The Race
- It's the day of the race and nothing's going to stop it from happening.
- At breakfast, Manjiro's totally gloomy.
- Captain Whitfield picks up on it and starts talking about some changes that will occur.
- First, he's secured Manjiro an apprenticeship with a cooper (a guy who makes barrels); Manjiro will start in the spring while going to school at the same time.
- Manjiro's pretty happy about this and tells the captain why he's been so down.
- The captain already knows of Manjiro's troubles, but there's more he has to say: He's going to go back to sea.
- The captain's taking a position on a new ship because the farm just can't cover all the bills.
- Manjiro misses ship life and he'll miss the captain, too; it's a lot to think about.
- So much, in fact, that when Manjiro and Tom start racing, Manjiro takes the race as time to ponder all the stuff the captain tells him.
- On the bright side, Manjiro stays on Duffy.
- On the down side, it doesn't matter because Tom still wins the race.
- While Tom is celebrating, a big man walks up and interrupts everything.
- In front of everyone, he starts yelling at Tom.
- Turns out, Tom didn't get a chance to ask his father if he could take Lightning, the horse he rode.
- Tom's father beats Tom up in front of the crowd, then drags him and the horse away.
- Later, as Manjiro is walking home, he spies Tom in a ditch.
- Tom is bloody and crying, but he glares at Manjiro.
- Manjiro figures out that all the bruises and black eyes Tom always has probably have nothing to do with getting into fights; they probably come from getting beaten by his father.
- Tom tells Manjiro he's just fallen.
- Manjiro holds out his hand and repeats his mother's words: "Fall down seven times, get up eight."