the day Hoichi was able to
take some rest; and he said nothing about his strange adventure. In the
middle of the following night the samurai again came for him, and led
him to the august assembly, where he gave another recitation with the
same success that had attended his previous performance. But during
this second visit his absence from the temple was accidentally
discovered; and after his return in the morning he was summoned to the
presence of the priest, who said to him, in a tone of kindly reproach:--

"We have been very anxious about you, friend Hoichi. To go out, blind
and alone, at so late an hour, is dangerous. Why did you go without
telling us? I could have ordered a servant to accompany you. And where
have you been?"

Hoichi answered, evasively,--

"Pardon me kind friend! I had to attend to some private business; and I
could not arrange the matter at any other hour."

The priest was surprised, rather than pained, by Hoichi's reticence: he
felt it to be unnatural, and suspected something wrong. He feared that
the blind lad had been bewitched or deluded by some evil spirits. He
did not ask any more questions; but he privately instructed the
men-servants of the temple to keep watch upon Hoichi's movements, and
to follow him in case that he should again leave the temple after dark.

On the very next night, Hoichi was seen to leave the temple; and the
servants immediately lighted their lanterns, and followed after him.
But it was a rainy night, and very dark; and before the temple-folks
could get to the roadway, Hoichi had disappeared. Evidently he had
walked very fast,--a strange thing, considering his blindness; for the
road was in a bad condition. The men hurried through the streets,
making inquiries at every house which Hoichi was accustomed to visit;
but nobody could give them any news of him. At last, as they were
returning to the temple by way of the shore, they were startled by the
sound of a biwa, furiously played, in the cemetery of the Amidaji.
Except for some ghostly fires--such as usually flitted there on dark
nights--all was blackness in that direction. But the men at once
hastened to the cemetery; and there, by the help of their lanterns,
they discovered Hoichi,--sitting alone in the rain before the memorial
tomb of Antoku Tenno, making his biwa resound, and loudly chanting the
chant of the battle of Dan-no-ura. And behind him, and about him, and
everywhere above the tombs, the fires of the