If he had but looked closer he might also have seen Kinsan, who had gone there earlier in the day to escape his presence at her house. However, she saw him, and when he left the path she had so often watched him tread her heart stood still and she trembled with fright. He was surely coming, and there was no possible means of escape. She appealed not to the gods, but grasped at intuition; her secret hiding-place offered an alternate, and quickly entering she covered her safety as best she could. Tetsutaisho found his way there; and in time, for it had not yet begun to rain, though great clouds were massing and the sky was growing dark and hollow. He entered the scant shelter with no concern about its past or thought of its significance. It was a covering, and though dreary he faced about and looked out at the grand panorama of mingled peace and storm its outlook brought into view. He stood with folded arms, likening the elements to a marshalling of the samurai, in which he should sometime startle the land and bring glory to himself. And then he thought of Kinsan and of how she, too, were she there would under such a spell acknowledge his unalterable right. He straightened back and marvelled at his greatness, while the lowering clouds rumbled afar. Then suddenly a submerged sneeze at his back frightened him, and he wheeled about and peered into the gloom at the dumb, bleak walls. He could see no one, and suddenly it grew dark, and clashing thunder broke overhead. Again he was startled by the same mysterious sound, and he fell down and cried: "It is the ghost of Taira!" Scarcely had he uttered the words when the rain began to pour, and the ghoulish sound once more started him to his feet, and he ran out into the driving storm and dashed down the hillside, toward his home, far beyond the second moat. Here, soaked and exhausted, he hid himself in his room and pondered deeply the voice at the cave. The rain pounded overhead, and in each corner there seemed lurking a spirit--he heard many sounds. It was a warning, and the next day Tetsutaisho was at the council chamber, early and faithful. He heard Ikamon argue against change, and in favour of continuance; comprehended his meaning, that natural growth is the law of the gods; and agreed with his charge, that nothing short of revolution could overthrow a system that followed regular, active, inherent growth.