The Swiss said cautiously, "I think that's about right, Sir William."

"For Christ sake, I've spent days negotiating, threatening, losing sleep, renegotiating until they swore on the Shogun's head to meet in Yedo on November 5th, the Shogun on November 6th and now this!" Sir William gulped his drink, choked and swore for almost five minutes in English, French and Russian, the others staring with admiration at the gorgeously descriptive vulgarities.

"Quite right," the Admiral said. "Tyrer, pour Sir William another gin."

Instantly Tyrer obeyed. Sir William found his handkerchief, blew his nose, took some snuff, sneezed and blew his nose again. "The pox on all of them!"

"What do you propose, Sir William?" the Admiral asked, keeping the delight off his face at this further humbling of his adversary.

"Naturally I'll reply at once.

Please order the fleet to Yedo tomorrow to bombard port facilities of my choosing."

The Admiral's blue eyes narrowed. "I think we will discuss this in private. Gentlemen!"

Tyrer and Johann at once began to leave.

"No," Sir William said tightly.

"Johann, you can go, please wait outside.

Tyrer's my personal staff, he stays."

The Admiral's neck reddened but he said nothing until the door had closed. "You know my views on bombardment very well. Until the order from England arrives, I-will-not-order-it unless I am attacked."

"Your position makes negotiations impossible. Power comes from the barrels of our cannon, nothing else!"

"I agree, we only disagree on timing."

"Timing is my decision. Good. Then kindly just order a small cannonade, twenty shells on targets of my choosing."

"Dammit, no! Am I not clear? When the order arrives I will conflagrate Japan if necessary, not before."

Sir William flushed. "Your reluctance to assist Her Majesty's policy in the most minor way is beyond belief."

"Personal aggrandizement seems to be the real problem. What do a few months matter? Nothing --except prudence!"

"Prudence be damned," Sir William said angrily. "Of course we will get instructions to proceed as I, I repeat I advise! It is imprudent to delay. By tomorrow's mail I will request you are replaced by an officer who is more tuned to Her Majesty's interests--and battle trained!"

The Admiral went purple. Only a few knew that in all his career he had never participated in a sea or land engagement. When he could talk he said, "That, sir, is your privilege. Meanwhile until my replacement, or yours arrives, I command Her Majesty's Forces in Japan. Good night sir." The door slammed.

"Rude bugger," Sir William muttered, then to his surprise saw Tyrer who had been standing behind him, out of his eye line, paralyzed by the salvos. "You'd best keep your mouth shut.

Did they teach you that?"

"Yessir, yes indeed."

"Good," Sir William said and took his agitated mind off the Gordian knot of the Bakufu, roju and intransigence of the Admiral for later. "Tyrer, get yourself a sherry, you look as though you need one, and you'd better join us for dinner as the Admiral has declined my invitation. You play backgammon?"

"Yes sir, thank you sir," Tyrer said meekly.

"While I think of it, what's this I hear about a skirmish, your pet samurai versus the British Army?"

Tyrer gave him the details and his solution, but not about his Sensei's threat to get swords, feeling ever more guilty about hiding facts from the Minister. "I'd like to retain him, of course with your approval, sir, but he is a very good teacher and I think will be most useful to us."

"I doubt that and it's more important to have no more trouble here. No telling what the fellow will do, he could become a viper in our nest. He's ordered out tomorrow."

"But sir, he's already given me some very valuable information." Tyrer held on to his sudden distress and blurted out, "For instance he told me the Shogun's only a boy, barely sixteen, he's only the puppet of the Bakufu, the real power belongs to their Emperor--he used the title Mikado several times--who lives in Kyoto."

"God Almighty!" Sir William exploded, "is this true?"

It was on the tip of Tyrer's tongue to tell about the English speaking, but he managed to stop himself. "I don't know yet sir, I haven't had time to really question him, he's difficult to bring out, but yes, I think he told me the truth."

Sir William stared at him, his mind agog with the implications of the information. "What else has he told you?"

"I've only just started and it all takes time as you'll appreciate." Tyrer's excitement picked up. "But he's told me about ronin. The word means "wave," sir, they're called ronin because they're as free as the waves. They're all samurai, but outlawed for different reasons.

Most of them are adversaries of the Bakufu, like Nakama, who believe they've usurped power from the Midako, sorry, Mikado as I said."

"Wait a moment, slow down, slow down, Tyrer. There's plenty of time. Now, what is a ronin, exactly?"

Tyrer told him.

"Good God!" Sir William thought a moment. "So ronin are samurai who are either outlawed because their king has lost favor, or outlawed by their kings for crimes real or imagined, or voluntary outlaws who are banding together to overthrow the central government of the puppet Shogun?"

"Yes sir. He says illegal government."

Sir William sipped the last of his gin, nodding to himself, astonished and elated as he ran this all around in his mind. "Then Nakama's a ronin, and what you call a dissident, and what I'd call a revolutionary?"

"Yes sir. Excuse me, sir, can I sit down?" Tyrer asked shakily, desperate to blurt out the real truth about the man and afraid to do so.

"Of course, of course, Tyrer, so sorry, but first get another sherry and bring me a tot of gin," Sir William watched him, delighted with him yet somehow perturbed. Years of dealing with diplomats, spies, half-truths, lies and blatant disinformation were calling up warning signals that something was being hidden from him. He accepted the drink. "Thanks. Take that chair, it's the most comfortable. Cheers! You must be speaking very good Japanese to get all this in such a short time," he said easily.

"No sir, sorry, I don't, but I spend all my time at it. With Nakama, it's, well, mostly patience, gestures, a few English words and Japanese words and phrases Andr`e Poncin has given me, he's been tremendously helpful, sir."

"Does Andr`e know what this man has told you?"

"No sir."

"Tell him nothing. Nothing at all. Anyone else?"

"No sir, except Jamie McFay."

Tyrer gulped his sherry. "He knew a little already and, well, he's very persuasive and he, well, pried it out about the Shogun."

Sir William sighed. "Yes, Jamie's persuasive, to say the least, and always knows far more than he tells."

He sat back in the comfortable old leather swivel chair and sipped his drink, his mind roving over all this priceless new knowledge, already redesigning his reply to tonight's rude missive, wondering how far he dare gamble and how far he could trust Tyrer's information. As always in these circumstances, queasily he remembered the Permanent Under Secretary's parting salvos about failure.

"About Nakama," he said. "I'll agree to your plan, Phillip... may I call you Phillip?"

Tyrer flushed with pleasure at the sudden and unexpected compliment. "Of course sir, thank you sir."

"Good, thank you. For the moment I'll agree to your plan, but for God's sake be careful of him, don't forget ronin have committed all the murders, except poor Canterbury."

"I'll be careful, Sir William.

Don't worry."

"Get all you can out of him but tell no one else and give me the information at once. For God's sake be careful, always have a revolver on hand and if he shows the slightest indication of violence, scream bloody murder, shoot him or clap him in irons."