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ack the sword, your head shall be laid before my lord in its place.<br />
Come," added he, stamping his foot impatiently, "defend yourself."<br />
"With all my heart. But not here in this tea-house. Let us go to the<br />
Mound, and fight it out."<br />
"Agreed! There is no need for us to bring trouble on the landlord.<br />
Come to the Mound <strong>of</strong> the Yoshiwara."<br />
So they went to the Mound, and drawing their swords, began to fight<br />
furiously. As the news soon spread abroad through the Yoshiwara that a<br />
duel was being fought upon the Mound, the people flocked out to see<br />
the sight; and among them came Tôken Gombei and Shirobei,<br />
Banzayémon's companions, who, when they saw that the combatants<br />
were their own friend and the strange Samurai, tried to interfere and<br />
stop the fight, but, being hindered by the thickness <strong>of</strong> the crowd, remained<br />
as spectators. The two men fought desperately, each driven by<br />
fierce rage against the other; but Sanza, who was by far the better fencer<br />
<strong>of</strong> the two, once, twice, and again dealt blows which should have cut<br />
Banzayémon down, and yet no blood came forth. Sanza, astonished at<br />
this, put forth all his strength, and fought so skilfully, that all the<br />
bystanders applauded him, and Banzayémon, though he knew his<br />
adversary's sword to be blunted, was so terrified that he stumbled and<br />
fell. Sanza, brave soldier that he was, scorned to strike a fallen foe, and<br />
bade him rise and fight again. So they engaged again, and Sanza, who<br />
from the beginning had had the advantage, slipped and fell in his turn;<br />
Banzayémon, forgetting the mercy which had been shown to him,<br />
rushed up, with bloodthirsty joy glaring in his eyes, and stabbed Sanza<br />
in the side as he lay on the ground. Faint as he was, he could not lift his<br />
hand to save himself; and his craven foe was about to strike him again,<br />
when the bystanders all cried shame upon his baseness. Then Gombei<br />
and Shirobei lifted up their voices and said—<br />
"Hold, coward! Have you forgotten how your own life was spared but<br />
a moment since? Beast <strong>of</strong> a Samurai, we have been your friends hitherto,<br />
but now behold in us the avengers <strong>of</strong> this brave man."<br />
With these words the two men drew their dirks, and the spectators fell<br />
back as they rushed in upon Banzayémon, who, terror-stricken by their<br />
fierce looks and words, fled without having dealt the death-blow to<br />
Sanza. They tried to pursue him, but he made good his escape, so the<br />
two men returned to help the wounded man. When he came to himself<br />
by dint <strong>of</strong> their kind treatment, they spoke to him and comforted him,<br />
and asked him what province he came from, that they might write to his<br />
friends and tell them what had befallen him. Sanza, in a voice faint from<br />
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