Silk
Chapter Five—Kuninosuke Masumizu: Lightning in a Bottle

“Kuni, place your bet,” the miner said, first in English and then in his native Portuguese.
Kuninosuke Masumizu, called Kuni in this nighttime gambling den behind a Chinese store, was known for his facility with languages. He spoke Japanese, of course, and had picked up English faster than the other Wakamatsu colonists. His visits to the gambling den came in handy in exposing him to new languages.
Five of them were assembled around a table, a metal square tray in front of them. Each corner was numbered from one to four. The Brazlian miner was the banker; he watched as ...