“Law and order is the order and the law,” growled Ieyasu, as the last one of those corpulent commanders eased back upon the tired, stooped shoulders bearing him hence—to what and where only the lost and fading records of regardful time could or would flaunt in the faces of a blushing posterity.

“Are the spears sharp,” demanded he, when the train had as diligently ranked apace.

“I’ll inquire, sir,” responded the orderly, thinking only of the wage he had contracted—and the echo answering back, from the farthest spoke in the wheel, sounded like:

“All’s well, sir.”

“Avast! I warrant,” muttered Ieyasu, “not one of them knows the meaning, however prodded or ribbed. A heartless task, this; and, I do believe the soul cries—but to the work:

“Forward, march!” and the drive began; the machine creaked; the master builder, however, oiled methodically its thirsty bearings and adjusted as economically the squeaking parts.

“It’s a time-keeper, if ugly,” muttered he, as the trodden ground, too, responded with agony to the listless demands of an overly candid, if seldom understood, “tramp, tramp, tramp”—and the knowing few, constant criers of, “hands off, hands off, hands off,” paled at the prospect of their own befouling—Christ’s blood bore no relation to the parboiling blue of their ensemble; Pontius had exemplified the wiser conduct.

Anxious hearts and eager eyes, over there, on the other side, amid the burnings and yearnings of betterment, atop privilege and opposed to lying, their honor at stake and a lighted beacon in the hand, singing songs of gladness and shouting defiance at sin, a mission to perform and life ahead—these were the men and women who manned the ship whose supercargo responds only to healthful dictation and whose decks are freighted with the fragrant odor of valorous deeds.

“Let the work be quickly done,” advised Yodogima, high at the helm’s guidance, aloft the citadel of manlier entente. “Strike the vibrating thing at its weakest point, and when these carping conservatives shall have once scented the cost of healthier action their flagrant confidence must fall of its own overweight. The very thought is shocking, but truth is most obvious: the only way to rid a body is to gouge an evil growth. Your hearts are strong; see that you strike deep, and nobly.”

Not a man faltered, no one questioned his rations; the prize savored of freedom, the penalties were of trifling consideration, and these men deployed their forces with a vim and an assurance that sounded afar the masked countenance of those they defied.