by I. J. Parker
"We are investigating," Mori said stilffy. "And his story is quite convincing. You did notice he said what he lost in Money and goods was worth as much as one thousand pieces of gold. That's trot the same as a thousand pieces of gold."
Tora flushed.. Putting the documents back on Mori's desk, he said, "I'm wondering what made you trust him. What can you tell me that's not in the report'?"
"Well, as I said, he carne in here two days ago all outraged and accused us of not controlling our- pirates. He said his boat carried merchandise ordered by customers as well as tax payments from Totomi province in addition to some personal property. I had him list everything they took. You'll find the list at the end."
"Never mind that. I assume you sent a copy to the tribunal?"
"Not yet. We've been rather busy," Mori said pointedly, gesturing at the papers scattered over his desk." "You'd best do so now," Tora growled. "I intend to look into that dubious claim. Piracy comes under the authority of the governor. What else do you know about the man? If he's from Owari, what's he doing here?"
"He came here to meet his boat. That's also in the report."
"Yes, yes, I remember. So what he tells you about the pirates is what he's been told himself?"
"Of course."
"But can he be believed? And for that matter, can we believe what his sailors said? Did you go to talk to any of them?"
Mori snapped, "We've had our hands full dealing with a disturbance at the temple fair, so no, I haven't had a chance yet."
Tora rose. "Very well. The boat is in the harbor, I take it? I'll go see what I can find out since I have a free day. No, don't thank me. Glad to do it. Don't forget that copy for the tribunal." He flashed his brilliant smile at Mori, performed the small bow again, and stalked out.
6 The Harbor
Tora was angry with Mori, whose attitude toward a commander of the provincial guard left much to be desired, and with himself for having looked a fool by being unable to decipher the report. He resolved to return to his studies with renewed vigor to avoid such embarrassments in the future.
Since he had been unable to discover the rice merchant's whereabouts without revealing his inability to read the report, he turned his steps toward the harbor.
He had always liked harbors. They teemed with life and offered glimpses of far-away places and a chance to dream of' adventures. Komachi's harbor, though, did not allow far-flung fancies. The boats tied up there plied only along the coast. Many were simple fishing boats. The biggest regular visitor was a two-masted ferry that carried travelers between Mikawa and Ise. His master hhad left on it, and the ship was back, tied up in the harbor. It was waiting for passengers who were already gathering on the landing.
For a moment, a wave of misery washed over Tora again. The master had gone off without him, without so much as a word of explanation beyond saying he was making a quick visit to the Ise shrine. Unlike Saburo, Tora did not believe this for an instance. First, there had been the messenger. Tora had seen him. He had been a high-ranking nobleman who had arrived on a fine horse mid had been wearing expensive armor over silk robes. Such a man did not carry a casual communication from some bureau in the capital. The messenger had talked to the master and then left again immediately. And right after this, the master had announced that he wished to worship at the Ise shrine. That could not be a coincidence.
Saburo had seen this visitor and seemed patently uninterested in Tora's grievance. But Tora knew there was something afoot.
The problem of the rice merchant made up for some of his disappointment. It involved a case of piracy off the coast of Mikawa, and the master had expressed a concern about past reports of such activities. Tora saw an opportunity to prove his own abilities and possibly uncover something that might send him after his master.
His good humor somewhat restored, he walked along the dock scanning the boats in their berths. The fishing boats announced themselves by their rank odor. The day was becoming hot, and the stench was horrible. But someone had segregated these to one end of the harbor. Between the ferry landing and the fishing boats, transport barges were tied up. These were wide and deep-bottomed, usually carrying one mast and a square sail, now reefed up, and had no quarters for passengers because most of the space was taken up by bales, boxes, barrels, and bundles of assorted goods. One of the boats carried horses. The poor beasts stood tightly corralled, their heads hanging low.
Eventually he found the boat in question-It was one of the bigger ones there, substantial enough to carry bales of rice, but now riding high in the water and apparently empty. It seemed in good repair for having been attacked by pirates. A sailor was leaning against the mast and fast asleep, but otherwise there was no sign of life. No doubt his fellows were in town getting drunk. Tora wished he had worn plain clothes. He did not like the sleeping man's looks, though such boat people were usually rough characters. Too soon to tell if they had lied about the pirates. He walked on.
One of the many youngsters who hang around the harbor in hopes of carrying the bags of a traveler or of delivering messages between the boats and the town, strolled toward Tora, whistling through his teeth and staring at Tora's pale red guard tunic and the black headgear with the brushes over each ear.
"Morning," said Tora with a grin. "Planning on taking a trip?"
The boy, who was about lfifteen or sixteen, slopped and grinned back. He had a gap between his front teeth which accounted for the keen sound of his whistling. "Wish I were," he said, looking toward the ferry. "And you, officer? Are you going somewhere or are you arresting someone?"
"Just getting to know the place. You want to earn a few coppers by being my guide?"
The boy cocked his head. "How many coppers?" "Hmm, live?"
"I call make ten running an errand into town." "All right. Ten, then."
"I'll have to leave after the ferry goes."
"That's not much time," Tora said, seeing sailors loading baggage onto the ship."
"Plenty of time. 'fake it or leave it."
"You strike a hard bargain." Tora counted out tell coppers from the string he carried inside his sash.
The boy grinned and shoved the coins inside his shirt. "I'll let you buy more of my time if you want." "Thank you, but at this rate I'll be a poor man before the sun sets. Very well, tell e about the harbor. What about that ferry? It goes to Ise across the bay, I think."
"The boy nodded. "And then up the coast to Owari and back to us. There's another ship that goes the opposite way."
"Every day?"
"No, silly. Every other day. It lakes a day one way and a day coming back, though the wind has to cooperate."
Tora frowned al him. "Watch your tongue, youngster. What about these boats here?"
"They carry goods." "What sort of goods?"
"Oh, anything. Rice, silk, ramie, hemp, horses, dye, whatever people use.
"I saw the horses."
"They come lfrom up north and most go to the capital."
"Tax goods, too?"
"Sometimes. They need special permission to go by water."
"I see. And the others don't need permission" "They all need permission, but for tax goods, they need special papers.
"And who checks the permissions?"
"The harbor master." The boy pointed toward a small building next to the post station. The post station was flying the usual flag and seemed busy this morning with ferry passengers.
"Is there a lot of trouble with pirates?' I heard some talk in town."
The boy nodded. "A fair amount, but mostly small stuff until now."
"Oh?"
The boy turned hack and pointed to the boat with the sleeping sailor. "That one came ill two nights ago. They'd been attacked between here and Totomi. They
said the pirates came from shore in many boats and killed one of the sailors. They took everything that was on the boat."
"Shocking! How do you know this?"
"I work here, and people talk. The owner was here yesterday, shouti
ng at the sailors about losing his fortune. Next a couple of constables came down and took a look."
"Ah!" Tora shook his head. "I bet that makes the other boatmen nervous. I wonder why the owner blamed the sailors. They couldn't help it if they were outnumbered."
The boy chuckled. "If they told the truth. Some boatmen just claim that pirates boarded them and took some of their cargo. Never this much, though, and never a whole cargo of rice."
"Do you know where the owner went? I might want to talk to him."
"He was staying at the post station. Not sure if he's still there. He could've gone back home on one of the ferries."
They both turned to watch the ferry and the loading of its passengers. They seemed almost ready to set sail. Already, sailors were scrambling about, and the passengers that had been waiting on the dock had gone on deck and disappeared into the small building that was the passenger cabin.
"Well, I suppose that means my time is up," said Tora. "I think I overpaid."
The boy folded his arms protectively across his chest. "A deal's a deal," he said. "But I could give you a bit more time."
"No, thanks. I'll have a talk with the harbor master. But you owe me, if we meet again."
The boy nodded with a grin, no doubt thinking that was not likely to happen, and they parted company. The post station was settling down to normal business after dealing with the ferry. Tora looked it over and noted the adjacent lodge and stables. Then he entered the harbor master's office. One of the two clerks in the front room rail to announce him, and a moment later the harbor master, a short man with a goatee and the formal black robe and hat of officials eyerywhere, bowed Tora into his office.
They had met before when harbor master Osumi had reported to the tribunal with the monthly account of shipping in the harbor, but this was Tora's first visit to the station.
Having seated himself; he said, "I won't trouble you long, Harbormaster, but we've had a report of a pirate attack and I find the boat in question is still docked here. Have you talked to its master?"
"Yes, Lieutenant. He told a shocking tale. They were on the southern coast of Mikawa, just making the turn into Ise Bay, when suddenly some ten or twenty longboats shot out from among the rocks and inlets of that rough coast. There were at least five armed men in each boat, and the first boat hailed them, telling them to reef the sail and drop an anchor. The boat master ignored this and tried to run down one of the boats. But the pirates had bows and arrows and also swords and knives. They killed one of his men with an arrow, and hee obeyed. They came on board and started checking the goods. Meanwhile more boats joined them. They unloaded everything to the other boats, then got back into their boats and left. The boat master said it was all over in less than an hour."
Tora frowned. "That's not good. That part of our coast is quite a distance from here. It may take time to get some soldiers to that area. Did you talk to the owner of the goods?"
The harbormaster rolled his eyes. "Dear me, yes. He stormed in here the very next day and wanted me get started on his paperwork."
"Paperwork? What about the pirates and the dead sailor?"
The stationmaster spread his hands. "Not his concern. That's for your governor to take care of. He wanted me to give him something to prove he'd lost his whole cargo."
"And did you?"
"I walked back to the boat with him and talked to the sailors. They said pretty much the same thing." The harbormaster paused. "Mind you, they are pretty rough characters. Frankly, I wish they were on their way back to where they came from. Already there has been a fight in a wine shop and I hear one of the brothels had to call the constables."
"Hmm," said Tora. "They seem to be pretty flush with money if they are doing much drinking and whoring after having been cleaned out by pirates."
"My thought exactly. But maybe the owner paid them off."
"Maybe. Where's this owner now, and did he give a name and a hometown?"
"He said he was staying at the post station lodge. His name is Takanami Masayoshi, I think." Osumi reached for a ledger and found the entry. "Yes, Takanami Masayoshi, rice merchant from Nakashima in Owari province."
"Thanks. I'll see what I can find out. I guess we'd better do something about those pirates."
Tora left the harbor in excellent spirits. Finally something he could get his teeth into. He would organize an expedition of provincial guards and local men and head south to wipe out that nest of vipers who were terrorizing local shipping.
But the first step was to return to the tribunal and get Saburo's help in deciphering the report from the very unhelpful police chief. Something did not ring quite true. He was not at all convinced that merchant Takanami had been completely truthful. For that matter, his double name meant that he was a man of rank, perhaps some local nobleman. No matter. If he was a crook, Tora would make short work of him.
7 The Merchant from Owari
Before leaving the harbor, Tora stopped by the lodge that adjoined the post station and asked to see the register. He saw the name Takanami but was told the merchant was no longer there. The clerk was not sure if he had left on the ferry or decided to move to one of, the inns in town.
Tora assumed the latter. For one thing, the post station lodge offered only the simplest accommodations, a large room under a roof. Travelers of all kinds huddled together there to save money. A man who had just lost the equivalent of' one thousand pieces of' gold would hardly settle for this for more than one night. More importantly, since he was so eager to get proof of his losses, and the police were not finished investigating, he was surely still in town.
He walked back to the tribunal and put his head into the main office. Saburo was perusing documents, so Tora asked, "Did Lieutenant Mori send over a report?"
Saburo looked up. "Yes. Just a short while ago. Why?"
Tora preferred to see both Saburo and the report privately and came in. "I think it concerns pirates. Could we talk about it?"
"Very well." Saburo found the document, and they went next door to a small room under the eaves that held mostly provincial archives.
Saburo handed over the report. "What's so urgent?" Tora unfolded the paper and frowned down at it. "It's about this merchant from Owari who claims his goods have been stolen by pirates. Rice and gold."
Saburo's brows shot up. "Gold? How much gold?" "I don't know." Tora was still trying to decipher the list of stolen goods. "The whole loss is said to be one thousand pieces of gold." Frustrated he handed back the piece of paper. "Here, you read it. I can't make out those chicken scratches."
Saburo stared at him. "One thousand pieces of gold? How can that be? Who has that much money except the emperor?"
"Well, that covers the value of the rice, too, but I think the whole thing is a lie."
"But why make up such a crazy lie?"
"I don't know, but he seems desperate to prove he's been robbed."
"I see." Saburo pondered this a moment, then read the whole report carefully.
Tora became impatient. "I got the gist. I need to know what this Takanami said exactly."
"Well, lie told the police that lie was meeting the boat here, and the boatmen told him of the attack and of one man being killed. they showed him the empty boat. They said it happened south of here."
"Right. I got that. What else?"
"Well the rest is just a list of goods he was robbed of'."
"Read the list."
Saburo sighed. "You know, you really should read better, Tora. Now that the master is rising in the world, so are we and our duties are getting more complicated. Your sword or your fighting sticks aren't much good anymore."
Tora gave hin a look. "He took me on because of my courage and my skill with the bo. And my sword has come in handy on a number of occasions, one of them involving you. Nobody said anything about reacting." "Never mind." Saburo read the list aloud.
" `Four hundred bales of' highest grade rice: value five hundred pieces of gold. Forty bolts of fine silk and sil
k gauze: value two hundred pieces of gold. Sixty bales of floss silk: value one hundred pieces of gold. Ten barrels of oil: fifty pieces of gold. Personal property: one money chest containing one hundred pieces of gold, and half that value in gold dust, plus one hundred and fifty large silver coins."' 'fora whistled. Saburo paused
to add up the figures and nodded. "Yes, that's more than one thousand pieces of gold. Quite right."
Tora snorted. "Nothing about this is quite right. It's a lie. Who's to prove that's what he lost? Who's to say there was anything of value on the boat except maybe a payoff to the boatmen and he made that after they got here."
"Perhaps, but what about the dead sailor? Or was there a dead sailor?"
"It's all a pack lies from beginning to end." At least that was Tora's gut feeling.
"Then there are no pirates?"
Tora looked less certain. "Well . . ." "What are you going to do?"
"I suppose it's got to be investigated. I'll have a talk with the merchant if he's still in town. And maybe we need to look into this claim of pirates. Would you write to the Owari tribunal and ask them about Takanami?"
"Glad to. Before you leave for town again, the gardeners have arrived at the residence. I'm too busy to check on them. Will you make sure they do a good job?"
Tora grinned. "My pleasure." They bowed to each other and parted.
==
Tora walked through the small gate in the high wall that separated the tribunal compound from the governor's residence. He was immediately in a different world. Tall trees shaded shrubberies and stone paths leading to a fine house with sweeping file roofs, broad
verandas, and several pavilions. The air was pleasantly cool in the shade, but Tora frowned at the overgrown vegetation under the trees and had to duck under a lowhanging branch of a pine. Its needles were brown; the branch had broken in one of the frequent storms that lashed the Mikawa coast. There was plenty of work here for the gardeners. Where were they? He did not hear the sound of saws. The previous governor had been too tight to maintain the property during his last year in office. He had left the repairs to his successor. A good thing that the master had the income these days to provide a comfortable home for his high-born lady.
