CHAPTER V

THE BATTLE OF STONE MISSILES—THE MONKEYS’ PANIC

HAVING stayed that night at an inn, Bunkichi hastened on his way along the Hama-Kaido, or the “shore road.” When he came to a lonely spot in the road, he saw a man in the distance, scantily clad, apparently making preparations for hanging himself. On ran Bunkichi and caught hold of the man, asking him at the same time why he had come to such a pass as to attempt suicide.

“I am a certain Kichidayu, a native of Sakai in Izumi Province, and a sailor,” answered the man, while tears stood in his eyes as he spoke. “I was in charge of a ship of one thousand _koku_,[21] and on my voyage to Yedo with a cargo of _sake_[22] my boat was wrecked off this coast and the crew of eighteen, all told, as well as the whole of the cargo, were lost. Fortunately I was washed up on the coast while I was holding fast to a piece of board, but having been terribly knocked about, I can hardly drag myself along. Besides, the loss of the ship, the cargo as well as the crew, overpowers me with such a sense of disgrace and wretchedness that I thought I would rather die than go back to my native town.”

Footnote 21:

Forty thousand gallons.

Footnote 22:

A kind of Japanese liquor.

Bunkichi, while he was listening to the sad account of the wreck, surveyed the man from head to foot, and perceived many severe bruises, which—with his honest manner of speaking—seemed to prove the truth of his words.

“I quite sympathize with you in your misfortune,” said he, “but, my man, your dying will not bring back the ship which was wrecked nor the men who were lost; so I think it would be better for you to keep yourself alive and atone for your loss by succeeding with your next venture. But without money you can’t even go to a doctor. So allow me—”

Taking out five pieces of silver and putting them in the hand of the sailor, he continued, kindly and soothingly, “With these get a doctor at once, my man.”

The captain, as he looked into Bunkichi’s face with an expression almost of worship, said: “You are the kindest man I ever came across, in spite of your apparent youthfulness. As long as I live I shall not forget you, and some day, perhaps, I may have an opportunity to repay you for your goodness to me.”

While he said this, tears rushed from his eyes—for he was overcome by a sense of gratitude and joy.

Bunkichi, having taken off his _haori_,[23] said to the man: “Put this on, though it is not sufficient to protect you, and come on with me to my next stopping-place.” Though the seaman was reluctant to accept so generous an offer, Bunkichi urged him, and, giving him a helping hand, led the man along to the next village, where they found an inn, into which they went. There a suit of clothes was purchased for the sailor, and the lad recounted the story of the wreck to the old woman, the keeper of the inn, and asked her to send for a doctor, who on arrival did whatever he could for the poor man.

Footnote 23:

A Japanese upper garment.

Bunkichi, who thought it likely he might be of more service to the sailor, said, in answer to his question: “I have no house of my own, but you will find me if you ask for one Bunkichi at the Daikokuya, a cloth establishment at Kumano. You, being a sailor, are sure to find any amount of work if you go there; so please look me up. I am in a hurry; I cannot stop here longer. On my way back from Osaka I shall call upon you. If you are well before then, you had better go to Kumano and wait for me there.”

Thus kindly holding out hopes of helping him in the future, he gave the old woman a sum of money for the nursing of the sailor, and hurried on his way.

Going on from one hotel to another, and resolving to lose no time, Bunkichi at last arrived in the city of Osaka. As he had received a letter of introduction from his master to a certain wholesale merchant of the city, with whom the Daikokuya had dealings, he went to this merchant and asked for the articles he had been commissioned to buy. The head of the house, acquainted with the _wanizame_ affair by the letter, did everything in his power to assist Bunkichi, and the transaction went off smoothly and quickly. After he had sent off the fishing-tackle to Kumano on board a ship, he spent a few days in sight-seeing as well as in observing the ways in which big merchants carried on their trade. Having thus spent four or five days here, Bunkichi once more took the same road home, and on the way inquired at the inn after the captain whom he had left there. To his great joy, the sailor was well on the way to recovery; so he gave the man some more money for his further needs, and hastened on to Kumano-Ura, having promised to meet him again there.

On the day following that on which he had taken leave of the sailor, he came to the hilly roads near Kumano. This part of the country was noted then, as it is to-day, for the production of oranges. All over the hills he saw orange-trees in abundance, and there, strange enough, he heard a great noise of screaming and chattering. He hastened his steps in the direction of the noise. Lo, and behold! Hundreds of monkeys, uncountable, had drawn a circle around three men, whom they were pelting with a shower of stones. These wretched men, as they were apparently unable to withstand the stone missiles of the monkeys, had pulled their over-coats, or _haori_, over their heads and were crouching under an orange-bush, apparently in despair, for they were doing nothing but crying for help.

As the animals apparently thought it great fun, they kept on showering stones as quickly as they could pick them up, and it seemed probable that the three men would have fallen victims to the monkeys but for Bunkichi. When he saw how things were going, quick as thought he picked up a lot of pebbles from the wayside and filled both his spacious sleeves and his front pocket as well. Thus well armed, on he rushed to the monkey army and pulled out of his pocket the pebbles, one after another, throwing them at the frisky creatures. The monkeys, as they screamed and chattered, at once confronted the lad, and, perceiving him pull out stones from his breast, they tried to do the same. But of course they had no pockets with stones in them, while Bunkichi threw his missiles thick and fast. The beasts in their rage began to pull off the hair from their breasts and throw it from them, while their monkey-chatter grew louder and louder as their pain increased.

Bunkichi, who could not suppress his laughter, contrived, as it were, to discharge the missiles from his breast while actually bringing out the stones from his sleeves. As the monkeys drew closer to him, still pulling off their hair, the three men were now given time to breathe. They at once came out from their hiding-place, and, scolding the monkeys, began to pick up stones to help in their turn their deliverer in his stand against them.

The youth cried out, as he quickly perceived their action: “No! No! Don’t _pick up_ stones! If any of you have the instruments for striking fire, set fire as quickly as you can to the dry grass.” The men did as they were told, and as the wind fanned the fire the smoke and flames soon spread over the ground. The army of monkeys, thinking the day was lost, set up a great chatter and, jumping from tree to tree, disappeared.

The men now recovered from their fright, and, having put out the fire, thanked Bunkichi and said: “We are most grateful to you, sir. If you had not come we should almost to a certainty have been stoned to death by the monkeys.”

“It was a narrow escape, wasn’t it?” remarked Bunkichi, “but I am curious to know—did you not throw stones at them first?”

“Yes,” replied the men, with animated expression.

Bunkichi could not help smiling as he thought of how they had acted, and said: “You know monkeys are foolish animals and try to imitate whatever others do.”

“You seem to know everything,” said the men, who were much struck by his wisdom. “But where have you come from?”

“I live at Kumano,” was the reply, “but was brought up at Kada-no-Ura; so I know about monkeys, as we have plenty of them there.”

Then the leading one of the three, making a polite bow, urged Bunkichi, saying: “I am the owner of this orange farm, and my home is not far from here. Please come to my house.”

On the way thither he asked the boy his name and where his home was.

“I am one Bunkichi in the establishment called the Daikokuya, at Kumano,” was his frank answer.

The host, having well observed the lad’s face, said: “Ah, that’s why I thought I had seen you somewhere. Then you are that widely famed Mr. Wanizame-Kozo, the Shark-Boy! The people in this neighborhood owe you a great debt of gratitude, because all the fruits produced here in this part, oranges among other things, when they are sent either to Tokio or to Osaka, must first be sent to Kumano-Ura to be shipped to those cities. But ever since the appearance of that monster in the harbor, all the shipping trade had come entirely to a standstill, and we had to send our fruits to other ports by a roundabout way, which was a great nuisance to us; whereas, owing to your wisdom and courage, we can now send our cargo to Kumano as we did before.”

After a pleasant visit of an hour or two, Bunkichi was about to start. The host stopped him for a minute and brought out a little packet of money, and, placing it before him, said: “This trifle is only a token of my gratitude to you. Please take it.” Looking at it from the outside, it certainly seemed no trifle; but the lad firmly but politely declined to accept it, saying: “You have no need to thank me.” And he would not take it, in spite of the host’s earnest entreaty. At last he said: “I don’t wish to receive any recompense from you; however, I have one favor to ask if you will grant it me. I am thinking of trading on my own account before long in various articles, and if I come here some day to buy oranges, will you deal with me?”

“You make a very modest request,” answered the host with ready assent. “I will supply you with a cargo as cheaply as possible at any moment you send me the order, and as to the payment, I shall be in no hurry for it; you may pay me whenever you like. I can supply you with thirty thousand boxes of oranges from my own farm; and there are many more farmers in the neighborhood who will be glad to supply you if I let them know that you are the Wanizame-Kozo. At least I can assure you I will fill your order, however large it may be.”

With many thanks, Bunkichi took his leave and was back in the Daikokuya that evening.