boisterousness I
remember so well from the days of my servitude."

The words were mocking. The Jap was clearly revealed where he stood,
with the patch of daylight behind him, and the outheld lantern before
him. Martin could not read a thought in that bland, smiling face. But
the words mocked.

"Ye monkey-faced, yellow toad!" burst forth the boatswain. "If I 'ad
the use o' my 'ands, ye'd not stand there grinnin'!"

"Ah, it grieves to discover I am in error," was Ichi's smiling response
to the outburst. "The lessons Fate teaches are learned slowly by
rebellious natures. My good boatswain, I would recommend your heated
mind to solitude and meditation. If you think with much hardness upon
the uncertainties of life, you may achieve that humility of spirit and
manner which is so blessed in the eyes of our ancestors."

Ichi stepped forward a pace and lifted higher his lantern, the better
to enjoy the effect of his words upon the shackled giant.

"My dear boatswain, do you recall the occasion when my honored self so
unfortunately spilled upon your decks of whiteness the grease from the
cooking; and how with great furiousness you applied to my respected
person the knotted end of a rope? Ah, so then, it would perhaps add
interest to your meditation to ponder the possibleness of physical
persuasion to correct your faults--in the guise of the fingers of my
good Moto! You have beheld the handling of the worthy Mr. Blake--yes?"

A vindictive note had crept into their visitor's soft, impersonal voice
as he gibed the boatswain. Martin, staring upward at the
lantern-lighted face, half expected to see the smirk flee the lips that
threatened torture, and the hateful passions that inspired Ichi's
gloating to reveal themselves in his features. But no hint of emotion
disturbed the surface of that bland, yellow mask the one-time sea cook
wore for a face; only the eyes were leagued with the sinister voice.
Martin fancied he saw a cruel and mirthful gleam in Ichi's beady eyes,
such a gleam as might creep into the eyes of a cat while playing with a
captured mouse.

But the boatswain seemed not a whit appalled by Ichi's words. His
response was prompt, and liberally tinged with sulfur and brimstone.

"Aye, I remember rope's-ending you, ye rat-eyed son o' a Hakodate
gutter-snipe! If I 'ad my 'ands free now, I'd do worse--I'd pull your
rotten 'ead from your shoulders! Aye, swiggle me, 'tis like your breed
to mock a man what's