The monk stopped and closed his eyes, drifting off. Later he came back again, and, as old people will sometimes do, he continued as though he had never slept. "My ship was the great galleon San Felipe. We carried a cargo of spices, gold and silver, and specie to the value of a million and a half silver pesos. One of the great storms took us and cast us onto the shores of Shikoku. Our ship broke her back on the sand bar-on the third day-by that time we had landed our bullion and most of our cargo. Then word came that everything was confiscated, confiscated by the Taikō himself, that we were pirates and…" He stopped at the sudden silence.
The iron door of the cell cage had swung open.
Guards began to call names from the list. Bulldog, the man who had befriended Blackthorne, was one of those called. He walked out and did not look back. One of the men in the circle also was chosen. Akabo. Akabo knelt to the monk, who blessed him and made the sign of the cross over him and quickly gave him the Last Sacrament. The man kissed the cross and walked away.
The door closed again.
"They're going to execute him?" Blackthorne asked.
"Yes, his Calvary is outside the door. May the Holy Madonna take his soul swiftly and give him his everlasting reward."
"What did that man do?"
"He broke the -their law, señor. The Japanese are a simple people. And very severe. They truly have only one punishment-death. By the cross, by strangulation, or by decapitation. For the crime of arson, it is death by burning. They have almost no other punishment-banishment sometimes, cutting the hair from women sometimes. But"-the old man sighed-"but most always it is death."
"You forgot imprisonment."
The monk's nails picked absently at the scabs on his arm. "It's not one of their punishments, my son. To them, prison is just a temporary place to keep the man until they decide his sentence. Only the guilty come here. For just a little while."
"That's nonsense. What about you? You've been here a year, almost two years."
"One day they will come for me, like all the others. This is but a resting place between the hell of earth and the glory of Everlasting Life."
"I don't believe you."
"Have no fear, my son. It is the will of God. I am here and can hear the señor's confession and give him absolution and make him perfect-the glory of Everlasting Life is barely a hundred steps and moments away from that door. Would the señor like me to hear his confession now?"
"No-no, thank you. Not now." Blackthorne looked at the iron door. "Has anyone ever tried to break out of here?"
"Why should they do that? There is nowhere to run-nowhere to hide. The authorities are very strict. Anyone helping an escaped convict or even a man who commits a crime-" He pointed vaguely at the door of the hut. "Gonzalez-Akabo the man who has-has left us. He's a kaga-man. He told me-"
"What's a kaga-man?"
"Oh, those are the porters, señor, the men that carry the palanquins, or the smaller two-man kaga that's like a hammock swung on a pole. He told us his partner stole a silken scarf from a customer, poor fellow, and because he himself did not report the theft, his life is forfeit also. The señor may believe me, to try to escape or even to help someone to escape, the man would lose his life and all his family. They are very severe, señor."
"So everyone goes to execution like sheep then?"
"There is no other choice. It is the will of God."
Don't get angry, or panic, Blackthorne warned himself. Be patient. You can think of a way. Not everything the priest says is true. He's deranged. Who wouldn't be after so much time?
"These prisons are new to them, señor," the monk was saying. "The Taikō instituted prisons here a few years ago, so they say. Before him there were none. In previous days when a man was caught, he confessed his crime and he was executed."
"And if he didn't confess?"
"Everyone confesses-sooner is better, señor. It is the same in our world, if you are caught."
The monk slept a little, scratching in his sleep and muttering. When he woke up, Blackthorne said, "Please tell me, Father, how the cursed Jesuits put a man of God in this pest hole."
"There is not much to tell, and everything. After the Taikō's men came and took all our bullion and goods, our Captain-General insisted on going to the capital to protest. There was no cause for the confiscation. Were we not servants of His Most Imperial Catholic Majesty, King Philip of Spain, ruler of the greatest and richest empire in the world? The most powerful monarch in the world? Were we not friends? Was not the Taikō asking Spanish Manila to trade direct with Japan, to break the filthy monopoly of the Portuguese? It was all a mistake, the confiscation. It had to be.
"I went with our Captain-General because I could speak a little Japanese-not much in those days. Señor, the San Felipe had floundered and come ashore in October of 1597. The Jesuits-one was of the name Father Martin Alvito-they dared to offer to mediate for us, there in Kyoto, the capital. The impertinence! Our Franciscan Father Superior, Friar Braganza, he was in the capital, and he was an ambassador-a real ambassador from Spain to the court of the Taikō! The Blessed Friar Braganza, he had been there in the capital, in Kyoto, for five years, señor. The Taikō himself, personally, had asked our Viceroy in Manila to send Franciscan monks and an ambassador to Japan. So the Blessed Friar Braganza had come. And we, señor, we of the San Felipe, we knew that he was to be trusted, not like the Jesuits.
"After many, many days of waiting, we had one interview with the Taikō-he was a tiny, ugly little man, señor-and we asked for our goods back and another ship, or passage on another ship, which our Captain-General offered to pay for handsomely. The interview went well, we thought, and the Taikō dismissed us. We went to our monastery in Kyoto and waited and then, over the next months while we waited for his decision, we continued to bring the word of God to the heathen. We held our services openly, not like thieves in the night as the Jesuits do." Friar Domingo's voice was edged with contempt. "We wore our habits and vestments-we didn't go disguised, like native priests, as they do. We brought the Word to the people, the halt and sick and poor, not like the Jesuits, who consort with princes only. Our congregations increased. We had a hospital for lepers, our own church, and our flock prospered, señor. Greatly. We were about to convert many of their kings and then one day we were betrayed.
"One day in January, we Franciscans, we were all brought before the magistrate and accused under the Taikō's personal seal, señor, accused as violators of their law, as disturbers of their peace, and sentenced to death by crucifixion. There were forty-three of us. Our churches throughout the land were to be destroyed, all our congregations to be torn apart-Franciscan-not Jesuit, señor. Just us, señor. We had been falsely accused. The Jesuits had poured poison in the Taikō's ear that we were conquistadores, that we wanted to invade these shores, when it was Jesuits who begged his Excellency, our Viceroy, to send an army from Manila. I saw the letter myself! From their Father Superior! They're devils who pretend to serve the Church and Christ, but they serve only themselves. They lust for power, power at any cost. They hide behind a net of poverty and piousness, but underneath, they feed like kings and amass fortunes. Que va, señor, the truth is that they were jealous of our congregations, jealous of our church, jealous of our truth and way of life. The daimyo of Hizen, Dom Francisco-his Japanese name is Harima Tadao but he has been baptized Dom Francisco-he interceded for us. He is just like a king, all daimyos are like kings, and he's a Franciscan and he interceded for us, but to no avail.