Chapter 68

Meanwhile, Shota and Captain Minoru transferred the crate destined for Tokyo onto an eastbound ship, and proceeded to where they would wait their opportunity to negotiate the Straits. The entrance to the straits was crowded with foreign steam ships. Their little craft wound through them to seek the moorings where similar small Japanese boats waited for the right time to pass through the Straits. Shota was fascinated with the steam ships. He asked endless questions of Captain Minoru, who didn't know much, but could deduce a great deal.

Shota noted all too many cannons, which he'd first seen on the castle battlements in the provincial capital. They scared him. Why did everybody need cannons? The foreign ships were huge compared to the short-distance hand and wind powered Japanese ones. He nodded at a cannon. Captain Minoru picked up Shota's unspoken question even as Shota used a hooked pole to pick up a mooring that would hold their boat in place until they were ready to leave.