The feast had employed the highest art and the ransacking of every market for rare foods and choice viands. The delicate cooking and exquisite flavouring proclaimed the finest culinary art, while the mild tea and rich liquor evinced an exactness of curing and perfection of brewing that might well rank Maido’s workers and artisans in the highest class of perfection. The dinner in its almost endless round of courses represented the very acme of human endeavour, tastes, and desires covering an unbroken period of over a thousand years of polite and civil life, and might well be the joy of a people who in the nicety of its conception and the beauty of its creation stands for all time as a model to the world.

A thousand dancing girls, with embroidered gowns, reeled hither and thither over the noiseless floor, tripping time to strangely harmonious and sweet-sounding instruments, while the guests mingled and the feast progressed. The hour was neither early nor late. The night was warm. Not a leaf stirred. No sound rose from without. Then suddenly there came the cannon’s roar, a blinding flash. The startled throng sprang up and stared blankly.

“It is Hoti, god of good will, brandishing his heavenly sword and beating the mighty drum, Sekegakara,” they cried in one accord, as they recovered, and ran from one to another, talking and laughing the event away. “How silly to take fright! Let us be merry! Now and for ever!” rang out, sounding anew the dash of pomp, the march of joy.

Then again and again the threatening voice broke upon the still air, telling them that a new agency, the force of a friendly foe, was at their door, bidding them hearken. With each discharge their fears grew, until bitterness and hate burst forth in determinate unison:

“Foreign devil!”

It was all they could say; it was enough. Yet in all that excitement there were two who more than others controlled their emotions, and set about calmly to dissuade hasty and ill-advised action. From the firing of Commodore Perry’s first shot Ikamon divined its certain meaning; and before the old Susquehanna had ceased sounding her notes of warning he had begun to evolve a plan for his own aggrandisement. Therefore, while others fell upon one another in loud appeals to the gods, he moved quietly among them, foretelling the true character of the strange visitation. It was quite different, however, with Tetsutaisho, for at the first sound of firing he fell upon his knees in the midst of a coterie of admirers, and between gesticulating with his arms and beating his head upon the floor prayed first to one god, then another, to drive away the unforeseen and save them from an untimely end. Whether it be earthquake or “foreign devil” mattered not to him so long as their women be spared and their honour maintained, though when understanding finally dawned he suddenly changed face and began strutting around in a boastful manner, vowing the enemy all sorts of speedy overthrowings and fatal exterminations.

Between Ikamon’s expounding and Tetsutaisho’s boasting there was left little place for speculation, yet there was one, young as he was, who gave himself over to calm reason. Shibusawa not only judged, but observed as well. Before the conclusion of the first salute from the little squadron in the harbour he had realised that the spirit of the entertainment was broken; and before the last began, saw that the guests were departing, some politely though all in haste. The few who had the right were hastening to the citadel, while others sought elsewhere the most advantageous points of observation; therefore Shibusawa embraced the earliest opportunity to withdraw, and retired directly to his own rooms.

From the lower side of his chamber he could see out across the harbour to where the strange vessels were being placed at anchor. The grey hulls of the little squadron lay broadside to the city, and their long rows of mysterious lights shone brightly against the dark background. Rumour had pictured these castles of the deep, though few in this sacred land had known or seen them in reality. The sight was an inspiring one, and when the final salute began Shibusawa’s spirit rose, and as volley after volley rang out against the still, cool air of night his patriotism stirred him to grand, uplifting thoughts. Here at last was a force unknown to them; a power beyond their comprehension; a god to be reckoned with.

He did not stand there long, but in that time fully resolved what he himself should do. It was a moment for serious thought, and in it there came to him a world of possibilities. There was no need for him in the council chamber; he had not yet assumed the responsibilities of state. His place in the family was that of a makeshift, and his true voice unheeded. Why not go out into the world and there gain that knowledge which would satisfy his thirst and possibly in some measure enable him to preserve the happiness of his own people? Yes; here was an opportunity; he must go, he would go, come what might.

And then he thought of Kinsan. Would she understand him? He must see her, and explain. He would reassure her, and gain her consent. Then, and not until then, there would be no obstacle in the way of his highest ambition. But how could he reach her? and would she hear him?