“It is the doom of the shogunate,” cried Mori.
Still the Emperor hesitated and shivered.
Again there was a sound of running feet. Suddenly a boyish figure leaped into the group of men and sprang upon the belfry platform. A quick hand drew back the swinging hammer to the full length of the chain. Then releasing it, the hand shot the hammer straight and true at the bell’s heart.
The signal, reverberating heavily, far-sounding, floated into the distance, filling the air with its sombre zoom! gohn! gohn! gohn!
A slender boy knelt at the Emperor’s feet.
“Your Majesty commanded me to ring,” said a voice.
Mori, peering forward, recognized in an instant the boy Jiro. A great lump welled up in his throat, choking him with the intensity of his emotion.
“Treason! Kill him!” shrieked Aidzu. “Your Majesty gave no such command.”
Nettled at the air of constant authority about Aidzu, the Emperor forgot his caution. Perhaps, too, the deed of the boy had touched him, just as it had relieved him of embarrassment.
“I so commanded,” he said.