the sailors left the ship, and hurried off to home or other haunts. But the two Japanese runaways had nowhere to go. They were dazed with the sight and sounds of mighty London, with its moving crowds, its interminable streets, and its forest of ships. They had entered it by its most imposing avenue, and, slowly sailing up the river, had watched with ever-widening astonishment and deepening trouble the signs of wealth and power. This was the country they presently meant to defy and to humble. In the future history of England, the day when they sailed up the Thames, disguised in blue sailor shirts and canvas trousers the worse for wear and tar, would be marked by a black letter.

As it was, London took distressingly small notice of them. The procession of ships sailed up and down. The docks for miles and miles were full of ships. There was a town on either side of the river that seemed to have no end. They were in the centre of millions of people, whose ultimate fate they held in their hands, but who, for the present, with provoking indifference, took no more notice of them than if they had been two gnats that strayed into dock from Plumstead Marshes.

Moreover, they were beginning to feel very hungry. With the end of the voyage, rations,

such as they were, had stopped. The galley fire was cold, the cook had disappeared, and there was not even a bit of mouldy biscuit to be had. They stayed on board partly because they had nowhere to go, and partly because they expected that their arrival would be duly notified, and that some one would come down and lead them to a place where they were to stay. Nobody coming, and hunger gnawing at them, Inouyé volunteered to go ashore and buy some food. They had three dollars left, which they had secreted beyond the ken of the rapacious bo'sun. Not knowing the value of such coin in England, it was deemed desirable that the emissary should take with him all the money. He accordingly pocketed the three dollars, and went forth in search of something to eat. He would surely come upon a place where rice was sold ready boiled, or little bowls of soup were dispensed, or, peradventure, a little fish, with trimmings of seaweed, might be purchased. Wandering about, with his weather eye open for such contingencies, young Inouyé at length came to a baker's shop. Bread does not form part of Japanese daily food, but he had learned to eat biscuit on board the Pegasus, and this at least would be softer. Besides, the negotiations for the pur

chase of a loaf of bread would not be impeded by his ignorance of the language. He need not speak a word. He had only to enter the shop, take up a loaf, put down the money, and the transaction was closed. He took up a loaf, when it occurred to him that he did. not know how much to pay for it. He had never bought a quartern loaf before, and could not even guess at its price. It might be one dollar, or less; it might be two dollars, or even three. He did not like to offer too little. Of course if he gave too much the man would give him the change. So he put down the three dollars. I am sorry and ashamed to say say that the baker, after looking at him and clinking the coins to test the goodness of the silver, swept them all into the till, and Inouyé, with a sinking heart, left the shop. He had got a loaf of bread, but in the heart of this big and pitiless city he and his comrade were penniless.

A new trouble beset him when he left the shop. He had taken the bearings of the ship as carefully as he could, but he had not walked far before he discovered that he had lost his way. For hours he walked about, faint with hunger, fatigue, and fear. Ito was hungry too, and till he came to him he would not break bread. At last, when it was growing

dusk, he happened to turn into the dock, and found Ito almost in a state of desperation on his account. The two sat down in the empty forecastle, and ate their bread with a mighty content. The next day a messenger from Jardine, Matheson, & Co.'s rescued them. Lodgings were provided for them in Gower Street, and they had plenty of money at their command. This they used in prosecuting those inquiries which were the object of their expedition. They were keen-eyed young men, and were not long in discovering how ludicrously slight was the foundation on which they had built their lofty hopes. The invincible power of England, which had dawned upon them during their voyage up the Thames, grew with every day's residence in the country.

At the end of three months news came from Japan which greatly added to their trouble. The Prince of Chosiu - perhaps incited by the knowledge that he had five secret emissaries in the enemy's camp, who would presently possess themselves of the talisman of England's power-had kicked over the traces. He had closed the Straits of Shimonoseki against British ships, and had threatened to fire upon any that came within range of his guns. The Tycoon had solemnly rebuked him, and he had defied the Tycoon.

Inouyé and Ito knew only too surely what would be the end of this. Less than six months ago they had left their prince as deeply imbued as he was with the conviction of the irresistible power of a Japanese clan, if it could only meet on equal terms with the forces of Great Britain. They were now hundreds of years in advance of their master in respect of knowledge. Their first and immediate duty was to go back to Japan and warn their prince of the hopelessness of the struggle upon which he had embarked. Like Saul of Tarsus, they had set forth on their journey full of anger, hatred, and contempt of "these new men," who disturbed the peace and order of the old régime. They would go back like Paul, humble and convinced of the power they had despised, and would hereafter become the foremost apostles of the Western civilization, to whose repulse from their shores they had devoted their young lives.

They called upon Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., and explained the peremptory need of their return. But the members of the eminent and practical firm only shook their heads. These young Japanese had been consigned to their care with other goods from Japan. They were labelled "students," and