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grimace as he put it on.
    ‘Beggars can’t be
     choosers,’ smirked Benkei and held his nose against the reek. ‘At least no
     one will go near you!’
    After the farmer had gone back inside, they
     slipped out of the barn and entered town. Keeping to the backstreets and alleys, they
     passed walled gardens, several bubbling
onsen
and a noisy kitchen. The inviting
     smell of cooked rice waftedunder Jack’s nostrils, and his mouth
     began to water and his stomach tighten. He suddenly realized how critical it was that
     Benkei succeeded in his scheme.
    Forcing all thoughts of hunger aside, Jack
     followed Benkei down a narrow alleyway. They heard the clack of wood, followed by the
     rattle of rolling dice and several disappointed groans. Through a gap in the boards,
     Jack spied a group of men sitting cross-legged beside varying piles of wooden tokens.
     With an almost desperate excitement, the men began slapping down the tokens and calling
     out ‘odd’ and ‘even’.
    ‘It appears Yufuin isn’t just
     about soaking in hot springs,’ whispered Benkei, raising his eyebrows knowingly.
     ‘All the better for us.’
    They continued to make their way through the
     backstreets until they reached a small square in the centre of town. A steady flow of
     foot traffic passed along the two roads leading off from it. Kimono-clad women,
     sword-bearing samurai and finely dressed merchants browsed shops, frequented tea houses
     and entered the numerous
onsen
establishments.
    Remaining in the shadows of the alley,
     Benkei turned to Jack.
    ‘This spot is ideal. Now your job is
     to act as lookout,’ he explained. ‘If you see any
dōshin
or patrols
     coming along, whistle twice like this.’ He put his fingers in his mouth and
     sounded two high-pitched notes like a cuckoo. ‘Got that?’
    Jack nodded.
    ‘Wish me luck!’ he said,
     brushing his wild hair up into spikes. ‘Not that I need it,’ he added with a
     wink.
    Benkei marched out as if he were an actor
     taking to the stage. He strode across the square, his colourful garb drawingthe attention of passers-by. Setting himself up on a flat bench by a
     street corner, he quickly gathered a small crowd.
    Jack remained hidden in the alleyway, from
     where he had a clear view of Benkei and the main thoroughfare.
    ‘
Double your money!
’
     Benkei promised the intrigued onlookers, beckoning them closer.
    A merchant laid a confident bet upon a
     shell. With a flourish, Benkei revealed the actual location of the nut and the merchant
     cursed his misfortune. Benkei claimed his winnings. Another bet was made and promptly
     lost, and the crowd gasped in astonishment, many convinced they’d known where the
     nut was. Benkei pocketed his takings. After a third round was lost by a portly samurai,
     mutterings of disgruntlement arose and a few people drifted away. Then a cry of delight
     went up as an old woman won a small bet on the shell she’d chosen. Immediately
     there was a flurry of gambling.
    Jack had to admit Benkei was good. His
     artful skills made winning appear possible, enticing people to lay bigger bets. But, as
     Jack knew from experience, they had no chance – unless Benkei wanted them to.
    ‘People’s greed is their
     downfall,’ he’d said, and he was right.
    As the crowd grew bigger and the money
     rolled in, Jack noticed two men dressed in black
haori
jackets, tight-fitting
     trousers and dark-blue
tabi
socks heading down the road. They each wore thin
     white
hachimaki
across their foreheads and carried a
jutte
in their
     belts. The distinctive iron truncheons were the trademark weapon of the
dōshin
– the Shogun’s recently appointed enforcement officers.
    Jack whistled twice and Benkei looked up in
     alarm.
    All of a sudden Jack felt a hand clamp on to
     his shoulder.The fingers dug in, pain rocketing through his body as
     pressure was applied. His legs were kicked out from under him and he buckled to his
     knees. Struggling to break free from the