as lying prone in the street, seemingly sunk in a
drunken slumber, so that men might see him and carry the news to the
treacherous assassin of his beloved master. As he lay there that
afternoon, he revolved in his mind the devices he should use to make
away with his enemy when the hour might be ripe at last for the
accomplishment of his holy revenge. To himself he called the roll of
his fellow-ronins, now biding their time, as he was, and ready always
to obey his orders and to follow his lead to the death, when at last
the sun should rise on the day of vengeance.

So he gave no heed to the scoffs and the jeers of those who passed
along the street, laughing him to scorn as they beheld him lying there
in a stupor from excessive drink at that inordinate hour of the day.
And among those who came by at last was a man from Satsuma, who was
moved to voice the reproaches of all that saw this sorry sight.

"Is not this Oishi Kuranosuke," said the man from Satsuma, "who was a
councillor of Asano Takumi no Kami, and who, not having the heart to
avenge his lord, gives himself up to women and wine? See how he lies
drunk in the public street! Faithless beast! Fool and craven! Unworthy
of the name of a samurai!"

And with that the man from Satsuma trod on him as he lay there, and
spat upon him, and went away indignantly. The spies of Kotsuke no Suke
heard what the man from Satsuma had said, and they saw how he had
spurned the prostrate samurai with his foot; and they went their way to
report to their master that he need no longer have any fear of the
councillors of Asano Takumi no Kami. All this the man, lying prone in
the dust of the street, noted; and it made his heart glad, for then he
made sure that the day was soon coming when he could do his duty at
last and take vengeance for the death of his master.

III

He lay there longer than he knew, and the twilight settled down at
last, and the evening stars came out. And then, after a while, and by
imperceptible degrees, Cosmo Waynflete became conscious that the scene
had changed and that he had changed with it. He was no longer in Japan,
but in Persia. He was no longer lying like a drunkard in the street of
a city, but slumbering like a weary soldier in a little oasis by the
side of a spring in the midst of a sandy desert. He was asleep, and his
faithful horse was unbridled that it might crop the grass at will.

The air was hot and thick, and the leaves of the slim tree above