“Patriotic nothing! That’s all bunkum just like the jiu jitsu. The Japs are no better than any other nation and I guess they’re a little worse. They’ve got cowards and traitors just like other people—maybe more so. But you can’t trust traitors, you know; they won’t stay hitched. Besides, we need skilled men. The Chief has been cabling to Washington for attachés for six months, but the cotillions didn’t seem willing to spare anybody until you came. And they sent you in the end by the longest way round.”
Topham looked his sympathy. It had been three months since he had left Berlin. The Nevada, which he had joined at Brindisi, had dawdled along via Port Said, Aden, and Singapore and had reached Manila just too late to enable him to catch the swift, direct passenger steamer for Japan and compelling him to take a much slower and roundabout boat.
“I could have come quicker,” he admitted. “But the Nevada needed a watch officer, and—”
“And so you spent three months in coming by water instead of ten days coming by Siberian railway. And all the while the need for you here was increasing. I understand you speak Japanese, Topham.”
“A little!”
“Only a little?” The secretary was disappointed. “That’s bad—unless it’s only your beastly polite way of disdaining knowledge. Well! you’ve got your work cut out for you here! The Japs mean to fight us, and we have been grossly negligent in preparing for them. We haven’t even informed ourselves as to the extent of their preparations. The Chief has done what he could, but it hasn’t been much.”
Topham leaned back and let his eyes rove over the expanse of city and bay beneath the windows. No scene could be more peaceful. War seemed to him far-off and impossible.
“You really think they mean to fight?” he questioned. His tones expressed doubt, though much less than he felt.
“Of course! Of course! No doubt at all! They want to fight and they will fight. The only question is as to when they’ll fight. Japan means to be the England of the Pacific, and she means to dominate China, including Corea and Manchuria. The open door—Bah! No Japanese intends to allow it a moment longer than he must. Oh! they’ll fight! And they’re getting ready to fight now.”
Topham listened respectfully. Listening was Topham’s long suit. But he did not for an instant believe.