Takiyama faltered, and Hideyoshi proceeded. His own sword had not been cast aside; courtesy forbade it; but upon their arrival and presentation the fearless daimyo of the new school unsheathed his master weapon and reversing it tendered the hilt to Katsutoya; who was so bewildered with respect for his visitor's confidence that no time was lost in the forming of a friendship that for once set a new example and again sent Hideyoshi on his way the wiser for his daring. Hideyoshi had gained an important advantage by a newly tried agency, diplomacy--a thing his compeers, and even Nobunaga his superior, had deigned despise. Triumphant at Kitanoshi and successful in Nagahama, a double prize at stake and a soldier like Kuroda to enforce the decree, why not proclaim himself at once? Nobunaga's corpse lie in state at the capital, and who were there to dispute Hideyoshi, now that Shibata remained absent, nursing the vexations of sore defeat? "Junkei?" "Yes, my lord." "Call Kuroda." "I think he sleeps; you know, we just arrived--it is only a trice since we left--and Kyoto is miles distant--" "Babbler! Does Hideyoshi sleep? Bring Kuroda, before your neck and my scimitar have tried their want." "Kuroda, are you Hideyoshi's captain?" asked Hideyoshi, presently. "Yes, most honorable master." "Then why sleep?" "It is nature's call." "Away with nature; the gods are omnipotent. Would you, Kuroda, serve less? No? Then listen. Hideyoshi defies both God and man. Marshal your troops. I proclaim myself." "They sleep." "Give then gold, and they shall awaken." "But how use them--my instructions--I have nothing--" "What? Kuroda, my captain, a beggar? Have I not confidence in you? A better age dawns." "Command me." "That is more like it. Listen. Nobunaga lies unburied. Let all Japan witness the ceremony. The gods proclaim their precedence; Hideyoshi shall do reverence first: then the barons, widows, and pretenders may wrangle out their proper rank." "But our ancestors?" "Bosh! With Kuroda and Shintoism on the one hand and Takiyama and Christianity on the other, Hideyoshi shall wrought anew. Reverence might better rot; manhood waxes original." The shogun forthwith appointed Hideyoshi major general of all the mikado's forces--gold had brought him, too, from his hiding: a ready request afforded the occasion--and all the daimyos were commanded to appear and do homage. The wealth and the fashion of the nation were invited. The whole populace was instructed to come. Such a gathering, and so bold a venture, marked a new era. All the best and the most vigorous, the intellectual and the ambitious, the strong and the brave, rallied to the call of a thirsty leader, chose to lay their lives at the altar of endeavor, and to grapple for the first time with an individualism that bade fair to spring from the very roots of society, and to thrive--only one man stood silently but resolutely in the way.