rike that
marks the beginning of a glorious era for our loved Nippon."

"Glorious, yes," answered Togi. "Whether we win or lose, it will be
glorious. Our soldiers will know how to fight and die for their country,
as they have always done, and even if defeated they will not be
dishonored."

"Dream not of defeat," protested Namoto. "Let not that word of evil omen
pass your lips. To doubt may draw down on us the frown of the gods."

"But America is a great country, and her people, too, are brave.
Besides, they are as the sands of the seashore for number."

"So was Russia great, and yet we beat her to her knees. We hurled back
her armies and we crushed her fleets. So will we do to this haughty
country, that sneers at us as an inferior race. America has had no real
war for fifty years. She has no veterans left. We have hundreds of
thousands who have had their baptism of fire on the field of battle. Can
their raw volunteers face the seasoned warriors of Japan? Their regular
troops are but a handful and are scattered all over the country. Before
any real force can be brought against us, we will have subdued all the
country west of the Rocky Mountains. Then will come negotiations. As
the price of peace, we will wrest from her Hawaii and the Philippines,
and Japan will be the unquestioned mistress of the Pacific."

"But before this can be done," objected Togi, "will not the Canal be
repaired, so that the rest of the American fleet can pass through and
attack us?"

"No," replied Namoto. "Our first care will be to seize the Canal at the
Pacific end and blockade it. The ships can only come out one by one, and
they would be an easy prey to our vessels awaiting them in overwhelming
force. We would be like cats waiting at the door of a mouse trap. If,
on the other hand, they abandoned this and sailed around the Horn, it
would be a matter of many weeks before they would reach us, and then they
would be strained and weather tossed and uncoaled. Then, too, the
Pacific squadron will have been destroyed, and we will have the advantage
in ships and guns. If, on the way, they attacked Japan in retaliation,
our fortifications, backed by our land forces, would hold them off."
"They could land no troops and would have to content themselves with a
harrying of the coast that would amount to nothing."

"Our plan is perfect," he went on; "everything has been provided for.
But all depends on the blocking of the Canal. If,