3 182202465 1721 s$J%*mf- m^W Jfe*'^^*^ *'* WWW;: -'W

HAD
CHAPTER XVIII.
AERESTED AND IN PRISON.
nothing extraordinary happened to disturb
Okuma Ei's enjoyment of new-found knowledge,
he might have remained in laborer's clothes
until the American squadron sailed away. An in-
cident, not altogether surprising, however, inter-
rupted his pleasure, and made him at once long for
his double, Kichibei, to change garments.
One day, early in April, the treaty having been
concluded, one of the American ships having sailed
away to America with a copy for ratification, the
American commodore came ashore for a walk in the
country, which was then glorious with camellia- trees
in full bloom, their masses of red flowers often ris-
ing thirty and forty feet in air. On the same morning
a brass boat's-howitzer and several chests of
Chinese tea had been presented by the commodore.
The former was labeled, " To the Emperor "
(the
Americans meaning the Tycoon). The tea was for
certain Japanese officers. Two of these latter, hav-
ing finished their duties as secretaries and being
ordered to return to Yedo, wished their tea at once
carried there. Okuma, of all men, was ordered to
carrv two of the chests and deliver them at a cer-