“The wind came across our beam and pushed against our sail, heeling us over, more and more, until we were sure that we were about to capsize. Then it lessened for a moment, and we all gave thanks to the buddhas and kamis.
“But we gave thanks too soon. Another squall line advanced toward us, like charging cavalry. The winds howled louder as it approached, and we knew what we had to do. In a frenzy, we cut down the mast.
“After that, we were at the mercy of Susanoo, the Bringer of Storms. When the sky cleared, we were far out at sea. Where, we did not know. We prayed to the buddhas for deliverance. We bailed out the hold and rationed out the food.”
“But what about drinking water? Surely you didn’t have enough water for so long a voyage.”
“At first I just rationed our water. But after it was clear that we would be drifting a long time, I realized that I had to somehow take the salt out of seawater. I poured it into a big cooking pot, brought it to a boil, and put a wooden rice tub on top of the pot.”
“On top? What good would that do?”
“So sorry, I am poor at explaining this. I made a hole in the bottom of the rice tub and ran a pipe through it. The steam from the pot went up the pipe and turned back to water inside the tub.”
Tokubei thought about this.
“You made a ranbiki! A still!”
“If you say so.”
“In the Ryukyus, they use a still to make a strong drink, what the Southern Barbarians call brandy.” The Ryukyu islands, south of Nippon, were under the secret control of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma. Secret, so that the Chinese would continue to come there to trade.
“I have never been to the Ryukyus.”
“Well, it was clever of you to think of such a thing. How much drinking water could you make?”
“Perhaps twelve quarts a day.”
Haruno took over the questioning. “I’ll have to remember that trick. How long were you adrift?”
“Fourteen moons.”
“And you were carried into that bay, where the wreck is now?”
“Yes. Only half of my sailors were still alive. Barely. The Kwakwaka’wakw took us in, and fed us, but they made us their slaves. Three of my sailors were sold to other Indian tribes, up or down the coast. One to the Haida of the north, a second to the Nuu-chah-nulth of the south, the third, I know not.
“My boys are sixteen and twenty-five now. My wife returned to the Wheel a few years ago.
“The ‘Kwakwaka’wakw’ are a nation?”
“No, it just means, ‘those who speak Kwak’wala.’ The local natives are the Nakomgilisa. And there are several other Kwakwaka’wakw groups.”
“All the cargo is gone. Why didn’t the Kwakwaka’wakw take the ship timbers?”
“They were going to, but when the salvage party walked on the beach, a great wave came up and knocked them over. They decided that it was a sign that Kumugwe, their sea god, wanted it left alone.”
Tokubei raised his hand. “I will need to give your bay a name, for my report to my superiors. May I name it after you?”
“That would be far too great an honor. And it would slight my fellow castaways. Call it, Hyoryumin Bay.” In Japanese, hyoryu was the action of drifting after a shipwreck, and the unfortunate mariners were hyoryumin.
* * *
Heishiro took a puff on the pipe he had been offered. “So, what brings Nihonjin, even samurai, in a Southern Barbarian ship to the Land Across the Sea?” He handed the pipe to Tokubei.
Tokubei took a pull and then answered, “We have reason to believe that there are valuable ores on this island.”
“What sort of ores?”
“Iron. Copper. Gold.”
“The Indians have no iron tools or weapons, and I have no idea what iron ore looks like. I have seen copper ornaments here. Besides the coppers they took from us, that is. I don’t know whether the copper is mined on this island, or elsewhere. But it’s a big, big island. As for gold, well, the Nakomgilisala are not the richest of the Kwakwaka’wakw. So it could be here without my knowing anything about it.”
* * *
The Ieyasu Maru continued down the west coast to Quatsino Sound, and met the local Indians. These were of different Kwakwaka’wakw groups, the Quatsino and Klaskino, but the dialect of Kwakwala they spoke was similar enough to that of the Nakomgilisala so that Heishiro and his comrades were able to make themselves understood.
These Indians were friendly, and anxious to trade. Well, to be honest, the Nakomgilisala had greeted the Ieyasu Maru; it was unfortunate that Haruno and Yokubei couldn’t let the enslavement of Nihonjin go unpunished. The Japanese, too, had honor to preserve.
Among the Quatsino and the Klaskino, Tokubei bought supplies, local products that he thought might find a market in Japan . . . and Indian slaves. The last purchase he made with reluctance, since the Japanese frowned on the practice of slavery by the Portuguese, Dutch and similar barbarians, but it was a regrettable necessity. They needed translators who could speak both Kwakwala and the languages of the Indians to the south. Once the Ieyasu Maru was under way, he could promote them from slave to retainer.