encountered in such childish sport. He who would face these must
practise the art of the inner belly (mind). It is by hardening the belly
that the trials of war are met. You fellows practise but the outer cult.
Of the inner and secret precepts you are ignorant. Degraded fools
(_bakeyaro[u]_)!"--"Shut up!" roared Shu[u]zen. He could take the fellow
at a disadvantage in his fit of outrageous merriment. Close to hand he
leaped on him. In effort to avoid the blow the miscreant tumbled head
over heels into the close deep waving _suzuki_ grass. With satisfaction
Aoyama felt the sword sink deep into the resisting substance. Great his
disgust to find that he had cleft an old and hidden stump to the very
root. He seated himself upon it.

At least he was in the centre of disturbance. Should he await further
encounter, or depart elsewhere to find it. He had a mind to abandon the
lanes and plunge into the waste land. Just then screams and cries were
heard; the sound of rapid flying feet coming in his direction. A young
woman in flight was now close at hand. Her hair unbound streamed behind
her. She was in night clothes, and the knot of the narrow _obi_ or band
come loose in her flight, exposed a figure all attraction. On reaching
Aoyama she threw herself at his