A Servant of Satan: Romantic Career of Prado the Assassin — page 146: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

138 | A SERVANT OF SATAN. Then there was another silence, during which cups wet tea and ‘‘sakke” were ‘passed around. Suddenly, on a sign from the young man, the person. nearest to him, and who was his dearest relative, arose and left the room. On returning afew minutes later he drew from his loose and flowing sleeve a short but heavy Japanese sword about twenty inches in length. The whole of the broad, heavy blade and the razor-like edge were hidden by a double layer of fine but opaque Japanese tissue paper, which effectually concealed from sight every trace of the deadly steel excepting about a quarter of an inch of the point. Prostrating himself before the young Samurai he handed it to him with much formality. The latter received it in the same ceremonious manner, and having taken one last whiff at his pipe and replaced it in the fire-box, he bared his stomach, and inserting the point into his left side, plunged it up to its hilt, and then, - without a cry, without a moan, or even a single exclama- tion of pain, drew it swiftly across to the right side and half- way back again before he fell forward on his face. <A few gasps were all that was heard, except the deep-drawn sighs of those present. ‘The plucky. young fellow was dead. Al- most every internal organ had been severed by the terrible cut, and he lay there motionless in a pool of blood, the red color of which contrasted vividly with the pure whiteness of the straw matting. _ Tenderly raising him up, his fr sande bore the corpse into an adjoining room, where, after washing off the blood and cleansing the body, they clothed it in the full costume of a Samurai and laid him on a mat, with his legs drawn up and crossed, his hands folded on his breast, and his two swords —the long one for his enemies and the short one for him- seli—lying on the ground by his side. Not a trace of pain or anguish was to be seen on the dead man’s face, which looked incredibly calm and peach. comicbooks.com —