Samurai and the Long-nosed Devils. Lensey Namioka

under their steady gaze.

      “Yes? Is there something wrong?” asked Zenta. Dressed in a clean, dark blue kimono, with his hair neatly tied back, he made a very formidable figure.

      Pedro cleared his throat and lamely brought out the story of the missing gun. When he finished there was a strained silence in the room. Finally Zenta said icily, “You came to ask us if we had taken the gun, is that it?”

      Pedro knew that only complete honesty would serve. “Yes, I did,” he admitted. “But now I realize that I’m wrong and I ask your pardon. Can you help me find the gun by questioning the staff? They would answer more readily to their own countrymen.”

      Zenta’s manner thawed slightly. “Very well. This is a good opportunity for me to look over the whole staff, anyway.” He got up quickly, and Pedro envied the fluid ease of his movement. He himself, after sitting on the floor for a long time, always found his legs stiff and sore.

      Pedro lost no time in calling together the staff to the front courtyard. Zenta stood on the wooden veranda and for a few minutes he silently studied the figures humbly crouched on the sandy ground in front of him. Then he summoned them one by one and questioned each on his activities of the morning.

      With a mixture of amusement and irritation, Pedro saw that each person bowed very low and answered with the utmost respect. Father Luis had worked long and stubbornly to prevent his staff from getting down on their hands and knees before him. After months of hard work, he thought he had cured them of the habit. Now, faced with an authoritative samurai, they immediately went back to their groveling. Pedro began to think that the Japanese, even when converted to Christianity, would never behave like Europeans.

      When the last man had been questioned and dismissed, the two ronin conferred with each other and compared impressions. Finally Zenta turned to Pedro and said, “I may be wrong, but my feeling is that none of these people stole your gun.”

      Pedro was inclined to agree. In his opinion, the culprit would have betrayed himself under Zenta’s efficient and ruthless questioning.

      “But not everyone is here,” said Matsuzo. “The cook told me that two of the girls have gone shopping for vegetables.”

      “We can rule out the girls,” said Pedro. “They’re too frightened of the guns to touch them.” He remembered that one of the girls was Maria, the gentlest and most timid soul in the household. The thought of Maria, however, suddenly reminded him of the fence.

      Meanwhile Zenta was saying, “We should check all the entrances to see how an outsider could get into the house.”

      “I think I know of a place where an outsider can get in,” Pedro said slowly. He told the two ronin about the portion of the fence that could be unfastened and about the two girls, Maria and Chiyo, regularly exchanging news.

      “Maria’s friend is Chiyo?” exclaimed Matsuzo. “But we’ve met her already!”