Yagoro. Master Goemon, look at this. Though it looks like a gunshot wound, it is a cut made by scooping with a sword. Ah, you have acted rashly, Kanpei.
Recitative. The wounded man looks up with a start, and the mother, too, is astonished.
Goemon. That reminds me, Master Senzaki. As you yourself saw, we came upon a traveller lying dead with a gunshot wound on our way hither. Upon nearer approach, we found he was Ono Sadakuro, the villain whom even his avaricious father, Kudayu, had to disown. It was said that having nowhere to go, he had turned a highwayman. There is no doubt that the murderer of Kanpei’s father-in-law was no other than he.
Mother. What, was it then somebody else that murdered the old man?
Recitative. The mother clings to Kanpei.
Mother. See, I clasp my hands to you and entreat you. It was all my fault that I should have abused you from my old complaining heart. Please, forgive me, Kanpei, and do not, do not die.
Recitative. As she entreats with tears, he raises his head.
Kanpei. Now my mother’s suspicions are dispelled and my name is cleared. I will take this thought with me to the other world and overtaking my father-in-law, accompany him over the Mountain of Death and across the Three-streamed River.
Recitative. He plunges his dirk deeper and turns it round.
Goemon. Ah, wait a while. That you revenged your father-in-law’s death without knowing it, shows that your knightly fortune is not yet at an end. By the mercy of the God of War, you have done a meritorious deed, Kanpei, and there is something I wish to show you secretly while you breathe.