"They had an extremely pleasant manner of executing people in Japan in the early days," remarked Nattie, with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Yes, but during the same period, my boy, the English broke their criminals on a wheel, and quartered them. It was six of one and half a dozen of the other."
By this time the party had neared the ruined entrance to the castle. Nattie's curiosity had been aroused by Mori's tale, and he leaned forward to tell his jinrikisha man to stop, when there came a clattering of hoofs from the interior of the castle, and a cavalcade rode out upon the broken drawbridge.
Hoarse cries of mutual surprise rang out, then both parties came to a sudden halt facing each other. A wild shout of joy came from Nattie:
"Grant! Grant! I have found you at last!"
CHAPTER XXVIII. SUMO'S ARMY.
For a better understanding of what follows it will be well to explain the situation of the castle of Yamagata, and its general construction.
It was located on the southern edge of Lake Inawashiro, and covered a large extent of ground.