Comrades, can we live oblivious Of the blood of comrades slain Ten years since? Oh, Powers Eternal, Did their life blood flow in vain! There must be some end to evil Even in our life’s short span, That time is now--for we are marching Down with Russia--on Japan! Tell us not of Russia’s vastness-- Vast--may be--but poor and wild: Boast not of her swarming millions What are swarms unless combined? Thousands starving: traitors lurking: Coffers empty: lack of grain. How shall Russia stand against us, Stand the long and weary strain? But our own dear, precious country ’Neath its Emperor can combine: For one thousand years successive Reigns that same immortal line. We are true and we are loyal. “Roshia,” as its letters say,[1] “Dew,” that in the morning sunlight From the sword blade fades away. March then with our sunlight banner Waving proudly in the van: March beneath that glorious emblem. Down with Russia--on Japan! [1] The Japanese character for “dew” and “Russia” is identical. It was pleasant to live on the hillside instead of in the town. The freshness of heaven was above us: green trees were about us, and we felt less the restraint put upon us, for this valley was our prison. The river was our boundary on the North and East: the mountain shut out the South, and beyond the Western heights we might not go. The order had gone forth and we must not ask wherefor. Such was the fog of secrecy in which the Japanese strove to hide their every movement. In this quality of secretiveness they are the most Oriental of people, and observe in all things the letter of the injunction, “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” Within these bounds we were free to come and go, unless some too zealous sentry determined otherwise. It was a new sensation this enforced confinement, but we shared it with the military _attachés_ of the foreign Powers, and therefore could not complain of unequal treatment. Chapter XVIII IN MEMORY OF THE DEAD. A SHINTO SERVICE.