they were unable to gain
possession of any city or fortified place, with the exception of one
only, which was carried by assault, the garrison having refused to
surrender. Directions were given for putting the whole to the sword,
and in obedience thereto the heads of all were cut off, excepting of
eight persons, who, by the efficacy of a diabolical charm, consisting
of a jewel or amulet introduced into the right arm between the skin
and the flesh, were rendered secure from the effects of iron, either
to kill or to wound. Upon this discovery being made, they were beaten
with a heavy wooden club, and presently died.

It happened, after some time, that a north wind began to blow with
great force, and the ships of the Tatars which lay near the shore of
the island were driven foul of each other. It was determined,
therefore, in a council of the officers on board, that they ought to
disengage themselves from the land; and accordingly, as soon as the
troops were reembarked, they stood out to sea. The gale, however,
increased to so violent a degree that a number of the vessels
foundered. The people belonging to them, by floating on pieces of the
wreck, saved themselves upon an island lying about four miles from the
coast of Zipangu. The other ships, which, not being so near to the
land, did not suffer from the storm, and in which the two chiefs were
embarked, together with the principal officers, or those whose rank
entitled them to command a hundred thousand or ten thousand men,
directed their course homeward, and returned to the grand khan. Those
of the Tatars who remained upon the island where they were wrecked,
and who amounted to about thirty thousand men, finding themselves left
without shipping, abandoned by their leaders, and having neither arms
nor provisions, expected nothing less than to become captives or to
perish; especially as the island afforded no habitations where they
could take shelter and refresh themselves. As soon as the gale ceased,
and the sea became smooth and calm, the people from the main island of
Zipangu came over with a large force, in numerous boats, in order to
make prisoners of these shipwrecked Tatars and, having landed,
proceeded in search of them, but in a straggling, disorderly manner.
The Tatars, on their part, acted with prudent circumspection, and
being concealed from view by some high land in the center of the
island, while the enemy were hurrying in pursuit of them by one road,
made