IT was the last stage of Mori’s march to his seaport of Shimonoseki. In
the extreme rear, with a mounted force lately assembled under the
direction of Toro, the Prince of Mori rode. Near him were Jiro and his
ever-constant guardian, the samurai Genji, also mounted. An empty
norimon, which served as a travelling council-house, was borne by
runners in advance of this, the rear-guard.
The march of the expedition was slow, since it was regulated by the pace
of the laborers who preceded the main body, as they were to throw up the
intrenchments without which the cannon of the Mori foundries were
useless.
The division of laborers marched immediately behind the advance-guard.
Feeling little apprehension of attack from the objective direction of
their march, Mori had thrown his strength to the rear. Here, in addition
to the cavalry forces, were the cannon brought from his provinces and
those furnished by the Prince of Echizen.
Over all a moon, screened by a filmy cloud, spread its diffused light,
which rendered Mori impatient to begin the work of intrenchment, since
much might be accomplished before the foreign ships could learn of the
Imperialist plans.
When Mori and Jiro, leaving the discomfited Aidzu and the vacillating
Emperor together, had rushed from the palace enclosure to mount the
horses provided by Echizen just outside, there had been no time for
explanations. Mori was not even surprised to find Jiro joined by Genji
before they had galloped a mile. He had become accustomed to the
association of these two in a convenient comradeship.
The first work of that night had been the posting of mounted guards in
advance and in the rear of the laborers, assembled by Echizen. This
done, the three had galloped to the division of the cannon, which was
hurriedly organized into some semblance of individual batteries and
despatched after the proletariat division.
Then in a wild, quick dash across the country the Prince of Mori had
marshalled his infantry, swordsmen, and riflemen from the scattered
columns into one compact corps. Time was now pressing, but the Shining
Prince had yet to converge his parallel lines of cavalry.
Fearing that the unstable Emperor, in some new doubt of expediency,
might yet despatch other troops to recall him, Mori placed his strongest
cavalry body under the command of Genji in the rear.
While waiting for one of these divisions to file past him, Mori, turning
suddenly to Jiro, asked:
“How came you into the Emperor’s palace, Jiro?”
“It was simply done,” replied the lad. “I returned with the couriers
sent by you to your forces from the fortress of Mori.”
“You came in good time,” Mori said, in quiet commendation.
The distribution of the various forces completed, Mori, ordering Genji
to exercise a general oversight until his return, had turned to gallop
back to the palace. He had gone but a short distance, however, when he
found that the lad Jiro was close behind him.
“Return to Genji’s cavalry division,” he ordered, briefly.
“But, your highness, I am your personal armor-bearer; I must accompany
you.”
The hard-riding form of Genji at this moment had dashed forward. Mori
was astounded at this singular disobedience.
“What, you!” he had cried. “You leave an army to care for itself!”
“But the lad—Jiro,” said Genji.
“Is he, then, so precious that you endanger the safety of a whole cause?
Return at once, both of you, to your stations.”
Without a word more, Mori rode to the palace to confer with Echizen. He
found the premier greatly troubled.
“Mori,” he said, “I cannot prevail upon the Emperor to make me his own
premier as well as that of the Shogun. Already he is weakening. You must
expect little aid from me now, since I will be under the Shogun. I may
aid you unexpectedly, but rely upon nothing more than my willingness.
Undoubtedly, efforts will be made to interfere with you, but disregard
them. Obey the order you have received, and allow no Shogun to
countermand it. The foreigners once aroused, the rest will come in
time.”
So it was with an anxious heart that Mori rode in the rear of his forces
on the last stage of the journey. Up to this time nothing untoward had
occurred. He had met and joined to his army the forces under Toro,
ordered earlier to proceed from the Mori fortress to Yedo. All was well
with them.
The melancholy of the Prince was broken by the entrance through a sudden
opening made in the group of his horsemen of some strange samurai.
Straightway these samurai, having delivered to him some rolls of
parchment, were dismissed to the advance.
The general staff of Mori, which included Genji, Toro, and the boy Jiro,
were summoned about the Prince for council.
Mori, who had dismounted from his horse, spread out upon the ground and
examined by the light of a lantern the plans of the heights overlooking
Shimonoseki. Quickly he marked upon their surface black spots.
“Here you will dig your trenches,” he ordered Toro. “It is time for the
work.”
The heights overlooking the water below were entered first by the
advance-guard, now under Mori in person. A cordon was placed about them,
with every approach from the land guarded. Into the large circle thus
formed Toro led the laborers under their direction. At once the trained
pioneers began the erection of earthworks upon a system imparted by Mori
to Toro, and from the latter direct to the chief pioneers. The entire
space of the immense circle was soon filled by the burrowing, grubbing
laborers.
While these were sinking holes on the landward side, it became apparent
that no raised fortifications were to be made a target for ships. The
hills themselves were cut into, but always upon the landward side,
leaving their natural elevation towards the sea. Thus the guns would lie
in a pit below the surface of the highlands. The walls were all within.
Mori’s next task was the formation of the infantry into another circle
to the landward of that occupied by the pioneers. Into the centre of it
the cannon were drawn, where they were to remain until the trenches were
ready for their occupancy. The remaining force of cavalry was massed at
a convenient station, whence they could be sent quickly to any desired
point.
Now at last there came a period of inaction for Mori. The pioneers were
making full speed, but nothing further could be done until the trenches
were completed. In this breathing space Mori rode apart from all his
forces, dismissing his temporary staff to their tasks of oversight.
Upon a lonely bluff the Prince dismounted, where he was able to make out
indistinctly the foreign ships of war at anchor below. Concerning their
identity he was little informed. He knew several nationalities were
represented, since the advent of the Americans had drawn English, Dutch,
French, and Russian men-of-war to the coast. At least four nations must
be represented in the little fleet that stretched out yonder over the
water.
“It little matters,” said Mori. “They may be American, English, French,
or Russian, but they are all foreigners, and desire to encroach upon our
sacred realm.”
As he turned away from the water a young officer of his staff saluted
him.
“Many trenches are now prepared, your highness,” he said.
At once the task of installing the guns was begun. Out from their
guarded circle they were drawn. The horses originally transporting them
were aided by the cavalry mounts, while footmen pulled enthusiastically
at the wheels as they sank into the trampled mire or were blocked by
natural obstructions.
Once within the pits destined for their reception, the guns were
levelled and adjusted by men from Mori’s works. The crews appointed to
each gun were composed of the followers who had come from the Mori
fortress.
Dawn found much of the work completed. The trenches were fashioned, the
guns within the pits, and the cavalry in their appointed station. The
outer cordon of guards was instructed to dismount and to recline, horse
and man, so that nothing suspicious could be seen from the decks of the
vessels below.
Within the trenches the adjustment of the heavy pieces was in progress,
together with the levelling of a gun platform or the furtive sighting of
a gun. Such of the infantry as were not engaged in this employment were
thrown out as scouts on the landward side, that no Shogun force might
attack them in the rear.
Mori now made a round of inspection within the fortress. Seeing that a
number of the guards were in position for their final firing elevation,
the Prince called Toro to him.
“Let the crews be drilled,” he ordered, “but without raising the guns
above the tops of the trenches.”
The young and impetuous Toro gave his orders speedily. The crews were
thus familiarized with their pieces.
During the course of the forenoon it was observed that the foreign fleet
changed its position, standing off from land, and that two vessels left
the squadron and disappeared around the headland.
“They are in communication with the Shogun’s people,” said Mori, aloud.
“Catzu will be upon us shortly,” said a voice at his elbow.
Turning, Mori found the youth Jiro. His eyes warmed with interest as he
regarded kindly the boy who, with the spirit of a samurai, had never
faltered in his service. Feeling strangely drawn towards Jiro, the
Prince looked about him for some piece of especial employment to give
him as a token of favor.
“Ah, my boy,” said he, “there is a rare spirit within thee. Would that
thou wert a man.”
Hot blood colored the cheeks of the boy.
His eyes clouded, then his head drooped forward.
“My lord,” he faltered, almost tremulously, “I am indeed a man, I do
assure you.”
Mori smiled.
“Only a boy, Jiro, that is all. But see yonder, they are bringing in the
last and largest of the guns. Do thou attend its mounting.”
“And after,” asked Jiro—“after it is mounted, my lord, who is then to
have charge of it?”
“Perhaps thou also,” replied Mori, still smiling.
“I thank thee, my lord,” said Jiro, bowing deeply and hurrying away.
The Prince was still standing there, smiling across the water, when
Oguri, his chief of staff, approached him, and bowing low, awaited his
pleasure.
“What is it, Oguri?” he asked.
“Your highness, the Lord of Catzu is at the outer guard-post, announcing
that he comes with a message from the Shogun.”
Mori’s brows darkened.
“Tell him,” he ordered, “that we know no Shogun here,” and turned again
to the water-front.
In a flash he saw that the foreign fleet was approaching a spot opposite
his position.
Oguri maintained his place.
“Will you not see him?” he asked.
The sight of the fleet changed the determination of Mori.
“Tell my Lord of Catzu that I will see him outside the works, as Lord
Catzu simply. Have him conducted outside, if you please.”
The Lord of Catzu was brought to the spot mentioned by the samurai
deputed by Oguri. Mori met him coldly. When Catzu offered credentials
from the Yedo government the Prince waived them aside.
“No credentials are necessary, my lord,” he said. “I receive you as a
private individual.”
“I come as an official,” returned Catzu.
“What is it you wish to say to me?” inquired Mori, in as haughty a tone
as his own.
“As a representative of the Shogun, I order you to disarm. The shogunate
alone makes peace and war.”
“I have the sanction, the command, of the only master I acknowledge—his
Serene Majesty the Mikado.”
Catzu still breathed heavily from his labored ascent of the hill, for
the Mori men had refused to permit him the attendance of even his
runners.
“Do you still refuse to obey the august Shogun?” he cried, testily and
with difficulty.
“I obey the Mikado,” returned Mori.
“Disarm!” roared the now infuriated Catzu.
Mori raised his hands as though in preparation for a signal. He held
them aloft as he shouted:
“I shall give you my answer with awful effect, your highness.”
Sharply Mori lowered his hands. The sally-port facing them crashed
sharply open, disclosing the interior of the lately erected
fortifications.
“Look, my Lord of Catzu.”
In trepidation Catzu looked about him. The silent, absorbed patriots
were at their guns. Directly across from the sally-port within the works
the gun of Jiro had been placed in position. The youth bent forward, was
sighting the piece, while Toro, arms akimbo, stood back, approval
written upon his face.
“Guns and men,” muttered Catzu; then, catching sight of Toro, he almost
rushed upon him. Toro, surprised, turned about and faced his father.
“Thou recreant son!” roared the senior Lord of Catzu. Meeting his
father’s eyes squarely, Toro kept silence.
“Thou art,” said Catzu, “truly a vicious product. Hast thou forgotten
all the precepts of honor taught thee from childhood? Thou art no son of
mine, nor indeed of Japan, for what man can be a patriot with honor who
sets his father at defiance? It is admitted by even those more ignorant
than thou that a true son owes his first allegiance in life to his
parent.”
“Nay, my lord,” replied Toro, quickly. “You do labor under a mistake.
The first allegiance a son of Japan owes to any man is that claimed of
him by his supreme master, the Emperor. Banzai, the Mikado!”
Mori stepped quietly before the enraged Catzu.
“Now, my Lord of Catzu,” he said, “you shall have my answer.”
As he spoke, he caught up a light rifle from a guard at the gate and
fired into the air. Instantly the crews, with hoarse cries, elevated
their pieces until their muzzles stood above the breastworks; carefully
they trained them upon the ships.
“Ready, my lord,” shouted Toro.
“Ready, my lord,” echoed Oguri.
Mori made a sign. Instantly a heavy discharge rent the air and shook the
ground whereon they stood.
Jiro, at his gun, directly before Mori and Catzu, himself applied the
match, and then, stepping back, squinted along the piece to see the
effect of his fire. The ball broke a foremast on the leading vessel. In
consternation Catzu left the place, the design of the crafty Mori to
embroil him with the enemy through his accidental presence dawning upon
him.
For upward of an hour the firing continued. At the end of that period
the ships drew off from range. Mori, elated at having held his own
against the foreigners, and now certain of the consequences of his
action, withdrew his people from the batteries. That night the army
rested, for Mori knew that the foreigners would lay the cause of the
bombardment to the shogunate and make new demands upon it.
The next day a courier from the Kioto court entered his works.
“It is some new mark of the Mikado’s regard,” cried Toro, impulsively.
Sadly Mori smiled.
“I fear me it is,” he said.
With a calm face and firm hand Mori opened the despatch. His face
darkened.
“What is it?” cried Toro.
“We are branded as outlaws,” answered Mori, his spirit quite gone, a
deathly pallor creeping over his face. “We are forbidden to approach the
Imperial city.”
“Aidzu?” whispered Jiro, almost in tears.
“Yes, Aidzu,” repeated Mori.
* * * * *
A garrison was left in the works in charge of Oguri, who was to make
more intrenchments. Mori, with his cavalry and footmen, accompanied by
Toro, Jiro, and Genji, returned inland that night to the fortress of the
Prince.
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[Illustration: Decoration]