steal the money this priest is boasting about, I could live at ease for
the rest of my days;" and so he began casting about how best he might
compass his purpose. But the priest, far from guessing the drift of his
comrade's thoughts, journeyed cheerfully on till they reached the
town of Kuana. Here there is an arm of the sea, which is crossed in
ferry-boats, that start as soon as some twenty or thirty passengers
are gathered together; and in one of these boats the two travellers
embarked. About half-way across, the priest was taken with a sudden
necessity to go to the side of the boat; and the ronin, following him,
tripped him up while no one was looking, and flung him into the sea.
When the boatmen and passengers heard the splash, and saw the priest
struggling in the water, they were afraid, and made every effort to
save him; but the wind was fair, and the boat running swiftly under
the bellying sails; so they were soon a few hundred yards off from the
drowning man, who sank before the boat could be turned to rescue him.

When he saw this, the ronin feigned the utmost grief and dismay, and
said to his fellow-passengers, "This priest, whom we have just lost, was
my cousin; he was going to Kiyoto, to visit the shrine of his patron;
and as I happened to have business there as well, we settled to travel
together. Now, alas! by this misfortune, my cousin is dead, and I am
left alone."

He spoke so feelingly, and wept so freely, that the passengers believed
his story, and pitied and tried to comfort him. Then the ronin said to
the boatmen:

"We ought, by rights, to report this matter to the authorities; but as I
am pressed for time, and the business might bring trouble on yourselves
as well, perhaps we had better hush it up for the present; I will at