who trusted me more than the head of his own
police, who talked to me almost on the footing of an intimate friend,
had never offered me so much as the coveted "von" before my name--had
not given me even the pretty Red Eagle which is lavished on
second-rate generals and lords-in-waiting.

I became well-nigh appalled as I contrasted the sluggish
conversation, the hide-bound officialism, the stereotyped and sleepy
methods of the Western Powers with the sleepless energy, the daring
initiative, the desperate industry and courage of this rejuvenated
Eastern race.

What could any of these obsolete European Governments effect against
a nation which was really a vast secret society of forty-five
millions, directed by a sacred chief, and wielding all the mechanical
resources of the West with the almost inhuman subtlety and
ruthlessness of the Orient?

"Anything can be done for money." This maxim, which is forever on the
lips of Russian statesmen, no longer sounded true in the meridian of
Tokio.

The ruler of Japan had not offered me so much as a yen. Nay, it
was clearly expected and intended that I should devote myself
to the service of my new country without pay, and with the same
single-hearted devotion as Mr. Katahashi himself. The Mikado was
going to enroll in his services as an unpaid volunteer the most
highly-paid, in other words, the most trusted and feared, secret
service agent of two hemispheres.

And it was to cost him? An embroidered garment and two sentences
spoken in a private audience!

Such are the methods of Japan!

On our arrival at the Palace we were received by a chamberlain, who
conducted us by the private staircase to the Hall of the Imperial
Family.

The Hall is an imposing room, hung with portraits of deceased
mikados. A single chair, decorated with the emblem of the Rising Sun,
stood at the upper end.

Almost as soon as we had taken our places, a door behind the chair
was thrown up, and a number of the officers of the household, all
wearing the ancient national costume, filed in, and grouped
themselves around the imperial chair.

Then a silver bell sounded, and his imperial and sacred majesty,
Mutsuhito CXXI., Mikado, walked slowly forward into the Hall,
accompanied by his son and heir, the Crown Prince Yoshihito, and an
elderly man, attired with great richness, who was, as my guide
whispered to me, his imperial highness Prince Yorimo, second cousin
to the Emperor, and the man who had cons