The light of the burning forest spread across the sky to the zenith. The Prince turned his head and gazed.
"Loo," said he, "I am daily thankful that I brought you with me; you have the daring of a hero, and a lion's heart in your frail body. These exploits deserve a splendid reward. I give you the title of Samurai."
On hearing this, Loo was speechless with emotion. He looked at Raiden, as he ambled along by his side; then suddenly threw himself into his arms.
At the Prince's order, several men dismounted and dug a grave with their swords by the roadside, to bury the head of the brave Sado.
"We will come and fetch it later on, and pay it fitting honors," said the Prince.
Stones were piled on the grave when it had been filled up, to mark it.
"Now," said the Prince, "let us hasten; we must be at Kioto before day dawns."
They set off at a gallop, a few men going before as scouts.
The Prince also outrode the rest of his party. He wanted to be alone, to hide his emotion and his anxiety. He had not dreamed; the messenger had indeed told Hieyas that the attack on Kioto was about to begin. Attack the sacred capital of the Mikados! Lay hands on the divine person of the Son of the Gods! Nagato could not credit such sacrilege. Moreover, the idea that the Kisaki was in danger overwhelmed him. She, insulted in her sovereign power by one of her subjects, alarmed by battle-cries, by the sound of war, perhaps constrained to fly! The thought put him into a frantic rage. He was surprised that he had not sprung at Hieyas' throat, to strangle him with his own hands when he spoke of Kioto.
"I pitied and respected his age," thought he; "does such a man merit pity?"