Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/193

 nine were slain, and the leader alone returned alive. Finally the whole Japanese force attacked in unison, and the Mongols withdrew to their ships, covering their retreat with guns, then entirely novel to the Japanese. A storm saved the country on that occasion, and when the Mongols came again, seven years later, they met with a different reception. Although their numerical strength had enormously increased, they never succeeded in effecting a landing. The Japanese dashed at their fleet time and again, until the Mongols huddled together and assumed the defensive. The boats of the combatants differed greatly. The invaders had large, decked vessels, with very high prows, a clumsy capstan perched at the stern, and oars passing through holes in the sides. They were also provided with a kind of artillery which is said to have discharged iron balls with a thunder-like detonation, striking down scores of Japanese, breaching their flimsy parapets, and setting their watch-towers on fire. The rowers were protected by bulwarks of timber and matting, and at the prow there was an arrangement of shields over which arrows could be discharged. The Japanese, on the contrary, had very small, open boats without any protection for the rowers, who worked in a group at the stern and were cruelly exposed at the time of retreat. But the bushi themselves plied the oars, and in these little craft handfuls of intrepid men rushed again and again to the assault of the