OKARU. Please, wait a moment. What you say is true and reasonable. And who made such a faithless samurai of you? Why, it was I, and I alone; and if one of us must die, it is I who should die before you. But if you die now, who will ever praise your samurai spirit? Now think well over this. First, come with me to my father’s home. Both my father and mother are country-people, but they are a worthy couple. Now that things have come to this pass, look upon it as your fate and please, listen to your wife’s advice, Master Kanpei. RECITATIVE. She bursts out crying and is soon sunk in tears. KANPEI. You are right. Of course you are but newly come into service and probably do not know all about our lord’s house. The chief councillor of the house, Master Oboshi Yuranosuke, has not yet returned from the country; and when he comes back, I will ask pardon through him. Come, let us go as quickly as we can. RECITATIVE. As they prepare to go, Sagisaka Bannai rushes out with his servants. BANNAI. Ah, Kanpei. For attacking Lord Moronao and inflicting a slight wound upon him, your master Hangwan is confined in his house, and his head is sure to be chopped off before long. Now wrench his arms. We are going to take you home and torture you to death. So prepare yourself for your fate. KANPEI. We are well met, Sagisaka Bannai. It will not be enough for me to kill a fellow like you; but you shall see how neatly this arm of mine can cut you up. BANNAI. Don’t let him speak, fellows. SERVANTS. Very well, sir. RECITATIVE. Two of them attack him from both sides; but he dodges them and wrenches their arms with his hands and kicks them down. In their place two more cut at him, but he receives their blows with his sword-scabbard; and as they turn round and come again, he strikes aside their swords with the hilt and scabbard-end of his own. And when the four men attack him together, he sends them flying at once to the right and left; they fall down and then rise and run away in all directions. In hot anger, Bannai strikes at him; but Kanpei dodges and catches him by the neck; he throws him down on the ground and sets his foot upon him. KANPEI. Now I can do as I please with you. Shall I run you through, cut you in pieces, or kill you by inches? RECITATIVE. But Okaru clings to his uplifted sword. OKARU. No, no, if you kill this fellow, it will spoil your chance of a pardon. That is enough; let him go. RECITATIVE. As she stops him, Sagisaka wriggles out from under his foot and runs away for very life. KANPEI. Oh, what a pity I let him go! But if I killed him, it would have been a most disloyal deed. We will, we two, live in hiding for the present, and when the time comes, we will beg for pardon. [Illustration: Kanpei and Okaru side by side]