THE midshipmen were much agitated over the exciting news of the contemplated seizure of the Chinese ships by Japan given them by the ambassador. Where could Impey have obtained his information?
“Can we depend upon the truth of this story?” Phil asked anxiously as the two lads left the embassy to return to their hotel.
Sydney shook his head.
“If what we’ve heard was in the secret letter then there’s no way to prove its truth,” he answered thoughtfully, “for now the letter is back in the hands of the Japanese.”
“If that is what was in the letter, then the seal had been broken by Impey and the Japanese will believe that we are the guilty ones,” Phil exclaimed. “That will make them even more determined to seize the Chinese ships.”
The midshipmen were more than ever suspicious of Impey’s honesty. What was his part in this international intrigue? What was Impey’s object? Why had he talked to them at the garden fête in the same strain as he had talked to the Japanese baron in the railroad train?
“I’ve found out who the baron is, Syd,” Phil added. “His name is Kosuba, and he is president of the ‘Koko Kisen’ steamship line, the largest in Japan. They own over two hundred steamers. It’s quite natural that he should want a big navy.”
“It’s very strange,” Sydney replied thoughtfully. “Impey persuades him that Japan must at once buy the Chinese squadron to prevent our getting it and goes to our ambassador the next day with the news that Japan has decided to buy or seize them.”
“And all the time,” Phil returned angrily, “the United States is not giving a thought to the Chinese ships. No one can purchase ships without money, and Congress has not appropriated money for this purpose, and probably has no thought of so doing.”
The entire affair puzzled the two midshipmen greatly.
“I suppose the ambassador will send a cable to Washington giving Impey’s information,” Sydney said as they walked toward the hotel to dress themselves appropriately for the Japanese dinner to be given them by Takishima and his sister at their own house.
“He believes implicitly in Impey,” Phil replied impatiently. “I had it in mind two or three times to break in and give him the benefit of my experience with that individual, but I saw it would be quite useless. The affair of last night, when I found him being assaulted by two secret service men for possession of the paper, is the one thing that I cannot explain,” he added. “That would convince the ambassador of his fidelity to us.”
“Where can we find Captain Rodgers?” Sydney suddenly asked. “He must be told the entire story. This is the day he is to be received in audience by the Emperor.”
Phil nodded his head; but secretly he did not relish this duty. His conscience pricked him for having foolishly held the document for even an instant. His proper course would have been to have given Takishima the letter when they met in the road after the fight at Impey’s and there told him where he had found it and the circumstances. That might have seemed the logical thing to do, but after his fight with two policemen it was not likely the youngster would confess his guilt so readily.
Captain Rodgers was in his room at the hotel when the midshipmen returned. He was much perturbed over the non-arrival of his steward, who had been sent to the ship for some of his uniforms; fortunately the executive officer had sent his valises.
Captain Rodgers saw in the faces of the lads that something serious had occurred, and questioned them in open alarm.
Phil undertook the ordeal manfully but with much embarrassment.
“We’ve just come from the embassy,” he began, striving to speak calmly, “and the ambassador has information that Japan will surely intercept and take possession of the Chinese squadron.”
Captain Rodgers’ face showed the effect of these words. “The ambassador has information!” he exclaimed excitedly. “From whom did he get it?”
“From a man by the name of Impey. He was at the garden fête yesterday,” Phil answered.
“Yes, yes. I remember him,” Captain Rodgers returned. “Who in thunder is he, and how does he come to get such information?”
“We know very little about him, sir, but I can tell you some things that may help to show whether the information is true or not,” Phil mustered up courage to say.
“Sit down.” The captain waved his hand to chairs, but Phil preferred to remain standing. Where to begin was the lad’s difficulty.
“Yesterday on the train, Mr. Winston, Mr. Monroe and I overheard this man Impey tell the president of the Koko Kisen Steamship Company that he knew the United States had made up its mind to seize the Chinese squadron, and insinuated that our visit here was only a blind to conceal the fact.”
“The scoundrel,” Captain Rodgers cried angrily. “There’s not a word of truth in it; but my audience with the Mikado will change the complexion of everything. Go on!” he added eagerly.
“Since then we have tried to watch this Mr. Impey and find out something about him, but have had but little luck.” Phil approached his confession with marked hesitancy, and Captain Rodgers showed plainly his impatience to learn what the youngster had to tell him.
“After the garden fête yesterday, Mr. Monroe and I came away in Mr. Impey’s motor car.” Phil saw the impatience in his captain’s face and decided to take the plunge. “Unfortunately, we ran over a Japanese messenger carrying an official letter from the navy department. The messenger was severely hurt and his letter lost. Later, during the ball at the prime minister’s, Lieutenant Takishima, hearing of a disturbance in a local theatre in which our sailors were involved, led us there. I became separated from Takishima and Sydney on the way, and by the merest accident I was able to save Mr. Impey from the assault of two Japanese who I thought were robbing him. It turned out they had traced the missing letter to his door and were bent upon regaining it. After rendering the two assailants unconscious, I took the letter from the hand of one of them and put it in my coat pocket, and then hurried away to join the others.”
“Where is this letter?” Captain Rodgers exclaimed anxiously.
“I intended giving it to Takishima, for I felt that I had no right to it even though it might hold information useful to the United States,” Phil stammered, “but it was again taken or dropped from my pocket. I didn’t miss it until we arrived at the Maple Club, after smoothing out the difficulty at the theatre.”
The captain had not read the morning papers, so Phil explained the theatre episode to him and the part Takishima had played.
“So Lieutenant Takishima also believes that the flag episode was arranged by some one for the purpose of starting this unpleasant encounter?” the captain asked quietly.
“Yes, sir, that’s what he said, and our men are sure that the man with the flag was not a Japanese. Marley said his eyes were round.”
“Could he have been a Filipino?” Captain Rodgers questioned thoughtfully. “There are many Filipinos in the East, who have been discredited in Manila and are quite willing to do anything to injure the United States.”
“This letter,” Phil wished to clear his mind of the fateful document, “was in Mr. Impey’s hands long enough for him to obtain from it the information he has given our ambassador.”
“You say it was taken again from you and perhaps by the Japanese?” Captain Rodgers asked, for he was just beginning to understand the seriousness of the situation. “Then they will know that the letter has been opened and read, if it has been, and having found it in your pocket will naturally suspect you of having opened it and read it.”
Phil could only nod his head in mortified silence. How much more culpable it sounded in the voice of his captain!
“And further,” Captain Rodgers’ tones were cold and accusing, “as I have brought you to Tokyo as my aides, the officials will suspect me of using you to spy upon them.”
The awkward situation came to the American captain’s mind in forceful colors. Through this unfortunate occurrence his peaceful mission to Japan might be a complete failure.
“When you found the letter was missing what did you do? Have you confided in your classmate Takishima?” The captain’s voice was anxious, but Phil’s silent negative showed him this hope of clearing up the matter was futile.
“Then unquestioningly they believe your intention was to hold this document, even though you had not opened it,” he added in severe tones. “Your actions bear out this assumption. The Japanese authorities will know by now that you attacked their agents and took the letter.”
Phil stood abashed before his captain. The situation was even more serious than he had supposed.
“I am sorry, sir,” he said humbly. “I know that I acted ill advisedly, but how was I to know that the letter would be taken from me?”
“There’s no use crying over spilt milk,” Captain Rodgers rejoined more kindly. “What we must think of is how we are to counteract this bad impression.”
Phil’s face showed a sudden gleam of happiness.
“I am willing to do anything, sir,” the lad said.
“What if you should go to your classmate Takishima, and explain to him as you have to me?” Captain Rodgers asked.
“I will do so at once, sir, if you believe that is the best way,” Phil replied quickly. He very much disliked the task, for he knew that Takishima would question his honest intentions. He would wonder why he had not immediately returned the letter, and why he had said nothing of it until it had passed beyond his control.
“I have an appointment to pay my respects to the Emperor in a few hours,” Captain Rodgers replied anxiously. “If my meeting is a success, I hope all misunderstandings will be over. But if this meeting should be stopped now at the last minute, the effect would be very bad. All eyes in America are turned to this audience. It has been noised abroad that I am the bearer of a personal letter from our President to the Mikado, and the denial of an audience would be taken by our countrymen at large to mean that Japan is unwilling to meet us amicably.”
Phil felt that the whole responsibility rested upon his shoulders. His blunder might readily be the cause of the catastrophe outlined by Captain Rodgers. The captain did not deny the existence of such a letter and had intimated that if the audience could be held, all misunderstandings would cease to exist; so undoubtedly there was such a letter.
“The ambassador has sent for me, and I am now going to the embassy,” the captain continued. He was dressed in his special full dress uniform, worn only on state occasions when crowned heads and presidents were to be visited. “It must be to talk over the situation. He is much worried. I can’t imagine what has happened to Sago,” he added irritably. “He was to have been here nearly an hour ago with my valises, but the valises arrived and no Sago.”
“He was with our sailors last night,” Phil exclaimed, “and afterward Mr. Monroe and I met him in the corridor of the hotel. It was he that telephoned to a police station near the prime minister’s house and in that way we heard promptly of the disturbance.”
“Good for Sago,” Captain Rodgers exclaimed. “I really believe he is thoroughly loyal to us. He has been my steward for over five years, and I have implicit trust in him.”
A servant knocked on the door announcing the carriage, and Captain Rodgers made ready to leave.
“I don’t anticipate trouble, but make a point of telling your classmate Takishima the whole story. Don’t allow him to harbor a single suspicion of the visit of the ‘Alaska.’ By the way,” the captain stopped at the doorway, “I hear from the ambassador that the ‘Shimbunshi,’ a Tokyo newspaper, has been attributing all manner of motives to our visit, in fact, going quite as far as to claim that we are here to precipitate war. They bring up the visit of the ‘Maine’ to Havana before our war with Spain as an example. Was there anything more in this morning’s edition?” he asked quickly. “The paper prints in both Japanese and English. I have been so busy writing important letters that I’ve not had time to open the paper.”
Phil smiled broadly. It was the first time that morning that he had felt he could indulge in such a luxury.
“There would have been one,” he replied, “only the man who was taking it to the ‘Shimbunshi’s’ office lost it and O’Neil and Marley found it and gave it to us. I have it in my valise there in my room. It’s a tirade against us, written in English.”
Captain Rodgers went with the midshipmen a short distance up the corridor and waited at the threshold while Phil entered his room to obtain the letter.
“It’s gone,” came in a startled voice from the midshipman, after he had tumbled out on the floor the contents of his and Sydney’s valises. “I am sure I put it here,” he exclaimed anxiously. “It’s not here now.”
The lad’s face was pale and worried as he met his captain’s gaze at the door.
“We are under a close espionage,” Captain Rodgers said smilingly; “after all, that can do us no harm. We can hardly be credited with an attempt to run ourselves down. While you are about it, Mr. Perry,” he added jokingly as he started away, “you had better add this to your confessions to Takishima. I am afraid no one else would believe you, but he has known you both so long that I am sure he will not credit you with such barefaced villainy.”
“Everything has gone wrong.” Phil’s voice was almost tearful as he sat on the edge of the bed and contemplated his disordered valise after Captain Rodgers had gone. “What will they believe after finding this and the secret document both in my possession?”
“They’ll think you are a bungler as a confidence man,” Sydney replied, half smiling in spite of the serious aspect of the situation. “But we can explain it all to Taki.”
Phil’s face brightened at this note of optimism in his friend’s voice.
“I feel sure that Impey is behind all this trouble,” he said thoughtfully. “How on earth he found the lost document I can’t imagine, and I have my doubts whether it contained the information given by him to the ambassador. Unfortunately, that we shall never know. If we could trace this other letter to his door, I believe the whole insidious influence that is breeding ill feeling between the two nations would come to a stop.”
“The letter was picked up by me and handed to Impey’s friend. He claimed it and I hurriedly handed it over,” Sydney exclaimed. “If I had only refused and held on to it all this trouble could not have happened. Maybe to go with Takishima and talk to Impey we might force him to confess to his part in the plot and then expose him.”
“I am afraid he’s too clever to be trapped that way,” Phil returned smilingly. “The ambassador has cautioned secrecy, so we can’t divulge what he has told us. If I claimed before him that I had found the letter in his room he would either deny it or show great joy in finding that he had not lost it, professing that he was on the point of returning it when the assault occurred. He may even now have told the Japanese officials that he had recovered the letter for them only to lose it. It’s a mighty embarrassing position to be in, Syd,” Phil ended sourly.
“What will the United States do if Japan seizes the Chinese ships?” Sydney asked.
Phil shook his head. “I don’t see why we should do anything. It would be a question between Japan and China.”
“Then it wouldn’t mean war?” Sydney asked.
“There are some annoying diplomatic questions yet unsettled between Japan and the United States, and a thing of that sort might be used to cause a diplomatic rupture. Let us hope that it is untrue, and if true, that the two countries will be able to adjust their differences amicably.” But the youngster felt down in his heart that if what Impey had said was true there was serious danger of an open rupture between the two friendly nations.