Said General Zanzi:—
"Stay where you are, you little fool. The Guards will move first. We are going to the greatest victory a nation ever won. Do you want to be left behind—come when it is won, and march in parade order over the field? You used to fight, you infernal little eta. What is the matter with you now? Look at me."
She did this fearlessly, for the gods were at her elbow.
"You—you—What is the matter?"
"Nothing," said Hoshiko.
"You don't seem quite the Arisuga I banished to America. But then the Americans have changed you, I suppose. They are a melancholy lot and have made you so, eh? Of course, if you are less brave than you were, the Guards don't want you. Go to the Hakodate men."
"I am not less brave," smiled Hoshiko, with a salute. "And I prefer the Guards."
"Well, I ought to have known that. Come! Drink with me."
He produced a bottle of the foreign sort, and poured her a libation of terrible brandy. She drank what she could of it and managed to spill the rest as he drank.
"Sing!"