Chapter Eight Summary

Several days after his meeting with Ferreira, Rodrigues is taken from his cell, bound tightly at the hands and feet, placed on a barebacked horse, and paraded through the streets of Nagasaki. People flock to the procession to jeer and throw manure at the priest. Rodrigues tries to maintain a smile on his face but eventually the pain of his bindings weakens his resolve. As Rodrigues looks down on the crowd, he recognizes the face of Kichijiro. The coward is still following after the priest trying to seek redemption.

Rodrigues knows that this final procession usually precedes the captive's day of execution. He contemplates death and those who have gone before him. That night he is thrown into a cramped and urine stained cell. As he sits in the darkness, the priest hears noise outside that sound like his jailor snoring...