"I trust myself to you, friend, in perfect confidence." "Then let me go; I must have time to carry out my scheme." "Go, Prince; I place my life in your hands untremblingly," said the Shogun. Nagato hastened away, first saluting the king, who replied by a friendly gesture. [1] Noble officer in the service of a daimio or prince. [2] Temple at Kioto containing 33,333 idols. [3] These fish actually exist, and are valued at an immense sum, many placing it as high as a million dollars. CHAPTER III. FEAST OF THE SEA-GOD. Next day, from early dawn, the streets of Osaka were full of movement and mirth. The people prepared for the feast, rejoicing in the thought of coming pleasures. Shops, the homes of artisans and citizens, opening full upon the street, afforded a free view of their modest interiors, furnished only with a few beautifully colored screens. Voices were heard, mixed with bursts of laughter; and now and then some mischievous child struggled out of his mother's arms, while she was trying to dress him in his holiday attire, and frisked, and danced with glee upon the wooden stairs leading from the house to the road. He was then recalled with cries of pretended anger from within, the father's voice was heard, and the child returned to his mother, trembling with impatience. Sometimes a little one would cry: "Mother, mother! Here comes the procession!" "Nonsense!" said the mother; "the priests have not even finished dressing yet." But still she moved towards the front of the house, and, leaning over the light balustrade, gazed into the street. Carriers, naked save for a strip of stuff knotted round their waists, hastened rapidly by, across their shoulders a bamboo stick, which bent at the tip from the weight of a package of letters. They went in the direction of the Shogun's residence. Before the barber's shops the crowd was thicker than elsewhere; the boys could not possibly shave all the chins presented, or dress all the heads offered. Customers awaiting their turn chatted gayly outside the door. Some were already dressed in their holiday garb, of bright colors, covered with embroidery. Others, more prudent, naked to the waist, preferred to finish their toilet after their hair was dressed. Vegetable-sellers and fish-merchants moved about through the throng, loudly praising their wares, which they carried in two buckets hanging from a cross piece of wood laid over one shoulder. On every side people were trimming their houses with pennants, and streamers, and embroidered stuffs covered with Chinese inscriptions in gold on a black or purple ground; lanterns were hung up, and blossoming boughs.