Thus equipped, this pair of emigrants set forward on
foot from Yeddo, and reached Simoda about nightfall. At no
period within history can travel have presented to any
European creature the same face of awe and terror as to these
courageous Japanese. The descent of Ulysses into hell is a
parallel more near the case than the boldest expedition in
the Polar circles. For their act was unprecedented; it was
criminal; and it was to take them beyond the pale of humanity
into a land of devils. It is not to be wondered at if they
were thrilled by the thought of their unusual situation; and
perhaps the soldier gave utterance to the sentiment of both
when he sang, "in Chinese singing" (so that we see he had
already profited by his lessons), these two appropriate
verses:
"We do not know where we are to sleep to-night,
In a thousand miles of desert where we can see no human
smoke."
In a little temple, hard by the sea-shore, they lay down to
repose; sleep overtook them as they lay; and when they awoke,
"the east was already white" for their last morning in Japan.
They seized a fisherman's boat and rowed out - Perry lying
far to sea because of the two tides. Their very manner of
boarding was significant of determination; for they had no
sooner caught hold upon the ship than they kicked away their
boat to make return impossible.
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