The Barbarian and the Geisha Page #4

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The flag is a signal to that ship that

there's a consul here ready to serve it.

Must I repeat? There is no consul here.

Shimoda is closed and guarded.

The ship shall not land.

If you wish to serve it,

take down that flag.

The cannons are loaded, Mr. Harris.

Ahoy, messenger! Welcome!

Harris! Harris, American Consul!

Stand away, sir. Stand away.

We have cholera aboard.

Why aren't you flying the yellow flag?

It went overboard with a mutineer.

- Have you a doctor here?

- No. No doctor.

God help us.

We're three dead and five sick...

and it's nine days to Hong Kong.

Set sail, weigh anchor.

Have you a gun, sir? Shoot them!

They must not reach shore!

Keep back! Keep back, men.

Damn you, keep back!

Ashore there, don't touch those men!

Don't touch them!

They carry sickness!

Stay away from those sailors.

Don't go near them.

They have a bad disease.

Don't go near those men.

Can't you understand?

Cholera.

It swept the village like wildfire.

Almost everyone was stricken.

The sick were everywhere.

Harris-san did everything he could...

but he fought the sickness in his way.

My people fought with their old ways.

Prayers, chants, and paper images

of the red demon of sickness.

The dead were sealed in barrels,

taken to the sacred grounds to be burned.

Harris-san worked day and night...

but the new way was as weak as the old.

The demon of death went

from door to door.

Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris.

Very sorry, Harris-san.

What do you think, sir?

We don't know much

about cholera, Henry.

We do know

that only fire and frost will kill it.

And only God can bring a frost.

Make him understand, Henry,

fire is the only thing that'll save them.

Get him out of here!

Have you not brought enough sorrow

on my people?

Must you burn their houses?

We've given them money

to build new houses.

You must be mad.

It's the only way to stop cholera.

By fire. Sanitation.

He says we are their prisoners.

If we resist them, they will kill us.

We are to be sent home on the first boat.

I think we can go to bed now, Sam.

She's sleeping. It's not cholera, thank God.

Put it away, Henry.

I thought that perhaps some

of those hotheads out there...

We're 5,000 miles away from home.

If they wanna cut our throats...

there's nothing we can do about it.

- Shall we have a drink, Henry?

- Yes.

If they had given us another week,

we might have licked this thing.

Now they'll go on chopping up effigies

and dying like flies.

Well, Henry...

we were sent out here to establish

diplomatic relations with Japan.

So far, we have let in a cholera ship,

started an epidemic...

burned down half the town,

and been taken into custody.

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