"Three ships already sunk! Three!" screamed the boy, wildly, and tossed up his foreign jockey-cap.
"Kwannon preserve us! What has happened—an earthquake?" cried old Suzumè, hastening from the well-curb, and wiping red hands on her apron as she came.
"War! War, nurse! Our country is at war this minute, and three Russian battle-ships are already sunk!"
"We'll teach the bears that we are not to be trampled—Banzai Nippon!" boasted the paper-boy, as he hurried back to the street.
Iriya, not quite dressed, thrust her head from the parted fusuma.
"War, Mistress! War, Master! The honorable Mr. Togo has sunk all the Russian battle-ships and beheaded all the generals with his own hand!" shrieked Suzumè. Maru began to cry.
"War!" faltered Iriya, and shrank back into the dim room.
"Banzai! May our Emperor live a thousand years!" roared Tetsujo. Those outside could hear him hurtling about the narrow room. "Tell them to hang the flags above the gate, woman! Quick! Every moment wasted is a sacrilege! Gods of my Ancestors, at last we fight! Would that I were with Togo!"
Iriya, after giving orders for the flags, threw herself before the family shrine, where lights burned always in small, steady, pointed flames. "Ancestral spirits of our home, old deities of this land, give strength to our soldiers and sailors!" she whispered.
Tetsujo brushed past her, fully equipped for walking. His old face twitched with eagerness.