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A curious fact in connection with this time of trial to our patience and it was a fact that caused me some anxious speculation was that the two men, Svorenssen and Van Ryn, who, at the outset of my connection with them, seemed most likely to be a source of trouble, were the two who grumbled least at the continual calls to the braces.
"You had better go down to Ryn Gu and tell Ryn Jin, the Dragon King of the Sea, what your trouble is and ask him to find the hook for you. I think that would be the best way." "Your idea is a splendid one," said the Happy Hunter, "but I fear I cannot get to the Sea King's realm, for I have always heard that it is situated at the bottom of the sea."
The old man pointed out the direction he must take, and told him how to reach the realm of Ryn Gu, and watched him ride out to sea on the basket, which resembled a small boat. The Happy Hunter made all the haste he could, riding on the basket which had been given him by his friend.
I remember the reputation you two men and you especially, Van Ryn earned for yourselves aboard the brigantine; you were perpetually instigating trouble. But don't for a moment imagine that you will be permitted to make trouble here, for I simply won't have it.
"Certainly," said the Happy Hunter, "I am Hohodemi, the fourth Mikoto, also called in Japan, the Happy Hunter." "Are you indeed Hohodemi, the grandson of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess?" asked the damsel who had spoken first. "I am the eldest daughter of Ryn Jin, the King of the Sea, and my name is Princess Tayotama."
Reasoning thus, I next asked myself the question: Should anything happen to me should I, for instance, die, either aboard the cutter or before leaving the islands how would my death affect the fortunes of those two men, Svorenssen and Van Ryn, to say nothing of that of Billy? And why should it be desired to get rid of me? Those were not difficult questions to answer.
Here he found, instead of the queer basket on which he had come to the Realm of Ryn Gu, a large crocodile waiting for him. Never had he seen such a huge creature. It measured eight fathoms in length from the tip of its tail to the end of its long mouth. The Sea King had ordered the monster to carry the Happy Hunter back to Japan.
But my complacency was somewhat disturbed when, on a certain evening, I was instructing Billy in the problem of the reduction of the sun's altitude to the meridian. I had concluded my explanation of the problem, when the boy, glancing up at me with a smile, remarked: "That chap, Van Ryn, is awfully inquisitive, Mr Blackburn.
Ryn Jin now desired to punish the TAI, but the Happy Hunter begged him not to do so; since his lost hook was thus happily recovered he did not wish to make more trouble for the poor TAI. It was indeed the TAI who had taken the hook, but he had already suffered enough for his fault, if fault it could be called. What had been done was done in heedlessness and not by intention.
Then Ryn Jin showed his friend how to use the talismans one by one and handed them to him. The Happy Hunter was very glad to have these two wonderful gems, the Jewel of the Flood Tide and the Jewel of the Ebbing Tide, to take back with him, for he felt that they would preserve him in case of danger from enemies at any time. After thanking his kind host again and again, he prepared to depart.
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