Chapter V

From that day our food was greatly improved, for besides the rice broth, and salt radishes, which they had hitherto given us, we now received very good fresh and salt fish, roasted or boiled in poppy-oil, soups made from different kinds of savory herbs, or sea-mussles, and when the snow began to fall, they shot sea-dogs, bears, and rabbits, for us, and prepared under our direction, sometimes, a Russian dish, namely, fish eaten with thin grits, and little barley-cakes. Our food was brought to us three times a day. For drink, we received warm and strong tea, and after any fatiguing examination, they gave us two glasses of warm beer, which they did also in cold weather. They also furnished us with furred coats, and night garments, and when they found that it was not customary in Russia to spend the night on the ground, they made us benches to sleep upon.

This amiable behavior, on the part of the Japanese, emboldened us to ask one of the officers, who visited us, whether it was not possible to have a window cut in the back wall of the shed, so that we might be able to see the sky and the tops of the trees. He did not refuse our request, but examined the wall, asked us where we would like to have it made, praised our choice, and went away. We, of course, believed that our entreaty would be complied with, but we were very much mistaken, for when, a few days afterwards, we repeated our request, the officer replied that the Japanese were very anxious about the state of our health, and feared lest the north wind would give us a cold; therefore, they deemed it more prudent not to make a window.

As the autumn came on, and it grew more and more unpleasant to live in an open building, the Japanese, at our earnest solicitation, pasted paper over the lattice work, and made a window in the roof, which could be opened and shut by means of ropes. Through this window we saw the sky at times, which, in a situation like ours, was a great comfort. Moreover, when it grew colder, they dug a couple of holes in the ground, about two paces distant from the cages, and having lined them with flag-stones, filled them with sand. During the day they burnt charcoal on these hearths, and by sitting close to the grating, we could warm ourselves without being within reach of the coals. After a few days, they gave us pipes with very long stems, to the middle of which they tied wooden balls, which were too large to be drawn through the pales. In this way we could smoke the pipes, which they filled for us, as often as we wished, without having the power to draw them into our prisons. This mistrust of us, raised our indignation to the highest pitch; but when we expostulated with them, and told them, in the strongest terms, what a horror and aversion the Europeans entertained for suicide, they merely laughed, and appealed to their laws, which enjoined on them the necessity of keeping from their prisoners every thing with which they could hurt either themselves or others. For this reason they would never trust us with needles to mend our clothes, nor even with a pair of scissors to cut our nails, obliging us to put our hands through the bars of our cages, that the soldiers might perform the operation for us.

In the beginning of our captivity, they had not allowed us even to change our clothes or wash our shirts, but now they provided us with water for that purpose, which relieved one of our most pressing necessities. They also invited us to get into a tub, in which water was warmed by means of a pipe connecting with a little oven, and wash ourselves. I took the lead, and we found that we had all to bathe in the same water. This arrangement displeased us not a little, as we held it to be treatment unworthy of the commonest criminals. But we soon were silent on this point however, for to our great astonishment, we saw the soldiers who guarded us, follow our example, and without adding a drop of fresh water, use the same that we had bathed in! and these soldiers did not by any means hold a low rank in society, but were highly esteemed by their countrymen.

We had, in the meantime, by the command of the governor, by whose orders we were supplied with pen and ink, and with the aid of several interpreters, prepared a written defence which, when finished, we sent to him. On the fifteenth of November, we were again led into the fort, but this time with great rejoicing, and with the assurance that our affairs were prospering, and that our innocence was beginning to be universally acknowledged. The Bunjo too declared that after our assertions, and written defence, he now viewed the attack made on Japanese property by the Russian vessel, in an entirely different light, and that he was fully convinced of our entire innocence. It was true that he had not the disposing of us; that remained with the Emperor, but he would do all in his power to bring our affairs to a happy termination. In the meantime we must not be discouraged, but pray to God. This reference to God, which the Bunjo never failed to make when he examined us, always gave us pleasure, for by it we recognized with joy, that the people into whose power we were fallen, had at least some notion of a Supreme being who cared for man.

After this the ropes were taken from us, at which all the Japanese heartily rejoiced; indeed, some were so much moved as to have tears in their eyes. We thanked the Bunjo and officers for their kindness, and for the first time, returned unbound to our prison, where we found every thing so altered that it was unaccountable to us, how the Japanese had accomplished the work in so short a space of time as that during which we were absent. The lattice work of our cages had been removed, and the gloomy passage was transformed into a roomy and cheerful apartment, in which we could all move about conveniently. Round a hearth on which was boiling tea in copper kettles, they had made a kind of wooden frame, on which each of us found a cup, pipe, and tobacco pouch, and instead of the oil lamp which had formerly given us light, we were now treated to candles.

Hardly had we somewhat recovered from our astonishment, when some of the officers came with their children to pay us a visit. They congratulated us on this happy change in our condition, sat down with us by the fire, smoked and chatted. In a word, we were no longer treated as prisoners, but as guests. Our supper was now brought to us, not as usual, in cups, but on new and handsome plates. They gave us also, plenty of beer. The hopes of again seeing our native land was awakened within us anew, and this night was the first since our imprisonment, in which we enjoyed a calm sleep.

But, alas our joy lasted only a few days. Old suspicions reviving, gradually made our situation worse and worse. Our food was changed back to what it was formerly, and nothing remained but the new dishes on which they brought it to us. In the place of candles, the old oil lamp went into service again, and the guards once more hung up before our eyes the ropes which they had only a little while before removed. Gradually we observed many other indications that our affairs were again assuming a serious aspect since the commander of Kumachir, who had originally made us prisoners by treachery, arrived in Matsmai.

Our suspicions soon became certainty, for the Bunjo ordered us to instruct a Japanese in the Russian language, as they could not trust the interpreter whom we had formerly employed. We refused for a long while to undertake this tedious task, but were at last obliged to do so, as they told us very plainly that on it depended the possibility of our liberation. The Japanese had now an opportunity of satisfying their curiosity, through our very docile scholar, a scribe of the Bunjo's. They took unlimited advantage of this opportunity, to our great disgust and vexation, whilst from them we could not get a word as to the intention of their government towards us, nor even whether a Russian vessel had arrived at Japan during our absence, to demand our release. Every day our conviction grew stronger, that nothing was further from their thoughts than to liberate us, but that they were striving by every means in their power to conceal from us our sad fate, and we came to the conclusion that nothing was left to us but flight.