CHAPTER XIX.
A TOMB.
The news of the victory gained at Soumiossi by General Harounaga wasswiftly conveyed to Osaka. Yodogimi herself announced it to Fide-Yoriwith rapturous joy; nor did she disguise the pride which her lover'striumph caused her. But some peasants, coming from Soumiossi, relatedthe details of the battle; and the Prince of Nagato's name wasuniversally substituted for that of Harounaga. Yodogimi forbade thecirculation of such a slander under penalty of severe punishment;she lost her temper, and wearied her son with fierce recriminations.Fide-Yori let her rave, loudly praising Harounaga, and quietly thankinghis faithful friend for his untiring devotion.
Unluckily other and sad tidings soon effaced the joy caused by thisfirst victory. Hieyas did not execute any of the movements anticipated;he did not attack Osaka on the south. General Signenari was thereforeinactive in the Island of Awadsi, and yet no one dared recall himthence; nor did he make any attempt to break through the lines whichbarred the Island of Nipon. His army, divided into small detachments,came by sea, landed at different points on the coast near Osaka; then,by night, surprised and carried a position.
Attiska, Hieyas' general, soon took possession of a village near thecapital. This news spread through Osaka, and terror ran riot. TheShogun's soldiers were massacred. At the moment of attack, theirleader, Oussouda, was absent; he was revelling in a suburban tea-house.
General Sanada-Sayemon-Yoke-Moura was anxious to attack the victors atonce, and if possible dislodge them from the position they had won.Fide-Yori begged him to do nothing of the sort.
"Your army is not large enough to lay siege to a village," said he;"and if by any mishap you were defeated, the city would be leftdefenceless. Recall the troops which you sent to Yamashiro, and untiltheir arrival let us be content to defend Osaka."
Yoke-Moura reluctantly obeyed; but he employed skilful spies to watchthe enemy's movements. Soon the troops came back from Yamashiro. Aconflict was imminent. But now Yoke-Moura refused to quit the city orto give battle.
He no longer left the fortress; he paced to and fro day and night,restless and uneasy, apparently seeking for something. At nightespecially, accompanied only by his son Daiske, a lad of sixteen, hewandered incessantly along the outer wall.
The sentinels, who saw him pass and repass with his son, carrying alantern, could not fathom his conduct, and thought that the General hadgone mad. Every now and then Yoke-Moura would fall on his knees andpress his ear to the ground. Daiske held his breath. Once, the Generalsprang up Hastily, greatly agitated.
"Is it the blood buzzing in my ears?" he cried; "I thought I heardsomething. Listen, my son, and see if I was mistaken."
The boy knelt in his turn, and laid his ear to the ground.
"Father," said he, "I distinctly hear distant blows,--muffled, butregular."
The General listened again.
"Yes, yes!" said he; "I hear them very plainly too; they are thestrokes of a pick against the earth. It is there! We have them now; weare saved from a terrible danger!"
"What is it, father?" asked Daiske.
"What is it? Hieyas' soldiers are digging an underground passage, whichleads from their camp, passes below the city, and the moat, and willopen here."
"Is it possible?" cried Daiske.
"Fortunately a spy warned me betimes of the work which they had inhand; but no one knew where the mouth of the tunnel was to be. If I hadleft the castle, as Fide-Yori wished, we should have been lost."
"It was high time to discover the point they had chosen for invadingthe fortress," said Daiske, who was still listening; "they are not faroff."
"They have one day's labor more," said Yoke-Moura. "Now I know wherethey are, I will watch them. But follow me, my son; I would confide toyou alone the delicate mission which must now be executed."
The General returned to the pavilion which he occupied in the castlegrounds. He wrote a long letter to the commander of the troops returnedfrom Yamashiro, whose name was Aroufza, and who was a brother ofHarounaga. He gave this officer all the necessary instructions forthe next day's battle. When he had done, he called a peasant, who waswaiting in the next room.
"This fellow knows the place where the tunnel begins," said Yoke-Mourato his son. "When the moment has come, he will lead the army thither.You will go with him. Try not to be seen by any one. Carry this letterto Aroufza, and tell him that he must carry out my orders exactly, andallow himself to be guided by this man. Be prudent, be adroit, my boy!It is easy to reach Aroufza's camp; but remember that you must getthere unseen, that you may not rouse the suspicions of the spies whomHieyas doubtless has in our midst. As soon as you arrive, send me amessenger."
"I will start at once, under cover of darkness," said Daiske. "In a fewhours, father, you shall hear from me."
The young man then set off with the spy.
At daybreak Yoke-Moura proceeded to pay his respects to the Shogun.Fide-Yori received him coldly. He was displeased with the General, notunderstanding his inaction.
"Yoke-Moura," said he, "my confidence in your great valor and yourdevotion to my person alone prevent me from ordering you to make animmediate attack. Here are three whole days lost. What are you about?Why delay so long?"
"I could not begin until I had found something which I was seeking,"said Yoke-Moura.
"What do you mean?" exclaimed the Shogun, seized by a dreadful fear;and in his turn he wondered if the General's mind was affected. Heexamined him; but the warrior's face expressed a cheerful tranquillity.
"I have indeed heard," continued Fide-Yori, "that for some time youhave been roaming about, day and night, like a lunatic."
"I am resting now," said the General; "I have found what I was lookingfor."
The Shogun bowed his head. "Decidedly," he thought, "he is mad."
But Yoke-Moura answered his thought. "Wait till to-morrow before youjudge me," said he; "and do not be uneasy, master, if you hear anoise to-night." With these words, he withdrew to issue orders to hissoldiers. He sent two thousand men out of the city, to, encamp upon aslight eminence in sight of the enemy.
"He is preparing for the attack," said the people of Osaka; and theyswarmed over the hills, to the towers of pagodas, and all high places.Fide-Yori himself, with a few courtiers, climbed to the topmost storyof the great Goldfish tower, in the centre of the fortress. From therehe could see Aroufza's troops in the plain, about eight thousandstrong; and farther away, betrayed by the flashing of their weapons andof their armor, the enemy, encamped near a small wood. In the directionof the sea, in the bay, the war squadron was taking in stores; nearerat hand, the city streets, intersected by innumerable canals, likeazure ribbons, were filled with an anxious crowd. All labor wassuspended; every one was waiting for what was to come. The troops neverbudged. Fide-Yori grew tired of looking; a secret irritation began torise within him. He asked for Yoke-Moura.
"The General is nowhere to be found," was the answer. "His men areunder arms, ready to start at the first signal; but up to the presentmoment only two thousand troops have left the fortress."
Finally, towards evening, the enemy made a movement, and advancedtowards the city. Instantly the soldiers posted on the hill byYoke-Moura rushed furiously down. A few shots were fired. The fightbegan. The enemy were superior in numbers. At the first shock theShogun's men were driven back.
"Why does not Aroufza move?" said the Shogun. "Is there a traitor inthe camp? I really cannot understand the matter."
Hurried footsteps were now heard in the tower, and in a momentYoke-Moura appeared upon the platform. He held in his arms a greattruss of rice-straw. The men who followed him carried brushwood. TheGeneral hurriedly thrust aside the courtiers, and even the Shogun,built an enormous pile, and set fire to it. The flame soon rose, clearand bright. Its light illumined the tower, and hid the plain, nowdimmed by twilight.
Yoke-Moura, leaning over the balustrade, shielded his eyes with hishands, and strove to pierce the darkness with his gaze. He saw thatAroufza's army moved. "G
ood!" said he; and he went rapidly down thestairs without answering the many questions with which he was plied.He took up his post at some distance from the point where the tunnelwas to open. It was finished; for the strokes of the pick had ceased atnoon. Only a thin layer of earth was left, which might be pierced atthe last moment.
At nightfall the General had listened, and had heard the tread offeet. The enemy had entered the subterranean passage. It was then thathe kindled the flame upon the tower. At that signal Aroufza was toattack the enemy at the other end of the tunnel. It was now entirelydark. Yoke-Moura and his men waited in the most profound silence. Atlast slight blows were heard. They were cautiously dealt, to make aslittle noise as possible. The General and his men, motionless in theshadow, listened eagerly. They heard clods of earth drop, and then theheavy breathing of the laborers. Soon a man put his head and shouldersthrough the opening, standing out in relief in shadow more intense thanthe darkness itself. He stepped forth, and another followed. No onestirred. They advanced carefully, looking in every direction, untilabout fifty had appeared; then all at once, with ferocious cries, thewatchers rushed upon them. They tried to fall back upon the tunnel.
"We are betrayed!" they shouted to their comrades. "Do not come out!Fly!"
"Yes, traitors, your plots are discovered," said Yoke-Moura; "and youhave dug your own tomb."
All those who had issued from the tunnel were slaughtered. The shrieksof the dying filled the palace. People ran up with lights. Fide-Yoricame himself, between two lines of servants bearing torches.
"This is what I was looking for, master," said the General, showing himthe yawning hole. "Do you think now that I was right not to leave thefortress?"
The Shogun was dumb with surprise at the sight of the danger he had run.
"Not another man shall leave that tunnel alive!" cried the General.
"But they will escape at the other end," said Fide-Yori.
"You were surprised just now at Aroufza's inaction on the plain. He waswaiting for the best part of the hostile army to enter this passage,that he might close the door on them."
"Then they are lost!" said the Shogun. "Forgive me, bravest of mywarriors, for having doubted you one moment. But why did you not tellme what was going on?"
"Master," said the General, "there are spies everywhere: they are inthe fortress, in your palace, in my chamber. One word overheard, andthey were warned. At the least alarm, the bird I hoped to catch wouldhave flown."
The enemy had now ceased coming from the tunnel.
"They fancy they can escape," said Yoke-Moura; "they will return whenthey find that their retreat is cut off."
Soon, in fact, cries of distress were heard. They were so heartrendingthat Fide-Yori shuddered.
"Unhappy wretches!" he muttered.
Their situation was horrible indeed; in that narrow passage, where twomen could barely move abreast, where it was hard to breathe, thosedesperate soldiers, mad with fear, pushed and crushed each other inthe darkness, frantic fur light at any cost, even were it the light ofnight, which would have seemed brilliant to them in comparison withthat ill-omened gloom.
A terrible shove forced several men out of the tunnel, only to fallupon the swords of the enemy.
Amid their shrieks were heard confused cries:--
"Mercy! we surrender."
"Open! let us out."
"No," said Yoke-Moura; "no pity for such traitors as you. I repeat, youhave dug your own tomb."
The General ordered stones and earth to be brought, to fill up theopening.
"Desist, I entreat you!" said Fide-Yori, pale with emotion; "thosecries tear my heart. They only ask to surrender. Take them prisoners;that will suffice."
"You need not entreat me, master," said Yoke-Moura; "your wishes are mycommands. Hollo there!" he added, "stop your noise; you are pardoned;you may come out."
The howls were redoubled. It was impossible to get out. The frightfulcrowding had suffocated many of the men, whose corpses blocked themouth of the passage; they formed a solid rampart, increased withevery instant, and impassable. All must perish; their struggles shookthe ground; they trod one another down, bit one another; their swordspierced each the other's side; their armor was broken with their bones;they died amidst the blackest darkness, stifled in a sepulchre toonarrow for their bodies. All attempts to clear away the mouth of thetunnel were vain.
"What an awful thing war is!" exclaimed Fide-Yori, hastening away,entirely overcome.
Soon the cries became less frequent; then utter silence was restored.
"All is over, they are all dead," said Yoke-Moura; "nothing remains butto close up the tomb!"
Five thousand men had perished in that subterranean passage, but a fewleagues in length!