The vaunt was too absurd for me to contain my amusement. I chuckled openly.
“The _tojin sama_ mocks,” protested the _daimio_ beside me. “Has he not heard how the swordsmen of Nippon destroyed the vast fleet of Kublai Khan?”
“Abe Ise-no-kami speaks to the point,” commented Midzuano. “Can Woroto Sama refute him?”
“Without aspersing in the slightest degree the prowess of Nippon’s brave _samurai_,” I answered, “it is well to give the gods credit for their share in the destruction of the Mongol fleet. I have heard that the larger number of the war junks were wrecked or foundered in a great typhoon.”
“We will implore the gods to send another such typhoon,” retorted Keiki.
“The warships of my people are not clumsy junks,” I replied. “They drive into the teeth of the storm with no sails set upon their masts. I have myself twice outridden typhoons in the black ships.”
“Grant leave, Your Highness, for Mito to destroy the insolent barbarians!” cried Keiki.
“If my countrymen might know beforehand that the Mito clan were seeking battle on their own quarrel and not as representing Nippon, Your Highness could do no better than to let them attack,” I said. “The result would provide a valuable lesson for the other frogs in the well. My countrymen come in peace, desirous of honorable friendship with the people of Dai Nippon. But they are not swordless tradesmen.”
“Nor are the barbarians _samurai_ bred,” retorted Keiki. “Only five years have passed since two American warships ventured to approach Yedo Bay. The report cannot be doubted that their great _tojin_ lord was flung back into his boat by a common sailor of Nippon when he sought to come aboard the ship of the Japanese commander.”
“The shame of that insult is upon Nippon,” I said, keeping to my court smile, though my face burned with hot anger at the jibe. “The august ruler of America had given strict command that the people of Nippon should be shown utmost courtesy and friendliness. The American commander was urgently asked to come aboard the junk to receive the letter of His Highness. As a token of honor to His Highness, he came alongside the junk and was boarding the vessel when the outrage occurred. Believing that the insult was the act of the sailor alone, Commodore Biddle restrained his just resentment, and left the punishment of the sailor to the laws of Nippon. We have a saying that only savages and persons of low intellect mistake moderation for fear.”