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"THE AMERICANS HAVE COME." 185
.Reaching home at the hour of the Rat (11 o'clock
P.M.), Rai Goro, after writing out a report of his evening's
inspection for presentation to his lord at the
morning's audience, turned to his library for recreation.
Knowing that in his excited state of mind,
in thinking over Honda's stern purpose, he could
not sleep, he took down some volumes of the chron-
icles of Echizen. He was very fond of local his-
tory and loved every square foot of Echizen.
Trimming the lamp, made of pith swimming in a
saucer of oil and suspended in a square frame cov-
ered with paper, he read the story of the early
centuries when the young prince of imperial blood
lived in Echizen. Even the little hamlet at which
the prince stopped to water his horse while hunting
still boasts of the honor. In still another, men
boast that they are descendants of the dancers who,
ages ago, amused the young heir to the throne by
their antics. In a pretty village, still resting among
the hills to the right of the road from Tsuruga to
Fukui, and now famous for its paper-makers, lived
this prince. There he fell in love with a pretty
maid, who loved him to distraction, and both were
happy in each other's society. But one day couriers
and high noblemen came from Kyoto to inform the
prince that he was now ruler of all cessor to the heavenly line.
Japan and suc-
He rode off with the
great train to fill a throne, leaving the maiden
broken-hearted. She could not be consoled, but
becoming crazed, set out to find him. She followed
in his track bearing in her hand a basket of his