Tokyo Bay by Anthony Grey Read Free Book Online Page B

mountain.’
Eden considered this statement in silence, still looking thoughtfully towards the mountain. ‘Such beauty can’t be the sole preserve of any one nation,’ he said at last. ‘It belongs to all peoples of the wor1d
‘If you tried to climb Fuji-san, master, you would be killed without any hesitation,’ exclaimed Sentaro. ‘You must never try.’
‘But I’ve already climbed it,’ said Eden quietly.
‘How could you, master? You’ve never been here before.’
‘I mean I’ve already scaled Fuji-san in my heart.’ Eden turned to face the castaway who was now crouching by the gunport. ‘Last night in a vivid dream I reached the summit. Arid I felt something very beautiful and strange that I can’t explain.. . I still can’t forget that feeling. It made me want to go up there more than anything else in the world.’
‘I hope you never do, master,’ said Sentaro fearfully, after a long pause. ‘Because if you do, I’m sure you’ll die.’

3
    ON THE QUARTERDECK, Co mm odore Perry’s flag lieutenant, John Rice, waited dutiful and alert at a suitable distance from his commanding officer. By the lieutenant’s side a fresh - faced midshipman stood eagerly at attention, his body as taut as a tightly coiled spring. Like their august superior, both men were tensely watching the ball of smoke curling up from the hilltop battery which had fired the single warning shot. Their faces showed that they too were wondering anxiously whether further shots would follow.
Lowering his gaze, the lieutenant studied the imposing figure of Commodore Perry as he stood at the port rail. Holding his long telescope to his eye, he was watching the smoke of the explosion drift skyward, but he made no move to issue any further commands and Rice relaxed.
‘I’d guess the commodore has decided that disdain is the appropriate response to a gnat bite,’ whispered the flag lieutenant. ‘I don’t think he’s going to be lured into making any false move
The eighteen-year-old midshipman, flattered by the flag lieutenant’s confidential aside, beamed and nodded his agreement. ‘So it would seem, sir!’
Rice glanced casually down towards the spar deck, making a routine check that all his previous orders were being carried out, and by chance his eye fell on the Japanese castaway at the moment he flung himself prostrate at Robert Eden’s feet. The strangeness of this act beside an open gunport arrested the flag lieutenant’s attention, and he continued to watch as Eden dragged the Japanese upright and began to speak sharply to him. After a second or two, Rice looked round in Perry’s direction to see if the inci dent had attracted his superior’s attention; but the commodore was still scanning the fortified shore through his telescope. With a thoughtful expression, Rice drew out the notepad on which he normally jotted details of the commodore’s orders. Beneath Eden’s name he quickly scribbled an informal message, and, folding the paper in half, he handed it unobtrusively to the midshipman.
‘When you next have reason to go down to the spar deck, Mr. Harris,’ he said in a low voice, ‘give this quietly to Lieutenant Eden with my compliments. It’s a private message, not an order.’
‘Very good, sir.’
The midshipman, who had followed the flag lieutenant’s gaze, tucked the note carefully into a pocket of his tunic and together they watched further animated exchanges take place between Eden and the Japanese castaway. They noticed that, while they talked, both men turned frequently to look towards the shore and the spectacular outline of Mount Fuji.
‘I’ve heard his men say that Lieutenant Eden is a very brave man: said the midshipman hesitantly. ‘They’ve got the greatest respect for him:
‘That respect is certainly deserved,’ said Rice pensively. ‘I know Lieutenant Eden better than most because we did our first year at Annapolis together when the Naval Academy was founded. We were just acting midshipmen in