3 182202465 1721 s$J%*mf- m^W Jfe*'^^*^ *'* WWW;: -'W - Library

58 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
about to land. I was told that "a sea-voyage
is
an inch of hell ;
" but I am willing to call it the
length of a rice-grain only."
They all laughed heartily.
" Will master remain in the port-city long, or go
right on to Fukui ? " asked Uh^i the body-servant, a
fine young man with a scar on his forehead.
" The whole day
is before us, and after breakfast
at the inn I shall walk as far as Take*fu, spend the
night there, and ride to Fukui in the morning."
" I thought master would stop at Tsuruga to learn
the news," said the young man Uhe'i, with a slight
touch of bravely concealed regret. There was a
rosy face in the city on which he loved to look. The
owner of that face, he hoped, would some day boil
rice for him in a house of his own.
" No ! I have enough to do to gather news officially
when in Fukui ; besides, I am too anxious for
tidings from my family."
" May it be all you wish, master ;
I know how you
long for another son."
We may at once introduce the gentleman and
state his name and rank. He was Rai Goro, a
retainer of the lord of the province of Echizen.
He lived within the castle circuit of the city of
Fukui. His office was in the prince's household.
His business was to confer in person, or by letter
with similar officers in other provinces and in Yedo,
and to learn all the official news. Each day he presented
himself in the morning before the dairnio, or
lord, and informed him what he had learned.