The Breath of the Gods Part 64

"The Emperor, the Emperor!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Dodge, with such vehemence that the a.s.sembly had to join or be deafened. "Banzai Nippon!" roared Dodge.

"Banzai Nippon!" vociferated Todd.

"Banzai Nippon!" the servants echoed in excited underbreaths as they hurried back to pantry and kitchen.

"Banzai Nippon!" cried the waiting betto and the kuruma men outside, at first hint of the call.

"Banthai Nip-pon!" lisped the the cook's baby, who sat well under the kitchen-table to escape being trod upon, and sc.r.a.ped out a foreign cake-bowl with a single chopstick.

But Yuki--a snowflake fallen on the windy slope of Aoyama--slept on, smiling, with Hagane's dagger in her heart; and on a rocky promontory across from the impregnable fortress of Liau Tung, a grim, quiet warrior sat alone, with field-gla.s.ses dangling limply from his hands, and eyes that saw only a white, white face upturned to his, and lips that murmured, "I know you now, my husband,--and shall wait! Banzai Nippon!"

while the cold steel crept nearer to a warm and shrinking heart.

Banzai Nippon!