Eelattu brings two beakers of bitter beer and sweet dried figs . . .

Each time Jacob is certain the wind cannot rampage more maniacally without the roof tearing free; the wind does, but the roof doesn't, not yet. Joists and beams strain and clunk and shudder like a windmill rattling at full kilter. A terrifying night A terrifying night, Jacob thinks, yet even terror can pale into monotony yet even terror can pale into monotony. Eelattu darns a sock whilst the doctor reminisces about his journey to Edo with the late Chief Hemmij and Head Clerk van Cleef. 'They bemoaned the lack of buildings to compare to St Peter's or Notre Dame: but the genius of the Japanese race is manifest in its roads. The Tokaido Highway runs from Osaka to Edo - from the Empire's belly to the head, if you will - and knows of no equal, I I assert, anywhere on Earth, in either modernity or antiquity. The road is a city, fifteen feet in width, but three hundred well-drained, well-maintained and well-ordered German miles in length, served by fifty-three way stations where travellers can hire porters, change horses and rest or carouse for the night. And the simplest, most commonsensical joy of all? All traffic proceeds on the left-hand side, so the numerous collisions, seizures and stand-offs that so clog Europe's arteries are here unknown. On less populated stretches of the road, I unnerved our inspectors by slipping out of my palanquin and botanising along the verges. I found more than thirty new species for my assert, anywhere on Earth, in either modernity or antiquity. The road is a city, fifteen feet in width, but three hundred well-drained, well-maintained and well-ordered German miles in length, served by fifty-three way stations where travellers can hire porters, change horses and rest or carouse for the night. And the simplest, most commonsensical joy of all? All traffic proceeds on the left-hand side, so the numerous collisions, seizures and stand-offs that so clog Europe's arteries are here unknown. On less populated stretches of the road, I unnerved our inspectors by slipping out of my palanquin and botanising along the verges. I found more than thirty new species for my Flora Japonica Flora Japonica, missed by Thunberg and Kaempfer. And then, at the end, is Edo.'

'Which no more than . . . what, a dozen Europeans alive have seen?'

'Fewer. Seize the head clerk's chair within three years, you'll see it yourself.'

I shan't be here, hopes Jacob, and then, uneasily, thinks of Orito.

Eelattu snips a thread. The sea writhes, just one street and a wall away.

'Edo is a million people in a grid of streets that stretches as far as the eye can travel. Edo is a tumultuous clatter of clogs, looms, shouts, barks, cries, whispers. Edo is a codex of every human demand and Edo is the means of supplying them. Every daimyo daimyo must keep a residence there for his designated heir and principal wife, and the largest such compounds are must keep a residence there for his designated heir and principal wife, and the largest such compounds are de facto de facto walled towns. The Great Edo Bridge - to which every milestone in Japan refers - is two hundred paces across. Would that I could have slipped into a native's skin and roamed that labyrinth, but naturally, Hemmij, van Cleef and I were confined to our inn "for our own protection", until the appointed Day of our Interview with the Shogun. The stream of scholars and sightseers was an antidote to monotony, especially those with plants, bulbs and seeds.' walled towns. The Great Edo Bridge - to which every milestone in Japan refers - is two hundred paces across. Would that I could have slipped into a native's skin and roamed that labyrinth, but naturally, Hemmij, van Cleef and I were confined to our inn "for our own protection", until the appointed Day of our Interview with the Shogun. The stream of scholars and sightseers was an antidote to monotony, especially those with plants, bulbs and seeds.'

'Upon what matters were you consulted?'

'The medical, the erudite, the puerile: "Is electricity a fluid?"; "Do foreigners wear boots because they have no ankles?"; "For any real number ph ph does Euler's formula universally guarantee that the complex exponential function satisfies does Euler's formula universally guarantee that the complex exponential function satisfies eiph eiph = = cos ph cos ph + + sin ph sin ph?"; "How may we construct a Montgolfier Balloon?"; "Can a cancerous breast be removed without killing the patient?"; and once, "Given that the Flood of Noah never submerged Japan, do we conclude Japan is a more elevated country than others?" Interpreters, officials and innkeepers all charged admittance to the Delphic Oracle, but, as I intimated--'

The building shudders, as in the earthquake: its timbers shriek.

'- I find a certain comfort,' confesses Marinus, 'in humanity's helplessness.'

Jacob cannot agree. 'What of your meeting with the Shogun?'

'Our costume was the mothballed pomp of a century and a half: Hemmij was bedecked in a pearl-buttoned jacket, a Moorish waistcoat, an ostrich-feathered hat, and white tapijns tapijns over his shoes, and with van Cleef and I in like mishmash, we were a true trio of decayed French pastries. We rode in palanquins to the castle gates, thereafter proceeding on foot three hours down corridors, across courtyards, through gates to vestibules where we swapped stilted pleasantries with officials, councillors and princes until, at last, we gained the Throne Room. Here the pretence that the Court Embassy over his shoes, and with van Cleef and I in like mishmash, we were a true trio of decayed French pastries. We rode in palanquins to the castle gates, thereafter proceeding on foot three hours down corridors, across courtyards, through gates to vestibules where we swapped stilted pleasantries with officials, councillors and princes until, at last, we gained the Throne Room. Here the pretence that the Court Embassy is is a Court Embassy, and not a ten-weeks' tributary arse-licking pilgrimage, becomes impossible to maintain. The Shogun - half hidden by a screen - sits on the raised rear of the room. When his interlocutor announces, " a Court Embassy, and not a ten-weeks' tributary arse-licking pilgrimage, becomes impossible to maintain. The Shogun - half hidden by a screen - sits on the raised rear of the room. When his interlocutor announces, "Oranda Kapitan", Hemmij scuttled, crab-wise, Shogun-wards, knelt at a designated spot, forbidden even to look at the lofty personage, and waited in silence until the barbarian-quelling generalissimo lifted a single finger. A chamberlain recited a text unrevised since the 1660s, forbidding us to proselytise the wicked Christian faith or to accost the junks of the Chinese or the Ryukyu Islanders, and commanding us to report any designs against Japan that came to our ears. Hemmij scuttled backwards, and the ritual was complete. That evening, I recorded in my journal, Hemmij complained of stomach-gripes, which turned into dysenteric fever - an uncertain diagnosis, I confess - on the way home.'

Eelattu has finished his darning; he unrolls the bedding.

'A foul death. The rain was incessant. The place was called Kakegawa. "Not here, Marinus, not like this," he groaned, and died . . .'

Jacob imagines a grave in pagan soil: and his own body lowered there.

'. . . as if I I, of all people, had powers of divine intercession.'

They are aware of a change in the timbre of the typhoon's roar.

'Its eye,' Marinus glances upwards, 'is above us . . .'

XII.

The State Room in the Chief's House on Dejima

Minutes after ten o'clock on the 23rd October, 1799 'We are all busy men,' Unico Vorstenbosch stares at Interpreter Kobayashi over the State Table. 'Pray discard the garnish for once and tell me the number.'

Drizzle hisses on the roofs. Jacob dips his quill in ink.

Interpreter Iwase translates for Chamberlain Tomine, who arrived with the hollyhock-crested scroll-tube delivered this morning from Edo.

Kobayashi's Dutch translation of Edo's message is half unrolled. 'Number?'

'What,' Vorstenbosch's patience is exaggerated, 'is the Shogun's offer?'

'Nine thousand six hundred piculs,' announces Kobayashi. 'Best copper.'

9,600, scratches the nib of Jacob's quill, piculs copper piculs copper.

'This offer is,' affirms Iwase Banri, 'a good and big increase.'

A ewe bleats. Jacob fails to guess what his patron is thinking.

'We request twenty thousand piculs,' assesses Vorstenbosch, 'and we are offered less than ten? Does the Shogun mean to insult Governor van Overstraten?'

'To treble quota in single year,' Iwase is no fool, 'is not insult.'

'Such generosity,' Kobayashi uses the weapon of offence, 'is no precedent! I strive earnestly for many weeks to achieve result.'

Vorstenbosch's glance at Jacob means, Do not record this Do not record this.

'Copper can arrive,' says Kobayashi, 'in two or three days, if you send.'

'Warehouse is in Saga,' says Iwase, 'castle town of Hizen, is near. I amaze Edo release so much copper. As High Councillor say in message,' he indicates the scroll, 'most warehouses are empty.'

Unimpressed, Vorstenbosch takes up the Dutch translation and reads.

The clock's pendulum scrapes at time like a sexton's shovel.

William the Silent looks into a future that became past long, long ago.

'Why does this letter,' Vorstenbosch addresses Kobayashi over his half-moon glasses, 'omit any mention of Dejima's impending closure?'

'I was not present,' Kobayashi says innocently, 'at Edo when reply made.'

'One wonders whether your translation of Governor van Overstraten's original letter was enhanced a la mode a la mode of your notorious peacock feathers?' of your notorious peacock feathers?'

Kobayashi looks at Iwase as if to say, Can Can you you make sense of this remark? make sense of this remark?

'Translation,' declares Iwase, 'had seals of all four senior interpreters.'

'Ali Baba,' mutters Lacy, 'had forty thieves: did they make him honest?'

'Our question, gentlemen, is this.' Vorstenbosch stands. 'Shall nine thousand six hundred piculs buy Dejima a twelve-month stay of execution?'

Iwase translates this for the benefit of Chamberlain Tomine.

Eaves drip; dogs bark; an angry rash itches against Jacob's stockings.

'The Shenandoah Shenandoah has space for Dejima's stock.' Lacy fishes in his jacket for a jewelled box of snuff. 'We can begin loading this afternoon.' has space for Dejima's stock.' Lacy fishes in his jacket for a jewelled box of snuff. 'We can begin loading this afternoon.'

'Shall we incur the wrath of our masters in Batavia,' Vorstenbosch taps the barometer, 'by accepting this paltry increase and keep Dejima open? Or . . .' Vorstenbosch strolls to the grandfather clock and scrutinises its venerable dial '. . . abandon this unprofitable factory and deprive a backward Asian island of its single European ally?'

Lacy snorts a huge pinch of snuff. 'Jesus have Mercy: a fine kick!'

Kobayashi keeps his gaze on the chair Vorstenbosch vacated.

'Nine thousand six hundred piculs,' states Vorstenbosch, 'purchases a year's reprieve for Dejima. Send a message to Edo. Send to Saga for the copper.'

Iwase's relief is apparent as he informs Tomine of the news.

The Magistrate's chamberlain nods, as if no other decision was viable.

Kobayashi gives his sinister and sardonic bow.

'Chief Resident Unico Vorstenbosch,' writes Jacob, 'accepted this offer . . .'

'But Governor van Overstraten,' warns the Chief, 'shall not be rebuffed twice.'

'. . . but warned interpreters,' adds the clerk's quill, 'settlement is not final.'

'We must redouble our efforts to earn the Company just recompense for the dreadful risks and inflated expenses of this factory. But for today let us adjourn.'

'A moment, Chief Resident, please,' says Kobayashi. 'More good news.'

Jacob feels something malign entering the State Room.

Vorstenbosch leans on the back of his chair. 'Oh?'

'I exhort at Magistracy very much about stealed teapot. I say, "If we do not find teapot, great dishonour falls on our nation." So, chamberlain sends many . . .' he asks for Iwase's help '. . . yes, "constables", many constables, to find teapot. Today, at Guild, when I finish' - Kobayashi gestures at his translation of the Shogun's reply - 'messenger arrive from Magistracy. Jade teapot of Chongzhen Emperor is found.'

'Oh? Good. What . . .' Vorstenbosch looks for a trap '. . . what is its condition?'

'Perfect condition. Two thiefses confessed to crime.'

'One thief,' Iwase continues, 'make box in Constable Kosugi's palanquin. Other thief put teapot into box in palanquin, and so smuggled through Land-Gate.'

'How,' asks van Cleef, 'were the thieves captured?'

'I advise,' says Kobayashi, whilst Iwase explains to the chamberlain the matter now in hand, 'Magistrate Omatsu offer reward so thiefses were betrayed. My plan worked. Teapot shall deliver later today. There is better news: Magistrate Omatsu grant permission to execute thieves in Flag Square.'

'Here?' Vorstenbosch's satisfaction clouds over. 'On Dejima? When?'

'Before Shenandoah Shenandoah departs,' Iwase answers, 'after morning muster.' departs,' Iwase answers, 'after morning muster.'

'So all Dutchmen,' Kobayashi's smile is saintly, 'can see Japanese justice.'

The shadow of a bold rat trots along the oiled paper pane.

You demanded blood, is Kobayashi's challenge, for your precious teapot . . . for your precious teapot . . .

The watch bell on the Shenandoah Shenandoah rings. rings.

. . . are you now man enough, the interpreter waits, to accept delivery? to accept delivery?

The hammering on the roof of Warehouse Lelie stops.

'Excellent,' says Vorstenbosch. 'Convey my thanks to Magistrate Omatsu.'

In Warehouse Doorn, Jacob dips his quill into the ink and writes across the hitherto blank title page: True and Complete Investigation into the Misgovernance of Dejima during the Residences of Gijsbert Hemmij and Daniel Snitker, including Rectifications to those False Ledgers submitted by the Above-named True and Complete Investigation into the Misgovernance of Dejima during the Residences of Gijsbert Hemmij and Daniel Snitker, including Rectifications to those False Ledgers submitted by the Above-named. For a moment he considers adding his name, but the rash idea passes. As his patron, Vorstenbosch has every right to pass off his underling's work as his own. And maybe And maybe, Jacob thinks, it is safer this way it is safer this way. Any councillor in Batavia whose illicit profits Jacob's Investigation Investigation curtails could finish a lowly clerk with a single stroke of a pen. Jacob places a sheet of blotting paper on the page and evenly presses it down. curtails could finish a lowly clerk with a single stroke of a pen. Jacob places a sheet of blotting paper on the page and evenly presses it down.

It is finished, thinks the tired-eyed clerk.

Red-nosed Hanzaburo sneezes and wipes his nose on a fistful of straw.

A pigeon trills on the high window-ledge.

Ouwehand's penetrating voice hurries past, along Bony Alley.

However widely Dejima was or wasn't believed to be on the brink of closure, the morning's news has roused the factory from lethargy. The copper - many hundreds of crates - shall arrive within four days. Captain Lacy wants it loaded in the Shenandoah Shenandoah's hold within six, and to be leaving Nagasaki in a week, before winter turns the China Sea wild and mountainous. Questions that Vorstenbosch has equivocated upon all summer long shall be resolved in the next few days. Shall the men be given the paltry official quota for private goods in the Shenandoah Shenandoah, or what they grew used to under Vorstenbosch's predecessors? Deals with merchants are being negotiated with keen urgency. Is Peter Fischer or Jacob de Zoet to be the next head clerk, with the greater salary and control over the Shipping Office? And shall Vorstenbosch use my And shall Vorstenbosch use my Investigation, Jacob wonders, putting his report into his portmanteau, Investigation, Jacob wonders, putting his report into his portmanteau, to condemn Daniel Snitker alone, or shall other scalps be claimed? to condemn Daniel Snitker alone, or shall other scalps be claimed? The cabal of smugglers that operates from Batavia's warehouses has friends as high up as the Council of the Indies, but Jacob's report gives enough evidence for a reform-minded governor-general to shut them down. The cabal of smugglers that operates from Batavia's warehouses has friends as high up as the Council of the Indies, but Jacob's report gives enough evidence for a reform-minded governor-general to shut them down.

Obeying a whim, Jacob clambers up the tower of crates.

Hanzaburo makes a Heh? Heh? noise and sneezes again. noise and sneezes again.

From William Pitt's roost, Jacob sees fiery maples in the tired mountains.

Orito was absent from yesterday's seminar in the Hospital . . .

Nor has Ogawa come to Dejima since the day of the typhoon.

But one modest gift one modest gift, he assures himself, cannot have had her banished . . . cannot have had her banished . . .

Jacob secures the shutters, climbs down, takes up his portmanteau, ushers Hanzaburo into Bony Alley and locks the warehouse door.

Jacob emerges at the Crossroads in time to meet Eelattu walking up Short Street. Eelattu is supporting a gaunt young man, dressed in an artisan's loose trousers, tied at the ankles, a padded jacket and a European hat last in style fifty years ago. Jacob notes the youth's sunken eyes, lunar complexion and lethargic gait and thinks, Consumption Consumption. Eelattu bids Jacob a good morning but does not introduce his charge, who, the clerk now sees, is not a pure-blood Japanese but a Eurasian with hair browner than black and eyes as round as his own. The visitor doesn't notice him in the alley's mouth, and continues down Long Street towards the Hospital.

Filaments of rain drift across the walled-in scene.

'In the midst of life we are in death, eh?'

Hanzaburo jumps and Jacob drops his portmanteau.

'Sorry'f we startled yer, Mr de Z.' Arie Grote does not look sorry.

Piet Baert appears beside Grote, with a bulky sack on his shoulders.