brought the power of the bonzes, for that age, to an end. In later years
some trouble was made by them, but Nobunaga had done his work so
thoroughly that there was little difficulty in keeping them under
control.

[Illustration: KARAMO TEMPLE, NIKKO.]

There remains only to tell the story of this great captain's end. He
died at Kioto, the victim of treason. Among his captains was one named
Akechi, a brave man, but proud. One day, in a moment of merriment,
Nobunaga put the head of the captain under his arm and played on it with
his fan, saying that he would make a drum of it. This pleasantry was not
to the taste of the haughty captain, who nursed a desire for
revenge,--behind which perhaps lay a wish to seize the power of the
chief.

The traitor did not have long to wait. Nobunaga had sent most of his
forces away to quell a rebellion, keeping but a small garrison. With
part of this Akechi was ordered to Kiushiu, and left the city with
seeming intention to obey. But he had not gone far when he called his
officers together, told them of his purpose to kill Nobunaga, and
promised them rich booty for their assistance in the plot. The officers
may have had reasons of their own for mutiny, for they readily
consented, and marched back to the city they had just left.

Nobunaga resided in the temple of Hounoji, apparently without a guard,
and to his surprise heard the tread of many feet and the clash of armor
without. Opening a window to learn what this portended, he was struck by
an arrow fired from the outer darkness. He saw at once what had
occurred, and that escape was impossible. There was but one way for a
hero to die. Setting fire to the temple, he killed himself, and before
many minutes the body of the great warrior was a charred corpse in the
ashes of his funeral pile.

_HOW A PEASANT BOY BECAME PREMIER._

In the history of nations there have been many instances of a man
descended from the lowest class of the populace reaching the highest
rank. Kings, conquerors, emperors, have thus risen from the ranks of
peasants and laborers, and the crown has been worn by men born to the
beggar's lot. In the history of Japan only one instance of this kind
appears, that of one born a peasant who supplanted the noble families
and became lord of the people and the emperor alike. Such a man was
Hideyoshi, the one of Nobunaga's generals who bore the popular nickname
of "Cotton," from his fertility of resources and his varie