I had touched the vanity of the hidden Prince of Mito. Keiki bent to mutter a protest. For answer, two documents were thrust out between the slits of the bamboo curtain. Keiki mustered his courtier’s smile, and turned to open the documents before me, that I might see their vermilion seals.
“‘The sentence of the High Court, condemning to death Woroto the tojin for discharging a firearm in Yedo—’” he began.
“The Prince of Mito knows that this unjust sentence was annulled by the express command of Minamoto Iyeyoshi,” I interrupted.
“The Prince of Mito has received the sentence of the High Court and the warrant of the Council of Elders,” replied Keiki suavely. “No order of annulment had been received from Minamoto Iyeyoshi.”
To this I had no answer. There could be no doubt of the duplicity of my enemies. The entire proceeding was illegal. But I was absolutely in their power. To have cried out in protest would have served only to gratify their malice. Finding that I remained silent, Keiki made a sign. I was led past the gaping mouth of the pit, and out through a low opening, into a room lined with wooden cages.
A samurai covered my wounds with plasters of dampened paper; a tattered silk kimono was wrapped about me, and I was thrust into one of the cages. After a time food and tea were brought and set in between the massive bars. To my astonishment, I discovered that I was ravenously hungry. I devoured the food, and stretched out upon the rough planks of my prison cell, overcome with plethora and exhaustion. A heavy sleep came to ease my aching body and racked brain.
CHAPTER XXXII—Led out to Execution
For two days I was kept caged, but fed and waited upon by eta gaolers with utmost deference. Why there should have been such a delay I could not conjecture, unless time was required to check some move of my friends, or unless Mito wished Kohana and myself to regain our strength, so that we might suffer the more keenly during our execution. Utmost precautions were taken that I should find no means to put an end to myself.