“To interrupt me in such a manner, before this august assembly, will
not be tolerated.”
Whereat, in spite of the weirdness of the thing, the servants could not
help laughing. Sure that he had been bewitched, they now seized him,
and pulled him up on his feet, and by main force hurried him back to
the temple,—where he was immediately relieved of his wet clothes, by
order of the priest. Then the priest insisted upon a full explanation
of his friend’s astonishing behavior.
Hōïchi long hesitated to speak. But at last, finding that his conduct
had really alarmed and angered the good priest, he decided to abandon
his reserve; and he related everything that had happened from the time
of first visit of the samurai.