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as signalling devices, but their primary use was as harmless

entertainment. Vast quantities of these, along with other types of

firework, were used to enliven private and public celebrations and

religious festivals, filling the night sky with bursts of coloured

rain.

But if a rocket could be made powerful enough to hurl a flying-horse

and its rider into the sky, it could also hurl an explosive charge into

the heart of enemy formations encamped, say, on a steep hillside - or

even beyond it.

And if such a rocket could be carried on the back of a fciot-soldier,

then hundreds could be launched in a single volley, delivering a

murderous hammer blow that would leave the enemy dazed and

demoralised.

At which point...

Yes... This matter would have to be watched closely.

The message summoning the Herald Toshiro to appear before the Shogun

reached him in the middle of a jovial dinner with Guard-Captain

Kamakura. The good captain's wife and her five daughters had received

Toshiro with their customary warmth and hospitality, lavishing their

attentions on him from the moment he stepped through the door, and the

news that he had to depart without even completing the meal - the best

of which was yet to come - threw the women of the family into

disarray.

Tearful and downcast, they lined up to bend at the knee, bowing over

his hand as they bade him farewell. Toshiro responded with the

customary expressions of gratitude, then apologised extravagantly for

being unable to stay long enough to sample the delicacies they had

prepared. Had he known of the nightcap that had been due to follow the

dessert he might have felt a genuine twinge of regret. The second

youngest and prettiest of the Kamakura girls had been chosen by her

ambitious mother to grace the Herald's bed. But once again her

attempt to snare him had been frustrated by pressing affairs of

state.

And time was passing! Another year was on the wane. If the Herald

eluded them much longer, the two eldest girls might have to be married

off to low-born soldiers like her own well-meaning but slow-brained

husband!

The news that field tests of the rockets were about to take place

reached Toshiro soon after his return, at the Shogun's behest, to the

domain of Lord Min-Orota.

Because Heralds acted as the confidential link between the Shogun and

his regional officials, a suite of rooms in the Consul-General's

residence was kept at their disposal. The estate, which to all intents

and purposes was government territory, served Toshiro as a base from

which he would often emerge in disguise to meet with agents or to

mingle with the lower orders. But the residence was also a home in

which he had been made welcome by Her Highness, the Lady Mishiko

TohShiba, Nakane's long-suffering wife, and her three children.

Despite her husband's outrageous and insulting behaviour, she had never

once uttered a word of complaint to her all-powerful brother, and

maintained the same discreet, dignified silence amid those who were

closest to her, concealing her distress behind a calm, serene manner.

Many took this as a studied indifference to her fate, but over the

years Toshiro had discovered this was not so. The Lady Mishiko was

desperately unhappy, and the Herald could not understand how anyone

even an insensitive oaf like the Consul-General - could neglect and

abuse a woman who, besides being extremely intelligent, artistic and of

the highest rank, was also tender-hearted, sweet-natured and

beautiful.

It was a pity, reflected Toshiro, that the Consul-General would die

without realising how blind he had been. It would have added a

bittersweet edge to his fall.

No matter. As the saying went: 'One man's loss..."

From one of his informants, Toshiro learned of the Consul-General's

curious behaviour while inspecting the main post-house. The Herald

could not fathom why the odious buffoon should suddenly have taken it

into his head to move the 'mexican', but he was relieved the matter had

been taken out of his