utting down a
retainer, a beggar, or an outcast. In the first case compensation was
allowed; the last two were honoured by the experiment. Priests and women
were not covered by the code; matter of omission, rather than of
importance. The wanderer had taken his seat by the little pond in the
garden. Here to all appearance he remained in a meditation which was
roughly interrupted by the irruption of the lord of the mansion into a
room close by. Jubei kicked the _sho[u]ji_ out of the frames, and strode
to the edge of the verandah. His hair was in wild disorder. He wore
armour on his shoulders, and was stark naked below the waist. Face
twitching and eyes flashing he hailed his visitor, to demand on what
mission he had dared to intrude on the time and patience of the great
man. Let the excuse be a good one. Otherwise--But at abuse the cleric
was a good hand himself. He, too, had heard of Jubei Dono; he who posed
as the great man of Nippon. This was poaching on his own ground, for he
set himself up to be the match of any number in the land. At this Jubei
broke into angry jeers and invectives. The priest made answer with equal
roughness. "How face two opponents--to right and left?" Jubei snorted
with contempt. He was active enough to neglect the one and cut down the
other before aid could be brought. The Yagyu-ryu[u], or style of
fencing, made provision for such occasion. Aye! And for four--and
against eight.... "And against sixteen, and thirty-two, and sixty-four,
and a hundred and twenty-eight opponents ... against all the many
fighting men of Nippon? How would Jubei face all those?" To this Jubei
could but answer that he would die fighting. The priest in his turn
snorted with contempt. "Die fighting: by such words Jubei admits
defeat." But he did not allow Jubei to turn questioner in his turn.
Swiftly he shifted the argument. He, the cleric, considered Jubei of
small account. He would prove to him what a fool he was by the
interpretation of a mere thirty-one syllables of poetry. This should be
the test of intelligence. The Knight's Way (Budo[u]) had its inner and
cryptic meaning expressed in verse. So had the Way of the Buddha
(Butsudo[u]). Of this latter Jubei knew nothing; and he doubted if he
knew anything of the former. At least let him display some sample of his
wit. Jubei leaped at the test to prove his greatness. Now he scorned to
deal with a priest in arms. How was this:

"By night storm of Narutaki broken,