The Golden Country

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Authors: Shusaku Endo
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    FERREIRA: Yuki, did you bring him here?
    YUKI: Please forgive me, but there was no other way.
    GENNOSUKE: Please forgive this intrusion. But don't scold Yuki. I'm also a samurai. I'll never mention this to anyone.
    FERREIRA: You're one of the officers of the bureau, aren't you?
    GENNOSUKE: Yes, I am. But I did not come here in that capacity.
    KASUKE: Father, you must not be deceived by that officer's words.
    FERREIRA: Lord Tomonaga is now hanging in the pit, you say?
    GENNOSUKE: Yes.
    FERREIRA: And what is the pit?
    GENNOSUKE: It's a torture devised by an official of the bureau named Hirata. A man is bound, a small hole is drilled in his temple for the blood to trickle out, and he is hung upside down in a deep pit.
    YUKI: Ohhh.
    HATSU (supporting her): Don't lose heart, Yuki. ...It's my fault for placing so much trust in Tome.
    FERREIRA: Is he being pressed to give up his faith?
    GENNOSUKE: He's a samurai. He hasn't said a word to indicate that he'll give in.
    FERREIRA: We knew that. He's a samurai of samurai. He pretended for a long time to have renounced his faith in order to shelter us.
    GENNOSUKE: Inoue also knows that he'll never give in. The reason he continues to torture him ...
    FERREIRA: The reason he continues to torture him?
    GENNOSUKE: He wants to find out where you are, Father.
    YUKI: Ohhh.
    GENNOSUKE: Inoue has told him that if he reveals your hiding place, he won't have to renounce his Christianity. He says that he'll even overlook Lord Tomonaga's practice of his faith as well as that of the farmers of the village. He's very cruel.
    FERREIRA: In other words, if I fall into the bureau's hands, he promises to spare Lord Tomonaga's life.
    GENNOSUKE: Yes. But Lord Tomonaga will never tell them.
Ferreira steps backward, the eyes of everyone on him.
    FERREIRA (confused): Do they say that they'll let him go if they catch me? That's just their strategy. It's a trap. Why did you come here? You had no reason. Why did you come to tell us this?
    GENNOSUKE: I came ... I had several reasons. I came because Lord Tomonaga always had kind words for me. My mother brought me here once. From childhood I have wanted to be a samurai like him. And now he ...
    FERREIRA: That's just a pretext. You came here on Inoue's orders to draw me into a trap.
    GENNOSUKE: Do you have so great a suspicion of me? Then I'll tell you. I didn't come just to tell you what happened. I came because I wanted to save the life of Lord Tomonaga, because I wanted to help Yuki.
    FERREIRA: The bureau tried to arrange for your marriage to Yuki, to find out whether Lord Tomonaga would accept or refuse.
    GENNOSUKE: That's your imagining. There was a proposal to give her to Lord Omura, but Lord Tomonaga, of course, refused point blank.
    FERREIRA (drawing back): Lord Tomonaga is suffering this moment for me. If I give myself up, he'll be released. Is that your story? But even after I'm caught, it's a very simple matter for the men of the bureau to take his life too.
    GENNOSUKE: I must go back. Unless I do, it'll seem strange.
    KASUKE: When do they plan to bring the fumi-e to this village?
    GENNOSUKE: Oh yes, that's something else I had to tell you. The day after tomorrow.
Kasuke gives a loud moan. Gennosuke bows to Yuki, then leaves. Yuki follows, calling after him, "Gennosuke!" Hatsu walks off with her.
    FERREIRA: It's a trap. What the young samurai said ... that's just their strategy. They're not so soft as to spare Tomonaga's life just because they catch me. I know. I know how crafty these Japanese officials are. It's nothing but a trap.
    KASUKE: Father, won't you please help the people of the village?
He crawls to him on his knees.
    KASUKE: It's not just his life. Whether we live or die depends on you alone. Please, I beg you like this with folded hands. I'm afraid, I'm afraid.
The door opens and Hisaichi, Mokichi, and other villagers carry in Yuki, who has fainted.
    HATSU: Father, Yuki has fainted____It's all my fault. I did a terrible thing.
    KASUKE: The

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