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Rh the arrests, and that was why they had such happy faces. Of course, the government would not permit any news to be printed about the arrests.

“Why did my husband do that? For whom?” Okee asked herself. She felt terribly lonely. The world was very empty. All her husband’s comrades had been fooled. Nonsense—that wasn’t true, either.

It was the 16th of March. All the morning the door of the police headquarters kept opening and shutting, letting in and out police armed to the teeth. Police motors with blue-striped wheels had kept driving up with a loud hooting of horns. The door of the head office would be flung open, out would come a few police with sabres in their hands. They would board the cars, the engines would hum, and the cars glide away down the street. After a few minutes they would return with a new batch of prisoners. The prison in the police headquarters was full. Every time the keys grated in the lock the prisoners inside would stop their talk and look up eagerly. Watari, Senzomoto, Sessito and Sakanishi would recognize the newcomers and welcome them. The policeman standing guard would get as red as a turkey-cock. He would puff out his chest and make a fuss and splutter. Nobody paid any attention to him. All the fifteen men locked in this cell had been comrades, had fought side by side in the front rank.