And the Yoshiwara girls were small, and bright like
steel, and good to look upon; but I could not stop, for I knew
that Unga rolled on the tossing floor by the rookeries of the
north.
'The men by Yeddo Bay had met from the ends of the earth, and had
neither gods nor homes, sailing under the flag of the Japanese.
And with them I went to the rich beaches of Copper Island, where
our salt piles became high with skins.
'And in that silent sea we saw no man till we were ready to come
away. Then one day the fog lifted on the edge of a heavy wind,
and there jammed down upon us a schooner, with close in her wake
the cloudy funnels of a Russian man-of-war. We fled away on the
beam of the wind, with the schooner jamming still closer and
plunging ahead three feet to our two. And upon her poop was the
man with the mane of the sea lion, pressing the rails under with
the canvas and laughing in his strength of life. And Unga was
there--I knew her on the moment--but he sent her below when the
cannons began to talk across the sea.
As I say, with three feet to our two, till we saw the rudder lift
green at every jump--and I swinging on to the wheel and cursing,
with my back to the Russian shot.
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