“I will go. Not willingly, but the padres have taught us that some things are destined to be.”
* * *
Iroha waited until Matsuoka Nagatoki was alone. “Matsuoka-san, may we speak in private, please?”
Iroha had two personal guardsmen; Nagatoki was the older of the two, and thirty years her senior. Seventy years old, he was a veteran of the Wars of Unification. His family had long served the Date clan. When Iroha married Matsudaira Tadateru, he joined that lord’s service. And when Tadateru was disgraced, Nagatoki returned to Date Masamune. He was on board the Sado Maru by Date Masamune’s command.
“I am just a poor woman, unschooled in matters of command, but I wonder how, without any beasts of burden, we are to carry all that we will need to reach Monterey safely. Food, water, clothing, weapons, ammunition, and many things I am sure I have not thought of.”
Nagatoki glanced quickly at the dismembered carcass of the Sado Maru, then met her gaze. “I do wish we had horses aboard, it would make everything much easier now. But in a ship as small as the Sado Maru, it was not possible. And we’d probably have lost them in the shipwreck, anyway.
“Fortunately, this seems to be a bountiful land, and it is not yet winter. With weapons, we can catch fish, and birds, and beasts. And thanks to the advice of our Dutch friends, we have glass beads. They are light and small, and can be traded to the Indians for food.
“But I confess that I am worried about how you and your maid will fare on the journey that faces us. I think we should find a place near here to set up a permanent camp, and just send messengers to Monterey. Perhaps a samurai and a sailor by the coastal route, and two samurai inland.”
Iroha’s eyes widened slightly. “But that would mean splitting our forces further, when we are already weak!”
“Ah, Iroha-hime, you are truly your father’s daughter. Your husband has assigned four of his samurai to stay with us, for your protection; that brings our core fighting force to six. Sending out the messengers would cut our samurai contingent in half. But what else is to be done?”
Iroha brushed back an errant strand of hair. “You know, when I was first married, Lord Matsudaira was named the daimyo of Takada, in Echigo. From time to time, we would visit Niigata, the home of our neighors to the north, the Mizoguchi clan. There, on the great river Shinano, I saw lumbermen steering rafts downstream.”
“I remember the rafts, Iroha-hime.”
“Nagatoki-san, there is plenty of lumber here, at the wreck. Could we build rafts, and pole, or row, or sail them down to the place the map called ‘Alviso,’ at the south end of this San Francisco Bay? It would be warmer there, the messengers going the inland route would only have to travel half as far to reach Monterey, and it would still be accessible by sea. Surely it would be a better place for a permanent camp.”
“That’s . . . that’s an interesting idea. But it was tricky enough getting a small boat around Fort Point. A raft, I fear, would be very difficult to control; even at slack water there could be strong eddies.”
“But if my husband would delay his departure a few days, his boats could be used to ferry the timber and other goods to the shelving beach on the far side of Fort Point, and we could build the rafts there. It is a short distance, perhaps two-tenths of a mile.”
“Yes, I think that’s a good idea. With rafts, we could transport more food, and more goods that could be used for trade, and we would be less tired, too. You should speak to Lord Matsudaira.”
“I was hoping that you would do that. I think he is more likely to accept advice from a warrior of your experience.”
Yerba Buena Cove,
San Francisco Peninsula
Iroha waved goodbye until the two boats carrying Lord Matsudaira Tadateru, his lieutenant Daidoji Shigehisa, Tadateru’s remaining samurai guardsmen, the captain and the first mate of the Sado Maru, several sailors, and the miners into the haze that concealed the far shore. Buena Vista Island was visible, at least, and they would keep it on their left side if they could.
She would have been happier if her husband had left her party one of the two surviving ship’s boats. However, he would need to ascend the Sacramento and American rivers to reach the gold fields, and having two boats instead of one might mean the difference between life and death. At least he had allowed those two boats to spend a week ferrying timber and supplies around Fort Point, for use by Iroha’s party, despite his eagerness to head north.
Tadateru had promised to leave a cairn on the Oakland side, to make it clear that he had made the crossing safely. There were several other “checkpoints” where he agreed to leave additional markers, to show his progress. Unless he left a message to the contrary at these sites, Iroha was to ask her father to have a ship waiting for Tadateru at modern Antioch, on Suisun Bay, next summer.