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64 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
form, and swiftness, they continued to look at him.
The run made his moist skin glisten as he disappeared
in the distance.
They were soon within sight of a village when
suddenly they felt dizzy ; the trees shook violently,
and their tops swayed wildly to and fro as if in a
breeze, though not a breath of air was stirring.
"Ji-shin! (earthquake) " shouted the master.
It was indeed a lively shake of old mother earth.
Even loose pebbles on the hillsides rolled down, and
a shower of leaves in the motionless air slowly
whirred to the earth as if a gust had arisen. Stand-
ing still for fifteen or twenty seconds, as the vibrations
still continued, Uh^i said :
" The big earth-fish is angry to-day," as he looked
in the direction of the post-runner, his own face
wearing a look of concern. Well might
he be
scared ! When a boy, awakened at night and rush-
ing out of the groaning house to seek the shelter of
a clump of bamboo bushes, a broken tile, falling from
the rattling roof, cut open his forehead and left its
reminder in a life-mark, which somewhat detracted
from his good looks. Like most of the country folk
and common people in Japan, he believed in the
existence of the great earthquake-fish, hundreds of
miles long, that lay underground with the head
under Kyoto and its tail way up in the north. By
the flapping of its tail or the writhing of its body,
these earth tremblings were caused. Uhdi was of a
very religious turn of mind, and his rosary came out
promptly as he uttered a prayer to the god Kashima,