“Strange news, your highness!”
“Speak,” said Keiki, briefly.
“With these eyes have I seen it. Ill augurs it for our land and cause.”
“Speak,” said Keiki, impatiently.
“My lord, I have just come from Yedo, whither I went alone in disguise, joining my men only yester morn.”
“My lord,” said the impatient Keiki, “pray remember that the hour is late. All things wait upon your utterance. Tell me in a breath what is your news. What did you see in Yedo?”
“Foreign ships-of-war sailing up the harbor.”
“What was their purpose?”
“They demand the opening of our ports, closed for two hundred years, to the trade of the world.”
Keiki reflected.