I have not seen Hidetsugu, know not his purpose, or any other mans, but I also have a duty to perform: if in that I have transgressed, then let me suffer therefor. What is one life as compared with so many? continued Yodogima, without any intimation as to what she herself, Ishida, and the Sen-no-rikyu alone knew.
Hideyoshi has been insulted and the guilty must suffer. How are the captains? Where Ieyasu? demanded the taiko, nervously.
Time will tell, suggested Ishida. In the meantime your humble servant would advise that Hideyori be taken in charge—I myself, with your lordships permission, shall attend Yodogima.
Let Oyea stand sponsor for Hideyori; Yodogimahas proven herself untrustworthy—do with her as you like; I shall have enough to attend Hidetsugu. Produce the child, commanded the taiko, believing himself abused beyond forgiveness.
Yodogima sank down bewildered. Jokoin had been an onlooker and believed her sister in the right, though she knew nothing and could not account for the circumstance.
Never mind, sister; Jokoin shall console you, promised she, coming forward in a manner strictly her own, however menacingly it may have seemed.
And you, Hideyoshi, are just as mean as you can be. Now, then, continued Jokoin, stamping her foot in the taikos presence.
Hei, yeo! Ishida, we shall have enough of it, before done; I know this little elf, of old, threatened Hideyoshi, vainly trying to hide a deeper, more laborious concern.
The world, however, seemed awhirl, and Yodogima had surrendered, but Harunaga watched his chance:
Do not despair, Yodogima; the child shall not be torn from its mother, whispered he, and his words roused within her a new life.
Hidetsugu came in—he had flown at Ishidas accusation—in the charge of Ieyasu, who had surrounded and taken him at his own quarters, while in the act of communicating with Mori, a friend to Ishida. It had been the kwambakus guards marching, contrary to his orders or knowledge, but well within the plans and connivance of Ishida, that caused the disturbance,prompting Ieyasu to adopt extreme measures—cutting down and dispersing them without inquiry or cause.
Ishida laughed. He stood at Hideyoshis right. Yodogima in the melee had disappeared, in company with Jokoin, as induced by Harunaga.
I am guilty of no wrongdoing: God is my judge, protested Hidetsugu, confronting Hideyoshi.
Why, then, have you sought to impose a new form of oath? inquired the taiko, calling Mori to witness.
Hidetsugu stumbled—there were several Christians present and he himself had more than once favored the good father Grecchi, though none now offered him as much as a consolation.
Hideyoshi marvelled the circumstance.
It now came Ieyasus turn, and he answered by absenting himself; it occurring that there might be some further advantage gotten of China; Chin Ikei had not yet crowned Hideyoshi.
With reaching her own apartment, Yodogimas spirit rekindled; but—
The child! shrieked she, as it dawned that Hideyori was nowhere to be found.
The moments seemed ages now, and a thousand occasions suggested the most likely place to search—yet back of it all there stood the look of Ishida. He had proffered Hideyoshi the cup, condemned Hidetsugu, and baffled Ieyasu: had he likewise the need of kidnapping her child? Were he in truth master of Hideyoshi?Could she not play him and Ieyasu yet, one against the other, to some advantage?
Have faith, Yodogima; we still have Taketomo, my own dear little imp, and our intended ruse may yet avail—in the opposite direction. Would you believe it, Harunaga says Take looks enough like Hide to be his brother; and Im sure you can have him, and welcome, for I should just love to find another like him.
Yodogima snatched the child up, and vowed that the rearing of children and the conserving of fortune were two occupations utterly incompatible and hopelessly attempted—Hideyoshi had, without further consultation or compunction, sent Hidetsugu, his three children, their mothers and some thirty other ladies of his court to the execution grounds at Kyoto.
These are marvels, not virtues: therein lies my strength, surmised the expectant princess, long before The Mound of Beasts had echoed its final warning over against the headsmens block in Sanjomachi.
A consummation covertly auguring the final purpose of Ishida; who had so ingratiated himself into the grace of their master that an intrigue against him had been in fact resolved into a better consequence. With Hidetsugu out of the way, only Hideyori stood between him and final authority—so thought Ishida: another occasion might prove more certainly Hideyoshis fate.
The doors at Fushima stood ajar, and Hideyoshi entered: there seemed no friend now other than Ishida; who, also, deemed it convenient or necessary to dwell elsewhere, mostly; and only sycophants and confusion surrounded the taiko.
O Hideyoshi, pleaded he, self-conscious and overdone. Has it come to this? Is there none left me?
Only the cold dread of conjured ingratitude answered. Hell itself had been a relief in those drawn moments of flickering consciousness, and the taiko grappled the more uncertainly at every fleeting fancy that danced on in one endless concourse, faithless, hopeless, and uncharitable, then withering, again torturing, as if undecided or bent upon nothing more.
Ishida now held fast mostly at Ozaka: the child absorbed Yodogimas attention, and Ieyasu found it no less agreeable to sojourn in the vicinity of Azuchi: here, too, the child engaged partly the elder wife, Oyea.
Now mind you, enjoined Ishida, upon Oyea, at a secret conference, outside the walls at Azuchi, atop the hill in Hiyeisan; let there be no mishap; present the child only upon my signal; then Oyea shall be first in favor and Ishida her lifelong slave.
You can trust me, Ishida; do your part as well; the captains shall not ignore me, as Hideyoshi once did, though their recent conduct would incline one to the belief that they were capable of it.
Jokoin had directly realized in Harunaga a gallant superber than warmth, even hers, could have desired: more fervid, perhaps, than Kyogoku, her husband, approved: not as discreet as some of Hideyoshis followers would have.
In consequence, Ieyasu had found it possible to urge upon Yodogima measures that he little knew circumstances had made it possible for her to understand and seize upon—in their true light. She had promised, therefore—as Oyea had sooner agreed with Ishida—to be at hand and await, likewise, her would-be deceivers proposals.
The two, Ieyasu and Ishida, the one planning and the other carrying out, had arranged with Chin Ikei the taikos coronation. The coveted crown should, with concluding pomp, be placed securely there. Hideyoshi was to be made, apparently, emperor of all the Orient. Ieyasu schemed and Ishida advised: Hideyoshi succumbed, to their cajolery, an easy prey; he had subdued Japan, overrun Korea, and outwitted China, he thought; what were other mens contentionsor reliances as compared with the feel and the fetch of glory?
Let everybody witness Hideyoshis just finale, commanded he; if not altogether impotently, then, perhaps, a bit sarcastically.
No man or woman, however, willingly missed the occasion; they crowded round from everywhere. Hideyoshi, arrayed in robes of purple, sat high upon pillows of curled feathers with hand-embroidered cases. His own three hundred serving maids lounged round the room or grouped in corners awaiting their masters every whim. On the outside bands of music horned or stringed notes soothing, but no longer stirring. Not a guard or soldier marred the serenity of Hideyoshis belief, and only the covenant bearers disturbed the silence ensuing a taikos exultation.
The crown rested, impatiently, upon its golden-lacquered tray in front.
An ambassador advanced.
Our commission, declared he, bowing low.
Read it, commanded Hideyoshi.
The interpreter complied:
We do invest you King of Japan—
What? Crown me of less than I possess? No! shouted he, snatching up the document, casting off that robe, and throwing down the crown.
The rage of Hideyoshi only increased with each attempted explanation; the real perpetrators stood mute in the background, the one bent upon Hideyoris destruction, the other confident of a mothers triumph.The acknowledged son and, now, only possible successor destroyed, Ishida believed it easy to lay his hand securely upon the reins of government: trusting his judgment, the taiko could be wrought into no more favorable mood than the one at present so forcibly expressed. Ieyasu, on the other hand, faltered; he adjudged Yodogima capable, but Hideyoshi fighting mad and in a corner had only too often proven it the death knell to any one, hated or loved, who had as yet invoked the temerity to confront him.
The plan in truth of his own making, and its working in perfect accord to this the culminating point, convinced him the more that someone had found him out and now fared ready to reap the reward of his iniquity.
Ieyasu stood paralyzed—yet no one seemed to suffer a moments loss or to heed at all any sort of plight in consequence of his failure. Ieyasu, as if dumb, Ishida exulted the more: Oyea came forth as understood, and bowing down laid the child at Hideyoshis feet—the taiko gasped; speech had failed.
Oyea, also, had insulted him; dared to flaunt in his face what he knew that she knew was not his: the taiko was angered.
Ieyasu withdrew, as quietly as he had remained, and no one would have been the wiser had not Yodogima—hidden away so disguised that even he had failed her—observed his every movement: when he had gone, then Harunaga shadowed his further progress and—
Doffing the veil, Yodogima quickly, yet softly, and considerately, approached, unwrapping and laying before his highness another child, not unlike the first in face and form.
Hideyoshi looked up, a changed man; in a mothers presence there had dawned a new understanding.
Ishida rushed forward, and Oyea drew back: a common wrangle ensued, and no one appeared to know just what to say or think or do. Some contended that one or the other of the two children belonged to Oyea, for had she not brought it there, and proffered hers for recognition? But which one? Why her silence? Others claimed that only a mother could know her child; whereat the taiko frowned and Ishida smiled.
Which one, Ishida; this is an important business, and there should be no mistake?
Yodogima had claimed them both, now, in the absence of Oyea, who stood back, trembling and cogitating. No thought disturbed the mother, whose only care centered in the child; to deprive her of hers, she alone must make the selection: Hideyoshi had never knowingly committed an avoidable wrong.
Ishida blushed; the truth had at last dawned also upon him, and turning to Yodogima the closely cornered man mumbled:
Which is he, Yodogima?
Let the guilty determine, as I have done, replied she, interested and secure.
Both of them, your highness, stammered Ishida, facing Hideyoshi.
Then it was, as well, Ishida who poisoned, not Yodogima, but the intended cup? Away with you, and let one who has no need to choose pronounce judgment, for her son is my heir, and henceforth your kwambaku—I command it, vowed Hideyoshi, with no other consolation or assurance than a mothers kindly feeling, to foster and encourage the last act or wish of an utterly unrealized, if totally expended, higher ambition.
With the passing of Hideyoshi, Yodogima faced a maze possibly less promising than had the taiko lived longer—to suffer violence or subversion at the hands of those eager and prepared to take advantage of his decline. The captains, his real adherents, stood as it were, confused and unready; whereas had any one of the enemys schemes to do the master false sooner proven successful there should no doubt have been in consequence a mere pronounced or sudden welding and rousing of them to the cause he left. Yet, in the face of uncertainty, they gathered to a man in support of the infant kwambaku: also many of the larger daimyos proffered their friendship—if not to Hideyori, then to his mother—and Ozaka rang again resonant with the glamor of authority.
Oyea had been ignored, perhaps understood; Hideyoshi, at the last moment taking from her every visage of authority—discerning Yodogimas true disposition—her own conduct in the presence of all and under stress of a last appeal alienated others upon whom she might have reasonably depended.
Ill yet see her burned at the stake, muttered Oyea, departing unheeded and alone toward the beggarly inheritance left her—Azuchi, and that aswell with no other immediate chance or real adviser save Esyo, the wife of an infant, a son of Ieyasu, Hidetada, verily Buddhist born.
A mixed situation, therefore, presented itself for her delectation. Yodogima had won favors on every hand, and there were no more Christians than Buddhists at Ozaka, with Shintoists a plenty and to spare over both. The government had been, as a last resort, intrusted to the care of five designated Regents during the minority of Hideyori: the taiko believed Yodogima competent to see that justice were done, and no one there assumed his responsibility more readily or inauspiciously than she.
Ill make my son ruler in fact, not alone suffer him to succeed in name: what greater end can a mother achieve than succor the laurels of a child she bears? meditated she, as the luxuries—even shorn of the comforts—of a respected, though unloved, husbands bounty showered down upon and around her.
Kuroda accepting command, not a captain among them—excepting Takiyama—wavered in his loyalty or bore the slightest mistrust. The chests were filled to bursting; no such bounty as that left in Ozaka had theretofore accumulated, and new recruits proffered enlistment from every source save one—Yedo apparently foresaw another need for its soldiery.
The regents had sworn to respect the will of their deceased taiko, who had enjoined them severally and collectively from engaging in political marriages ofwhatsoever kind or character during the regency: as Ieyasu and Ishida both stood highest in council, Yodogima very naturally had good occasion to rest easy thereabout on her own account, and certainly nowise other respecting Hideyori, her son and their kwambaku.
There is nothing to thisSan Filipeaffair; it was but the babbling of an underling, who, finding himself in a tight place, sought by braggadocio to escape further custody or avoid some fancied harm; please do not refer to it again, begged Yodogima, of Ishida, who had called professedly to advise her of certain rumors, which she had sooner heard, emanating no one seemed to know just how or where, yet surmised high in authority.
But Ieyasu is bent upon expelling the Christians, and of course needs some excuse. No doubt your ladyship is right in her estimation, still there are other reasons why the good and faithful should listen to any proposal aiming at perhaps total extinction, and Ieyasu is clever.
Are you not his equal? And, I am sure, there can be no good reason for drastic measures except it be political. Are a few priests, a dozen or so daimyos, and a handful of followers to be treated a menace? Nonsense! None knew better than Hideyoshi the province and probabilities of religion, and I mean to be as tolerant, if not so capable. Must you let every project that comes along, invented or otherwise, swerve you in your bounden duty? Christianity hasquite as much right or reason to thrive and comfort whoso or whereat as any other religion: when creed has proven itself fruitless, it shall die of its own accord: as soon as inimical to further progress, then chop it down; man is neither rank nor incapable.
The sun shone hot out of a clear sky, and the shade fell invitingly from an aged wistaria that hung in profusion overhead. Threatening clouds gathered and banked huge and dark in the west, yet the voice of storm had not sounded there, in Ozaka, where they two sat, overlooking the glassy bay to the southward, nor had it quite closed with Amaterasu in her downward whirl toward the passing of day. They pondered, and a sail came into view far distant.
There appeared nothing as yet to distinguished it from one of their own, and the imagination played on. Who has not been stirred by the mysteries of an undiscernable ship at sea?
Once upon a time the goodSan Filipehad likewise stolen in upon them; a storm drove her against shoals; as was custom and law they seized her and confiscated the cargo; the pilot captured and questioned, confidently, but proudly, spread before them a chart showing the vast domain of Spain, his native country, and the ships defender.
How came your king by all these possessions? Hideyoshi had asked him.
Oh, that is simple enough, replied the unsophisticated sailor. We first send out our religieux to convert the people, then seize upon their lands with anarmy supported by the newly made Christians. Its easily done.
What? My states filled with traitors, and the government about to devolve upon a child? Impossible! cried the taiko, amid his adherents, and the echo had not died or ceased of its meaning.
This unguarded statement of the over-anxious, yet innocent Spaniard, of the merchant class—and not so particular about the fate of priests or religion—that, it were, had, more than anything else, among other things, convinced Ieyasu of Hideyoshis having acted very unwisely, through weakness or decline, with yielding to the importunities or blandishments of a woman, Yodogima or Jokoin, presumably the former, in permitting the priests to return to Nagasaki; that it now became him as a leader, first of all to remove them bag and baggage from the land. They had seized upon their reinstatement with an avidity that augured renewed activity and their operations seemed directed chiefly toward Ozaka, alternating between the highest and the lowest in or out of authority.
A prodigious evil this appeared to be—the gathering and fraternizing of the high and the lowly, the good and the ill, the interested and the disinterested, under the auspices of a single flag, unfurled and waved solely and authoritatively by none other than Ishida, whom he knew and could not misunderstand.
You accuse Yodogima wrongly, said he, to Oyea, as they too sat upon a veranda, overlooking not thesea, but that selfsame lake, Biwa, with its more subtle, if less inspiring outlook. She is surrounded with evil influences, and must be relieved. Her motives are pure—over-intended—but the chicanery of Ishida is more than a woman should be left to cope.
Then it is Yodogima that concerns our lord: the Christians are but an excuse? queried Oyea, with suppressed emotion.
Ieyasu answered discreetly with a question; still resist as best he could, the rising color in his face disclosed to Oyea unmistakably the one truth which had under-disturbed her every thought and action since the day she had consoled with Yodogima in the hope that Ieyasu should not lose to Hideyoshi:
Why do you ask, Oyea?
Is it not enough that I have insured you Hideki, my nephews support, intrigued with Ishida to further your cause, surrendered favors, which I might have had, in the interests of one whom I—
Hold, Oyea. You have already gone too far. I am loved, and I love—
But Oyea is patient: I am not too old—will serve you—look, Ieyasu; my face comely—form preserved—
Ieyasu turned away, toward the mountains: looked into space, limitless and conjectural. Words had been worse than a crime, then. Oyea read the answer, searched his innermost depths; she had failed the taiko; should Ieyasu take her on trust? True her hair was streaked, but underneath that, down deep in her heart,there held and beat a warmth as fervid, an ardor as prone, and the purpose as strong as of the days when Hideyoshi had abused a confidence no less compellingly bestowed.
Thunder rumblings in the distance, lightning flashes bolting the heavens, ominous clouds overcasting the earth—these drove home the dragons fearful promise: Oyea only drew closer round her the simple kimono she so gratefully wore.
Arising, Ishida approached, and respreading his rug sat nearer. Yodogima gazed the more intently at the tiny speck upon the angering waters in front.
How like a human, mused she, as the struggling bark raised and lowered, bantered or plowed its way toward the beacon that fond anticipation shall never cease of hailing.
It lacks originality, ventured he, in some vainly attempted response.
As I do, you may think, retorted the princess, bowing with just a blush, which no man could resist.
You grant me undeserved merit, your ladyship.
Why not Yodogima, though not guilty of as much as a thought?
May I dare?
I should be mean to deny a worthy man, responded she, with a look more convincing than words could have been.
Ill prove it, my lady. In the meantime—oh, Ishida; what an ass to bandy opportunity! muttered he, bounding off, as convinced as pleased.
With a long drawn sigh, perhaps of satisfaction, Yodogima continued gazing into the distance. The approaching vessel had ceased to be a center of attraction, though still tossing and laboring with the elements. Subtler affairs now engrossed all the princesss attention, and clapping carelessly for a servant Junkei approached unreservedly:
Call Maeda, commanded she, dreamily.
Junkei bowing low departed on the run; long service with Hideyoshi had wrought of him a veritable machine, self-wound, but motionless till sprung. Not far to go, Maeda soon appeared and the princess greeted him with reverence; for he it was who had accommodated her father with a horse and service on his last flight from the enemy. Yodogima loved the old veteran, who by dint of prudence and much quivering had preserved his life and retained a domain through all those troublesome years of Hideyoshis enforced subduction.
None save Ieyasu—of those near the capital, and only two others, widely separated, at the two extremes of the empire—could boast or master a larger income or force: not a daimyo of them all bore the respect generally that this giant of a bygone day enjoyed among them. Hence Hideyoshi, himself, before death, had singled him out as the best fitted or suited to exercise public guardianship over the infant Kwambaku, Hideyori, during his minority, a thankless undertaking at best, refused by Ieyasu—perhaps at the request of Yodogima, for she trusted inMaedas honesty: believed herself competent and rightly entitled, if not best intended, to direct.
Maeda, therefore, was legal guardian, and no two held forth in stricter confidence than he and Yodogima.
Sit down, Maeda, commanded she—he, too, bore toward her the respect due a superior.
I beg to be at your service, my lady, responded he, seating himself near at hand.
You are a friend to Ieyasu, Maeda?
Yes, my lady, unconcernedly.
You are a friend to Ishida?
Yes, my lady, with growing interest.
Then I would warn you: beware of Ishida.
The old man trembled perceptibly; to question the integrity of a friend was more than he could do, and to listen to a proposal like that had fairly unnerved him—yet he knew this daughter of an older champion, had studied her every mood from childhood up: no uncertain thing could prompt her to make such a declaration.
I thank you, Yodogima—pardon the allusion; I was thinking of your father, replied he, presently the moments passed.
Thank you, my lord, responded she, no less spontaneously.
A greater respect could not have been paid him, or an honor more highly appreciated; the old diplomat thenceforth knew no higher duty, cherished not a thought other than to uphold the child whose motherhe believed divinely cast, no matter what his opinion or other mens contentions might be—about a father.
Maeda had pledged himself irredeemably, and Yodogima believed the fortress impregnable against the arms alike their cunning of any man or combination that might dare or choose to go against it. Night came on, and they parted; the ship she had fancied vanished, with the light that lowered real.
Ishida and Masuda lingered longer than usual at the cups, on a dark night soon after, while their conversation, heated and close, kept rhythm to the customary whack, whack, their metal pipes ringing and the hours lessening.
Then it is true that Jokoin really bore a son, this Hachisuka, to whom Ieyasu has just now married his granddaughter, Ogasa, queried Masuda. I wonder how long it will be till he, himself, has taken Yodogima for wife? He seems to have ignored the taikos enjoinder, altogether: perhaps he may have convenient some other granddaughter or such like for Hideyori: what chance shall there be for the rest of us then? I really believe he aims at succeeding Hideyoshi in authority.
Ishida shifted uneasy.
They say he was, once, in love with the princess.
Love! Hes too cold for that: I should sooner think him in quest of the treasure stored away there, at Ozaka, in Maedas keep.
Do you know, continued Ishida, without further reference to Yodogima, that two of them, Ieyasu and Maeda, united, are competent and capable of doing about as they like? They must be antagonized, and you and I shall do it; ally yourself with the former, and I will attend the latter.
But Yodogima is friendly to both of them, in some measure.
So much the better, for Oyea is as hot against her, and if we fail at the one, why, then we have a surer remedy.
Thus they separated, and Ishida calling at the castle convinced Maeda that it were high time for Ieyasu to pay his respects to Hideyori, their rising superior. Maeda, the guardian, without any suspicion as to motive or consultation with Yodogima, issued the invitation, and Masuda as soon advised Ieyasu that Maeda plotted to kill him.
Maeda harm me? There must be some mistake, replied Ieyasu, a bit puzzled, but not the least shaken.
There can be none, however, about this letter, suggested Masuda, producing one, in the hand of its supposed writer. Perhaps my lord is familiar with the handwriting. It was intercepted between Yodogima, the mother, and his grace, the good guardian—can your lordship unravel the meaning, to some better purpose?
Ieyasu turned pale. Though understanding well enough its purport, somehow the chirography did not exactly satisfy him, and wheeFling round toward Esyo—who of late had made it her business to sojourn mostly between Fushima, Ieyasus recently adopted domicile, and Azuchi, Oyeas deserted or despised hearth—Ieyasu—grandfather to Kita, Esyos first born, a daughter—significantly asked:
Who wrote it, Esyo?
Esyo stammered; for once she had been taken unawares:
Perhaps Jokoin might know. Shall I call her; she is close by, engaged just now with Takiyama; you know he is quite friendly—
No; I would rather not put her to the test, as I did you, my daughter. But where is her husband, Kyogoku?
Oh, hes at Ozaka; preferred Kitagira and the shrine to his wife and a church; though Maeda, really, distrusts them both; poor, lonely soul; hes about the only Christian left there; a pleasing enough circumstance to Yodogima, I presume, now that shes a favorite among the captains and the bearer of a—
Cannot you control your tongue? Now Kita, your own daughter, shall marry Hideyori, as I command. Go hence.
Where to, Azuchi?
If you like; I can do quite well without either of you.
Perhaps.
Ieyasu did not make the visit, however, and Yodogima, advised of the circumstance, consulted Hosokawa, Maedas most ardent friend; whose wife, Grace of Tango, a staunch Christian, not only bore intimate terms with Jokoin, keeping strict account of her entangling alliances, but actively inspired some acquaintance with all things pertaining accidentally or discreetly to the new religion.
Let Ishida separate Maeda and Ieyasu, if he will, but see to it no harm is done either one; we cannot so much control mens acts as adapt ourselves inadvertently to results, urged Yodogima, no less concerned about Ieyasus than Ishidas motive.
How do you know that it is Ishida, who seeks their disalliance? queried Hosokawa, unadvised, yet suspicious.
Intuitively, I presume, replied she, unconcernedly, but not without arousing deeper thought on his part.
What would your ladyship have me do, then, if there is danger ahead for either or both of them; they must be gotten together in some way? replied he, hopelessly at sea.
Yodogima shrugged her shoulders; a first glimpse at intrigue seemed ready to burst into fruitage more bitter than she could unmovedly contemplate.
Whatever else you may advise, do not countenance, for a moment, Maedas leaving the castle. Let Ieyasu come here; it is proper that he should, and if he refuse, then beware: there are two reasons why Hideyoris guardian should not expose himself.
Hosokawa minded the advice, but Maeda did not; going directly to visit his friend Ieyasu, who had sooner left Azuchi, to resume uninterruptedly his residence at Fushima.
Yodogima remained up all that night, devising how best to keep her skirts clear of an impending crisis. She had discovered Ishida, and penetrated Ieyasu. True she had favored the Christians, but notout of sympathy for them or their creed; she believed them no less abused than abusive, and among the flower of the nobility entitled to such protection and encouragement as her influence and position might render—the possibilities of their united support had not as yet dawned, neither the occasion; Ieyasu alone had discerned and forestalled, planning the division of a house unto itself.
Through the marriage of his granddaughter to the son of Jokoin—innocent as she was—he had enlisted into his services the sympathy or support of the younger and most active in the new school; Takiyama, Gamo, and others of the hot bloods had followed in the trail of their bewitching Jokoin, while Kuroda, still piqued and guerilla-like, continued with the mending of his own fortunes far away at Kyushu.
Yet, in the face of these discouragements, Jokoin came in upon the deeper thinking Yodogima.
Take my advice, sister, said she, confidingly, and submit to Ieyasus rule. He is able and willing and Hideyori is only a child, and dont you whisper it, I believe he is madly in love with you still. Come, lets have peace; and after all I dont believe Ishida is a whit better Christian than Ieyasu; there isnt one of them, not a daimyo, converted or designing or otherwise, who would let go a single wife for the whole Christian paraphernalia—and Im not so sure but they are right, after all. Let Hideyori acknowledge Ieyasu—Oyea advises it, and as sure as fate she is wise.
Without attempting any answer to her harangue, Yodogima bade the sister welcome, inquiring discreetly as to the good fortune and better intentions of Oyea.
Oh, she is gaining somewhat in favor since Ieyasu is known to have taken her up; but, I am afraid Esyo shall spoil it all; nobody likes her; and, do you know, she displayed the affrontery to drive her father-in-law, the great Ieyasu, from Azuchi—I left her there, in the company of Ishida.
Just then a servant came in, informing Yodogima that Maeda lay dying at his quarters, elsewhere within the castle enclosure.
Momentarily, at the mention of Ieyasus love, Yodogima brightened; something moved her to a kindlier remembrance of the man who had so often defeated his own intended purpose, seemingly with the sheerest kind of stupid neglect. That he had once loved her there could be no doubt, but the possibility of his having reencouraged that love now grew the remoter, in her estimation, with each attempted move on his part to set aside, as presumable, an established, developing progression.
A regime, however, that invited, till fixed and consolidated, every upstart in the empire to try for individual ascendency—a privilege the taiko would not have denied any; he loved too well the pleasure of crushing them. Yodogima would have so marshaled her forces that none could disturb, but all might rise in one united, orderly and elastic trend toward a goal commonly beckoning back for the best that God had given man. She had tested this Ieyasu from a standpoint none other had been privileged, had found out long ago Oyeas temper, if not her purpose, and could not now, in face of the circumstances, bring herself to believe that she, a mother; Hideyori, her kind; the nation, at large; or an ideal, that she had conceived, could endure the vagaries ofa man so attuned and advised as Ieyasu had proven himself, whatever the sentiment.
Ishida, she surmised, will do only his part; every man is born unto some righteous purpose.
The messenger awaited her pleasure.
Comfort Maeda with the intelligence that I shall come forthwith, replied the princess.
Ishida met her at the door:
You are too late, Yodogima! Maeda is dead.
Ieyasu stood by, and with Ishidas addressing the princess so familiarly a flush at first reddened his face, then a cold pallor revealed the blow finding lodgement in his heart.
Nor had Ishidas words roused in her lesser feelings; more certainly of contempt. She had, perhaps, at a fatal moment, unduly sacrificed her bearing toward him, but she had judged him not manly, yet wiser than to endanger himself by resolving a license granted, into an indiscretion, possibly fatal to both alike.
You apparently take an undue advantage, Ishida; please explain yourself, commanded the princess.
Ishida only laughed, whereat Yodogima turned crimson.
Perhaps deeds better than words might compose your ladyship. Suppose I name Harunaga; his guardianship, over this boy Hideyori, should prove to be no less willingly bestowed than agreeably acceptable. What say you, Ieyasu; I understand that your word, whatever the opinion, is of greatweight, in some quarters, about matters domestic, if not marriages politic. Come, craven; out with it, before I shall have proven Harunaga innocent by chopping your head off.
Cur, snapped Ieyasu, whipping out his sword; Kitagira shall be guardian of Hideyori; I name him.
You are a coward, and an impossibility, shouted Ishida, drawing to fight.
Yodogima forcibly threw herself between them: why, she did not know; instinctively she believed Ishida, the civilian, no match for Ieyasu, a veteran of many battles. Neither one of them would harm her, and their eyes gleamed the deadlier in consequence. Konishi alone separated them, though by so doing, he, too, gained an enmity that finally drove him irrevocably into the camp of Ishida.
The captains had seen Yodogima, the favorite of Hideyoshi and the mother of Hideyori, disgraced, and they as willingly held Ishida at fault; his apparently strange and rapid growth in favor, if not as suitor, at Ozaka had roused their jealousies; the mysterious death of Maeda, which none could attribute more to Ishida than to Ieyasu, both alike detractors as well as usurpers, now, in consequence of Yodogimas apparent shielding—knowing, as they believed she must know, the ones utter inequality—suddenly attached itself to the former; Ishida had become intolerable, for withal Ieyasus faults, a samurai as against a civilian should be condoned unto treachery—theyswore, then, and there, to take the life of Ishida.
And Yodogima vowed, to herself, that they should not; she had a reason: Ieyasu may or may not have had, for on the spur of the moment he considered it expedient or wise to hurry from the scene, hiding himself away in a yakata (small house) near the palace at Fushima.
There Ishida found him, as with hearing about the captains determination to put an end to him, the lovesick valet of former years had thrown himself upon the mercies of none other than a masters widow.
Accept me, Yodogima, begged he; I am your true lover, and will die for you.
You mean, but for me,' suggested she, coldly. Now I do not wish you death, nor shall I marry you: I could not, as yet—I might say, for laughing; but, if you do as I direct, I will see you safely from here. Use this disguise, and reaching Fushima forthwith subject yourself to the good will of Ieyasu; he may protect you, but if you cannot hold your tongue I should advise rather that you trust the captains; they are less apt to procrastinate.
Donning thus the guise of a bonze—he had, at all events, professed Christianity—Ishida made off toward Fushima fully determined to win the hand of Yodogima, if not by valor, then with catering, for withal his meanness he believed himself worth her while.
Meeting Ieyasu at Bungo bashi (bridge), Ishidakneeled and craved his pardon. Ieyasu granted it; he had sooner heard from Yodogima, at the hand of a messenger, one of the captains, Honda Masanobu, advising him: upon recalling a previous conversation:
I, too, have been considering whether it were best to let the captains make way with Ishida or to save him for further use.
Whose use, inquired Masanobu; your own, or—
As you think, friend Masanobu, replied Ieyasu, in the twinkling of an eye.
Thence Masanobu became a friend to Ieyasu, and of the seven captains left by Hideyoshi, none was, however alienated, actively engaged directly with advancing the interests of Hideyori. Those who had sworn to take the life of Ishida now deemed it obligatory to cry umbrage at Ieyasus saving him: between the two of them, Ishida and Ieyasu, they all, but Kuroda (who continued to remain absent) alike stood ready and anxious to enter the ranks of the one or the other madly to avenge a threatening wrong, on either side attributable to a common cause, an assumably attempted infringement upon the rights and duties of the house Hideyoshi had builded.
Each of them, Ishida and Ieyasu—the only ones whose ambitions seemingly conflicted with hers—had sunk himself so deeply into the mire that no rescue save a conflict could eradicate the danger of an after consequence, and Yodogima quietly seated herself, there, in Ozaka, apparently independent andalone, upon a throne, perhaps builded by herself and unthought of by the taiko or those sworn to do him justice, ready to give and to take, frown or smile, as occasion required and fortune betokened: and she did as much, and more.
Ieyasu, refusing to listen to the captains, forthwith sent Ishida to his keep at Sawayama. And that none might do him harm on the way, or learn too much about his liberties and movements after there, he afforded his own son, Hideyasu, and a goodly force, as well, for escort.
Thus licensed, Ishida lost no time in perfecting his plans—as anticipated by Ieyasu, perchance encouraged by another still higher in authority. Hideyasu and his troops, at all events, had as expeditiously returned to Fushima, and no restraint of whatsoever kind hindered or enlightened the supposed past-master now snugly domiciled at Sawayama.
Konishi, and others, including a portion of the captains, stood behind Ishida; Takiyama, as many daimyos, and the remaining captains, supported Ieyasu: thus Christianity had been split, and found itself uncharitably enrolled, each side preparing to battle ostensibly for the same cause, an avowed safeguarding of Hideyoris interests, but in reality the preservation of an established religion, Buddhist or Shintoist, whichever it were.
No one, however, so much as mentioned religion in connection with the impending crisis; none professed to seek political mastery; social conditionswere apparently satisfactory, but the war fever spread and the cry of everybody alike at once became, Preserve the taikos government.
The princess verily laughed, and Ieyasu, Buddhist incarnate, withdrew from the council and began concentrating his forces at Yedo. Ishida, professing Christianity, mobilized around Sawayama, and their respective forces stood nearly equal. Thence Yodogima, observant of every move, uninfluenced by their claims or their charges, gathering and neutralizing every malcontent, secure in her possessions and peaceably inclined, quietly looked on and the nation applauded.
You are a dear, sweet child, Hideyori, and your mother just worships you, lives only for you and yours, whispered she, half to herself and half to the snuggling, confiding boy; who had grown, already, into a fine, dapper little chap, with the form and dash of a Taira.
The mother, like others, no doubt admired her son, but over and above this motherly instinct there developed and ripened a determination to live in him, to attain by and through him an ideality in keeping with his lineage and their progression. Through her he had inherited the manlier traits: sobriety and the colder forces of an harmonious fellowship should come of a careful tutoring, such as none else than Harunaga could give; he, installed, as personal instructor, immediately Yodogima had compromised upon Kitagiras appointment for guardian, wouldattend the pleasure only of a mother rightly judged, measure truly a childs really inborn inheritance.
How good it is to feel that ones energies are not directed aimlessly, cogitated she, drawing the child close in her arms. I can now understand what it is to love intelligently. Yes, with precision. The primal instincts are only foundation stones upon which to rear a superstructure in keeping with our destiny. A mothers love shorn of the fathers ambition resolves an anomaly. I must have verity.
Will you be to him as a father should be to a child? Can you lay aside personality, submerge self for the larger good, and make of this Hideyori what birth and occasion demand? inquired the princess, of Harunaga, who at her invitation sat there, sullenly contemplating a situation that only he and she could at all fathom in its deeper strata.
Discipline has been my due, and confidence is your better prospect; if you believe me more than human, then, and then only, can you trust me to do what the world refuses; encourage others, at my own expense, replied he, his eyes softening, with a love broader than Ishidas, more comprehensive than Hideyoshis ever had been.
The child gambolled upon the greensward. Embattlements here and there echoed the voice of security. All around were things made and transient, as at the inn where Hideyoshi had once shown himself to be a man. The significance of authority now forged and welded chords of deeper interest than the halo ofrighteousness had deigned to conjure absolute, and Yodogima looked afar over all these things in the full consciousness of having found a man whom she could trust. And she did trust him.
This man, invited and encouraged, had refused absolutely to take advantage, and looking back over the past how could she class him no higher than human? Manhood were more; it savored of paradise, and Yodogima paused there, if but to refresh the soul and inspire its flight toward a higher fate.
No, Harunaga, promised she, after a moments reflection, I do not trust anybody mortal, nor have I confidence in any thing unrealized; but I understand you; and in knowledge, primarily, there lies a salvation. Be sponsor, that my child is your concern.
Outside the ramparts, a savager duel engrossed the activities of principals, seconds, and spectators alike. The fife and drum fired men into heartier doings, but none measured so accurately as did Yodogima the final consequence: were she to fall short in her estimate?
These were momentous deeds, of far-reaching effect; all around them were civilizations and conditions bordering upon the speculative, but none stood seemingly as balanced as their own; China had ages ago waded through its materialism, and again lapped into spiritual inanimation; India had impoverished itself with elaborate dogmas; Judea had lost its nationality as a consequence of their religion; Greece and its philosophy had fallen before the onslaughtof a doctored creed; Rome had exhausted herself in spreading that faith; the barbarous hosts of the Northland, had, as yet, scarcely doffed the breach clot, and only Spain, of these embryo nations, with her cruelties, impossible barbarities, loomed large upon the Western horizon.
All these things threshed out, searched for and understood, before the days of Yodogima, she believed that even they in their advanced position might profit by maintaining some sort of intercourse with the outside world; in fact, could not close their doors to other men, however low in the scale of humanism, so long as the God ideal held fast in the human heart.
You are a Buddhist, Harunaga? inquired the princess, after a pause.
Yes, your ladyship.
And knowledge is the foundation of that belief?
Yes, most honorable princess.
Then, why does Ieyasu refuse enlightment; Christianity, like all religions, is but a means to that end?
Because it is vicious, and the prince would be human, replied he, argumentatively.
Yodogima hesitated; she were treading upon sacred grounds to answer, and answer she would. The breath of a thousand, perhaps ten thousands, or more, years floated in from a realized haven to fan the flame of remembrance. This beauty land of theirs she knew, stretching far and away, to the very limits of an empire—carved and wrought of material perchanceas crude and hopeful as any other now struggling as they once did—stimulated within her breast a desire to extend a helping hand: the cold dread of war, the cruel thirst for greed, the angry cry of, On with the battle, behind it all, underlying the activities out of which their culture had grown, froze hard the blood in her veins.
Here were men blessed with plenty and endowed of godliness still striking at each other; more artistically, and effectively, but none the less cowardly for that.
What mean these men by fighting so? inquired she, searching deeper than Harunaga had divined.
To enforce a will, replied he, without any hesitation.
To vindicate the soul?
Yes.
Then it is not cowardly to use force, or its concomitant?
No.
I did no wrong, if that is true, in visiting the temple, mused she, unabatedly.
Harunaga flushed, then turned pale.
Not at all, your ladyship, replied he, to her apparent satisfaction, though he knew very well that Christianity had been the means of taking her there.
You are not pained, are you, Harunaga, at what I said?
How could I be, most honorable princess?
Then hereafter say, Yodogima; I love to hear the name.
The personal note, whatever his predilection, touched Harunaga, as no other had; from the days of his childhood, in the service of Shibata, in far distant Kitanoshi, he had formed only the component part of a machine. The breath of life touched him, accordingly, as none other had done. Here lived a princess, possessing a mechanism most intricate, suffering the discipline of enforced conditions, with all the limitations, yet breathing the very spirit of humanitarianism. If such as she could find a place in her heart for the flame that enlivens, why not he grasp at a spark?
I shall serve you, Yodogima, with all the vigor at my disposal, promised he, ready at last to lay his fortune where she had denied and her father commanded.
Then hark you, that none escape his mesh; these barons shall be taught what it is to respect a woman.
And—at least two of them were apparently placing themselves in a position rapidly to learn something of the cost as well.
Mori, of Hiroshima; Shimadzu, of Satsuma; Ukida, of Bizen, and some thirty-five more of the eastern and central daimyos had already joined the Ishida contingent in the vicinity of Ozaka, observably, and a formidable host, larger than she or anybody else had anticipated, seemed gathering under the banner of the one man, whom Yodogima down deep in herheart detested, the very aspirant who had proffered a deadly cup and coveted the hand of an intended victims widow, the deceiver then standing outside the walls of her own castle crying, Long live Hideyori, and, Death to Ieyasu.
Ieyasu: the only man who had ever moved her! Others appealed to the sense, to pride, and to consideration, even love of a kind, yet, as events multiplied and the time grew shorter, a living realization momentarily overshadowed every expectation of hers; the godlight again shone brighter than ever.
Must she stop this cruelty? Yodogima asked and answered the question till burdened of its thought—she could have ended it all, at least temporarily, she believed—then gazed longingly at the child there in her presence.
What would you do, Hideyori, if set upon by angry wolves? asked she, of the child, playfully.
Fight, responded he, with scarce another major word at his tongues use.
I guess its the nature of the beast, mused she, pressing the boy closer up; and till subdued there shall be need for gods as a God, so let them at it.
The chances for success, however, against such odds—growing rapidly with Ishidas popularity—seemed almost beyond the possibilities of one, though as capable as Ieyasu, and—were he to win, Christianity must be doomed; she understood full well his proclivities and surmised their inevitable result. And Hideyori! Should Ishida win, then her own flesh andblood must go the selfsame intended way that Hideyoshi had barely escaped. She must, then, choose between two evils: the present downfall of Christianity, on the one hand, or the destruction of an only living child, and that, too, a son, on the other. An ideal at stake, with her, who had chosen differently?
You have my permission, Esyo, to visit this Hideki, now that Oyea, his aunt, is dead and buried. But, mind you, it is a privilege only, that your sister grants—perhaps for a better reason than the one you have in mind.
Esyo sulked, but went nevertheless; her energies were bent not upon completing the subversion of Hideki from Ishida to Ieyasu, as contemplated by Oyea, to the last, and now, perchance, thought of, favorably, by Yodogima, as an expedient, but toward a far more difficult and deeper reaching task: the substitution of her own husband, Hidetada, for Hideyasu, his elder brother, in favor with and as prospective successor to Ieyasu, the father, whom she already believed in a fair way to win and hold complete mastership, socially and politically, yet, at heart, would not condescend to acknowledge a kindness at the hands of an elder, though most patient and fore-bearing, sister.
Please do not trouble yourself; I am not so easily read as Jokoin, thank you; besides, it is unnecessary; I am quite capable, of doing as much, without anybodysfavor, snapped Esyo, hastily departing—none too soon, however, to escape a danger that she little contemplated, yet her sister had fully anticipated and well enough avoided.
The horrors of war crowded in and around: also its exigencies. Self-preservation enforced some kind of participation: the same elemental voice bade her keep hands off. A fight to the death, perhaps the victor stamping his imprint indelibly and unalterably, awaited her: Yodogima sniffed the enamour of contest, of powers gained and a will unhampered, and the gods could not have swerved her in the test a Taira, of ages gone, had fought for the pleasure.
I will rule, and men shall bow to a force subtler, fiercer, and mightier than any man has got, shouted she, at her shadow, in the open, at Ozaka, and the echo, from the hills at Sawayama, as well of Yedo, burst back upon her their hitherto unchallenged answer.
It is false, cried she, this time, and the reply then pleased her; it sounded more like the voice of a man.
But she must not thus hurl defiance in his ears; had she not been taught for centuries that womans strength lay in meekness, arose from humbleness, grew with submission, abided the household, and sweltered with servility?
Ha, ha—fie on them! laughed she now, ashamed of her own foolish recollections, so feeble-minded andasinine withal. Ill invoke his tactics, but with a turn he little comprehends.
Both of these men, Ishida and Ieyasu, must be got rid of. How to do it, were a problem. Ishida, it seemed imperative, should be attended first; his force had grown the stronger, and with Ieyasu out of the way he himself would stand little in awe of her alone, concerned not at all, as he was, about scruples or the bushido. Still more, if needs use it Yodogima reckoned her hold upon the heart of Ieyasu, whereas Ishida in authority had been a colder, altogether listless lover.
The clash of arms already sounded from distant Aidzu, where Uyesuga, Ishidas main ally, had purposely inaugurated a ruse to entice the enemy as far from the capital as possible. Ieyasu fell into the trap; went there pell mell, deploying but a small contingent to guard the gates at Fushima: took with him those captains of the old guard who had fairly joined themselves to him, leaving their wives and families behind, outside the ramparts at Ozaka. Ishida struck first at Fushima: it fell, and the next move encompassed the capture and imprisonment of these same wives and families left at Ozaka, believing that their ransom would insure to him the disaffection and rejoinder of some of Ieyasus leading generals and supporters. Esyo, however, had gone; but Yodogima, for good reasons, best known to herself, remained as silent as the tomb of Hideyoshi had become.
Grace of Tango, the wife of Hosokawa, now one ofIeyasus foremost leaders, served at once as a first and most likely victim. She, good Christian that she was, scorned the distinction, and extending her neck—as became a dutiful, loyal, loving wife—for the stroke of a servant (prearranged by the thoughtful husband, upon taking his leave), paid the penalty as became her station, regardless of feeling or profession. Made it possible for Ishida thus to blunder, and Yodogima to endear the whole Christian fraternity, of whatsoever camp or degree, by sympathizing with them in the loss of one so good and true at heart, if not of conviction. Nor did she stop at that alone, but secretly dispatching her own sister, Jokoin, the sooner to inform the hitherto somewhat wavering captains as she herself had better designed, incidentally informing them that no further bloodshed should take place in the vicinity of Ozaka, upon the whole induced them, one and all alike, to swear fresher, if more susceptible, allegiance to Ieyasu—for the sole purpose, if none other, of avenging the one death that had resulted so pathetically, yet none the less opportunely.
Two definite accomplishments Yodogima had wrought into the indiscretions of a foe—her seemingly most dangerous one, Ishida; she had weakened his position by uniting the men he had coveted the more certainly to Ieyasu, and gained the everlasting good will of all the Christians whatever the colors they bore.
Ishida now concentrated upon Sekigahara, anticipating the hot-headed return of Ieyasu and the sorelytried captains now in his advance. Mori remained behind at Ozaka, ostensibly to watch the remainder of those wives and families, finally fenced in and abandoned to a gentler fate than at first contemplated. Neither would he withdraw from the castle, save as directed or encouraged by Yodogima; her company had become, strangely to him, no less delectable than the inkling of her plans (that she let slip, occasionally) seemed inviting, or threateningly wholesome. Hideki had followed, sulkily, to the contemplated battlefield, though his conduct at Fushima might have signified, to one more observant or less pressed than Ishida, that Esyo or someone as anxious had called, not without success, and gone her way, elsewhere to reap the advantage.
Hideki, nevertheless, was assigned to an important post on the right. Shimadzu half-heartedly manned the left, Moris brother—knowingly, of course—maintained the advance (well off, at one side, however, and in such position easily to slide in any direction), while Konishi, master strategist and faithful adherent, bore the brunt, in the center, where Ieyasu must fight to pass.
And they came on, the veteran Ieyasu in the lead, a hundred thousand of them, with Hideyasu, his main reliance and intended successor, in the rear, commanding a reserve, something like half as strong.
But these failed to arrive, this flower in repose and the favorite of his father; Esyo had discreetly inveigled him into an encounter at one side, withSanada, the fiery youth whom she had unknowingly and as witlessly inveigled into the taking of sides against her own father-in-law.
The battle thus began and raged, at Sekigahara, without the aid or prospect of Hideyasu. Ieyasu, angered at the failure of his trusted progeny, charged in person, took every risk of defeat, and Yodogima, threatened with the consequence, invoking a last resource, sent forthwith for Mori, saying:
Advise your brother to hasten here; I can better serve him with Ieyasu than with Ishida.
No further encouragement need she use, for these were not fighting men; Hideyoshi had previously taught them the greater potency of diplomacy. But Hideki!
Jokoin? commanded Yodogima.
I am here, sister.
Can you reach Ieyasu?
Certainly, replied she, as confident as in the days of Kamakiyama.
Then tell Ieyasu to fire upon Hideki. He will inquire the reason, but you are to reply that Yodogima commands it.
Jokoin did as bid, and Ieyasu pondered why; Esyo had advised him of a different understanding, but somehow he could not resist the lure of Yodogima. Time were precious, just now, too much so to waste it parleying with self, so the order was given: Hideki, stunned and driven, rallied his men and wheelingjoined his would-be confederate, Ieyasu, and the battle was won.
None but Yodogima knew how it had been done or the disaffection brought about, but there was one who down in his heart bled at the failure of a son and would hearken only the savior of Sekigahara. Ishida routed and butchered, Ieyasu turned as hastily toward Ozaka.