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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38228-8.txt b/38228-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b387015 --- /dev/null +++ b/38228-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2299 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Captain June, by Alice Hegan Rice + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain June + +Author: Alice Hegan Rice + +Illustrator: C. D. Weldon + +Release Date: December 6, 2011 [EBook #38228] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN JUNE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ernest Schaal, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "All day long the boys played down by the river."] + + + + + Captain June + + By + + Alice Hegan Rice + + Author of "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch," + "Lovey Mary," Etc. + + With Pictures by C. D. Weldon + + [Illustration] + + New York + The Century Co. + 1907 + + + + + Copyright 1906, 1907, + by THE CENTURY CO. + + _Published October, 1907_ + + + THE DE VINNE PRESS + + + + + TO THE LITTLE BOY I LOVE BEST + FRANCIS BARBOUR HEGAN + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + "All day long the boys played down by the river" _Frontispiece_ + + The Tea-party on the Train 17 + + "'Do you want me to help you?'" 37 + + "'It's a Matsuri--a festival,' Seki explained" 49 + + "'Does it spell anything?' June asked" 75 + + "They peeped through the cracks, gravely discussing the + situation" 85 + + "It was the old sword-hilt that Monsieur had given him" 97 + + "Long after he was asleep she sat beside him" 107 + + "June waved good-by to the friends below" 117 + + + + + CAPTAIN JUNE + + + + + CAPTAIN JUNE + + CHAPTER I + + +JUNE had never sat still so long during the whole six years of his +existence. His slender body usually so restless and noisy was +motionless; his hands too fond of teasing and mischief lay limp in his +lap, even his tongue was still and that was the most wonderful of all. +The only part of him that stirred was a sparkling pair of gray eyes that +were looking out upon the strangest world they had ever seen. + +The entire day had been one of enchantment, from the first waking hour +when he discovered that the engines on the big steamer where he had +lived for seventeen days had stopped, and that the boat was actually +lying at anchor just off the coast of Japan. Seki San, his Japanese +nurse who had cared for him ever since he was a baby, had been so eager +to look out of the port-hole that she could scarcely attend to her +duties, and the consequence was that he had to stand on the sofa and +hook his mother's dress and help her with the little pins at the back of +the neck while Seki San finished the packing. June could not dress +himself but he knew a great deal about hooks and eyes and belt pins. +When mother got in a hurry she lost things, and experience had taught +him that it was much easier to fasten the pin where it belonged than to +spend fifteen minutes on the floor looking for it. + +At last when all the bags and trunks were ready, and the pilot and the +health officer had come aboard, and everybody had waited until they +could not wait another moment, the passengers were brought ashore in a +wheezy, puffy launch, and were whirled up to the hotel in queer little +buggies drawn by small brown men with bare legs and mushroom hats, and +great sprawling signs on their backs. + +Since then June had sat at a front window too engrossed to speak. Just +below him lay the Bund or sea-road, with the wall beyond where the white +waves broke in a merry splash and then fell back to the blue water +below. Out in the harbor there were big black merchant steamers, and +white men-of-war, there were fishing schooners, and sampans with wobbly, +crooked oars. But the street below was too fascinating to see much +beyond it. Jinrikishas were coming and going with passengers from the +steamers and the coolies laughed and shouted to each other in passing. +Women and girls clattered by on wooden shoes with funny bald-headed, +slant-eyed babies strapped on their backs. On the hotel steps, a little +girl in a huge red turban and a gorgeous dress of purple and gold was +doing handsprings, while two boys in fancy dress sang through their +noses and held out fans to catch the pennies that were tossed from the +piazza above. + +If Cinderella, and Jack the Giant Killer, and Aladdin and Ali Baba had +suddenly appeared, June would not have been in the least surprised. It +was where they all lived, there could be no possible doubt as to that. +Here was the biggest picture book he had ever seen, the coming true of +all the fairy-tales he had ever heard. + +He was dimly conscious that in the room behind him Seki San was +unpacking trunks and boxes, and that his mother was coming and going and +leaving hurried instructions. Once he heard her say, "Don't say anything +to him about it, Seki, I'll tell him when he has to be told." But just +then a man went by with a long pole across his shoulder and round +baskets on each end, and in the baskets were little shining silver +fishes, and June forgot all about what his mother was saying. + +June's father was a young army officer stationed in the Philippines. +June was born there but when still a baby he had been desperately ill +and the doctor had sent him back to the States and said he must not +return for many years. It was a great grief to them all that they had to +be separated, but Capt. Royston had gotten two leaves of absence and +come home to them, and now this summer June and his mother had come all +the way from California to meet him in Japan. + +June was not his real name. It was Robert Rogers Royston, Junior, but +mother said there never could be but one Robert for her, and father did +not like the Rogers for a Christian name, so they called him Junior, and +Junior soon got bobbed off into June. The name suited him too, for a +sunshinier little chap you never saw. He never seemed to know that he +was not as strong as other boys, and when his throat was very bad and +his voice would not come, why he sat up in bed and whistled, just the +keenest, cheeriest, healthiest whistle you ever heard. + +It was on the indoor days that Seki San used to tell him about her +wonderful country across the sea, of the little brown houses with the +flower gardens on the roofs, of the constant clatter, clatter of the +wooden shoes, and the beautiful blossoms that rained down on you like +snow. + +"Where are the blossoms?" he demanded, suddenly turning in his chair. +"You said they came down thick and white and that I could let them fall +over my face." + +Seki San did not answer, she was kneeling beside a very disconsolate +figure that lay on the bed with face buried in the pillows. When June +spoke, his mother sat up and pushed back her tumbled hair. She was a +very little mother with round eyes and lips as red as June's, only now +her eyes were red and her lips trembling. + +"You may go in the other room, Seki San," she said, "I want to talk to +June by himself." + +June sidled up cautiously and took a seat near her on the bed. The one +unbearable catastrophe to him was for his mother to cry. It was like an +earthquake, it shook the very foundations on which all his joys were +built. Sometimes when the postman forgot to leave a letter, and +occasionally when he was sick longer than usual, mother cried. But those +were dark, dreadful times that he tried not to think about. Why the +tears should come on this day of all days he could not understand. + +She put her arm around him and held him close for a long time before she +spoke. He could feel the thump, thump of her heart as he leaned against +her. + +"June," she said at last, "you are going to be a soldier like father, +aren't you?" + +June's eyes brightened. "Yes, and carry a sword!" he said. + +"There is something more than a sword that a soldier has to have." + +"A gun?" + +Mother shook her head. "It's courage, June! It's something I haven't got +a scrap of. You'll have to be brave for us both!" + +"I'm not afraid," declared June. "I go to bed in the dark and go places +by myself or anything." + +"I don't mean that way," said his mother. "I mean doing hard things just +because they are right, staying behind for instance when--when somebody +you love very much has to go away and leave you." + +June sat up and looked at her. "Who's going away?" he demanded. + +Mother's voice faltered. "Father's terribly ill with a fever, June. The +letter was waiting here, it is from our old doctor in Manila, he says, +'Come on first steamer, but don't bring the boy.'" The earth seemed +suddenly to be slipping from under June's feet, he clutched at his +mother's hand. "I am going too!" he cried in quick alarm, "I won't stay +behind, I can't, mother!" + +Her arm tightened about him. "But I don't dare take you, June, think of +the terrible heat and the fever, and you are the only little boy I've +got in the world, and I love you so!" + +"I won't take the fever," protested June. "I'll be good. I'll mind every +word Seki says." + +"But Seki isn't going. She wants to take you home with her down to a +little town on the Inland Sea, where there are all sorts of wonderful +things to do. Would you stay with her, June, while I go to father?" + +Her voice pleaded with eagerness and anxiety, but June did not heed it. +Slipping from her arms, he threw himself on the floor and burst into a +passion of tears. All the joys of the enchanted country had vanished, +nothing seemed to count except that mother was thinking of leaving him +in this strange land and sailing away from him across the sea. + +"Don't cry so, June, listen," pleaded his mother. "I have not decided, I +am trying to do what is best." + +But June refused to be consoled. Over and over he declared that he would +not stay, that he would rather have the fever, and die than to be left +behind. + +By and by the room grew still, his mother no longer tried to pacify him, +only the ticking of the little traveling clock on the table broke the +stillness. He peeped through his fingers at the silent figure in the +chair above him. He had never seen her look so white and tired, all the +pretty smiles and dimples seemed gone forever, her eyes were closed and +her lips were tightly drawn together. June crept close and slipped his +hand into hers. In an instant her arms were about him. + +"I don't know what to do, nor where to turn," she sobbed. "I am afraid +to take you and afraid to leave you. What must I do?" + +June was sure he did not know but when mothers are little and helpless +and look at you as if you were grown up, you have to think of a way. He +was standing beside her with his arm around her neck, and he could feel +her trembling all over. Father often said in his letters, "Be sure to +take care of that little Mother of yours," but it had always seemed a +joke until now. He sighed, then he straightened his shoulders: + +"I'll stay, Mudderly," he said, then he added with a swallow, "Maybe it +will help me to be a soldier when I get big!" + + + + + CHAPTER II + + +"SEKI SAN, look at the old woman with black teeth! What made them black? +What have the little girls got flowers in their hair for? What are they +ringing the bell for?" + +Seki San sitting on her heels at the car window tried to answer all +June's questions at once. The sad parting was over. Mrs. Royston had +left in the night on the steamer they had crossed in, and the Captain +and the Purser and all the passengers were going to take care of her +until she got to Hong Kong, and after that it was only a short way to +Manila, and once she was with Father, June felt that his responsibility +ceased. + +When they first boarded the train, June had sat very quiet. If you wink +fast and swallow all the time, you can keep the tears back, but it does +not make you feel any better inside. + +"If God has got to take somebody," June said at length gloomily, "I +think He might take one of my grandmothers. I have got four but one of +them is an old maid." + +"Oh no," said Seki, "she isn't." + +"She _is_," persisted June, "she keeps every thing put away in little +boxes and won't let me play with them. Seki, do you guess God would jes' +as lieve for me to have a horn as a harp when I go to Heaven? I want a +presser horn like they have in the band." + +"But you will not go for many long times!" cried Seki, catching his hand +as if he were about to slip away. "Look out of the window. See! They are +giving the cow a bath!" + +In a field nearby an old man and woman were scrubbing a patient-looking +cow, and when the creature pulled its head away and cried because it did +not want to get its face washed, June laughed with glee. After all, one +could not be unhappy very long when every minute something funny or +interesting was happening. At every station a crowd of curious faces +gathered about the car window eager to catch a glimpse of the little +foreign boy, and June, always ready to make friends, smiled at them and +bobbed his head, which made the boys and girls look at each other and +laugh. + +"We bow with our whole self, so," Seki explained, putting her hands on +her knees and bending her body very low, "and we never shake with the +hands nor kiss together!" + +"Don't the mothers ever kiss the children good-night?" asked June +incredulously. + +"Oh! no," said Seki, "we bow." + +While June was thinking about this strange state of affairs, a man came +close under the window, carrying a tray and calling: "_Bento! Eo +Bento!_" + +Seki San took some money from a little purse which she carried in her +long sleeve, and handing it out to the man, received two square wooden +boxes and a fat little tea-pot with a cup over its head like a cap. + +[Illustration: The Tea-Party on the train.] + +"Are we going to have a tea-party?" asked June, scrambling down from his +perch. + +"So," said Seki San, reaching under the seat and pulling out a tiny +chest, in which were other cups and saucers and a jar of tea leaves, "we +will have very nice tea-parties and you shall make the tea." + +June, following instructions, put some of the tea in the small pot and +poured the hot water over it, then he helped Seki San spread two paper +napkins on the seat between them. + +"Now," he said, "where's the party?" + +Seki San handed him one of the boxes and began to untie the string of +the other. + +"I have some sticks tied on to mine!" cried June, "two big ones and a +tiny little one wrapped up in paper." + +"That is your knife and fork and pick-tooth," said Seki San. "You must +hold the sticks in one hand like this." + +But June was too busy exploring the contents of the two trays that +formed his box to stop to take a lesson in the use of chop-sticks. The +lower tray was full of smooth white rice. In the top one, was a bit of +omelet and some fish, and a queer-looking something that puzzled June. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +"Guess it!" said Seki mysteriously, "guess it with your nose." + +"It's pickle!" cried June. + +"Pickled sea-weed," said Seki, "and I have also brought you some +Japanese candy that you pour out of a bottle." + +There was no bread, no butter, no knife nor fork nor spoon, but June +thought it was the very nicest tea-party he had ever been to. Sitting +with his stocking feet curled up under him as Seki had hers, he +clattered his chop-sticks and spilt the rice all over the seat, while +they both grew weak with laughter over his efforts to feed himself. + +"Don't you wish you were a little boy, Seki San?" he asked when most of +the lunch had disappeared. + +"Why?" said Seki. + +"'Cause," said June, "you'd have such a good time playing with me all +the time!" + +"But no," said Seki seriously, "I must be big womans to take care of +you." + +"And tell me stories!" added June with policy: "tell me 'bout Tomi +now." + +"Tomi?" said Seki San, smiling. "You going see Tomi very soon, +to-morrow, perhaps to-night. Tomi very bad little dog, makes a cross +bark at all big peoples, but loves little children. When Tomi very +little his nose stick out, so--Japanese think it very ugly for little +pug-dog's nose to stick out, so we push it in easy every day. Now Tomi +has nice flat nose, but he sneeze all the time so--kerchoo, kerchoo, +kerchoo." + +June laughed at the familiar story, but suddenly he sobered: + +"Say, Seki, I don't think it was very nice to push his nose in; I +wouldn't like to have my nose pushed in so I would have to sneeze all +the rest of my life." + +"Ah! but he must be beautiful! Tomi would not be happy if his nose stuck +out when other pug-doggies had nice flat nose. Tomi is very happy, he is +grateful." + +It was quite dark when they reached their destination; June had been +asleep and when he slipped out on the platform he could not remember at +all where he was; Seki's mother and her sisters and brothers besides all +the relatives far and near had come to welcome her back from America, +and quite a little crowd closed in about her, bowing and bowing and +chattering away in Japanese. + +June stood, rather forlornly, to one side. This time last night Mother +had been with him, he could speak to her and touch her, and now--it was +a big, strange world he found himself in, and even Seki seemed his Seki +no longer. + +Suddenly he felt something rub against his leg, and then he heard a +queer sound that somehow sounded familiar. Stooping down he discovered a +flat-nosed little pug that was kissing his hand just as if it had been +brought up in America. + +"It's Tomi," cried June in delight, and the pug, recognizing his name, +capered more madly still, only stopping long enough to sneeze between +the jumps. + +Ten minutes later June was sitting beside Seki San in a broad +jinrikisha, rushing through the soft night air, down long gay streets +full of light and color and laughter, round sharp corners, up steep +hills, over bridges where he could look down and see another world of +paper lanterns and torches, and always the twinkling legs and the big +round hat of the jinrikisha man bobbing steadily along before him. + +"Is it like a story-book all the time?" he asked. + +Seki San laughed: "Oh, no, June, story-book land is back in America, +where the grown-up houses are, and the rich, fine furnitures, and the +strange ways. This is just home, my very dear home, and I have such glad +feelings to be here!" + +June cuddled close and held her hand, and if he felt a wee bit wistful, +and wiped his eyes once in a while on her sleeve, he did it very +carefully, so that Seki would have nothing to spoil the glad feeling in +her heart at being home again. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + +THE new life which opened up for June was brimming over with interest. +Seki San lived in a regular toy house, which was like a lot of little +boxes fitted into one big one. One whole side was open to the garden and +a tiny railed balcony ran around outside the rooms. The walls were made +of white paper, and when the sun shone all sorts of pretty shadows +danced on them, and when it rained everybody ran about to put up the +wooden screens, and fasten the house up snug and tight until the shower +was over. A flight of low steps cut in the rock led down to a bamboo +wicker, and here green lizards sunned themselves all day and blinked in +friendly fashion at the passer-by. + +The night June arrived he had looked about blankly and said: + +"But Seki, there isn't any furniture in your house; haven't you got any +bed, or chairs or table?" + +And Seki had laughed and told the others and everybody laughed until +June thought he had been impolite. + +"I like it," he hastened to add, "it's the nicest house I ever was in, +'cause, don't you see, there isn't anything to break." + +It was quite wonderful to see how easily one can get along without +furniture. After one has sat on his heels, and slept on the floor and +eaten off a tiny table no bigger than a footstool, it seems the most +sensible thing in the world. June did hang up one picture and that was a +photograph of his mother. She had left him two, but one was taken with +her hat on. + +"I don't like for her always to look as if she was going away!" he said +to Seki San when she wanted to put them both up. + +The life, interesting as it was, might have proven lonely, had it not +been for Seki's younger brother, Toro, who was two years older than +June. Although neither could understand a word the other said, yet a +very great friendship had sprung up between them. "We understand just +like dogs," June explained to Seki San. + +All day long the two boys played down by the river bank, paddling about +in the shallow shimmering water, building boats and putting them out to +sea, sailing their kites from the hill top, or best of all, sitting long +hours on the parade grounds watching the drilling of the soldiers. + +Sometimes when they were very good, Seki San would get permission for +them to play in the daimyo's garden and those days were red-letter days +for June. The garden was very old and very sacred to the Japanese, for +in long years past it had belonged to an old feudal lord, and now it was +the property of the Emperor. + +From the first June had cherished a secret belief that somewhere in its +leafy bowers he would come across the Sleeping Beauty. It was all so old +and so still that even the breezes whispered as they softly stirred the +tree-tops. In the very heart of the garden a little blue lake smiled up +at the sky above, and all about its edges tall flags of blue and gold +threw their bright reflections in the water below. A high-arched bridge +all gray with moss, led from one tiny island to another, while along the +shore old stone lanterns, very stiff and stern, stood sentinel over the +quiet of the place. Here and there a tempting little path led back into +mysterious deeps of green, and June followed each one with the half +expectancy of finding the cobwebby old place, and the vine-grown steps, +and the Sleeping Beauty within. + +One day when they were there, Toro became absorbed in a little house he +was building for the old stork who stood hour after hour under the cool +shadow of the arching bridge. June, getting tired of the work, wandered +off alone, and as he went deeper into the tangle of green, he thought +more and more of the Sleeping Beauty. + +It was cool and mysterious under the close hanging boughs, and the +sunshine fell in white patches on the head of an old stone Buddha, whose +nose was chipped off, and whose forefinger was raised in a perpetual +admonition to all little boys to be good. Just ahead a low flight of +stairs led up to a dark recess where a shrine was half concealed by a +tangle of vines and underbrush. June cautiously mounted the steps; he +was making believe that he was the prince in the fairy-tale, and that +when he should push through the barrier of brier roses he would find the +Sleeping Beauty within the shrine. + +As he reached the top step, a sound made him pause and catch his breath. +It was not the ripple of the falling water that danced past him down the +hillside, it was not the murmur of the wind in the bamboos overhead; it +was the deep regular breathing very close to him of some one asleep. For +a moment June wanted to run away, but then he remembered the golden hair +and blue eyes of the princess and with heart beating very fast, he +pushed through the underbrush and stumbled over some one lying in the +grass. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + +BUT when June picked himself up and turned about, he found a very +curious looking man sitting up glaring at him. He had a long pointed +nose, and fierce little eyes that glowed like red hot cinders, and a +drooping white mustache so long that it almost touched the lapels of his +shabby French uniform. + +"What do you mean by falling over me like that?" he demanded +indignantly. + +"I--I--thought you was somebody else," June faltered lamely. + +The man glared more fiercely than ever: "You were looking for some one! +You were sent here to watch someone! Who did you think I was? Answer me +this moment." + +He had caught June by the arm and was glaring at him so savagely that +June blurted out in terror. + +"I thought you was the Sleeping Beauty." + +For a moment, suspicion lingered in the man's face, then his eyes went +to and his mouth went open, and he laughed until June thought he would +never get the wrinkles smoothed out of his face again. + +"The Sleeping Beauty, eh?" he said. "Well, whom do you think I am now?" + +June smiled in embarrassment. "I know who you look like," he said, half +doubtfully. + +"Who?" + +"The White Knight," said June. + +"Who is he?" + +"In 'Alice in Wonderland,'" explained June. Then when he saw the man's +look of perplexity, he added incredulously, "Didn't you _never_ hear of +'Alice in Wonderland'?" + +The man shook his head. + +June was astounded; he didn't know that such ignorance existed in the +world. + +"Didn't you never go to school?" he asked sympathetically. + +"Oh yes, a little," said the man, with a funny smile, "but tell me about +this White Knight." + +June sat down quite close to him and began confidentially: + +"He was the one that met Alice in the wood. Don't you remember just +before she was going to be queen? He kept falling off his horse first on +one side and then on the other, and he would have to climb up again by +the mouse traps." + +"The mouse traps, on horse-back?" + +"Yes, the Knight was afraid the mice _might_ come and he didn't want +them to run over him. Besides he invented the mouse traps and course, +you know, somebody had to use them." + +"Of course," said the man taking June's hand and looking at it as a +person looks at something that he has not seen for a very long time. + +"He invented lots of things," went on June earnestly, "bracelets for the +horse's feet to keep off shark-bites, and something else to keep your +hair from falling out." + +"Eh! what's that?" said his companion rubbing his hand over his own bald +head. + +June's eyes twinkled. "You ought to train it up on a stick," he said, +"like a vine. That was what the White Knight said, that hair fell off +because it hung down. It couldn't fall up, could it?" + +At this they both had a great laugh and the man said: + +"So I am the White Knight, am I?" + +"Just your mustache," said June; "it was when you was mad that you +looked like him most. You're lots gooder looking than the picture. +What's your real name?" + +"Monsieur Garnier,--no, Carré," he corrected himself quickly. "What is +your name?" + +"June," then he added formally, "Robert Rogers Royston, Junior's the +rest of it." + +"How did you come here?" asked Monsieur. + +June told him at length; it was delightful to find some one beside Seki +San who understood English, and it was good fun to be telling all about +himself just as if he were some other little boy. + +"So your father is a soldier!" said Monsieur, and June noticed that a +curious wild look came into his eyes and that his fingers, which had +knots on them, plucked excitedly at his collar. "Ah! yes, I, too, was a +soldier, a soldier of France, one time attaché of the French Legation, +at Tokyo, later civil engineer in the employ of the Japanese Government, +now----!" he shrugged his shoulders and his nostrils quivered with +anger. "Now a cast-off garment, a thing useless, undesired." He tried to +rise and June saw that he used crutches and that it was very difficult +for him to walk. + +"Do you want me to help you?" he asked. + +[Illustration: "'Do you want me to help you?'"] + +The man waved him aside. His eyes had changed into red hot cinders +again, and he seemed to have forgotten that June was there. "I ask help +from nobody," he muttered fiercely, "I live my own life. The beggarly +Japanese I would never accept from, and my own country does not see fit +to help me." His chest heaved with wrath, and he twisted his mustache +indignantly. + +"Why don't you go home?" asked June. + +Monsieur turned on him fiercely: "Go home? Mon Dieu, do you suppose +there is a waking hour that I am not thinking, longing, praying to be +back in France? Do you suppose I have left any stone unturned? Any plan +unmade that might take me away from this hateful place? It has been +fourteen, fifteen years since I came away. It was a Japanese that had me +dismissed from the service; he bore tales to the minister, he told what +was not true. Oh, then I had honor, I was too proud to explain, but +now!" he lifted a pair of crippled hands to Heaven, and shook them +violently at the trees above, "now I know that honor does not pay, it is +not worth while. I will give anything to get back to France!" + +June sat still and watched him. He had never seen anyone behave so +queerly, and he was very much mixed up as to what it was all about. + +"I guess I have to go now," he said, "Toro's waiting." + +Monsieur's eyes flashed suspiciously. "Who's waiting?" he asked. + +"Toro, he is Seki's brother, he knows how to build awful nice houses and +blockades too." + +"Blockades?" repeated Monsieur, "what kind of blockades?" + +"Like the soldiers make, we watch them all the time; come on, I will +show you." + +The two made their way down the steps slowly, for Monsieur could go only +a little way at a time. Toro looked mildly surprised when June came back +with a companion, but he did not give a second glance at Monsieur, who +was evidently a familiar figure about the town. + +For a long time the two children played in the sand, and Monsieur sat +beside them and acted as interpreter, speaking first to one in Japanese, +and then to the other in English, giving directions and suggestions and +proving a first-rate play-fellow. + +"Why, you know a lot about forts and mines and blockades and things, +don't you?" asked June. + +Monsieur looked absently across the lake. "Alas!" he said grimly, half +to himself, "I know too much for their good and for mine." + +When the temple bell from the hillside boomed the supper hour, the boys +gathered up their things and started home. + +"Good-by," said June to Monsieur, "I hope you'll come back and play with +us another day." + +Monsieur bowed very politely, but he did not answer, his half-closed +eyes still rested on the little forts that the boys had been making in +the sand, and his thoughts seemed to be far away. + +When June reached the street, he turned to wave a good-by, but Monsieur +was hobbling down the hill, his figure, in spite of the crutches, +looking very straight and stiff against the evening sky. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + +IT was a long time before June saw Monsieur again, for there were +picnics up the river, with lunches cooked on the bank, there were jolly +little excursions in sampans, and trips to the tea-houses, and flower +shows, and an endless round of good times. Seki San kept June out of +doors all day, and watched with glee the color return to his cheeks, and +the angles of his slender body turn into soft curves. + +At night, she and June and Toro, with Tomi frisking and sneezing at +their heels, would join the happy, chattering crowd that thronged the +streets, and would make their way to the flower market where tall +flaming torches lit up the long stalls of flowers, and where merchants +squatting on their heels spread their wares on the ground before +them,--curious toys, old swords, and tea-pots with ridiculous long +noses. And in front of every door was a great shining paper lantern with +queer signs painted on it, and other gay lanterns of all shapes and +sizes and colors went dancing and bobbing up and down the streets like a +host of giant fireflies. + +It was no wonder that June hated to go to bed when so much was happening +outside. Only the promise of a story moved him when Seki gave the final +word. But for the sake of a story he would have gone to the moon, I +believe, and stayed there too. + +When at last he was bathed and cuddled down in his nest on the floor +with a huge kimono--four times as big as the ones Seki wore--spread over +him, Seki would sit on her heels beside him, sewing with an endless +thread, which she only cut off from the reel when the seam was finished. +And June would watch her pretty, plump little hands, and the shadows of +her moving fingers as he listened to queer tales of the sea-gods and +their palace under the waves. Sometimes she would tell of the old +samurai and their dark deeds of revenge, of attacks on castles, and +fights in the moats, and the imaginary clashing of swords and shouts of +men would get so real to June that he would say: + +"I don't want any more scareful ones to-night. Please tell me about the +little mosquito boy." + +Then Seki would begin: "Very long times ago, lived very good little boy, +who never want to do anything but reverence his mother and his father, +and his grandfathers and grandmothers. All times he think it over to +himself how he can serve his parents. One night the wind blow up from +the south and bring a thousand hundred _ka_, mosquito you call him, and +they bite very much. So good little boy takes off all his clothes and +lies at the door of his house so mosquitoes bite him and get so full of +boy that they have not room more for father and mother." At which point +June would never fail to laugh with delight, and Seki would look hurt +and puzzled and say, "Not funny, June, very fine, kind, and noble of +good little boy." + +After Seki had put out the light and joined the rest of the family in +the garden, June would lie very still and the thoughts that had been +crowded down in the bottom of his heart all day would come creeping up +and whisper to him. "Mother is a long way off; suppose she has gotten +lost and never comes back again. Perhaps I haven't got a father any +more, maybe the soldiers have put him in the ground as they did Teddy's +papa. Suppose I have to live here always and grow up to be a Japanese +man, and never see the ranch in California nor my pony any more?" And a +big sob would rise in his throat and he was glad of the dark, for the +tears would come no matter how hard he tried to keep them back. But he +never called Seki, nor let any one know. Sometimes he got up and got his +little gun and took it back to bed with him; it was so much easier to be +a soldier if you had a gun in your hand. + +But one morning when he awoke, two delightful things happened. First he +saw up in the air, apparently swimming about over the house-tops, an +enormous red fish as large as he was, and when he ran to the door there +were others as far as he could see waving and floating about tall poles +that were placed outside nearly every house. + +Without waiting to be dressed he rushed into the garden to ask Seki San +what it all meant. When she saw him, she dropped the letter she was +reading and came toward him as fast as her little pigeon toes would +carry her. + +"It's from your mother," she cried, her face beaming with joy. "She did +never get losted at all. She is with your father now, and he will have +the strength again, and they will come back so sooner as he can journey. +Oh! I could die for the happiness!" + +June jumped up and down, and Seki San giggled, and Tomi barked until the +family came out to see what was the matter. + +"And what did she say? Tell me!" demanded June. + +"All this, and this, and this," said Seki, spreading out the closely +written sheets. Then with many pauses and much knitting of brows and +pointing of fingers, she read the letter aloud. There was very little +about the sad journey, or the dreadful fever, or the life at the +hospital. It was mostly about June, whether he was well, whether he was +very unhappy, if he coughed at night, if he missed her very much. + +"And these at the end I sink I can not read," concluded Seki, pointing +to a long row of circles and dots. + +June looked over her shoulder. "Why Seki!" he exclaimed, "that's the +only part I can read! They are kisses and hugs, I showed her how to make +them. That long one is a pink kiss, and this starry one is silver with +golden spangles," he laughed with delight; then his eye catching sight +of the fish overhead, he said: + +"Say Seki, why did they put out the fish? Is it because my father is +getting well?" + +Seki San smilingly shook her head. + +"It's a matsuri, a festival," she explained; "this is the boys' day and +wherever a boy live, they put out a big paper fish with round mouth open +so----, and when the wind flow in, the fish grow big and fat and make +like swim in the air." + +[Illustration: "'It's a Matsuri--a festival,' Seki explained."] + +"But why do they put out fishes?" persisted June. + +"'Tis the carp fish," said Seki San, "because the carp very strong and +brave, he swim against the current, fight his way up the waterfall, not +afraid of the very bad discouragings, like good boy should be." + +June was much more interested in the fish than in the moral, and when +Toro brought a big red one for him and a paper cap and banner, he +hastened away to be dressed so that he could be ready for the +festivities. + +Taking it all in all, it was about the happiest day he had ever spent in +his life. When he and Toro started forth the streets were already full +of people, men and women in holiday attire, little girls in bright red +petticoats and fancy pins in their hair, every boy with a fish on a +stick, small children with bald-headed babies tied on their backs, all +trotting merrily along to the matsuri. + +Everywhere June went a crowd went behind him, for a little foreign boy +with gray eyes and fair hair, and strange foreign clothes was one of the +greatest sights of the day. Sometimes a woman would stop him and look at +his hat or his shoes, and a circle would close in and Toro would be +bombarded with questions. But the people were always so polite, and +their admiration was so evident, that June was rather pleased, and when +he smiled and spoke to them in English, they bowed again and again, and +he bowed back, then they all laughed. + +It was a terrible trial to June not to be able to ask questions. He was +brimful of curiosity and everything he saw and heard had a dozen +questions hanging to it. Usually Seki San supplied the answers but +to-day Toro was in command, and while he was a very careful little +guide, keeping tight hold of June's hand, pointing out all the +interesting sights, and trying to explain by sign and gesture, still he +did not know a single word of English. + +After passing through many gay streets they came to a tall red gate +which June had come to recognize as the entrance to sacred ground. But +inside it was not in the least like any churchyard he had ever seen. It +was more like the outside of a circus where everything delightful was +happening at once. On one side was a sandman making wonderful pictures +on the ground with colored sand. First he made a background of fine +white sand, then out of papers folded like cornucopias he formed small +streams of black and red sand, skilfully tracing the line of a mountain, +using a feather to make the waves of the sea, and a piece of silver +money to form the great round moon, and before you knew it there was the +very picture you had seen on fans and screens and tea-pots ever since +you could remember, even down to the birds that were flying across the +moon. + +Then there were jugglers and tight rope walkers, and sacred pigeons that +lit on your head and shoulders and ate corn out of your hand. June +thought he had never seen such greedy pigeons before. Two or three +perched on his hand at once, and scolded and pushed each other, and even +tried to eat the buttons off his blouse! + +Up the mountain side, flanked by rows of stone lanterns, ran a wide +flight of steps and at the top was the gate-way to the temple itself. On +either side were sort of huge cages, and in them the most hideous +figures June had ever seen! They were fierce looking giants with +terrible glass eyes and snarling mouths with all the teeth showing, just +as the Ogre's did in the fairy tale. One was painted all over green, and +the other was red, and they held out clutching fingers as if ready to +pounce upon the passer-by. While June was looking at them and feeling +rather glad that they were inside the cages, he saw two old men dressed +in white, climb slowly up the steps and kneel before the statues. Bowing +their heads to the earth and muttering prayers, they took from their +belts some slips of paper, and after chewing them into wads began +gravely to throw them at the fierce green demon behind the bars. + +June giggled with joy, this was something he could quite understand. +Taking advantage of Toro's attention being distracted, he promptly began +to make wads too, and before Toro could stop him he was vigorously +pelting the scowling image. In an instant there was angry remonstrance +and a group of indignant worshipers gathered around. Fortunately Seki +San appeared on the scene in time to prevent trouble. + +"But I was only doing what the others did!" explained June indignantly. + +"It is no harm done," said Seki, reassuringly after a few words to those +about her, "you not understand our strange ways. These are our Nio or +temple guardians that frighten away the evil, bad spirits." + +"What makes the pilgrims throw at them, then?" asked June. + +"They throw prayers," answered Seki San very seriously, "they buy paper +prayers from the old man at the gate, and throw them through the +grating. If the prayer sticks, it is answered, if it falls down it is +not answered. Come, I will show you!" + +They went very close, and looked through the bars; there on the grating, +on the floor and even on the ceiling above them were masses of tiny +paper wads, the unanswered prayers of departed thousands. + +"Well, three of mine stuck!" said June with satisfaction. "Do you +suppose it's too late to make a prayer on them now?" + +Seki thought after considering the matter that it was not. + +"But I haven't got anything left to pray for!" said June, regretting the +lost opportunity. "Father's getting well, and he and Mother are coming +home, and I have got pretty near everything I want. I believe I'd like +another fish though, and oh! yes, I want a little pug dog, jes' 'zactly +like Tomi." + +"It's tiffin time," said Seki San, "and after that will be the +fire-work." + +"In the day-time?" asked June. + +"Oh yes, very fine nice fire-work," said Seki. + +They left the temple grounds, and made their way up the river road, +where everybody was having a tea-party out under the trees. Seki San +secured a tiny table for them and they sat on their heels and ate rice +out of a great white wooden bucket, and fluffy yellow omelet out of a +round bowl, and the sunshine came dancing down through the dainty, +waving bamboo leaves, and everybody was laughing and chattering and from +every side came the click-clack of the wooden shoes, and the tinkle of +samisens and the music of falling water. + +Suddenly Toro pulled June's sleeve and motioned excitedly to the +road-way. Coming toward them in a jinrikisha, looking very pale and thin +and with both arms in bandages, sat Monsieur. + +June broke away from Seki and raced after the jinrikisha. "Oh! Mister," +he cried, "Mr. Frenchman." + +Monsieur, hearing the English words, stopped his man and turned around. +When he saw a very flushed little boy in blouse suit and a wide brimmed +hat, he smiled. + +"Ah!" he cried, "my friend of the garden! My prince who found the +Sleeping Beauty." Then he began to laugh so hard that it started up all +his rheumatic pains, and he had to sink back and rest before he could +speak again. "I am very bad since I saw you last," he said; "these dogs +of Japanese will let me die here. One day in France will make me well. I +may have it yet--I must get back some way--some way!" His eyes looked +excitedly over June's head out into space as if trying to span the miles +that lay between him and his beloved country. + +"My papa will take you home when he comes," said June; "he's a soldier." + +Monsieur shrugged his shoulders: "Your papa would not care _that_," he +said, snapping his fingers; then seeing June's disappointment he added +kindly, "But you--will you not come to see me? I will make you more +forts, I will show you my goldfish." + +"Yes, I'll come," said June. "When?" + +But before Monsieur could answer, Seki had called June and the +jinrikisha had started on its way. + +Late in the afternoon, as the revelers straggled home tired but happy, +June slipped his hand into Seki's. The merry noises of the day had given +place to the quiet chirp of the crickets and the drowsy croaking of the +frogs, and the little breezes that stirred overhead sounded sleepy and +far away. + +"Seki," said June, "I didn't make any prayer on that paper that stuck on +the old giant's nose, do you think it too late?" + +"No," said Seki San, willing to humor him. + +"Well," said June sleepily, "I pray that the French gentleman will get +back home." + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + +ONE morning several weeks later, June was lying on his back in the +garden wishing he had someone to play with. Toro was away at school and +Seki San was having her hair dressed. He had watched the latter +performance so many times that it had ceased to interest him. Seki would +sit for hours on a white mat before the old hair-dresser who combed, and +looped and twisted the long oily strands into butterfly bows of shining +black. + +The only person on the premises who was at leisure was Tomi, but that +was just the trouble, he was so much at leisure that he refused to stir +from his warm spot on the sunny steps no matter how much June coaxed. To +be sure there was a yellow cat next door, but she did not understand +English as Tomi did, and when June called her, she humped her back and +would have ruffled her tail if she had had one, but Japanese cats do not +have tails, so when they get angry they always look disappointed. + +Just as June was getting a bit lonesome the postboy came trotting in +with a letter for Seki San and June ran in to take it to her. + +"For me?" said Seki San, looking very comical with one loop of black +hair hanging over her eye, "from Meester Carré? I sink it is a mistake, +I do not know Meester Carré." + +"Read it," demanded June impatiently. + +"It say," went on Seki San slowly, "that Meester Carré is not able to +write hisself but he desire the writer to ask me will I permit the +little American boy to come to see him to-day. He is sick on the bed, +and have the low spirit. He will keep safe care of the little boy and +send him home what time I desire." + +"Oh, let me go, Seki! Please let me go!" cried June. + +"But who is Meester Carré?" + +"He is the Frenchman," said June. "He is a soldier and has got the +rheumatism. He has goldfish too, and a sword. Oh Seki, please let me go! +Oh, do let me go!" + +"Ah yes," said Seki, "one leg is shorter than the other leg and he walks +with sticks, and he has long white whiskers on his lip, ah! yes, I +know." + +"Can I go?" begged June. + +Seki San took a long while to think about it. She consulted her mother +and the old man next door, and the doctor who lived at the corner, but +by and by she came back and said he could go. + +"I will send you in good Tanaka's 'rikisha, he will take good care of +you and bring you back at tiffin time." + +June was greatly excited over the prospect and stood unusually still +while Seki San buttoned him into a starchy white blouse and pinned a +scarlet flower in his buttonhole. + +"Can't I pin my flag on too?" he begged, and Seki, who could not bear to +refuse him anything, fastened the bit of red, white and blue silk on the +other side. + +"Now keep your body still," cautioned Seki San as she put him in the +jinrikisha and gave final instructions to Tanaka who was bowing and +grinning and bowing again, "Tanaka will wait for you, and you must come +when he calls you. Be good little boy! _Sayonara!_" + +June had never felt so important in his life. To be going out all by +himself in a jinrikisha was quite like being grown up. The only thing +lacking to make him quite happy was a pair of reins that he might +imagine he was driving a horse instead of a little brown man with fat +bare legs and a big mushroom hat who looked around every few moments to +see if he was falling out. + +They trotted along the sunny streets, passing the temple grounds where +the green and red Nio made ugly faces all the day, and where the greedy +pigeons were waiting for more corn. They passed over the long bridge, +skirted the parade ground, then went winding in and out of narrow +streets until they came to a stretch of country road that ran beside a +moat. + +Here there was less to see and June amused himself by repeating the few +Japanese words he had learned. "Ohayo" meant "good-morning," and it was +great fun to call it out to the children they passed and see them bow +and call back "Ohayo" in friendly greeting. He knew another word too, it +was "Arigato," and it meant "thank you." He used it on Tanaka every time +he stopped by the wayside to pluck a flower for him. Once when they +rested June saw a queer old tree, with a very short body and very long +arms that seemed to be seeing how far they could reach. June thought the +tree must have the rheumatism, for it was standing on crutches, and had +knots on its limbs just like Monsieur had on his fingers. But the +strange part of it was that from nearly every branch fluttered a small +strip of paper with something written on it. June had seen this before +on other trees, and he remembered that Seki San had told him that these +little papers were poems hung there when the tree was covered with +cherry blossoms. + +Now June always wanted to do everything anybody else did, so when they +started off again, he decided that he would make up a poem to hang on +the tree as they came back. He knew one that he had learned from a big +boy coming over on the steamer, and he said it over softly to himself: + + "King Solomon was the wisest man; + He had some ready cash, + The Queen of Sheeny came along + And Solly made a mash." + +To be sure he didn't understand at all what it meant, but it sounded +nice and funny and always made him laugh. + +"I'd like to make up one out of my own head though," he thought, and he +sat so still that Tanaka glanced back uneasily. + +It was a very hard matter indeed, for when you write a poem you have to +get two words that sound alike, and then find something to write about +them. It took him so long that by the time he finished, the shaft of the +jinrikisha came down with a jerk and he looked up to find that they had +stopped in front of a house all smothered in vines, with two inquisitive +little windows peering out like eyes behind a tangle of hair. Everything +about the place looked poor and neglected. + +As June and Tanaka made their way up the path, June gave an exclamation +of delight. There about the door were bowls and jars and basins of +goldfish. Every available receptacle had been pressed into service, and +big fish and tiny ones in every shade of radiant gold swam gaily about +in the sunshine. + +It was such an engrossing sight that June almost forgot to go in and +speak to Monsieur who lay in a bed, near the door. + +"Ah, at last," cried the sick man. "My little friend is welcome. There, +sit in the chair. Though I am poor, I live like a gentleman. See, I have +a bed and chairs and a table!" + +June looked about the shabby crowded room, at the dusty flag of France +that was draped over the window, at the map of France that was pinned on +the wall beside the bed, at the cheap pictures and ornaments and the +soiled curtains, then he remembered Seki San's room, clean and sweet and +airy with nothing in it but a vase of flowers. + +"I'd rather sit on the floor," he said as he took his seat beside the +bed, adding immediately, "I can stay until twelve o'clock!" + +Tanaka had gone to take a bath after his warm run and to drink tea at +the little tea-house across the road. + +Monsieur lay propped up in bed with his bandaged hands lying helpless on +the cover-lid. But his eyes were soft and kind, and he had so many +interesting things to talk about that June found him a most entertaining +host. After he had shown June his sword and told a wonderful story about +it, he returned to the goldfish. + +"Alas, there are but twenty-one now," he sighed. "Napoleon Bonaparte +died on Sunday. Have you seen the Grand Monarch? He is the great +shining fellow in the crystal bowl. Those smaller ones are his +gentlemen-in-waiting. Here is Marie Antoinette, is she not most +beautiful?" + +June was introduced to every one in turn and had endless questions to +ask in regard to the story of each. Monsieur was the only person he had +ever met who always had another story on hand. Everything suggested a +story, a story was hidden in every nook and corner of Monsieur's brain, +they fairly bubbled over in their eagerness to be told, and June was as +greedy for more as the pigeons were greedy for corn, and he thought up +new questions while the old ones were getting answered. + +Once Monsieur recited something in verse to him, and that reminded June +of his own poem. + +"I made up one coming," he announced, "do you want to hear it?" + +Monsieur did. Monsieur was very fond of verse, so June recited it with +evident pride: + + "Oh Gee!" said the tree, + "It seems to me + That under my branches + I see a bee!" + +"Bravo!" said Monsieur, "you will be a poet and a soldier too!" + +"I'd like to write it down," said June, "so I can hang it on the tree." + +"To be sure, to be sure," said Monsieur, "you will find pen and ink in +the table drawer. Not that!" he cried sharply as June took out a long +sealed envelope. "Give that to me!" + +June handed the packet to Monsieur in some wonder and then continued his +search. + +"Here's a corkscrew," he said, "and some neckties, and a pipe. Here's +the pen! And may I use this fat tablet?" + +When the materials were collected, June stretched himself at full length +on the floor and began the difficult task. + +"I never did write with a pen and ink afore," he confided to Monsieur, +"you will have to tell me how to spell the big words." + +The room grew very silent and nothing was heard but the scratch, scratch +of June's clumsy pen, and the occasional question which he asked. A +strange change had come over Monsieur; his face, which had been so kind +and friendly, grew hard and scheming. He had drawn himself painfully up +on his elbow and was intently watching June's small fingers as they +formed the letters. Presently he drew the long envelope from under his +pillow and held it in his hand. It was a very fat envelope with a long +row of stamps in one corner, but there was no address on it. Twice he +put it back and shook his head, and twice he looked longingly at the map +of France, and at the flag over the window, then he took it out again. + +"Will you write something for me now, at once?" he demanded in such a +hard, quick voice that June looked up in surprise. + +"Another poem?" asked June. + +"No, a name and address on this envelope. Begin here and make the +letters that I tell you. Capital M." + +"Do you like wiggles on your _M's?_" asked June, flattered by the +request and anxious to please. + +"No matter," said Monsieur impatiently, "we must finish before twelve +o'clock. Now--small o--" + +June put his tongue out, and hunching up his shoulders and breathing +hard proceeded with his laborious work. It was hard enough to keep the +lines from running uphill and the letters from growing bigger and +bigger, but those difficulties were small compared to the task of +guiding a sputtering, leaking pen. Once or twice he forgot and tried to +rub out with the other end of it and the result was discouraging. When a +period very large and black was placed after the final word, he handed +the letter dubiously to Monsieur. + +"Does it spell anything?" he asked. Monsieur eagerly read the scrawling +address. "Yes, yes," he answered, "now put it inside your blouse, so. +When you get home wait until nobody is looking, then put it in the +mail-box. Do you understand? When nobody is looking! Nobody must know, +nobody must suspect, do you understand?" + +[Illustration: "'Does it spell anything?' June asked."] + +"Oh, I know, it's a secret!" cried June in delight. "I had a secret with +mother for a whole week once. I wouldn't tell anything if I said I +wouldn't, would you?" + +June was looking very straight at Monsieur, his round eyes shining with +honesty, but Monsieur's eyes shifted uneasily. + +"I would never betray a trust," he said slowly, "if I were trusted. But +they believed lies, they listened to tales that the beggarly Japanese +carried. They have made me what I am." + +June was puzzled. "Who did?" he asked. + +But Monsieur did not heed him; he was breathing quickly and the +perspiration stood out on his forehead. + +"And you will be very careful and let no one see you mail it," he asked +eagerly, "and never, never speak of it to anybody?" + +"Course not," said June stoutly, "that wouldn't be like a soldier, would +it? I am going to be a soldier, like you and Father, when I grow up." + +Monsieur shuddered: "No, not like me. I am no longer a soldier. I am a +miserable wretch. I--I am not fit to live." His voice broke and he threw +his arm across his eyes. + +June looked off into the farthest corner of the room and pretended not +to see. He felt very sorry for Monsieur, but he could think of nothing +to say. When he did speak he asked if goldfish had ears. + +When the noon gun sounded on the parade grounds, Tanaka came trotting to +the door with his jinrikisha, smiling and bowing and calling softly: +"Juna San! Juna San!" + +June gathered his treasures together, a new lead pencil, an old sword +hilt, some brass buttons and, best of all, a tiny goldfish in a glass +jar. + +"Good-bye," he said as he stood by the bed with his hands full, "I am +coming back to-morrow if Seki will let me;" then a second thought struck +him and he added, "I think you _look_ like a soldier anyhow." + +And Monsieur smiled, and stiffening his back lifted a bandaged hand in +feeble salute. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + +"SEKI SAN, have you got a big enderlope?" June asked the question from +the door-step where he was sitting with his chin in his hand and a very +worried look in his face. + +It was two days after his visit to Monsieur and the big letter was still +buttoned in his blouse. He had started to mail it as soon as he reached +home, but just as he was ready to drop it in the box, he discovered that +every "s" turned the wrong way! It was a dreadful blow to his pride, for +the rest of the address was quite imposing with big flourishing capitals +that stood like generals over the small letters, and dots that would +have surely put out all the "i's" had they fallen on them. He never +could send Monsieur's letter with the "s's" looking backward, he must +try to set them straight again. + +So, very carelessly, in order not to excite suspicion, he asked Seki for +pen and ink. He had written many letters to his mother and father, but +always in pencil, and Seki hesitated about giving him ink. + +She said: "Our ink not like your American ink, live and quick as water, +it hard like paint. We not use pen, but brush like which you write +pictures. I sink it more better you use pencil." + +But June insisted and when he gained his point, he carried the small box +into the garden and took out his letter. The jar containing his goldfish +was close by, so he dipped his stick of paint into the water and rubbed +it vigorously on the paint box. At the last moment just as his brush was +poised in the air, he had a moment of misgiving, "maybe 's's' do turn +that way!" he said, but the brush full of paint was a temptation not to +be resisted, so he took each little "s" by its tail and turned it inside +out. The paper was soft and thin and took the ink like blotting paper. +June watched with dismay as the lines spread into ugly blots, and when +he tried to make the letters plainer he only made the blots bigger until +they all seemed to join hands and go dancing over the envelope in +fiendish glee at his discomfort. + +For two days he had tried to think of a way out of the difficulty but +before he could find one he would get interested in something else and +forget about the letter. It was only when it felt stiff inside of his +blouse that he remembered, and then he would stop playing and try again +to solve the problem. At last in desperation he appealed to Seki San for +an envelope. + +"It is not so much big," she said, bringing out a long narrow envelope +and a roll of paper. "Why you want to write such big letter to your +mother? She coming home soon!" + +"It isn't big enough," said June fretfully, then an idea struck him. +"Seki, I want to go see Monsieur to-day." + +Seki San sat down on the step beside him and shook her head positively: + +"No, no," she said, "not to-day, nor to-morrow, nor any day. He is not a +good man, I made mistakes in letting you go." + +"He _is_ a good man!" cried June indignantly, "he told me stories, and +gave me lots of things." + +"I tell you 'bout him, June," said Seki San. "One time Monsieur very +skilful smart man in Tokyo. He write pictures of the forts and show the +Japanese how to find coast in time of war. He know more plenty than +anybody about the coast and the mines. Then he is not behave right, and +get sent out of the service, and he get sick in the hands so he can make +no more maps, and he come down here and live all alone by himself. That +was long time ago, but yesterday a high up messenger come from Tokyo, +and asked for Monsieur Carré. The Emperor have desire to buy his old +maps and reports, and get his help in making new plans. When the +messenger come, they say Monsieur fall back on the bed very white and +afraid, and say he will not give up the papers. Then messenger say maybe +he has sold his papers to a foreign country and he get very much angry, +and say if Monsieur Carré do not give the papers in twenty-four hours, +he will have him arrested and take him to Tokyo. Still Monsieur keep the +tight lips, and a guard is waiting outside his house." + +With troubled eyes, June listened to every word. "_Did_ he sell the +papers, Seki?" he asked anxiously. + +"He will not say," said Seki, "they say he will not say, but it was a +bad, wicked act if he sold our secrets, and he may die for it!" + +June stirred restlessly, and the packet in his blouse caught in his +belt. He put up his hand to straighten it, and as he did so, a startled +look of inquiry passed over his face. Could those papers in the long +envelope have anything to do with Monsieur's present trouble? Why had +Monsieur not wanted him to tell? Had his mistake about the "s's" +anything to do with it all? The secret, which at first had seemed such a +mysterious and delightful possession, suddenly grew into a great and +terrible burden that he longed to cast at Seki's feet and ask her to +share. + +But the thought of telling what he knew never crossed his mind. He had +given his word, and he felt that to break it would be to forfeit forever +his chance of becoming a soldier. But something must be done, he must go +to Monsieur and tell him the truth at once. + +"Seki," he said persuasively, "Monsieur is sick in bed, don't you think +it would be nice for me to take him a little cake?" + +"You can not ever go there any more," repeated Seki San positively. "I +did a mistakes in letting you go." + +In vain June pleaded, every argument that he could think of he brought +to bear, but Seki was firm. By and by he began to cry, at first softly, +begging between the sobs, then when he got angry he cried very loud and +declared over and over that he would go. + +Seki San was amazed at his naughtiness. It was the first time since his +mother left that she had known him to be disobedient. When persuasion +and coaxing proved in vain, she carried him into the house and carefully +closing the paper screens left him alone. Here he lay on the floor and +cried louder than ever. Seki San and her mother and the old man next +door stood on the outside and peeped through the cracks, gravely +discussing the situation. Even Tomi sniffed uneasily, and gave sharp, +unhappy barks. + +[Illustration: "They peeped through the cracks, gravely discussing the +situation."] + +After ever and ever so long the cries grew fainter and gradually ceased, +and Seki peeping around the screen whispered to the others to be very +still as he was going to sleep. + +June lay quiet on his face, but he was not asleep. Once in a while he +opened his eyes a very little and peeped out, then he closed them +quickly and listened. By and by he heard Seki go back to her work, and +the old man next door hobble across the garden. Inch by inch June +crawled over the mats until he reached the screen, which he carefully +slid back. After waiting for a few breathless minutes, he reached out +and got his shoes from the door-step and put them on. Back of the house +he could hear Seki singing at her work, and not six feet away Tomi lay +snoozing in the sun. Softly and cautiously he slipped out of the house, +across the strip of a garden where all the leaves seemed to be shaking +their heads at him, through a narrow passageway, then out of the gate +that divided the little world he knew from the vast unknown world that +lay beyond. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + +EVEN more than usually quiet and deserted was the narrow street. The +noon sun glaring down on the town had sent everybody into the shade, and +at first June attracted little attention as he trudged off in the +direction of the parade grounds. He knew the way that far, for Toro +often took him there to watch the men drill. Soldiers passed him now in +twos and threes, looking very smart in their buff uniforms with swords +clanking at their sides, and as they passed they laughed and turned to +look curiously at the small foreign boy. In fact curious eyes were +peering out of many of the open front shops, and mothers were even +holding up their babies and pointing to the strange little person who +was passing. + +Here and there children were dipping water with their hands from pails +and sprinkling the dusty street, and when they saw June they paused and +gazed open-mouthed, or shouted derisively: "Eijin! Eijin!" The whole +world seemed strange and unfriendly, and even the sun tried to see how +hot it could glare down on June's bare head. + +When he reached the parade ground, he stopped to rest, but no sooner had +he sat down than a circle gathered around him, two jinrikisha men, four +boys, a girl with a baby on her back and an old fish woman. There was no +chatter, they were all too interested to talk, they just stood and +looked and looked until June felt that their eyes were pins and that he +was the cushion. After a while he turned to one of the men and said: "Do +you know where Monsieur Carré lives?" + +They looked at each other and smiled. It was much as if a new bird had +twittered a strange note, and one boy tried to imitate the sound and +repeated "Carré lives?" to the great amusement of the rest. + +"Monsieur Carré!" went on June, getting angry, "he's a Frenchman. Don't +you know where he lives?" + +"Where he lives?" mimicked the boy and they laughed more than ever. June +was so angry by this time that he could not tell which he wanted most to +do, to cry or to fight. + +Beyond him was a wilderness of criss-cross streets with strange eyes +peering at him from every quarter. What if he should get lost and +swallowed up for ever in this strange place where nobody knew him nor +loved him nor spoke his language? + +Instinctively he looked back toward the way he had come. He had only to +retrace his steps past the parade ground, hurry back in a straight line +until he came to the big red gate that marked the entrance to the +temple, and then turning to the right run breathlessly down the street +to the little gate in the wall, and after that to throw himself into +Seki's arms and tell her all his troubles! + +But what would become of Monsieur? It must be very dreadful to be sick +in bed with a guard waiting to arrest you if you do not get some papers +for him, papers which you do not possess. And if Monsieur was arrested +he never would get back to France! + +All this flashed through June's mind as he sat under the pine tree, +trying with all his might to keep the black eyes all around from seeing +that he was about to cry. Just then a soldier went by holding himself +very erect and looking neither to the left nor the right. Suddenly June +remembered that soldiers did not cry, and with resolution he got up and +turning his back to the temple gate and the parade grounds, he continued +courageously on his way. + +Far in the distance he could see, high on a hill, the old castle which +he knew he must pass before he should come to Monsieur's. There were +many streets to be passed, and many obstacles to be overcome, for as +June got further from home the curiosity concerning him increased. It +was very warm and he was tired but he dared not sit down for he dreaded +the gaping crowd and the curious eyes. By and by he came to the old moat +which circled the castle, and as the road led out into the country, the +boys who had followed him gradually fell back until he realized with joy +that there were no more wooden shoes clattering after him. + +In the moat big lotus leaves floated on the water and working among them +were coolies, naked, except for a loin cloth. They were too busy to take +any notice of a strange little boy, so he sat on a rock under a tree for +a long time and wondered how it would feel to be down there under the +lily pads and the lotus leaves, and if the same hob-goblins and sprites +that live under the sea did not sometimes come to play in the moats, and +take moonlight rides on the big broad leaves? + +The sun which had beaten so fiercely on his head was slowly dropping +toward the distant mountain when he started once more on his way, and a +long shadow went beside him. The shadow was a great relief for it kept +him company without staring at him. By and by even the shadow deserted +him and he trudged along the country road following a vague impression +that somewhere around the foot of the mountain Monsieur lived. + +It was very quiet and lonesome with only the crickets and the frogs +talking to each other out there in the grasses, and June's feet were +tired and his head ached and he was hungry. A big lump kept lodging in +his throat no matter how often he swallowed. Now that the gray twilight +was creeping on, all sorts of fears assailed him. Ever since he could +remember Seki San had told him of the hob-goblins and gnomes that haunt +the woodlands and mountains in Japan. There were the Tengu, half bird +and half man, that play all sorts of mischievous pranks on the farmers, +there was the "Three-eyed Friar," and the "White Woman" who wanders +about in the snow, and worst of all was a bogie with horns, whose legs +dwindled away to nothing at all, but whose body was very large and +horrible with a long neck twisted like a snake. + +As he thought about it his heart began to thump, and he quickened his +steps to a run. All the trees seemed to be reaching out clutching hands +as he sped by, and the darkness kept creeping closer and closer. The +sobs which he had held back so long came faster, and at last breathless +and panic-stricken he sank exhausted by the roadside and waited in dumb +terror for what might happen. + +Looking fearfully around he saw just above him a kind, white face +peering out of the twilight. It was only a stone face, and it belonged +to an image that was sitting cross-legged on a mossy stone, but June +felt as if he had met a friend. Of all the gods and goddesses that Seki +San had told him about, the one he knew best was Jizo, the friend of +little children. The drooping figure, the gentle face, and the shaven +head had become as familiar to him as the pictures of Santa Claus at +home. He had met him in the temples, in the woods, on the river road, in +big stone statues and little wooden ones, and now when he found him here +in this lonesome night world, he felt a vague sense of relief and +protection. + +Climbing up on the stone he fingered the pebbles that filled Jizo's lap, +and touched the red cotton bib that was tied about his neck. He knew +what it all meant for Seki San had told him many times. Jizo was the +guardian of dead children, and the red bib and the pebbles had been +placed there by mothers who wanted the kind god to look after their +little babies who had passed away into another world. There were +hundreds of pebbles about the statue, in its lap, about its hands and +feet, and even on its bald head, and June was very careful not to +disturb any of them. He wished he had something to give the good god, +but he was too tired to go down and look for a pebble. He searched +through his pockets but nothing seemed to suit. Finally he separated one +object from the rest, and placed it gently in Jizo's upturned hand. It +was the old sword hilt that Monsieur had given him. + +[Illustration: "It was the old sword-hilt that Monsieur had given him."] + +Then, because he was very sleepy and tired, and because he was afraid of +the dark, he nestled down in the niche under Jizo's upraised arm, and +all the hob-goblins and evil spirits slipped away, and the stars came +out and the big white moon, and the monotonous droning of the crickets +and frogs seemed to be Seki San humming him to sleep, and the stone +figure against which he leaned seemed to sway toward him in the +moonlight and the face changed to the gentlest, sweetest one he knew, +and instead of the little pebbles on the head there was a crown of +thorns. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + +HOW long June slept there he did not know, but he was awakened by +someone shaking his arm and holding a paper lantern close to his face. +When he got his eyes open he found that it was a jinrikisha man and that +he was talking to him in Japanese. + +"Where's Seki?" June asked, looking about him in bewilderment. + +The man shook his head and continued to talk excitedly in Japanese. + +"I want to go to Monsieur Carré's," said June very loud as if that would +help the man to understand. + +"Wakarimasen," said the man. + +"Monsieur Carré!" shouted June, and again the man shook his head and +said, "Wakarimasen." + +Over and over June repeated "Monsieur Carré," and pointed down the +moonlit road. Finally in desperation he scrambled from his perch and +seizing a stick thrust it under his arm like a crutch, then he humped +his shoulders, drew down his brows, and limped along saying with a +groan, "Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!" as he had heard Monsieur say it. + +In an instant the man clapped his hands and laughed. "Hai, Hai," he said +and when the jinrikisha was wheeled about and June was invited to get +in, you may be sure he lost no time in doing so. He even forgot to give +a good-by look to Jizo, who sat smiling out into the moonlight with the +little pebbles on his head. + +It was a wonderful ride, through the soft shiny darkness, with only the +pitter patter of the kurumaya's sandals to break the silence. June, +curled up on the seat, was not thinking of poor Seki San and her anxiety +concerning him, neither was he thinking of the mother and father who +would soon be coming to him over the sea, nor of Monsieur with the guard +at his door. He was wondering if the stars were the moon's children, and +who woke the sun up in the morning. + +And all the time a light at the foot of the hill was getting closer and +closer, and before he knew it, they had stopped at the little brown +house where the windows peeped through the vines. + +A voice spoke sharply in the darkness and before June could get down a +man in uniform with a star on his breast, stopped him. The jinrikisha +man seemed to be explaining and the soldier to be asking questions, and +while they talked June sat very still with his heart beating furiously +against the long envelope in his blouse. + +He was just as frightened as he had been back in the woods when the +hob-goblins were after him, only it was different. Then he cried and ran +away, now he was not thinking of himself at all, but of Monsieur who +might have to go to prison and die if he should fail to get the papers +to him. + +After what seemed to him hours of time, the guard evidently came to the +conclusion that a sleepy little boy who had lost his way could do no +harm, so he lifted him down and took him up the path. + +June was too full of anxiety even to glance at the goldfish as he passed +them. He walked straight up the path and into the room where Monsieur +lay. On the bed was an old man who looked as if he might have been +Monsieur's father; his body seemed to have shrunk to half its size and +his face was old and white and drawn. Only the eyes made June know that +it was Monsieur himself, and the fierce startled look in them recalled +the day he had stumbled over him in the Daimyo's garden. + +"I was coming to see you and I got lost," began June, but Monsieur held +up a warning hand. + +"The guard will inform me in Japanese," he said so coldly that June +wondered if he were angry with him. + +After a great deal of talk, the guard went away leaving June sitting +half asleep on the floor with his head against the bed. In an instant +Monsieur was leaning over him shaking his shoulder. + +"Tell me!" he demanded, "tell me quickly why did you come?" + +June rubbed his eyes and yawned; at first he could not remember, then it +began to come back: + +"I made the 's's' the wrong way," he murmured, "and when I tried to fix +them I spoiled your letter." + +"Yes, yes," cried Monsieur, now out of bed and on his knees before the +child, "and you tore it up, you destroyed it?" + +June shook his head wearily, "It is inside here, but I can't undo the +buttons." + +Monsieur's hands, bandaged though they were, found the packet and drew +it eagerly forth. "Thank God! thank God!" he whispered, pressing the +unbroken seal again and again to his lips. + +"Did I save your life?" asked June making a mighty effort to rouse +himself, and enjoy his reward. + +"Not my life, boy; that did not matter; it is my honor you have saved, +my honor." And Monsieur lay back upon the bed and sobbed like a little +child. + +"He's coming!" warned June, and Monsieur had only sufficient time to +wipe away the tears from his withered old cheeks before the guard +returned with the jinrikisha man. + +After a consultation in Japanese, Monsieur said to June, "I have told +the man how to take you home. They will be very anxious about you. You +must start at once." + +"I'm hungry," said June, "I'd like some of those little crackers that +you gave me before." + +The guard, obligingly following directions, produced a paper bag from +the table drawer. + +"I wish they were animal crackers," said June, "I like to eat the +elephant first, then he gets hungry and I have to eat the bear, then the +bear gets hungry and I have to eat the pig, and the pig gets hungry and +I have to eat the rabbit until there aren't any left in the bag." + +"You have not spoken to any one about the letter?" whispered Monsieur as +he pretended to kiss June good-by. + +"'Course not!" declared June indignantly. "It's a secret!" Then as if +remembering a lost opportunity he added: "Oh! you couldn't tell me a +story, could you? Just a teeny weeny one?" + +"Not to-night," said Monsieur laughing, "why, it is eleven o'clock now. +But to-morrow, next day, always when you come, the stories are waiting, +all that my brain and heart can hold." + +And with this promise June was bound to be content. + +It was hard to believe that the way back was as long as the way he had +come, for before he knew it the wall beside the moat appeared by the +roadside, then the parade grounds dim and shadowy in the moonlight, then +the crowded streets of the town. He did not know that he was the chief +cause of the commotion, that for two hours parties of searchers had been +hurrying along every road leading out of town, that people were telling +where they had seen him last, and that anxious groups were looking over +the low wall into the black waters of the moat. + +He only knew that from the moment he reached town a crowd followed his +jinrikisha, that his kurumaya could scarcely push his way through the +questioning throng, and that at last they stopped and a shout went up, +the crowd parted, and through the opening dashed Seki San, her hair +hanging limply about her face, her eyes full of joy, and her arms +out-stretched. + +"Oh! My little boy darling!" she cried. "You have given me many +troubles. Where you been, where did you go?" + +But June attempted no explanation; the papers were safe with Monsieur +and he was safe with Seki San, and whether or not he had done right was +too big a problem to wrestle with. + +After Seki had fed him and bathed him, and kissed his many bruises to +make them well, he put his arms about her and gave her a long, hard hug. + +"I am awful sorry I had to run away," he said and Seki's English was not +good enough to understand just what he meant. + +[Illustration: "Long after he was asleep she sat beside him."] + +Long after he was asleep she sat beside him on the floor, crying softly +into her sleeve, and holding fast to his hand while she gave thanks not +only to her new Christian God but to some of the heathen ones as well +for sending him back to her. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + +LATE in the summer, when the tiny maple leaves were turning blood-red +and the white lotus was filling every pond and moat, June and Seki San +journeyed back to Yokohama. They were going to meet the big steamer that +was on its way from China to America, and June was to join his mother +and father and go back with them to California. He was so happy over the +prospect that he could not sit still a minute, but kept hopping from one +side of the car to the other and asking Seki more questions than she +could possibly answer. + +"Do you s'pose my mother'll know me now I've got so fat? Has my father +grown any since I saw him? Will he carry a sword? What do you s'pose +they will bring me?" and so on until there were scarcely any questions +left to be asked. + +"One more day," said Seki San sadly, "and Seki will have no more little +boy to hold her sleeves behind and tease and tickle her under her necks. +She will have a very, very lonely heart." + +June's merriment ceased for a moment and he looked serious. The fact +that Seki could not go back with him had been a misfortune that he had +not yet faced. + +"I'm going to get my father to come back for you next year," he said at +last, "you and Tomi and Toro, and your mamma with the black teeth too. +We will have a little Japanese house on the ranch, and Toro can ride my +pony." + +But Seki shook her head and wiped her eyes. + +"You will go back to your dear, affectionate home," she said, "and be +big mans when I see you once more. But I will hear your lovingest little +boy voice down in my heart alway!" + + * * * * * + +It was a happy meeting the next day on the steamer when June actually +saw his mother, and clung about her neck as if he would never let go +again. Then he had to be taken up on the shelter deck and introduced to +a strange, pale man reclining in a steamer chair, who they said was his +father. At first it was a dreadful disappointment, and he submitted to +being kissed with an effort. But when the man lifted one eyebrow and +puckered his mouth into a funny shape, and said, "Why, Mr. Skeezicks, +you haven't forgotten your old Pard?" a dark spot seemed suddenly to go +out of June's mind and in its place was a memory of the jolliest, +funniest playfellow he had ever had in his life. With a rush he was in +his lap. "You used to tell me about the Indians," he cried accusingly, +"I remember now. What became of Tiger Tooth and the little white child?" + +"We will have just fourteen days to tell stories," said Captain Royston. +"I shall probably be a dumb man by the time we land in San Francisco. +You must sit down here now and tell this little mother of yours the +story of your life. Where did you get these red cheeks and fat legs?" + +And with Seki San sitting on the floor at their feet, and with a +frequent hug from mother and many a laugh from father, the story of the +summer was told. + +When the last launch brought the passengers out from the shore, who +should come aboard but Monsieur Carré. He was regularly engaged in +Government service at Tokyo now, and when he saw in the paper that +Master Robert Rogers Royston, Junior, would join his parents and sail +for America on the S. S. _Mongolia_, he made the short trip to Yokohama +to say good-by. + +He was so dressed up that June scarcely recognized him. His white +mustache was waxed until it stood out very straight, and his hair was +parted all the way down the back. He still carried a heavy cane and +limped when he walked, but his hands, though knotted and gnarled, were +free from bandages. + +Captain and Mrs. Royston welcomed him cordially as a friend of June's +and even Seki San, who still looked upon him with suspicion, was +discreetly silent. + +"Are you going back to France?" asked June. + +"Next year," answered Monsieur. "I will have made sufficient money to go +home, and then! Ah, Mon Dieu! I will never leave it again." + +"I will write you a letter," said June, adding slyly, "I'll be sure to +make the 's's' turn the right way." + +Monsieur put his finger on his lips and June nodded understandingly. + +"What secret have you there?" asked Captain Royston. + +Monsieur put his hand on June's head, and looking straight in the +Captain's eyes, he said: + +"Your boy will make a fine soldier; he has courage and honor, and he can +keep a secret. I congratulate you!" + +Just then a gong sounded and the first officer ordered everybody who was +going ashore to hurry. There was general bustle and confusion, June had +a vague impression of Monsieur kissing him on both cheeks, and +disappearing down the rope ladder, of Seki San kneeling before him while +he clung to her neck and begged her not to leave him, then he was +sitting on the railing, with Father's arm about him, and Mother holding +one hand while with the other he waved good-by to the friends below. + +[Illustration: "June waved good-by to the friends below."] + +The little launch grew strangely blurred as it danced away over the +water. June did not see the crowd on the deck, nor the pilot at the +wheel, nor even the white and orange flag that floated from the mast. He +was watching the pink rose in Seki's hair growing fainter and fainter in +the distance. + +"And now," said Father, with decision, "I think it's about time to get +busy with the Indians." + + + + + Transcriber Notes + +Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_. + +Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS. + +Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of the +speakers. Those words were retained as-is. + +The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up +paragraphs and so that they are next the text they illustrate. Thus the +page number of the illustration might not match the page number in the +List of Illustrations, and the order of illustrations may not be the +same in the List of Illustrations and in the book. + +Errors in punctuations and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected +unless otherwise noted below: + +On page 90, "chlidren" was replaced with "children". + +On page 116, a comma was placed after "with suspicion". + +On page 116, the single quotation mark after "leave it again." was +replaced with a double quotation mark. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Captain June, by Alice Hegan Rice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN JUNE *** + +***** This file should be named 38228-8.txt or 38228-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/2/38228/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ernest Schaal, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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+ margin-right: 10%; + } + +h1 { + margin-top: 7%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h2 { + margin-top: 4%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +/* paragraphs */ + +p { + margin-top: 3%; + margin-bottom: 3%; + text-align: justify; +} /* general paragraph */ + +p.h1 { + margin-top: 7%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + font-size: 300%; + font-weight: bold; +} + +p.h2 { + margin-top: 7%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + font-size: 150%; + font-weight: bold; +} + +p.h2a { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + font-size: 150%; + font-weight: bold; +} /* h2 type without top margin */ + +p.h3 { + margin-top: 7%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; +} + +p.h3a { + margin-top: 7%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: left; + font-size: 150%; + font-weight: bold; +} + +p.cnobmargin { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .0%; +} /* centered no bottom margin */ + +p.cnomargins { + text-align: center; 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+} + +.center { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; +} + +.right { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: right; +} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +/* Links attributes */ + +a:link { color:#000000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:visited { color:#25383C; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:hover { color:#008000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:active { color:#000000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +ins {text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #dcdcdc;} + +table { + margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 0%; +} + +.tdr { + text-align: right; + width: 33%; +} /* right align cell */ + +.tdl { + text-align: left; + width: 33%; +} /* left align cell */ + +/* Images */ + +img { + padding: 6px; +} /* without border */ + +img.border{ + border: 1px solid black; + padding: 6px; +} /* with border */ + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + +.poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + +/* Other */ + +span.ralign { + position: absolute; + right: 10%; + top: auto; +} + +.TOCR { + list-style-type:upper-roman; + margin-left: 10%; + color:black; +} + +div.tnote { + border-style: dotted; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: 1%; + font-style: normal; + font-size: 90%; + text-align: justify; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Captain June, by Alice Hegan Rice + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain June + +Author: Alice Hegan Rice + +Illustrator: C. D. Weldon + +Release Date: December 6, 2011 [EBook #38228] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN JUNE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ernest Schaal, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 541px;"> <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="541" height="700" alt="cover" title="cover" /> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 565px;"> <a name="fb" id="fb"></a> +<img src="images/illus002.jpg" width="565" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="h3">"All day long the boys played down by the river."</p> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h1">Captain June</p> + +<p class="h2a">By</p> + +<p class="h2a">Alice Hegan Rice</p> + +<p class="cnobmargin">Author of "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch,"</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin">"Lovey Mary," Etc.</p> + +<p class="h2">With Pictures by C. D. Weldon</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 324px;"> +<img src="images/illus003.jpg" width="324" height="325" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<p class="cnobmargin">New York</p> + +<p class="cnomargins">The Century Co.</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin">1907</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="cnobmargin">Copyright 1906, 1907, by</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin"><span class="smcap">The Century Co.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Published October, 1907</i></p> + +<p class="h3">THE DE VINNE PRESS</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="cnobmargin">TO THE LITTLE BOY I LOVE BEST</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin">FRANCIS BARBOUR HEGAN</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<p class="right">PAGE</p> + +<p>"All day long the boys played down by the +river" <span class="ralign"><a href="#fb"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></span></p> + +<p>The Tea-party on the Train <span class="ralign"><a href="#i17">17</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Do you want me to help you?'" <span class="ralign"><a href="#i37">37</a></span></p> + +<p>"'It's a Matsuri—a festival,' Seki explained" <span class="ralign"><a href="#i49">49</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Does it spell anything?' June asked" <span class="ralign"><a href="#i75">75</a></span></p> + +<p>"They peeped through the cracks, gravely discussing +the situation" <span class="ralign"><a href="#i85">85</a></span></p> + +<p>"It was the old sword-hilt that Monsieur had given +him" <span class="ralign"><a href="#i97">97</a></span></p> + +<p>"Long after he was asleep she sat beside him" <span class="ralign"><a href="#i107">107</a></span></p> + +<p>"June waved good-by to the friends below" <span class="ralign"><a href="#i117">117</a></span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<h2>CAPTAIN JUNE</h2> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span></p> + +<h2>CAPTAIN JUNE</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter I</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">June</span> had never sat still so long during the +whole six years of his existence. His slender +body usually so restless and noisy was motionless; +his hands too fond of teasing and +mischief lay limp in his lap, even his tongue +was still and that was the most wonderful of +all. The only part of him that stirred was a +sparkling pair of gray eyes that were looking +out upon the strangest world they had ever +seen.</p> + +<p>The entire day had been one of enchantment, +from the first waking hour when he discovered +that the engines on the big steamer +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" id="page4"></a>[pg 4]</span> +where he had lived for seventeen days had +stopped, and that the boat was actually lying +at anchor just off the coast of Japan. Seki +San, his Japanese nurse who had cared for +him ever since he was a baby, had been so +eager to look out of the port-hole that she +could scarcely attend to her duties, and the +consequence was that he had to stand on the +sofa and hook his mother's dress and help her +with the little pins at the back of the neck +while Seki San finished the packing. June +could not dress himself but he knew a great +deal about hooks and eyes and belt pins. +When mother got in a hurry she lost things, +and experience had taught him that it was +much easier to fasten the pin where it belonged +than to spend fifteen minutes on the floor +looking for it.</p> + +<p>At last when all the bags and trunks were +ready, and the pilot and the health officer had +come aboard, and everybody had waited until +they could not wait another moment, the passengers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span> +were brought ashore in a wheezy, +puffy launch, and were whirled up to the +hotel in queer little buggies drawn by small +brown men with bare legs and mushroom +hats, and great sprawling signs on their backs.</p> + +<p>Since then June had sat at a front window +too engrossed to speak. Just below him lay +the Bund or sea-road, with the wall beyond +where the white waves broke in a merry +splash and then fell back to the blue water +below. Out in the harbor there were big black +merchant steamers, and white men-of-war, +there were fishing schooners, and sampans +with wobbly, crooked oars. But the street +below was too fascinating to see much beyond +it. Jinrikishas were coming and going with +passengers from the steamers and the coolies +laughed and shouted to each other in passing. +Women and girls clattered by on wooden +shoes with funny bald-headed, slant-eyed +babies strapped on their backs. On the hotel +steps, a little girl in a huge red turban and a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span> +gorgeous dress of purple and gold was doing +handsprings, while two boys in fancy dress +sang through their noses and held out fans to +catch the pennies that were tossed from the +piazza above.</p> + +<p>If Cinderella, and Jack the Giant Killer, +and Aladdin and Ali Baba had suddenly appeared, +June would not have been in the least +surprised. It was where they all lived, there +could be no possible doubt as to that. Here +was the biggest picture book he had ever seen, +the coming true of all the fairy-tales he had +ever heard.</p> + +<p>He was dimly conscious that in the room +behind him Seki San was unpacking trunks +and boxes, and that his mother was coming +and going and leaving hurried instructions. +Once he heard her say, "Don't say anything +to him about it, Seki, I'll tell him when he has +to be told." But just then a man went by +with a long pole across his shoulder and round +baskets on each end, and in the baskets were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span> +little shining silver fishes, and June forgot all +about what his mother was saying.</p> + +<p>June's father was a young army officer +stationed in the Philippines. June was born +there but when still a baby he had been desperately +ill and the doctor had sent him back +to the States and said he must not return for +many years. It was a great grief to them all +that they had to be separated, but Capt. Royston +had gotten two leaves of absence and +come home to them, and now this summer +June and his mother had come all the way +from California to meet him in Japan.</p> + +<p>June was not his real name. It was Robert +Rogers Royston, Junior, but mother said +there never could be but one Robert for her, +and father did not like the Rogers for a Christian +name, so they called him Junior, and Junior +soon got bobbed off into June. The name +suited him too, for a sunshinier little chap you +never saw. He never seemed to know that +he was not as strong as other boys, and when +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span> +his throat was very bad and his voice would +not come, why he sat up in bed and whistled, +just the keenest, cheeriest, healthiest whistle +you ever heard.</p> + +<p>It was on the indoor days that Seki San +used to tell him about her wonderful country +across the sea, of the little brown houses with +the flower gardens on the roofs, of the constant +clatter, clatter of the wooden shoes, and +the beautiful blossoms that rained down on +you like snow.</p> + +<p>"Where are the blossoms?" he demanded, +suddenly turning in his chair. "You said +they came down thick and white and that I +could let them fall over my face."</p> + +<p>Seki San did not answer, she was kneeling +beside a very disconsolate figure that lay +on the bed with face buried in the pillows. +When June spoke, his mother sat up and +pushed back her tumbled hair. She was a very +little mother with round eyes and lips as red +as June's, only now her eyes were red and her +lips trembling.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span> +"You may go in the other room, Seki San," +she said, "I want to talk to June by himself."</p> + +<p>June sidled up cautiously and took a seat +near her on the bed. The one unbearable +catastrophe to him was for his mother to cry. +It was like an earthquake, it shook the very +foundations on which all his joys were built. +Sometimes when the postman forgot to leave +a letter, and occasionally when he was sick +longer than usual, mother cried. But those +were dark, dreadful times that he tried not +to think about. Why the tears should come +on this day of all days he could not understand.</p> + +<p>She put her arm around him and held him +close for a long time before she spoke. He +could feel the thump, thump of her heart as +he leaned against her.</p> + +<p>"June," she said at last, "you are going to +be a soldier like father, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>June's eyes brightened. "Yes, and carry +a sword!" he said.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span> +"There is something more than a sword +that a soldier has to have."</p> + +<p>"A gun?"</p> + +<p>Mother shook her head. "It's courage, +June! It's something I haven't got a scrap +of. You'll have to be brave for us both!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid," declared June. "I go to +bed in the dark and go places by myself or +anything."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that way," said his mother. +"I mean doing hard things just because they +are right, staying behind for instance when—when +somebody you love very much has to go +away and leave you."</p> + +<p>June sat up and looked at her. "Who's +going away?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>Mother's voice faltered. "Father's terribly +ill with a fever, June. The letter was waiting +here, it is from our old doctor in Manila, he +says, 'Come on first steamer, but don't bring +the boy.'" The earth seemed suddenly to be +slipping from under June's feet, he clutched +at his mother's hand. "I am going too!" he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> +cried in quick alarm, "I won't stay behind, I +can't, mother!"</p> + +<p>Her arm tightened about him. "But I +don't dare take you, June, think of the terrible +heat and the fever, and you are the only little +boy I've got in the world, and I love you so!"</p> + +<p>"I won't take the fever," protested June. +"I'll be good. I'll mind every word Seki +says."</p> + +<p>"But Seki isn't going. She wants to take +you home with her down to a little town on +the Inland Sea, where there are all sorts of +wonderful things to do. Would you stay with +her, June, while I go to father?"</p> + +<p>Her voice pleaded with eagerness and +anxiety, but June did not heed it. Slipping +from her arms, he threw himself on the floor +and burst into a passion of tears. All the joys +of the enchanted country had vanished, nothing +seemed to count except that mother was +thinking of leaving him in this strange land +and sailing away from him across the sea.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry so, June, listen," pleaded his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> +mother. "I have not decided, I am trying +to do what is best."</p> + +<p>But June refused to be consoled. Over +and over he declared that he would not stay, +that he would rather have the fever, and die +than to be left behind.</p> + +<p>By and by the room grew still, his mother +no longer tried to pacify him, only the ticking +of the little traveling clock on the table broke +the stillness. He peeped through his fingers +at the silent figure in the chair above him. He +had never seen her look so white and tired, +all the pretty smiles and dimples seemed gone +forever, her eyes were closed and her lips +were tightly drawn together. June crept close +and slipped his hand into hers. In an instant +her arms were about him.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to do, nor where to +turn," she sobbed. "I am afraid to take you +and afraid to leave you. What must I do?"</p> + +<p>June was sure he did not know but when +mothers are little and helpless and look at you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span> +as if you were grown up, you have to think +of a way. He was standing beside her with +his arm around her neck, and he could feel +her trembling all over. Father often said in +his letters, "Be sure to take care of that +little Mother of yours," but it had always +seemed a joke until now. He sighed, then he +straightened his shoulders:</p> + +<p>"I'll stay, Mudderly," he said, then he +added with a swallow, "Maybe it will help +me to be a soldier when I get big!"</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span></p> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter II</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">"Seki San</span>, look at the old woman with black +teeth! What made them black? What have +the little girls got flowers in their hair for? +What are they ringing the bell for?"</p> + +<p>Seki San sitting on her heels at the car +window tried to answer all June's questions +at once. The sad parting was over. Mrs. +Royston had left in the night on the steamer +they had crossed in, and the Captain and the +Purser and all the passengers were going to +take care of her until she got to Hong Kong, +and after that it was only a short way to +Manila, and once she was with Father, June +felt that his responsibility ceased.</p> + +<p>When they first boarded the train, June +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> +had sat very quiet. If you wink fast and +swallow all the time, you can keep the tears +back, but it does not make you feel any better +inside.</p> + +<p>"If God has got to take somebody," June +said at length gloomily, "I think He might +take one of my grandmothers. I have got +four but one of them is an old maid."</p> + +<p>"Oh no," said Seki, "she isn't."</p> + +<p>"She <i>is</i>," persisted June, "she keeps every +thing put away in little boxes and won't let +me play with them. Seki, do you guess God +would jes' as lieve for me to have a horn as a +harp when I go to Heaven? I want a presser +horn like they have in the band."</p> + +<p>"But you will not go for many long times!" +cried Seki, catching his hand as if he were +about to slip away. "Look out of the window. +See! They are giving the cow a bath!"</p> + +<p>In a field nearby an old man and woman +were scrubbing a patient-looking cow, and +when the creature pulled its head away and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span> +cried because it did not want to get its face +washed, June laughed with glee. After all, +one could not be unhappy very long when +every minute something funny or interesting +was happening. At every station a crowd of +curious faces gathered about the car window +eager to catch a glimpse of the little foreign +boy, and June, always ready to make friends, +smiled at them and bobbed his head, which +made the boys and girls look at each other +and laugh.</p> + +<p>"We bow with our whole self, so," Seki +explained, putting her hands on her knees and +bending her body very low, "and we never +shake with the hands nor kiss together!"</p> + +<p>"Don't the mothers ever kiss the children +good-night?" asked June incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Oh! no," said Seki, "we bow."</p> + +<p>While June was thinking about this strange +state of affairs, a man came close under the +window, carrying a tray and calling: "<i>Bento! +Eo Bento!</i>"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span> +Seki San took some money from a little +purse which she carried in her long sleeve, +and handing it out to the man, received two +square wooden boxes and a fat little tea-pot +with a cup over its head like a cap.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 597px;"> <a name="i17" id="i17"></a> +<img src="images/illus025.jpg" width="597" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="h3">The Tea-Party on the train.</p> +</div> + +<p>"Are we going to have a tea-party?" asked +June, scrambling down from his perch.</p> + +<p>"So," said Seki San, reaching under the +seat and pulling out a tiny chest, in which +were other cups and saucers and a jar of tea +leaves, "we will have very nice tea-parties +and you shall make the tea."</p> + +<p>June, following instructions, put some of +the tea in the small pot and poured the hot +water over it, then he helped Seki San spread +two paper napkins on the seat between them.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "where's the party?"</p> + +<p>Seki San handed him one of the boxes and +began to untie the string of the other.</p> + +<p>"I have some sticks tied on to mine!" +cried June, "two big ones and a tiny little +one wrapped up in paper."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span> +"That is your knife and fork and pick-tooth," +said Seki San. "You must hold the +sticks in one hand like this."</p> + +<p>But June was too busy exploring the contents +of the two trays that formed his box to +stop to take a lesson in the use of chop-sticks. +The lower tray was full of smooth white rice. +In the top one, was a bit of omelet and some +fish, and a queer-looking something that puzzled June.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Guess it!" said Seki mysteriously, "guess +it with your nose."</p> + +<p>"It's pickle!" cried June.</p> + +<p>"Pickled sea-weed," said Seki, "and I have +also brought you some Japanese candy that +you pour out of a bottle."</p> + +<p>There was no bread, no butter, no knife +nor fork nor spoon, but June thought it +was the very nicest tea-party he had ever +been to. Sitting with his stocking feet curled +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span> +up under him as Seki had hers, he clattered +his chop-sticks and spilt the rice all over the +seat, while they both grew weak with laughter +over his efforts to feed himself.</p> + +<p>"Don't you wish you were a little boy, Seki +San?" he asked when most of the lunch had +disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Why?" said Seki.</p> + +<p>"'Cause," said June, "you'd have such a +good time playing with me all the time!"</p> + +<p>"But no," said Seki seriously, "I must be +big womans to take care of you."</p> + +<p>"And tell me stories!" added June with +policy: "tell me 'bout Tomi now."</p> + +<p>"Tomi?" said Seki San, smiling. "You +going see Tomi very soon, to-morrow, perhaps +to-night. Tomi very bad little dog, makes +a cross bark at all big peoples, but loves +little children. When Tomi very little his nose +stick out, so—Japanese think it very ugly for +little pug-dog's nose to stick out, so we push +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span> +it in easy every day. Now Tomi has nice flat +nose, but he sneeze all the time so—kerchoo, +kerchoo, kerchoo."</p> + +<p>June laughed at the familiar story, but +suddenly he sobered:</p> + +<p>"Say, Seki, I don't think it was very nice +to push his nose in; I wouldn't like to have +my nose pushed in so I would have to sneeze +all the rest of my life."</p> + +<p>"Ah! but he must be beautiful! Tomi +would not be happy if his nose stuck out when +other pug-doggies had nice flat nose. Tomi +is very happy, he is grateful."</p> + +<p>It was quite dark when they reached their +destination; June had been asleep and when +he slipped out on the platform he could not +remember at all where he was; Seki's mother +and her sisters and brothers besides all the +relatives far and near had come to welcome +her back from America, and quite a little crowd +closed in about her, bowing and bowing and +chattering away in Japanese.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span> +June stood, rather forlornly, to one side. +This time last night Mother had been with +him, he could speak to her and touch her, and +now—it was a big, strange world he found +himself in, and even Seki seemed his Seki no +longer.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he felt something rub against his +leg, and then he heard a queer sound that +somehow sounded familiar. Stooping down +he discovered a flat-nosed little pug that was +kissing his hand just as if it had been brought +up in America.</p> + +<p>"It's Tomi," cried June in delight, and the +pug, recognizing his name, capered more +madly still, only stopping long enough to +sneeze between the jumps.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later June was sitting beside +Seki San in a broad jinrikisha, rushing through +the soft night air, down long gay streets full +of light and color and laughter, round sharp +corners, up steep hills, over bridges where he +could look down and see another world of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span> +paper lanterns and torches, and always the +twinkling legs and the big round hat of the +jinrikisha man bobbing steadily along before +him.</p> + +<p>"Is it like a story-book all the time?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>Seki San laughed: "Oh, no, June, story-book +land is back in America, where the +grown-up houses are, and the rich, fine furnitures, +and the strange ways. This is just +home, my very dear home, and I have such +glad feelings to be here!"</p> + +<p>June cuddled close and held her hand, and +if he felt a wee bit wistful, and wiped his eyes +once in a while on her sleeve, he did it very +carefully, so that Seki would have nothing to +spoil the glad feeling in her heart at being +home again.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span></p> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter III</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> new life which opened up for June was +brimming over with interest. Seki San lived +in a regular toy house, which was like a lot of +little boxes fitted into one big one. One whole +side was open to the garden and a tiny railed +balcony ran around outside the rooms. The +walls were made of white paper, and when +the sun shone all sorts of pretty shadows +danced on them, and when it rained everybody +ran about to put up the wooden screens, and +fasten the house up snug and tight until the +shower was over. A flight of low steps cut +in the rock led down to a bamboo wicker, and +here green lizards sunned themselves all day +and blinked in friendly fashion at the passer-by.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span> +The night June arrived he had looked +about blankly and said:</p> + +<p>"But Seki, there isn't any furniture in your +house; haven't you got any bed, or chairs or +table?"</p> + +<p>And Seki had laughed and told the others +and everybody laughed until June thought he +had been impolite.</p> + +<p>"I like it," he hastened to add, "it's the +nicest house I ever was in, 'cause, don't you +see, there isn't anything to break."</p> + +<p>It was quite wonderful to see how easily +one can get along without furniture. After +one has sat on his heels, and slept on the floor +and eaten off a tiny table no bigger than a +footstool, it seems the most sensible thing in +the world. June did hang up one picture and +that was a photograph of his mother. She +had left him two, but one was taken with her +hat on.</p> + +<p>"I don't like for her always to look as if she +was going away!" he said to Seki San when +she wanted to put them both up.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span> +The life, interesting as it was, might have +proven lonely, had it not been for Seki's +younger brother, Toro, who was two years +older than June. Although neither could understand +a word the other said, yet a very great +friendship had sprung up between them. "We +understand just like dogs," June explained to +Seki San.</p> + +<p>All day long the two boys played down +by the river bank, paddling about in the +shallow shimmering water, building boats and +putting them out to sea, sailing their kites from +the hill top, or best of all, sitting long hours +on the parade grounds watching the drilling +of the soldiers.</p> + +<p>Sometimes when they were very good, +Seki San would get permission for them to +play in the daimyo's garden and those days +were red-letter days for June. The garden +was very old and very sacred to the Japanese, +for in long years past it had belonged to an +old feudal lord, and now it was the property +of the Emperor.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span> +From the first June had cherished a secret +belief that somewhere in its leafy bowers he +would come across the Sleeping Beauty. It +was all so old and so still that even the breezes +whispered as they softly stirred the tree-tops. +In the very heart of the garden a little blue +lake smiled up at the sky above, and all about +its edges tall flags of blue and gold threw +their bright reflections in the water below. A +high-arched bridge all gray with moss, led +from one tiny island to another, while along +the shore old stone lanterns, very stiff and +stern, stood sentinel over the quiet of the +place. Here and there a tempting little path +led back into mysterious deeps of green, and +June followed each one with the half expectancy +of finding the cobwebby old place, and the +vine-grown steps, and the Sleeping Beauty +within.</p> + +<p>One day when they were there, Toro became +absorbed in a little house he was building +for the old stork who stood hour after hour +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span> +under the cool shadow of the arching bridge. +June, getting tired of the work, wandered off +alone, and as he went deeper into the tangle +of green, he thought more and more of the +Sleeping Beauty.</p> + +<p>It was cool and mysterious under the close +hanging boughs, and the sunshine fell in white +patches on the head of an old stone Buddha, +whose nose was chipped off, and whose forefinger +was raised in a perpetual admonition to +all little boys to be good. Just ahead a low +flight of stairs led up to a dark recess where +a shrine was half concealed by a tangle of vines +and underbrush. June cautiously mounted +the steps; he was making believe that he was +the prince in the fairy-tale, and that when he +should push through the barrier of brier roses +he would find the Sleeping Beauty within the +shrine.</p> + +<p>As he reached the top step, a sound made +him pause and catch his breath. It was not +the ripple of the falling water that danced +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span> +past him down the hillside, it was not the +murmur of the wind in the bamboos overhead; +it was the deep regular breathing very close +to him of some one asleep. For a moment +June wanted to run away, but then he remembered +the golden hair and blue eyes of the princess +and with heart beating very fast, he +pushed through the underbrush and stumbled +over some one lying in the grass.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span></p> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter IV</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">But</span> when June picked himself up and turned +about, he found a very curious looking man +sitting up glaring at him. He had a long +pointed nose, and fierce little eyes that glowed +like red hot cinders, and a drooping white +mustache so long that it almost touched the +lapels of his shabby French uniform.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by falling over me +like that?" he demanded indignantly.</p> + +<p>"I—I—thought you was somebody else," +June faltered lamely.</p> + +<p>The man glared more fiercely than ever: +"You were looking for some one! You were +sent here to watch someone! Who did you +think I was? Answer me this moment."</p> + +<p>He had caught June by the arm and was +glaring at him so savagely that June blurted +out in terror.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span> +"I thought you was the Sleeping Beauty."</p> + +<p>For a moment, suspicion lingered in the +man's face, then his eyes went to and his +mouth went open, and he laughed until June +thought he would never get the wrinkles +smoothed out of his face again.</p> + +<p>"The Sleeping Beauty, eh?" he said. +"Well, whom do you think I am now?"</p> + +<p>June smiled in embarrassment. "I know +who you look like," he said, half doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"The White Knight," said June.</p> + +<p>"Who is he?"</p> + +<p>"In 'Alice in Wonderland,'" explained +June. Then when he saw the man's look of +perplexity, he added incredulously, "Didn't +you <i>never</i> hear of 'Alice in Wonderland'?"</p> + +<p>The man shook his head.</p> + +<p>June was astounded; he didn't know that +such ignorance existed in the world.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you never go to school?" he asked +sympathetically.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span> +"Oh yes, a little," said the man, with a funny +smile, "but tell me about this White Knight."</p> + +<p>June sat down quite close to him and began +confidentially:</p> + +<p>"He was the one that met Alice in the +wood. Don't you remember just before she +was going to be queen? He kept falling off +his horse first on one side and then on the +other, and he would have to climb up again +by the mouse traps."</p> + +<p>"The mouse traps, on horse-back?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the Knight was afraid the mice <i>might</i> +come and he didn't want them to run over +him. Besides he invented the mouse traps +and course, you know, somebody had to +use them."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said the man taking June's +hand and looking at it as a person looks at +something that he has not seen for a very long +time.</p> + +<p>"He invented lots of things," went on June +earnestly, "bracelets for the horse's feet to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34"></a>[pg 34]</span> +keep off shark-bites, and something else to +keep your hair from falling out."</p> + +<p>"Eh! what's that?" said his companion +rubbing his hand over his own bald head.</p> + +<p>June's eyes twinkled. "You ought to +train it up on a stick," he said, "like a vine. +That was what the White Knight said, that +hair fell off because it hung down. It +couldn't fall up, could it?"</p> + +<p>At this they both had a great laugh and +the man said:</p> + +<p>"So I am the White Knight, am I?"</p> + +<p>"Just your mustache," said June; "it was +when you was mad that you looked like him +most. You're lots gooder looking than the +picture. What's your real name?"</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Garnier,—no, Carré," he corrected +himself quickly. "What is your +name?"</p> + +<p>"June," then he added formally, "Robert +Rogers Royston, Junior's the rest of it."</p> + +<p>"How did you come here?" asked Monsieur.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span> +June told him at length; it was delightful +to find some one beside Seki San who understood +English, and it was good fun to be telling +all about himself just as if he were some +other little boy.</p> + +<p>"So your father is a soldier!" said Monsieur, +and June noticed that a curious wild +look came into his eyes and that his fingers, +which had knots on them, plucked excitedly +at his collar. "Ah! yes, I, too, was a soldier, +a soldier of France, one time attaché of the +French Legation, at Tokyo, later civil engineer +in the employ of the Japanese Government, +now——!" he shrugged his shoulders +and his nostrils quivered with anger. +"Now a cast-off garment, a thing useless, undesired." +He tried to rise and June saw that +he used crutches and that it was very difficult +for him to walk.</p> + +<p>"Do you want me to help you?" he asked.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 486px;"> <a name="i37" id="i37"></a> +<img src="images/illus045.jpg" width="486" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="h3">"'Do you want me to help you?'"</p> +</div> + +<p>The man waved him aside. His eyes had +changed into red hot cinders again, and he +seemed to have forgotten that June was there. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span> +"I ask help from nobody," he muttered +fiercely, "I live my own life. The beggarly +Japanese I would never accept from, and my +own country does not see fit to help me." +His chest heaved with wrath, and he twisted +his mustache indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you go home?" asked June.</p> + +<p>Monsieur turned on him fiercely: "Go +home? Mon Dieu, do you suppose there is a +waking hour that I am not thinking, longing, +praying to be back in France? Do you suppose +I have left any stone unturned? Any +plan unmade that might take me away from +this hateful place? It has been fourteen, +fifteen years since I came away. It was a +Japanese that had me dismissed from the +service; he bore tales to the minister, he told +what was not true. Oh, then I had honor, I +was too proud to explain, but now!" he +lifted a pair of crippled hands to Heaven, +and shook them violently at the trees above, +"now I know that honor does not pay, it is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span> +not worth while. I will give anything to get +back to France!"</p> + +<p>June sat still and watched him. He had +never seen anyone behave so queerly, and he +was very much mixed up as to what it was all +about.</p> + +<p>"I guess I have to go now," he said, +"Toro's waiting."</p> + +<p>Monsieur's eyes flashed suspiciously. +"Who's waiting?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Toro, he is Seki's brother, he knows how +to build awful nice houses and blockades too."</p> + +<p>"Blockades?" repeated Monsieur, "what +kind of blockades?"</p> + +<p>"Like the soldiers make, we watch them all +the time; come on, I will show you."</p> + +<p>The two made their way down the steps +slowly, for Monsieur could go only a little +way at a time. Toro looked mildly surprised +when June came back with a companion, but +he did not give a second glance at Monsieur, +who was evidently a familiar figure about the +town.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span> +For a long time the two children played +in the sand, and Monsieur sat beside them +and acted as interpreter, speaking first to one +in Japanese, and then to the other in English, +giving directions and suggestions and proving +a first-rate play-fellow.</p> + +<p>"Why, you know a lot about forts and +mines and blockades and things, don't you?" +asked June.</p> + +<p>Monsieur looked absently across the lake. +"Alas!" he said grimly, half to himself, "I +know too much for their good and for mine."</p> + +<p>When the temple bell from the hillside +boomed the supper hour, the boys gathered +up their things and started home.</p> + +<p>"Good-by," said June to Monsieur, "I +hope you'll come back and play with us another +day."</p> + +<p>Monsieur bowed very politely, but he did +not answer, his half-closed eyes still rested +on the little forts that the boys had been +making in the sand, and his thoughts seemed +to be far away.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span> +When June reached the street, he turned to +wave a good-by, but Monsieur was hobbling +down the hill, his figure, in spite of the +crutches, looking very straight and stiff +against the evening sky.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span></p> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter V</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was a long time before June saw Monsieur +again, for there were picnics up the river, +with lunches cooked on the bank, there were +jolly little excursions in sampans, and trips +to the tea-houses, and flower shows, and an +endless round of good times. Seki San kept +June out of doors all day, and watched with +glee the color return to his cheeks, and the +angles of his slender body turn into soft +curves.</p> + +<p>At night, she and June and Toro, with +Tomi frisking and sneezing at their heels, +would join the happy, chattering crowd that +thronged the streets, and would make their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span> +way to the flower market where tall flaming +torches lit up the long stalls of flowers, and +where merchants squatting on their heels +spread their wares on the ground before them,—curious +toys, old swords, and tea-pots with +ridiculous long noses. And in front of every +door was a great shining paper lantern with +queer signs painted on it, and other gay lanterns +of all shapes and sizes and colors went +dancing and bobbing up and down the streets +like a host of giant fireflies.</p> + +<p>It was no wonder that June hated to go +to bed when so much was happening outside. +Only the promise of a story moved him when +Seki gave the final word. But for the sake +of a story he would have gone to the moon, I +believe, and stayed there too.</p> + +<p>When at last he was bathed and cuddled +down in his nest on the floor with a huge +kimono—four times as big as the ones Seki +wore—spread over him, Seki would sit on her +heels beside him, sewing with an endless +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" id="page44"></a>[pg 44]</span> +thread, which she only cut off from the reel +when the seam was finished. And June would +watch her pretty, plump little hands, and the +shadows of her moving fingers as he listened +to queer tales of the sea-gods and their palace +under the waves. Sometimes she would tell +of the old samurai and their dark deeds of revenge, +of attacks on castles, and fights in the +moats, and the imaginary clashing of swords +and shouts of men would get so real to June +that he would say:</p> + +<p>"I don't want any more scareful ones to-night. +Please tell me about the little mosquito +boy."</p> + +<p>Then Seki would begin: "Very long +times ago, lived very good little boy, who +never want to do anything but reverence his +mother and his father, and his grandfathers +and grandmothers. All times he think it over +to himself how he can serve his parents. One +night the wind blow up from the south and +bring a thousand hundred <i>ka</i>, mosquito you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span> +call him, and they bite very much. So good +little boy takes off all his clothes and lies at +the door of his house so mosquitoes bite him +and get so full of boy that they have not room +more for father and mother." At which point +June would never fail to laugh with delight, +and Seki would look hurt and puzzled and +say, "Not funny, June, very fine, kind, and +noble of good little boy."</p> + +<p>After Seki had put out the light and joined +the rest of the family in the garden, June +would lie very still and the thoughts that had +been crowded down in the bottom of his heart +all day would come creeping up and whisper +to him. "Mother is a long way off; suppose +she has gotten lost and never comes back +again. Perhaps I haven't got a father any +more, maybe the soldiers have put him in the +ground as they did Teddy's papa. Suppose +I have to live here always and grow up to be +a Japanese man, and never see the ranch in +California nor my pony any more?" And +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span> +a big sob would rise in his throat and he was +glad of the dark, for the tears would come no +matter how hard he tried to keep them back. +But he never called Seki, nor let any one know. +Sometimes he got up and got his little gun +and took it back to bed with him; it was so +much easier to be a soldier if you had a gun +in your hand.</p> + +<p>But one morning when he awoke, two delightful +things happened. First he saw up in +the air, apparently swimming about over the +house-tops, an enormous red fish as large as +he was, and when he ran to the door there +were others as far as he could see waving and +floating about tall poles that were placed outside +nearly every house.</p> + +<p>Without waiting to be dressed he rushed +into the garden to ask Seki San what it all +meant. When she saw him, she dropped the +letter she was reading and came toward him +as fast as her little pigeon toes would carry +her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span> +"It's from your mother," she cried, her +face beaming with joy. "She did never get +losted at all. She is with your father now, +and he will have the strength again, and they +will come back so sooner as he can journey. +Oh! I could die for the happiness!"</p> + +<p>June jumped up and down, and Seki San +giggled, and Tomi barked until the family +came out to see what was the matter.</p> + +<p>"And what did she say? Tell me!" demanded +June.</p> + +<p>"All this, and this, and this," said Seki, +spreading out the closely written sheets. Then +with many pauses and much knitting of brows +and pointing of fingers, she read the letter +aloud. There was very little about the sad +journey, or the dreadful fever, or the life at the +hospital. It was mostly about June, whether +he was well, whether he was very unhappy, +if he coughed at night, if he missed her very +much.</p> + +<p>"And these at the end I sink I can not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span> +read," concluded Seki, pointing to a long row +of circles and dots.</p> + +<p>June looked over her shoulder. "Why +Seki!" he exclaimed, "that's the only part I +can read! They are kisses and hugs, I showed +her how to make them. That long one is a +pink kiss, and this starry one is silver with +golden spangles," he laughed with delight; +then his eye catching sight of the fish overhead, +he said:</p> + +<p>"Say Seki, why did they put out the fish? +Is it because my father is getting well?"</p> + +<p>Seki San smilingly shook her head.</p> + +<p>"It's a matsuri, a festival," she explained; +"this is the boys' day and wherever a boy +live, they put out a big paper fish with round +mouth open so——, and when the wind flow +in, the fish grow big and fat and make like +swim in the air."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 515px;"> <a name="i49" id="i49"></a> +<img src="images/illus057.jpg" width="515" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="h3">"'It's a Matsuri—a festival,' Seki explained."</p> +</div> + +<p>"But why do they put out fishes?" persisted +June.</p> + +<p>"'Tis the carp fish," said Seki San, "because +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span> +the carp very strong and brave, he swim +against the current, fight his way up the waterfall, +not afraid of the very bad discouragings, +like good boy should be."</p> + +<p>June was much more interested in the fish +than in the moral, and when Toro brought a +big red one for him and a paper cap and banner, +he hastened away to be dressed so that +he could be ready for the festivities.</p> + +<p>Taking it all in all, it was about the happiest +day he had ever spent in his life. When +he and Toro started forth the streets were already +full of people, men and women in holiday +attire, little girls in bright red petticoats +and fancy pins in their hair, every boy with a +fish on a stick, small children with bald-headed +babies tied on their backs, all trotting +merrily along to the matsuri.</p> + +<p>Everywhere June went a crowd went behind +him, for a little foreign boy with gray +eyes and fair hair, and strange foreign clothes +was one of the greatest sights of the day. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52"></a>[pg 52]</span> +Sometimes a woman would stop him and look +at his hat or his shoes, and a circle would close +in and Toro would be bombarded with questions. +But the people were always so polite, +and their admiration was so evident, that June +was rather pleased, and when he smiled and +spoke to them in English, they bowed again +and again, and he bowed back, then they all +laughed.</p> + +<p>It was a terrible trial to June not to be able +to ask questions. He was brimful of curiosity +and everything he saw and heard had a +dozen questions hanging to it. Usually Seki +San supplied the answers but to-day Toro +was in command, and while he was a very +careful little guide, keeping tight hold of +June's hand, pointing out all the interesting +sights, and trying to explain by sign and +gesture, still he did not know a single word +of English.</p> + +<p>After passing through many gay streets +they came to a tall red gate which June had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span> +come to recognize as the entrance to sacred +ground. But inside it was not in the least +like any churchyard he had ever seen. It was +more like the outside of a circus where everything +delightful was happening at once. On +one side was a sandman making wonderful +pictures on the ground with colored sand. +First he made a background of fine white +sand, then out of papers folded like cornucopias +he formed small streams of black and +red sand, skilfully tracing the line of a mountain, +using a feather to make the waves of the +sea, and a piece of silver money to form the +great round moon, and before you knew it there +was the very picture you had seen on fans and +screens and tea-pots ever since you could remember, +even down to the birds that were +flying across the moon.</p> + +<p>Then there were jugglers and tight rope +walkers, and sacred pigeons that lit on your +head and shoulders and ate corn out of your +hand. June thought he had never seen such +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span> +greedy pigeons before. Two or three perched +on his hand at once, and scolded and pushed +each other, and even tried to eat the buttons +off his blouse!</p> + +<p>Up the mountain side, flanked by rows of +stone lanterns, ran a wide flight of steps and +at the top was the gate-way to the temple itself. +On either side were sort of huge cages, +and in them the most hideous figures June +had ever seen! They were fierce looking +giants with terrible glass eyes and snarling +mouths with all the teeth showing, just as the +Ogre's did in the fairy tale. One was painted +all over green, and the other was red, and +they held out clutching fingers as if ready to +pounce upon the passer-by. While June was +looking at them and feeling rather glad that +they were inside the cages, he saw two old +men dressed in white, climb slowly up the +steps and kneel before the statues. Bowing +their heads to the earth and muttering prayers, +they took from their belts some slips of paper, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span> +and after chewing them into wads began +gravely to throw them at the fierce green demon +behind the bars.</p> + +<p>June giggled with joy, this was something +he could quite understand. Taking advantage +of Toro's attention being distracted, he +promptly began to make wads too, and before +Toro could stop him he was vigorously pelting +the scowling image. In an instant there +was angry remonstrance and a group of indignant +worshipers gathered around. Fortunately +Seki San appeared on the scene in +time to prevent trouble.</p> + +<p>"But I was only doing what the others +did!" explained June indignantly.</p> + +<p>"It is no harm done," said Seki, reassuringly +after a few words to those about her, +"you not understand our strange ways. These +are our Nio or temple guardians that frighten +away the evil, bad spirits."</p> + +<p>"What makes the pilgrims throw at them, +then?" asked June.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span> +"They throw prayers," answered Seki +San very seriously, "they buy paper prayers +from the old man at the gate, and throw them +through the grating. If the prayer sticks, it +is answered, if it falls down it is not answered. +Come, I will show you!"</p> + +<p>They went very close, and looked through +the bars; there on the grating, on the floor +and even on the ceiling above them were +masses of tiny paper wads, the unanswered +prayers of departed thousands.</p> + +<p>"Well, three of mine stuck!" said June with +satisfaction. "Do you suppose it's too late +to make a prayer on them now?"</p> + +<p>Seki thought after considering the matter +that it was not.</p> + +<p>"But I haven't got anything left to pray +for!" said June, regretting the lost opportunity. +"Father's getting well, and he and +Mother are coming home, and I have got +pretty near everything I want. I believe +I'd like another fish though, and oh! yes, I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span> +want a little pug dog, jes' 'zactly like +Tomi."</p> + +<p>"It's tiffin time," said Seki San, "and +after that will be the fire-work."</p> + +<p>"In the day-time?" asked June.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, very fine nice fire-work," said Seki.</p> + +<p>They left the temple grounds, and made +their way up the river road, where everybody +was having a tea-party out under the trees. +Seki San secured a tiny table for them and +they sat on their heels and ate rice out of a +great white wooden bucket, and fluffy yellow +omelet out of a round bowl, and the sunshine +came dancing down through the dainty, waving +bamboo leaves, and everybody was laughing +and chattering and from every side came +the click-clack of the wooden shoes, and the +tinkle of samisens and the music of falling +water.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Toro pulled June's sleeve and +motioned excitedly to the road-way. Coming +toward them in a jinrikisha, looking very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span> +pale and thin and with both arms in bandages, +sat Monsieur.</p> + +<p>June broke away from Seki and raced after +the jinrikisha. "Oh! Mister," he cried, "Mr. +Frenchman."</p> + +<p>Monsieur, hearing the English words, +stopped his man and turned around. When +he saw a very flushed little boy in blouse suit +and a wide brimmed hat, he smiled.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he cried, "my friend of the garden! +My prince who found the Sleeping Beauty." +Then he began to laugh so hard that it +started up all his rheumatic pains, and he had +to sink back and rest before he could speak +again. "I am very bad since I saw you +last," he said; "these dogs of Japanese will +let me die here. One day in France will +make me well. I may have it yet—I must get +back some way—some way!" His eyes +looked excitedly over June's head out into +space as if trying to span the miles that lay +between him and his beloved country.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span> +"My papa will take you home when he +comes," said June; "he's a soldier."</p> + +<p>Monsieur shrugged his shoulders: "Your +papa would not care <i>that</i>," he said, snapping +his fingers; then seeing June's disappointment +he added kindly, "But you—will you not +come to see me? I will make you more forts, +I will show you my goldfish."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll come," said June. "When?"</p> + +<p>But before Monsieur could answer, Seki +had called June and the jinrikisha had started +on its way.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon, as the revelers +straggled home tired but happy, June slipped +his hand into Seki's. The merry noises of the +day had given place to the quiet chirp of the +crickets and the drowsy croaking of the frogs, +and the little breezes that stirred overhead +sounded sleepy and far away.</p> + +<p>"Seki," said June, "I didn't make any +prayer on that paper that stuck on the old +giant's nose, do you think it too late?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span> +"No," said Seki San, willing to humor him.</p> + +<p>"Well," said June sleepily, "I pray that +the French gentleman will get back home."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span></p> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter VI</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">One</span> morning several weeks later, June was +lying on his back in the garden wishing he +had someone to play with. Toro was away +at school and Seki San was having her hair +dressed. He had watched the latter performance +so many times that it had ceased +to interest him. Seki would sit for hours +on a white mat before the old hair-dresser +who combed, and looped and twisted the +long oily strands into butterfly bows of shining +black.</p> + +<p>The only person on the premises who was +at leisure was Tomi, but that was just the +trouble, he was so much at leisure that he refused +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span> +to stir from his warm spot on the sunny +steps no matter how much June coaxed. To +be sure there was a yellow cat next door, but +she did not understand English as Tomi did, +and when June called her, she humped her +back and would have ruffled her tail if she had +had one, but Japanese cats do not have tails, +so when they get angry they always look disappointed.</p> + +<p>Just as June was getting a bit lonesome +the postboy came trotting in with a letter for +Seki San and June ran in to take it to her.</p> + +<p>"For me?" said Seki San, looking very +comical with one loop of black hair hanging +over her eye, "from Meester Carré? I sink +it is a mistake, I do not know Meester +Carré."</p> + +<p>"Read it," demanded June impatiently.</p> + +<p>"It say," went on Seki San slowly, "that +Meester Carré is not able to write hisself but +he desire the writer to ask me will I permit +the little American boy to come to see him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span> +to-day. He is sick on the bed, and have the +low spirit. He will keep safe care of the +little boy and send him home what time I +desire."</p> + +<p>"Oh, let me go, Seki! Please let me go!" +cried June.</p> + +<p>"But who is Meester Carré?"</p> + +<p>"He is the Frenchman," said June. "He +is a soldier and has got the rheumatism. He +has goldfish too, and a sword. Oh Seki, +please let me go! Oh, do let me go!"</p> + +<p>"Ah yes," said Seki, "one leg is shorter +than the other leg and he walks with sticks, +and he has long white whiskers on his lip, +ah! yes, I know."</p> + +<p>"Can I go?" begged June.</p> + +<p>Seki San took a long while to think about +it. She consulted her mother and the old +man next door, and the doctor who lived at +the corner, but by and by she came back and +said he could go.</p> + +<p>"I will send you in good Tanaka's 'rikisha, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span> +he will take good care of you and bring you +back at tiffin time."</p> + +<p>June was greatly excited over the prospect +and stood unusually still while Seki San buttoned +him into a starchy white blouse and +pinned a scarlet flower in his buttonhole.</p> + +<p>"Can't I pin my flag on too?" he begged, +and Seki, who could not bear to refuse him +anything, fastened the bit of red, white and +blue silk on the other side.</p> + +<p>"Now keep your body still," cautioned +Seki San as she put him in the jinrikisha and +gave final instructions to Tanaka who was +bowing and grinning and bowing again, +"Tanaka will wait for you, and you must +come when he calls you. Be good little boy! +<i>Sayonara!</i>"</p> + +<p>June had never felt so important in his +life. To be going out all by himself in a +jinrikisha was quite like being grown up. +The only thing lacking to make him quite +happy was a pair of reins that he might +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span> +imagine he was driving a horse instead of +a little brown man with fat bare legs and a +big mushroom hat who looked around every +few moments to see if he was falling out.</p> + +<p>They trotted along the sunny streets, passing +the temple grounds where the green and +red Nio made ugly faces all the day, and +where the greedy pigeons were waiting for +more corn. They passed over the long bridge, +skirted the parade ground, then went winding +in and out of narrow streets until they came +to a stretch of country road that ran beside +a moat.</p> + +<p>Here there was less to see and June +amused himself by repeating the few Japanese +words he had learned. "Ohayo" meant +"good-morning," and it was great fun to call it +out to the children they passed and see them +bow and call back "Ohayo" in friendly greeting. +He knew another word too, it was +"Arigato," and it meant "thank you." He +used it on Tanaka every time he stopped by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span> +the wayside to pluck a flower for him. Once +when they rested June saw a queer old tree, +with a very short body and very long arms +that seemed to be seeing how far they could +reach. June thought the tree must have the +rheumatism, for it was standing on crutches, +and had knots on its limbs just like Monsieur +had on his fingers. But the strange part of it +was that from nearly every branch fluttered a +small strip of paper with something written on +it. June had seen this before on other trees, +and he remembered that Seki San had told him +that these little papers were poems hung there +when the tree was covered with cherry blossoms.</p> + +<p>Now June always wanted to do everything +anybody else did, so when they started off +again, he decided that he would make up a +poem to hang on the tree as they came back. +He knew one that he had learned from a big +boy coming over on the steamer, and he said +it over softly to himself:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"King Solomon was the wisest man;</p> +<p class="i2">He had some ready cash,</p> +<p>The Queen of Sheeny came along</p> +<p class="i2">And Solly made a mash."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>To be sure he didn't understand at all +what it meant, but it sounded nice and funny +and always made him laugh.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to make up one out of my own +head though," he thought, and he sat so still +that Tanaka glanced back uneasily.</p> + +<p>It was a very hard matter indeed, for when +you write a poem you have to get two words +that sound alike, and then find something to +write about them. It took him so long that +by the time he finished, the shaft of the jinrikisha +came down with a jerk and he looked +up to find that they had stopped in front of a +house all smothered in vines, with two inquisitive +little windows peering out like eyes +behind a tangle of hair. Everything about the +place looked poor and neglected.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span> +As June and Tanaka made their way up +the path, June gave an exclamation of delight. +There about the door were bowls and jars and +basins of goldfish. Every available receptacle +had been pressed into service, and big +fish and tiny ones in every shade of radiant +gold swam gaily about in the sunshine.</p> + +<p>It was such an engrossing sight that June +almost forgot to go in and speak to Monsieur +who lay in a bed, near the door.</p> + +<p>"Ah, at last," cried the sick man. "My +little friend is welcome. There, sit in the +chair. Though I am poor, I live like a gentleman. +See, I have a bed and chairs and a +table!"</p> + +<p>June looked about the shabby crowded +room, at the dusty flag of France that was +draped over the window, at the map of France +that was pinned on the wall beside the bed, +at the cheap pictures and ornaments and the +soiled curtains, then he remembered Seki +San's room, clean and sweet and airy with +nothing in it but a vase of flowers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span> +"I'd rather sit on the floor," he said as he +took his seat beside the bed, adding immediately, +"I can stay until twelve o'clock!"</p> + +<p>Tanaka had gone to take a bath after his +warm run and to drink tea at the little tea-house +across the road.</p> + +<p>Monsieur lay propped up in bed with his +bandaged hands lying helpless on the cover-lid. +But his eyes were soft and kind, and he +had so many interesting things to talk about +that June found him a most entertaining host. +After he had shown June his sword and told +a wonderful story about it, he returned to the +goldfish.</p> + +<p>"Alas, there are but twenty-one now," he +sighed. "Napoleon Bonaparte died on Sunday. +Have you seen the Grand Monarch? +He is the great shining fellow in the crystal +bowl. Those smaller ones are his gentlemen-in-waiting. +Here is Marie Antoinette, is she +not most beautiful?"</p> + +<p>June was introduced to every one in turn +and had endless questions to ask in regard to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span> +the story of each. Monsieur was the only +person he had ever met who always had +another story on hand. Everything suggested +a story, a story was hidden in every nook and +corner of Monsieur's brain, they fairly bubbled +over in their eagerness to be told, and +June was as greedy for more as the pigeons +were greedy for corn, and he thought up new +questions while the old ones were getting +answered.</p> + +<p>Once Monsieur recited something in verse +to him, and that reminded June of his own +poem.</p> + +<p>"I made up one coming," he announced, +"do you want to hear it?"</p> + +<p>Monsieur did. Monsieur was very fond of +verse, so June recited it with evident pride:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Oh Gee!" said the tree, +"It seems to me +That under my branches +I see a bee!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span> +"Bravo!" said Monsieur, "you will be a +poet and a soldier too!"</p> + +<p>"I'd like to write it down," said June, +"so I can hang it on the tree."</p> + +<p>"To be sure, to be sure," said Monsieur, +"you will find pen and ink in the table drawer. +Not that!" he cried sharply as June took out +a long sealed envelope. "Give that to me!"</p> + +<p>June handed the packet to Monsieur in +some wonder and then continued his search.</p> + +<p>"Here's a corkscrew," he said, "and some +neckties, and a pipe. Here's the pen! And +may I use this fat tablet?"</p> + +<p>When the materials were collected, June +stretched himself at full length on the floor +and began the difficult task.</p> + +<p>"I never did write with a pen and ink +afore," he confided to Monsieur, "you will +have to tell me how to spell the big words."</p> + +<p>The room grew very silent and nothing was +heard but the scratch, scratch of June's clumsy +pen, and the occasional question which he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72"></a>[pg 72]</span> +asked. A strange change had come over Monsieur; +his face, which had been so kind and +friendly, grew hard and scheming. He had +drawn himself painfully up on his elbow and +was intently watching June's small fingers as +they formed the letters. Presently he drew the +long envelope from under his pillow and held +it in his hand. It was a very fat envelope +with a long row of stamps in one corner, but +there was no address on it. Twice he put it +back and shook his head, and twice he looked +longingly at the map of France, and at the +flag over the window, then he took it out +again.</p> + +<p>"Will you write something for me now, at +once?" he demanded in such a hard, quick +voice that June looked up in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Another poem?" asked June.</p> + +<p>"No, a name and address on this envelope. +Begin here and make the letters that I tell +you. Capital M."</p> + +<p>"Do you like wiggles on your <i>M's?</i>" asked +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span> +June, flattered by the request and anxious to +please.</p> + +<p>"No matter," said Monsieur impatiently, +"we must finish before twelve o'clock. Now—small +o—"</p> + +<p>June put his tongue out, and hunching up +his shoulders and breathing hard proceeded +with his laborious work. It was hard enough +to keep the lines from running uphill and the +letters from growing bigger and bigger, but +those difficulties were small compared to the +task of guiding a sputtering, leaking pen. +Once or twice he forgot and tried to rub out +with the other end of it and the result was +discouraging. When a period very large and +black was placed after the final word, he +handed the letter dubiously to Monsieur.</p> + +<p>"Does it spell anything?" he asked. Monsieur +eagerly read the scrawling address. +"Yes, yes," he answered, "now put it inside +your blouse, so. When you get home wait +until nobody is looking, then put it in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span> +mail-box. Do you understand? When nobody +is looking! Nobody must know, nobody +must suspect, do you understand?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 565px;"> <a name="i75" id="i75"></a> +<img src="images/illus083.jpg" width="565" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="h3">"'Does it spell anything?' June asked."</p> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, I know, it's a secret!" cried June in +delight. "I had a secret with mother for a +whole week once. I wouldn't tell anything +if I said I wouldn't, would you?"</p> + +<p>June was looking very straight at Monsieur, +his round eyes shining with honesty, +but Monsieur's eyes shifted uneasily.</p> + +<p>"I would never betray a trust," he said +slowly, "if I were trusted. But they believed +lies, they listened to tales that the beggarly +Japanese carried. They have made me what +I am."</p> + +<p>June was puzzled. "Who did?" he asked.</p> + +<p>But Monsieur did not heed him; he was +breathing quickly and the perspiration stood +out on his forehead.</p> + +<p>"And you will be very careful and let no +one see you mail it," he asked eagerly, "and +never, never speak of it to anybody?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span> +"Course not," said June stoutly, "that +wouldn't be like a soldier, would it? I am +going to be a soldier, like you and Father, +when I grow up."</p> + +<p>Monsieur shuddered: "No, not like me. I +am no longer a soldier. I am a miserable +wretch. I—I am not fit to live." His voice +broke and he threw his arm across his eyes.</p> + +<p>June looked off into the farthest corner of +the room and pretended not to see. He felt +very sorry for Monsieur, but he could think of +nothing to say. When he did speak he asked +if goldfish had ears.</p> + +<p>When the noon gun sounded on the parade +grounds, Tanaka came trotting to the +door with his jinrikisha, smiling and bowing +and calling softly: "Juna San! Juna San!"</p> + +<p>June gathered his treasures together, a new +lead pencil, an old sword hilt, some brass buttons +and, best of all, a tiny goldfish in a glass +jar.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," he said as he stood by the bed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span> +with his hands full, "I am coming back to-morrow +if Seki will let me;" then a second +thought struck him and he added, "I think +you <i>look</i> like a soldier anyhow."</p> + +<p>And Monsieur smiled, and stiffening his +back lifted a bandaged hand in feeble salute.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span></p> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter VII</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">"Seki San</span>, have you got a big enderlope?" +June asked the question from the door-step +where he was sitting with his chin in his hand +and a very worried look in his face.</p> + +<p>It was two days after his visit to Monsieur +and the big letter was still buttoned in his +blouse. He had started to mail it as soon as +he reached home, but just as he was ready to +drop it in the box, he discovered that every +"s" turned the wrong way! It was a dreadful +blow to his pride, for the rest of the +address was quite imposing with big flourishing +capitals that stood like generals over the +small letters, and dots that would have surely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span> +put out all the "i's" had they fallen on them. +He never could send Monsieur's letter with +the "s's" looking backward, he must try to +set them straight again.</p> + +<p>So, very carelessly, in order not to excite +suspicion, he asked Seki for pen and ink. He +had written many letters to his mother and +father, but always in pencil, and Seki hesitated +about giving him ink.</p> + +<p>She said: "Our ink not like your American +ink, live and quick as water, it hard like +paint. We not use pen, but brush like which +you write pictures. I sink it more better you +use pencil."</p> + +<p>But June insisted and when he gained his +point, he carried the small box into the garden +and took out his letter. The jar containing +his goldfish was close by, so he dipped his +stick of paint into the water and rubbed it +vigorously on the paint box. At the last moment +just as his brush was poised in the air, +he had a moment of misgiving, "maybe 's's' +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span> +do turn that way!" he said, but the brush full +of paint was a temptation not to be resisted, so +he took each little "s" by its tail and turned +it inside out. The paper was soft and thin +and took the ink like blotting paper. June +watched with dismay as the lines spread into +ugly blots, and when he tried to make the +letters plainer he only made the blots bigger +until they all seemed to join hands and go +dancing over the envelope in fiendish glee at +his discomfort.</p> + +<p>For two days he had tried to think of a +way out of the difficulty but before he could +find one he would get interested in something +else and forget about the letter. It was only +when it felt stiff inside of his blouse that he +remembered, and then he would stop playing +and try again to solve the problem. At last +in desperation he appealed to Seki San for an +envelope.</p> + +<p>"It is not so much big," she said, bringing +out a long narrow envelope and a roll of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span> +paper. "Why you want to write such big letter +to your mother? She coming home soon!"</p> + +<p>"It isn't big enough," said June fretfully, +then an idea struck him. "Seki, I want to go +see Monsieur to-day."</p> + +<p>Seki San sat down on the step beside him +and shook her head positively:</p> + +<p>"No, no," she said, "not to-day, nor to-morrow, +nor any day. He is not a good man, +I made mistakes in letting you go."</p> + +<p>"He <i>is</i> a good man!" cried June indignantly, +"he told me stories, and gave me lots of things."</p> + +<p>"I tell you 'bout him, June," said Seki San. +"One time Monsieur very skilful smart man +in Tokyo. He write pictures of the forts +and show the Japanese how to find coast in +time of war. He know more plenty than anybody +about the coast and the mines. Then he +is not behave right, and get sent out of the +service, and he get sick in the hands so he +can make no more maps, and he come down +here and live all alone by himself. That was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span> +long time ago, but yesterday a high up messenger +come from Tokyo, and asked for Monsieur +Carré. The Emperor have desire to +buy his old maps and reports, and get his +help in making new plans. When the messenger +come, they say Monsieur fall back on +the bed very white and afraid, and say he will +not give up the papers. Then messenger say +maybe he has sold his papers to a foreign +country and he get very much angry, and say +if Monsieur Carré do not give the papers +in twenty-four hours, he will have him arrested +and take him to Tokyo. Still Monsieur keep +the tight lips, and a guard is waiting outside +his house."</p> + +<p>With troubled eyes, June listened to every +word. "<i>Did</i> he sell the papers, Seki?" he +asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"He will not say," said Seki, "they say he +will not say, but it was a bad, wicked act if +he sold our secrets, and he may die for it!"</p> + +<p>June stirred restlessly, and the packet in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span> +his blouse caught in his belt. He put up his +hand to straighten it, and as he did so, a startled +look of inquiry passed over his face. Could +those papers in the long envelope have anything +to do with Monsieur's present trouble? +Why had Monsieur not wanted him to tell? +Had his mistake about the "s's" anything +to do with it all? The secret, which at first +had seemed such a mysterious and delightful +possession, suddenly grew into a great and +terrible burden that he longed to cast at Seki's +feet and ask her to share.</p> + +<p>But the thought of telling what he knew +never crossed his mind. He had given his +word, and he felt that to break it would be to +forfeit forever his chance of becoming a soldier. +But something must be done, he must go to +Monsieur and tell him the truth at once.</p> + +<p>"Seki," he said persuasively, "Monsieur is +sick in bed, don't you think it would be nice +for me to take him a little cake?"</p> + +<p>"You can not ever go there any more," repeated +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span> +Seki San positively. "I did a mistakes +in letting you go."</p> + +<p>In vain June pleaded, every argument that +he could think of he brought to bear, but Seki +was firm. By and by he began to cry, at first +softly, begging between the sobs, then when +he got angry he cried very loud and declared +over and over that he would go.</p> + +<p>Seki San was amazed at his naughtiness. +It was the first time since his mother left that +she had known him to be disobedient. When +persuasion and coaxing proved in vain, she +carried him into the house and carefully closing +the paper screens left him alone. Here +he lay on the floor and cried louder than ever. +Seki San and her mother and the old man +next door stood on the outside and peeped +through the cracks, gravely discussing the situation. +Even Tomi sniffed uneasily, and gave +sharp, unhappy barks.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;"> <a name="i85" id="i85"></a> +<img src="images/illus093.jpg" width="375" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="h3">"They peeped through the cracks, gravely +discussing the situation."</p> +</div> + +<p>After ever and ever so long the cries grew +fainter and gradually ceased, and Seki peeping +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id="page88"></a>[pg 88]</span> +around the screen whispered to the others +to be very still as he was going to sleep.</p> + +<p>June lay quiet on his face, but he was not +asleep. Once in a while he opened his eyes +a very little and peeped out, then he closed +them quickly and listened. By and by he +heard Seki go back to her work, and the old +man next door hobble across the garden. +Inch by inch June crawled over the mats until +he reached the screen, which he carefully slid +back. After waiting for a few breathless +minutes, he reached out and got his shoes +from the door-step and put them on. Back of +the house he could hear Seki singing at her +work, and not six feet away Tomi lay snoozing +in the sun. Softly and cautiously he +slipped out of the house, across the strip of +a garden where all the leaves seemed to be +shaking their heads at him, through a narrow +passageway, then out of the gate that divided +the little world he knew from the vast unknown +world that lay beyond.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span></p> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter VIII</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Even</span> more than usually quiet and deserted +was the narrow street. The noon sun glaring +down on the town had sent everybody +into the shade, and at first June attracted little +attention as he trudged off in the direction of +the parade grounds. He knew the way that +far, for Toro often took him there to watch the +men drill. Soldiers passed him now in twos +and threes, looking very smart in their buff +uniforms with swords clanking at their sides, +and as they passed they laughed and turned to +look curiously at the small foreign boy. In +fact curious eyes were peering out of many +of the open front shops, and mothers were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90"></a>[pg 90]</span> +even holding up their babies and pointing to +the strange little person who was passing.</p> + +<p>Here and there children were dipping +water with their hands from pails and sprinkling +the dusty street, and when they saw June +they paused and gazed open-mouthed, or +shouted derisively: "Eijin! Eijin!" The +whole world seemed strange and unfriendly, +and even the sun tried to see how hot it could +glare down on June's bare head.</p> + +<p>When he reached the parade ground, he +stopped to rest, but no sooner had he sat down +than a circle gathered around him, two jinrikisha +men, four boys, a girl with a baby on +her back and an old fish woman. There was +no chatter, they were all too interested to talk, +they just stood and looked and looked until +June felt that their eyes were pins and that he +was the cushion. After a while he turned to +one of the men and said: "Do you know +where Monsieur Carré lives?"</p> + +<p>They looked at each other and smiled. It +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span> +was much as if a new bird had twittered a +strange note, and one boy tried to imitate the +sound and repeated "Carré lives?" to the +great amusement of the rest.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur Carré!" went on June, getting +angry, "he's a Frenchman. Don't you know +where he lives?"</p> + +<p>"Where he lives?" mimicked the boy and +they laughed more than ever. June was so +angry by this time that he could not tell which +he wanted most to do, to cry or to fight.</p> + +<p>Beyond him was a wilderness of criss-cross +streets with strange eyes peering at him +from every quarter. What if he should get +lost and swallowed up for ever in this strange +place where nobody knew him nor loved him +nor spoke his language?</p> + +<p>Instinctively he looked back toward the +way he had come. He had only to retrace his +steps past the parade ground, hurry back in a +straight line until he came to the big red gate +that marked the entrance to the temple, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span> +then turning to the right run breathlessly +down the street to the little gate in the wall, +and after that to throw himself into Seki's +arms and tell her all his troubles!</p> + +<p>But what would become of Monsieur? It +must be very dreadful to be sick in bed with a +guard waiting to arrest you if you do not get +some papers for him, papers which you do not +possess. And if Monsieur was arrested he +never would get back to France!</p> + +<p>All this flashed through June's mind as he +sat under the pine tree, trying with all his +might to keep the black eyes all around from +seeing that he was about to cry. Just then a +soldier went by holding himself very erect and +looking neither to the left nor the right. +Suddenly June remembered that soldiers did +not cry, and with resolution he got up and +turning his back to the temple gate and the +parade grounds, he continued courageously +on his way.</p> + +<p>Far in the distance he could see, high on a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span> +hill, the old castle which he knew he must pass +before he should come to Monsieur's. There +were many streets to be passed, and many +obstacles to be overcome, for as June got +further from home the curiosity concerning +him increased. It was very warm and he was +tired but he dared not sit down for he dreaded +the gaping crowd and the curious eyes. By +and by he came to the old moat which circled +the castle, and as the road led out into +the country, the boys who had followed him +gradually fell back until he realized with joy +that there were no more wooden shoes clattering +after him.</p> + +<p>In the moat big lotus leaves floated on the +water and working among them were coolies, +naked, except for a loin cloth. They were too +busy to take any notice of a strange little boy, +so he sat on a rock under a tree for a long +time and wondered how it would feel to be +down there under the lily pads and the lotus +leaves, and if the same hob-goblins and sprites +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span> +that live under the sea did not sometimes +come to play in the moats, and take moonlight +rides on the big broad leaves?</p> + +<p>The sun which had beaten so fiercely on +his head was slowly dropping toward the distant +mountain when he started once more on +his way, and a long shadow went beside him. +The shadow was a great relief for it kept him +company without staring at him. By and by +even the shadow deserted him and he trudged +along the country road following a vague impression +that somewhere around the foot of +the mountain Monsieur lived.</p> + +<p>It was very quiet and lonesome with only +the crickets and the frogs talking to each +other out there in the grasses, and June's feet +were tired and his head ached and he was +hungry. A big lump kept lodging in his +throat no matter how often he swallowed. +Now that the gray twilight was creeping on, +all sorts of fears assailed him. Ever since he +could remember Seki San had told him of the +hob-goblins and gnomes that haunt the woodlands +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span> +and mountains in Japan. There were +the Tengu, half bird and half man, that play +all sorts of mischievous pranks on the farmers, +there was the "Three-eyed Friar," and the +"White Woman" who wanders about in the +snow, and worst of all was a bogie with horns, +whose legs dwindled away to nothing at all, +but whose body was very large and horrible +with a long neck twisted like a snake.</p> + +<p>As he thought about it his heart began to +thump, and he quickened his steps to a run. +All the trees seemed to be reaching out +clutching hands as he sped by, and the darkness +kept creeping closer and closer. The +sobs which he had held back so long came +faster, and at last breathless and panic-stricken +he sank exhausted by the roadside and waited +in dumb terror for what might happen.</p> + +<p>Looking fearfully around he saw just above +him a kind, white face peering out of the twilight. +It was only a stone face, and it belonged +to an image that was sitting cross-legged +on a mossy stone, but June felt as if he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id="page96"></a>[pg 96]</span> +had met a friend. Of all the gods and goddesses +that Seki San had told him about, the one he +knew best was Jizo, the friend of little children. +The drooping figure, the gentle face, +and the shaven head had become as familiar +to him as the pictures of Santa Claus at home. +He had met him in the temples, in the woods, +on the river road, in big stone statues and +little wooden ones, and now when he found +him here in this lonesome night world, he felt +a vague sense of relief and protection.</p> + +<p>Climbing up on the stone he fingered the +pebbles that filled Jizo's lap, and touched the +red cotton bib that was tied about his neck. +He knew what it all meant for Seki San had +told him many times. Jizo was the guardian +of dead children, and the red bib and the +pebbles had been placed there by mothers who +wanted the kind god to look after their little +babies who had passed away into another +world. There were hundreds of pebbles about +the statue, in its lap, about its hands and feet, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span> +and even on its bald head, and June was very +careful not to disturb any of them. He wished +he had something to give the good god, but +he was too tired to go down and look for a +pebble. He searched through his pockets +but nothing seemed to suit. Finally he separated +one object from the rest, and placed it +gently in Jizo's upturned hand. It was the +old sword hilt that Monsieur had given him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;"> <a name="i97" id="i97"></a> +<img src="images/illus105.jpg" width="375" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="h3">"It was the old sword-hilt that Monsieur +had given him."</p> +</div> + +<p>Then, because he was very sleepy and tired, +and because he was afraid of the dark, he +nestled down in the niche under Jizo's upraised +arm, and all the hob-goblins and evil +spirits slipped away, and the stars came out +and the big white moon, and the monotonous +droning of the crickets and frogs seemed to +be Seki San humming him to sleep, and the +stone figure against which he leaned seemed +to sway toward him in the moonlight and the +face changed to the gentlest, sweetest one he +knew, and instead of the little pebbles on the +head there was a crown of thorns.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span></p> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter IX</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">How</span> long June slept there he did not know, +but he was awakened by someone shaking his +arm and holding a paper lantern close to his +face. When he got his eyes open he found +that it was a jinrikisha man and that he was +talking to him in Japanese.</p> + +<p>"Where's Seki?" June asked, looking +about him in bewilderment.</p> + +<p>The man shook his head and continued to +talk excitedly in Japanese.</p> + +<p>"I want to go to Monsieur Carré's," said +June very loud as if that would help the man +to understand.</p> + +<p>"Wakarimasen," said the man.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> +"Monsieur Carré!" shouted June, and +again the man shook his head and said, +"Wakarimasen."</p> + +<p>Over and over June repeated "Monsieur +Carré," and pointed down the moonlit road. +Finally in desperation he scrambled from his +perch and seizing a stick thrust it under his +arm like a crutch, then he humped his shoulders, +drew down his brows, and limped along +saying with a groan, "Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!" +as he had heard Monsieur say it.</p> + +<p>In an instant the man clapped his hands +and laughed. "Hai, Hai," he said and when +the jinrikisha was wheeled about and June +was invited to get in, you may be sure he lost +no time in doing so. He even forgot to give +a good-by look to Jizo, who sat smiling out +into the moonlight with the little pebbles on +his head.</p> + +<p>It was a wonderful ride, through the soft +shiny darkness, with only the pitter patter of +the kurumaya's sandals to break the silence. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span> +June, curled up on the seat, was not thinking +of poor Seki San and her anxiety concerning +him, neither was he thinking of the mother +and father who would soon be coming to him +over the sea, nor of Monsieur with the guard +at his door. He was wondering if the stars +were the moon's children, and who woke the +sun up in the morning.</p> + +<p>And all the time a light at the foot of the +hill was getting closer and closer, and before +he knew it, they had stopped at the little +brown house where the windows peeped +through the vines.</p> + +<p>A voice spoke sharply in the darkness and +before June could get down a man in uniform +with a star on his breast, stopped him. The jinrikisha +man seemed to be explaining and the soldier +to be asking questions, and while they talked +June sat very still with his heart beating furiously +against the long envelope in his blouse.</p> + +<p>He was just as frightened as he had been +back in the woods when the hob-goblins were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span> +after him, only it was different. Then he +cried and ran away, now he was not thinking +of himself at all, but of Monsieur who might +have to go to prison and die if he should fail +to get the papers to him.</p> + +<p>After what seemed to him hours of time, +the guard evidently came to the conclusion +that a sleepy little boy who had lost his way +could do no harm, so he lifted him down and +took him up the path.</p> + +<p>June was too full of anxiety even to glance +at the goldfish as he passed them. He +walked straight up the path and into the room +where Monsieur lay. On the bed was an old +man who looked as if he might have been +Monsieur's father; his body seemed to have +shrunk to half its size and his face was old and +white and drawn. Only the eyes made June +know that it was Monsieur himself, and the +fierce startled look in them recalled the day he +had stumbled over him in the Daimyo's +garden.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" id="page104"></a>[pg 104]</span> +"I was coming to see you and I got lost," +began June, but Monsieur held up a warning +hand.</p> + +<p>"The guard will inform me in Japanese," +he said so coldly that June wondered if he +were angry with him.</p> + +<p>After a great deal of talk, the guard went +away leaving June sitting half asleep on the +floor with his head against the bed. In an instant +Monsieur was leaning over him shaking +his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Tell me!" he demanded, "tell me quickly +why did you come?"</p> + +<p>June rubbed his eyes and yawned; at first +he could not remember, then it began to come +back:</p> + +<p>"I made the 's's' the wrong way," he murmured, +"and when I tried to fix them I spoiled +your letter."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," cried Monsieur, now out of bed +and on his knees before the child, "and you +tore it up, you destroyed it?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span> +June shook his head wearily, "It is inside +here, but I can't undo the buttons."</p> + +<p>Monsieur's hands, bandaged though they +were, found the packet and drew it eagerly +forth. "Thank God! thank God!" he whispered, +pressing the unbroken seal again and +again to his lips.</p> + +<p>"Did I save your life?" asked June making +a mighty effort to rouse himself, and enjoy his +reward.</p> + +<p>"Not my life, boy; that did not matter; it +is my honor you have saved, my honor." +And Monsieur lay back upon the bed and +sobbed like a little child.</p> + +<p>"He's coming!" warned June, and Monsieur +had only sufficient time to wipe away the +tears from his withered old cheeks before the +guard returned with the jinrikisha man.</p> + +<p>After a consultation in Japanese, Monsieur +said to June, "I have told the man how to +take you home. They will be very anxious +about you. You must start at once."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span> +"I'm hungry," said June, "I'd like some +of those little crackers that you gave me +before."</p> + +<p>The guard, obligingly following directions, +produced a paper bag from the table +drawer.</p> + +<p>"I wish they were animal crackers," said +June, "I like to eat the elephant first, then he +gets hungry and I have to eat the bear, then +the bear gets hungry and I have to eat the +pig, and the pig gets hungry and I have to +eat the rabbit until there aren't any left in the +bag."</p> + +<p>"You have not spoken to any one about +the letter?" whispered Monsieur as he pretended +to kiss June good-by.</p> + +<p>"'Course not!" declared June indignantly. +"It's a secret!" Then as if remembering +a lost opportunity he added: "Oh! you +couldn't tell me a story, could you? Just a +teeny weeny one?"</p> + +<p>"Not to-night," said Monsieur laughing, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span> +"why, it is eleven o'clock now. But to-morrow, +next day, always when you come, the +stories are waiting, all that my brain and +heart can hold."</p> + +<p>And with this promise June was bound to +be content.</p> + +<p>It was hard to believe that the way back +was as long as the way he had come, for before +he knew it the wall beside the moat appeared +by the roadside, then the parade +grounds dim and shadowy in the moonlight, +then the crowded streets of the town. He +did not know that he was the chief cause of +the commotion, that for two hours parties of +searchers had been hurrying along every +road leading out of town, that people were +telling where they had seen him last, and that +anxious groups were looking over the low +wall into the black waters of the moat.</p> + +<p>He only knew that from the moment he +reached town a crowd followed his jinrikisha, +that his kurumaya could scarcely push his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span> +way through the questioning throng, and that +at last they stopped and a shout went up, the +crowd parted, and through the opening dashed +Seki San, her hair hanging limply about her +face, her eyes full of joy, and her arms out-stretched.</p> + +<p>"Oh! My little boy darling!" she cried. +"You have given me many troubles. Where +you been, where did you go?"</p> + +<p>But June attempted no explanation; the +papers were safe with Monsieur and he was +safe with Seki San, and whether or not he +had done right was too big a problem to +wrestle with.</p> + +<p>After Seki had fed him and bathed him, +and kissed his many bruises to make them +well, he put his arms about her and gave her +a long, hard hug.</p> + +<p>"I am awful sorry I had to run away," he +said and Seki's English was not good enough +to understand just what he meant.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 516px;"> <a name="i107" id="i107"></a> +<img src="images/illus115.jpg" width="516" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="h3">"Long after he was asleep she sat beside him."</p> +</div> + +<p>Long after he was asleep she sat beside +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span> +him on the floor, crying softly into her sleeve, +and holding fast to his hand while she gave +thanks not only to her new Christian God but +to some of the heathen ones as well for sending +him back to her.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span></p> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Chapter X</span></h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Late</span> in the summer, when the tiny maple +leaves were turning blood-red and the white +lotus was filling every pond and moat, June +and Seki San journeyed back to Yokohama. +They were going to meet the big steamer +that was on its way from China to America, +and June was to join his mother and father +and go back with them to California. He was +so happy over the prospect that he could not sit +still a minute, but kept hopping from one side +of the car to the other and asking Seki more +questions than she could possibly answer.</p> + +<p>"Do you s'pose my mother'll know me +now I've got so fat? Has my father grown +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span> +any since I saw him? Will he carry a sword? +What do you s'pose they will bring me?" and +so on until there were scarcely any questions +left to be asked.</p> + +<p>"One more day," said Seki San sadly, "and +Seki will have no more little boy to hold her +sleeves behind and tease and tickle her under +her necks. She will have a very, very lonely +heart."</p> + +<p>June's merriment ceased for a moment and +he looked serious. The fact that Seki could +not go back with him had been a misfortune +that he had not yet faced.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to get my father to come back +for you next year," he said at last, "you and +Tomi and Toro, and your mamma with the +black teeth too. We will have a little Japanese +house on the ranch, and Toro can ride +my pony."</p> + +<p>But Seki shook her head and wiped her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You will go back to your dear, affectionate +home," she said, "and be big mans when I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span> +see you once more. But I will hear your lovingest +little boy voice down in my heart +alway!"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>It was a happy meeting the next day on the +steamer when June actually saw his mother, +and clung about her neck as if he would never +let go again. Then he had to be taken up on +the shelter deck and introduced to a strange, +pale man reclining in a steamer chair, who +they said was his father. At first it was a +dreadful disappointment, and he submitted to +being kissed with an effort. But when the man +lifted one eyebrow and puckered his mouth +into a funny shape, and said, "Why, Mr. Skeezicks, +you haven't forgotten your old Pard?" +a dark spot seemed suddenly to go out of +June's mind and in its place was a memory of +the jolliest, funniest playfellow he had ever +had in his life. With a rush he was in his lap. +"You used to tell me about the Indians," he +cried accusingly, "I remember now. What +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> +became of Tiger Tooth and the little white +child?"</p> + +<p>"We will have just fourteen days to tell +stories," said Captain Royston. "I shall +probably be a dumb man by the time we land in +San Francisco. You must sit down here now +and tell this little mother of yours the story of +your life. Where did you get these red +cheeks and fat legs?"</p> + +<p>And with Seki San sitting on the floor at +their feet, and with a frequent hug from +mother and many a laugh from father, the +story of the summer was told.</p> + +<p>When the last launch brought the passengers +out from the shore, who should come +aboard but Monsieur Carré. He was regularly +engaged in Government service at Tokyo +now, and when he saw in the paper that +Master Robert Rogers Royston, Junior, would +join his parents and sail for America on the +S. S. <i>Mongolia</i>, he made the short trip to +Yokohama to say good-by.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span> +He was so dressed up that June scarcely +recognized him. His white mustache was +waxed until it stood out very straight, and his +hair was parted all the way down the back. +He still carried a heavy cane and limped when +he walked, but his hands, though knotted and +gnarled, were free from bandages.</p> + +<p>Captain and Mrs. Royston welcomed him +cordially as a friend of June's and even Seki +San, who still looked upon him with suspicion, +was discreetly silent.</p> + +<p>"Are you going back to France?" asked +June.</p> + +<p>"Next year," answered Monsieur. "I will +have made sufficient money to go home, and +then! Ah, Mon Dieu! I will never leave it +again."</p> + +<p>"I will write you a letter," said June, adding +slyly, "I'll be sure to make the 's's' turn +the right way."</p> + +<p>Monsieur put his finger on his lips and +June nodded understandingly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> +"What secret have you there?" asked +Captain Royston.</p> + +<p>Monsieur put his hand on June's head, +and looking straight in the Captain's eyes, he +said:</p> + +<p>"Your boy will make a fine soldier; he has +courage and honor, and he can keep a secret. +I congratulate you!"</p> + +<p>Just then a gong sounded and the first +officer ordered everybody who was going +ashore to hurry. There was general bustle +and confusion, June had a vague impression +of Monsieur kissing him on both cheeks, and +disappearing down the rope ladder, of Seki +San kneeling before him while he clung to her +neck and begged her not to leave him, then he +was sitting on the railing, with Father's arm +about him, and Mother holding one hand +while with the other he waved good-by to +the friends below.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 532px;"> <a name="i117" id="i117"></a> +<img src="images/illus125.jpg" width="532" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="h3">"June waved good-by to the friends below."</p> +</div> + +<p>The little launch grew strangely blurred as +it danced away over the water. June did not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span> +see the crowd on the deck, nor the pilot at the +wheel, nor even the white and orange flag +that floated from the mast. He was watching +the pink rose in Seki's hair growing fainter +and fainter in the distance.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Father, with decision, "I +think it's about time to get busy with the +Indians."</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<div class="tnote"> + +<p class="h2a">Transcriber's Notes:</p> + +<p>Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of +the speakers. Those words were retained as-is.</p> + +<p>The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up +paragraphs and so that they are next the text they illustrate. Thus the +page number of the illustration might not match the page number in the +List of Illustrations, and the order of illustrations may not be the +same in the List of Illustrations and in the book.</p> + +<p>Errors in punctuations and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected +unless otherwise noted below:</p> + +<p>On page 90, "chlidren" was replaced with "children".</p> + +<p>On page 116, a comma was placed after "with suspicion".</p> + +<p>On page 116, the single quotation mark after "leave it again." was replaced with a double quotation mark.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Captain June, by Alice Hegan Rice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN JUNE *** + +***** This file should be named 38228-h.htm or 38228-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/2/38228/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ernest Schaal, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captain June + +Author: Alice Hegan Rice + +Illustrator: C. D. Weldon + +Release Date: December 6, 2011 [EBook #38228] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN JUNE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ernest Schaal, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "All day long the boys played down by the river."] + + + + + Captain June + + By + + Alice Hegan Rice + + Author of "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch," + "Lovey Mary," Etc. + + With Pictures by C. D. Weldon + + [Illustration] + + New York + The Century Co. + 1907 + + + + + Copyright 1906, 1907, + by THE CENTURY CO. + + _Published October, 1907_ + + + THE DE VINNE PRESS + + + + + TO THE LITTLE BOY I LOVE BEST + FRANCIS BARBOUR HEGAN + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + "All day long the boys played down by the river" _Frontispiece_ + + The Tea-party on the Train 17 + + "'Do you want me to help you?'" 37 + + "'It's a Matsuri--a festival,' Seki explained" 49 + + "'Does it spell anything?' June asked" 75 + + "They peeped through the cracks, gravely discussing the + situation" 85 + + "It was the old sword-hilt that Monsieur had given him" 97 + + "Long after he was asleep she sat beside him" 107 + + "June waved good-by to the friends below" 117 + + + + + CAPTAIN JUNE + + + + + CAPTAIN JUNE + + CHAPTER I + + +JUNE had never sat still so long during the whole six years of his +existence. His slender body usually so restless and noisy was +motionless; his hands too fond of teasing and mischief lay limp in his +lap, even his tongue was still and that was the most wonderful of all. +The only part of him that stirred was a sparkling pair of gray eyes that +were looking out upon the strangest world they had ever seen. + +The entire day had been one of enchantment, from the first waking hour +when he discovered that the engines on the big steamer where he had +lived for seventeen days had stopped, and that the boat was actually +lying at anchor just off the coast of Japan. Seki San, his Japanese +nurse who had cared for him ever since he was a baby, had been so eager +to look out of the port-hole that she could scarcely attend to her +duties, and the consequence was that he had to stand on the sofa and +hook his mother's dress and help her with the little pins at the back of +the neck while Seki San finished the packing. June could not dress +himself but he knew a great deal about hooks and eyes and belt pins. +When mother got in a hurry she lost things, and experience had taught +him that it was much easier to fasten the pin where it belonged than to +spend fifteen minutes on the floor looking for it. + +At last when all the bags and trunks were ready, and the pilot and the +health officer had come aboard, and everybody had waited until they +could not wait another moment, the passengers were brought ashore in a +wheezy, puffy launch, and were whirled up to the hotel in queer little +buggies drawn by small brown men with bare legs and mushroom hats, and +great sprawling signs on their backs. + +Since then June had sat at a front window too engrossed to speak. Just +below him lay the Bund or sea-road, with the wall beyond where the white +waves broke in a merry splash and then fell back to the blue water +below. Out in the harbor there were big black merchant steamers, and +white men-of-war, there were fishing schooners, and sampans with wobbly, +crooked oars. But the street below was too fascinating to see much +beyond it. Jinrikishas were coming and going with passengers from the +steamers and the coolies laughed and shouted to each other in passing. +Women and girls clattered by on wooden shoes with funny bald-headed, +slant-eyed babies strapped on their backs. On the hotel steps, a little +girl in a huge red turban and a gorgeous dress of purple and gold was +doing handsprings, while two boys in fancy dress sang through their +noses and held out fans to catch the pennies that were tossed from the +piazza above. + +If Cinderella, and Jack the Giant Killer, and Aladdin and Ali Baba had +suddenly appeared, June would not have been in the least surprised. It +was where they all lived, there could be no possible doubt as to that. +Here was the biggest picture book he had ever seen, the coming true of +all the fairy-tales he had ever heard. + +He was dimly conscious that in the room behind him Seki San was +unpacking trunks and boxes, and that his mother was coming and going and +leaving hurried instructions. Once he heard her say, "Don't say anything +to him about it, Seki, I'll tell him when he has to be told." But just +then a man went by with a long pole across his shoulder and round +baskets on each end, and in the baskets were little shining silver +fishes, and June forgot all about what his mother was saying. + +June's father was a young army officer stationed in the Philippines. +June was born there but when still a baby he had been desperately ill +and the doctor had sent him back to the States and said he must not +return for many years. It was a great grief to them all that they had to +be separated, but Capt. Royston had gotten two leaves of absence and +come home to them, and now this summer June and his mother had come all +the way from California to meet him in Japan. + +June was not his real name. It was Robert Rogers Royston, Junior, but +mother said there never could be but one Robert for her, and father did +not like the Rogers for a Christian name, so they called him Junior, and +Junior soon got bobbed off into June. The name suited him too, for a +sunshinier little chap you never saw. He never seemed to know that he +was not as strong as other boys, and when his throat was very bad and +his voice would not come, why he sat up in bed and whistled, just the +keenest, cheeriest, healthiest whistle you ever heard. + +It was on the indoor days that Seki San used to tell him about her +wonderful country across the sea, of the little brown houses with the +flower gardens on the roofs, of the constant clatter, clatter of the +wooden shoes, and the beautiful blossoms that rained down on you like +snow. + +"Where are the blossoms?" he demanded, suddenly turning in his chair. +"You said they came down thick and white and that I could let them fall +over my face." + +Seki San did not answer, she was kneeling beside a very disconsolate +figure that lay on the bed with face buried in the pillows. When June +spoke, his mother sat up and pushed back her tumbled hair. She was a +very little mother with round eyes and lips as red as June's, only now +her eyes were red and her lips trembling. + +"You may go in the other room, Seki San," she said, "I want to talk to +June by himself." + +June sidled up cautiously and took a seat near her on the bed. The one +unbearable catastrophe to him was for his mother to cry. It was like an +earthquake, it shook the very foundations on which all his joys were +built. Sometimes when the postman forgot to leave a letter, and +occasionally when he was sick longer than usual, mother cried. But those +were dark, dreadful times that he tried not to think about. Why the +tears should come on this day of all days he could not understand. + +She put her arm around him and held him close for a long time before she +spoke. He could feel the thump, thump of her heart as he leaned against +her. + +"June," she said at last, "you are going to be a soldier like father, +aren't you?" + +June's eyes brightened. "Yes, and carry a sword!" he said. + +"There is something more than a sword that a soldier has to have." + +"A gun?" + +Mother shook her head. "It's courage, June! It's something I haven't got +a scrap of. You'll have to be brave for us both!" + +"I'm not afraid," declared June. "I go to bed in the dark and go places +by myself or anything." + +"I don't mean that way," said his mother. "I mean doing hard things just +because they are right, staying behind for instance when--when somebody +you love very much has to go away and leave you." + +June sat up and looked at her. "Who's going away?" he demanded. + +Mother's voice faltered. "Father's terribly ill with a fever, June. The +letter was waiting here, it is from our old doctor in Manila, he says, +'Come on first steamer, but don't bring the boy.'" The earth seemed +suddenly to be slipping from under June's feet, he clutched at his +mother's hand. "I am going too!" he cried in quick alarm, "I won't stay +behind, I can't, mother!" + +Her arm tightened about him. "But I don't dare take you, June, think of +the terrible heat and the fever, and you are the only little boy I've +got in the world, and I love you so!" + +"I won't take the fever," protested June. "I'll be good. I'll mind every +word Seki says." + +"But Seki isn't going. She wants to take you home with her down to a +little town on the Inland Sea, where there are all sorts of wonderful +things to do. Would you stay with her, June, while I go to father?" + +Her voice pleaded with eagerness and anxiety, but June did not heed it. +Slipping from her arms, he threw himself on the floor and burst into a +passion of tears. All the joys of the enchanted country had vanished, +nothing seemed to count except that mother was thinking of leaving him +in this strange land and sailing away from him across the sea. + +"Don't cry so, June, listen," pleaded his mother. "I have not decided, I +am trying to do what is best." + +But June refused to be consoled. Over and over he declared that he would +not stay, that he would rather have the fever, and die than to be left +behind. + +By and by the room grew still, his mother no longer tried to pacify him, +only the ticking of the little traveling clock on the table broke the +stillness. He peeped through his fingers at the silent figure in the +chair above him. He had never seen her look so white and tired, all the +pretty smiles and dimples seemed gone forever, her eyes were closed and +her lips were tightly drawn together. June crept close and slipped his +hand into hers. In an instant her arms were about him. + +"I don't know what to do, nor where to turn," she sobbed. "I am afraid +to take you and afraid to leave you. What must I do?" + +June was sure he did not know but when mothers are little and helpless +and look at you as if you were grown up, you have to think of a way. He +was standing beside her with his arm around her neck, and he could feel +her trembling all over. Father often said in his letters, "Be sure to +take care of that little Mother of yours," but it had always seemed a +joke until now. He sighed, then he straightened his shoulders: + +"I'll stay, Mudderly," he said, then he added with a swallow, "Maybe it +will help me to be a soldier when I get big!" + + + + + CHAPTER II + + +"SEKI SAN, look at the old woman with black teeth! What made them black? +What have the little girls got flowers in their hair for? What are they +ringing the bell for?" + +Seki San sitting on her heels at the car window tried to answer all +June's questions at once. The sad parting was over. Mrs. Royston had +left in the night on the steamer they had crossed in, and the Captain +and the Purser and all the passengers were going to take care of her +until she got to Hong Kong, and after that it was only a short way to +Manila, and once she was with Father, June felt that his responsibility +ceased. + +When they first boarded the train, June had sat very quiet. If you wink +fast and swallow all the time, you can keep the tears back, but it does +not make you feel any better inside. + +"If God has got to take somebody," June said at length gloomily, "I +think He might take one of my grandmothers. I have got four but one of +them is an old maid." + +"Oh no," said Seki, "she isn't." + +"She _is_," persisted June, "she keeps every thing put away in little +boxes and won't let me play with them. Seki, do you guess God would jes' +as lieve for me to have a horn as a harp when I go to Heaven? I want a +presser horn like they have in the band." + +"But you will not go for many long times!" cried Seki, catching his hand +as if he were about to slip away. "Look out of the window. See! They are +giving the cow a bath!" + +In a field nearby an old man and woman were scrubbing a patient-looking +cow, and when the creature pulled its head away and cried because it did +not want to get its face washed, June laughed with glee. After all, one +could not be unhappy very long when every minute something funny or +interesting was happening. At every station a crowd of curious faces +gathered about the car window eager to catch a glimpse of the little +foreign boy, and June, always ready to make friends, smiled at them and +bobbed his head, which made the boys and girls look at each other and +laugh. + +"We bow with our whole self, so," Seki explained, putting her hands on +her knees and bending her body very low, "and we never shake with the +hands nor kiss together!" + +"Don't the mothers ever kiss the children good-night?" asked June +incredulously. + +"Oh! no," said Seki, "we bow." + +While June was thinking about this strange state of affairs, a man came +close under the window, carrying a tray and calling: "_Bento! Eo +Bento!_" + +Seki San took some money from a little purse which she carried in her +long sleeve, and handing it out to the man, received two square wooden +boxes and a fat little tea-pot with a cup over its head like a cap. + +[Illustration: The Tea-Party on the train.] + +"Are we going to have a tea-party?" asked June, scrambling down from his +perch. + +"So," said Seki San, reaching under the seat and pulling out a tiny +chest, in which were other cups and saucers and a jar of tea leaves, "we +will have very nice tea-parties and you shall make the tea." + +June, following instructions, put some of the tea in the small pot and +poured the hot water over it, then he helped Seki San spread two paper +napkins on the seat between them. + +"Now," he said, "where's the party?" + +Seki San handed him one of the boxes and began to untie the string of +the other. + +"I have some sticks tied on to mine!" cried June, "two big ones and a +tiny little one wrapped up in paper." + +"That is your knife and fork and pick-tooth," said Seki San. "You must +hold the sticks in one hand like this." + +But June was too busy exploring the contents of the two trays that +formed his box to stop to take a lesson in the use of chop-sticks. The +lower tray was full of smooth white rice. In the top one, was a bit of +omelet and some fish, and a queer-looking something that puzzled June. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +"Guess it!" said Seki mysteriously, "guess it with your nose." + +"It's pickle!" cried June. + +"Pickled sea-weed," said Seki, "and I have also brought you some +Japanese candy that you pour out of a bottle." + +There was no bread, no butter, no knife nor fork nor spoon, but June +thought it was the very nicest tea-party he had ever been to. Sitting +with his stocking feet curled up under him as Seki had hers, he +clattered his chop-sticks and spilt the rice all over the seat, while +they both grew weak with laughter over his efforts to feed himself. + +"Don't you wish you were a little boy, Seki San?" he asked when most of +the lunch had disappeared. + +"Why?" said Seki. + +"'Cause," said June, "you'd have such a good time playing with me all +the time!" + +"But no," said Seki seriously, "I must be big womans to take care of +you." + +"And tell me stories!" added June with policy: "tell me 'bout Tomi +now." + +"Tomi?" said Seki San, smiling. "You going see Tomi very soon, +to-morrow, perhaps to-night. Tomi very bad little dog, makes a cross +bark at all big peoples, but loves little children. When Tomi very +little his nose stick out, so--Japanese think it very ugly for little +pug-dog's nose to stick out, so we push it in easy every day. Now Tomi +has nice flat nose, but he sneeze all the time so--kerchoo, kerchoo, +kerchoo." + +June laughed at the familiar story, but suddenly he sobered: + +"Say, Seki, I don't think it was very nice to push his nose in; I +wouldn't like to have my nose pushed in so I would have to sneeze all +the rest of my life." + +"Ah! but he must be beautiful! Tomi would not be happy if his nose stuck +out when other pug-doggies had nice flat nose. Tomi is very happy, he is +grateful." + +It was quite dark when they reached their destination; June had been +asleep and when he slipped out on the platform he could not remember at +all where he was; Seki's mother and her sisters and brothers besides all +the relatives far and near had come to welcome her back from America, +and quite a little crowd closed in about her, bowing and bowing and +chattering away in Japanese. + +June stood, rather forlornly, to one side. This time last night Mother +had been with him, he could speak to her and touch her, and now--it was +a big, strange world he found himself in, and even Seki seemed his Seki +no longer. + +Suddenly he felt something rub against his leg, and then he heard a +queer sound that somehow sounded familiar. Stooping down he discovered a +flat-nosed little pug that was kissing his hand just as if it had been +brought up in America. + +"It's Tomi," cried June in delight, and the pug, recognizing his name, +capered more madly still, only stopping long enough to sneeze between +the jumps. + +Ten minutes later June was sitting beside Seki San in a broad +jinrikisha, rushing through the soft night air, down long gay streets +full of light and color and laughter, round sharp corners, up steep +hills, over bridges where he could look down and see another world of +paper lanterns and torches, and always the twinkling legs and the big +round hat of the jinrikisha man bobbing steadily along before him. + +"Is it like a story-book all the time?" he asked. + +Seki San laughed: "Oh, no, June, story-book land is back in America, +where the grown-up houses are, and the rich, fine furnitures, and the +strange ways. This is just home, my very dear home, and I have such glad +feelings to be here!" + +June cuddled close and held her hand, and if he felt a wee bit wistful, +and wiped his eyes once in a while on her sleeve, he did it very +carefully, so that Seki would have nothing to spoil the glad feeling in +her heart at being home again. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + +THE new life which opened up for June was brimming over with interest. +Seki San lived in a regular toy house, which was like a lot of little +boxes fitted into one big one. One whole side was open to the garden and +a tiny railed balcony ran around outside the rooms. The walls were made +of white paper, and when the sun shone all sorts of pretty shadows +danced on them, and when it rained everybody ran about to put up the +wooden screens, and fasten the house up snug and tight until the shower +was over. A flight of low steps cut in the rock led down to a bamboo +wicker, and here green lizards sunned themselves all day and blinked in +friendly fashion at the passer-by. + +The night June arrived he had looked about blankly and said: + +"But Seki, there isn't any furniture in your house; haven't you got any +bed, or chairs or table?" + +And Seki had laughed and told the others and everybody laughed until +June thought he had been impolite. + +"I like it," he hastened to add, "it's the nicest house I ever was in, +'cause, don't you see, there isn't anything to break." + +It was quite wonderful to see how easily one can get along without +furniture. After one has sat on his heels, and slept on the floor and +eaten off a tiny table no bigger than a footstool, it seems the most +sensible thing in the world. June did hang up one picture and that was a +photograph of his mother. She had left him two, but one was taken with +her hat on. + +"I don't like for her always to look as if she was going away!" he said +to Seki San when she wanted to put them both up. + +The life, interesting as it was, might have proven lonely, had it not +been for Seki's younger brother, Toro, who was two years older than +June. Although neither could understand a word the other said, yet a +very great friendship had sprung up between them. "We understand just +like dogs," June explained to Seki San. + +All day long the two boys played down by the river bank, paddling about +in the shallow shimmering water, building boats and putting them out to +sea, sailing their kites from the hill top, or best of all, sitting long +hours on the parade grounds watching the drilling of the soldiers. + +Sometimes when they were very good, Seki San would get permission for +them to play in the daimyo's garden and those days were red-letter days +for June. The garden was very old and very sacred to the Japanese, for +in long years past it had belonged to an old feudal lord, and now it was +the property of the Emperor. + +From the first June had cherished a secret belief that somewhere in its +leafy bowers he would come across the Sleeping Beauty. It was all so old +and so still that even the breezes whispered as they softly stirred the +tree-tops. In the very heart of the garden a little blue lake smiled up +at the sky above, and all about its edges tall flags of blue and gold +threw their bright reflections in the water below. A high-arched bridge +all gray with moss, led from one tiny island to another, while along the +shore old stone lanterns, very stiff and stern, stood sentinel over the +quiet of the place. Here and there a tempting little path led back into +mysterious deeps of green, and June followed each one with the half +expectancy of finding the cobwebby old place, and the vine-grown steps, +and the Sleeping Beauty within. + +One day when they were there, Toro became absorbed in a little house he +was building for the old stork who stood hour after hour under the cool +shadow of the arching bridge. June, getting tired of the work, wandered +off alone, and as he went deeper into the tangle of green, he thought +more and more of the Sleeping Beauty. + +It was cool and mysterious under the close hanging boughs, and the +sunshine fell in white patches on the head of an old stone Buddha, whose +nose was chipped off, and whose forefinger was raised in a perpetual +admonition to all little boys to be good. Just ahead a low flight of +stairs led up to a dark recess where a shrine was half concealed by a +tangle of vines and underbrush. June cautiously mounted the steps; he +was making believe that he was the prince in the fairy-tale, and that +when he should push through the barrier of brier roses he would find the +Sleeping Beauty within the shrine. + +As he reached the top step, a sound made him pause and catch his breath. +It was not the ripple of the falling water that danced past him down the +hillside, it was not the murmur of the wind in the bamboos overhead; it +was the deep regular breathing very close to him of some one asleep. For +a moment June wanted to run away, but then he remembered the golden hair +and blue eyes of the princess and with heart beating very fast, he +pushed through the underbrush and stumbled over some one lying in the +grass. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + +BUT when June picked himself up and turned about, he found a very +curious looking man sitting up glaring at him. He had a long pointed +nose, and fierce little eyes that glowed like red hot cinders, and a +drooping white mustache so long that it almost touched the lapels of his +shabby French uniform. + +"What do you mean by falling over me like that?" he demanded +indignantly. + +"I--I--thought you was somebody else," June faltered lamely. + +The man glared more fiercely than ever: "You were looking for some one! +You were sent here to watch someone! Who did you think I was? Answer me +this moment." + +He had caught June by the arm and was glaring at him so savagely that +June blurted out in terror. + +"I thought you was the Sleeping Beauty." + +For a moment, suspicion lingered in the man's face, then his eyes went +to and his mouth went open, and he laughed until June thought he would +never get the wrinkles smoothed out of his face again. + +"The Sleeping Beauty, eh?" he said. "Well, whom do you think I am now?" + +June smiled in embarrassment. "I know who you look like," he said, half +doubtfully. + +"Who?" + +"The White Knight," said June. + +"Who is he?" + +"In 'Alice in Wonderland,'" explained June. Then when he saw the man's +look of perplexity, he added incredulously, "Didn't you _never_ hear of +'Alice in Wonderland'?" + +The man shook his head. + +June was astounded; he didn't know that such ignorance existed in the +world. + +"Didn't you never go to school?" he asked sympathetically. + +"Oh yes, a little," said the man, with a funny smile, "but tell me about +this White Knight." + +June sat down quite close to him and began confidentially: + +"He was the one that met Alice in the wood. Don't you remember just +before she was going to be queen? He kept falling off his horse first on +one side and then on the other, and he would have to climb up again by +the mouse traps." + +"The mouse traps, on horse-back?" + +"Yes, the Knight was afraid the mice _might_ come and he didn't want +them to run over him. Besides he invented the mouse traps and course, +you know, somebody had to use them." + +"Of course," said the man taking June's hand and looking at it as a +person looks at something that he has not seen for a very long time. + +"He invented lots of things," went on June earnestly, "bracelets for the +horse's feet to keep off shark-bites, and something else to keep your +hair from falling out." + +"Eh! what's that?" said his companion rubbing his hand over his own bald +head. + +June's eyes twinkled. "You ought to train it up on a stick," he said, +"like a vine. That was what the White Knight said, that hair fell off +because it hung down. It couldn't fall up, could it?" + +At this they both had a great laugh and the man said: + +"So I am the White Knight, am I?" + +"Just your mustache," said June; "it was when you was mad that you +looked like him most. You're lots gooder looking than the picture. +What's your real name?" + +"Monsieur Garnier,--no, Carre," he corrected himself quickly. "What is +your name?" + +"June," then he added formally, "Robert Rogers Royston, Junior's the +rest of it." + +"How did you come here?" asked Monsieur. + +June told him at length; it was delightful to find some one beside Seki +San who understood English, and it was good fun to be telling all about +himself just as if he were some other little boy. + +"So your father is a soldier!" said Monsieur, and June noticed that a +curious wild look came into his eyes and that his fingers, which had +knots on them, plucked excitedly at his collar. "Ah! yes, I, too, was a +soldier, a soldier of France, one time attache of the French Legation, +at Tokyo, later civil engineer in the employ of the Japanese Government, +now----!" he shrugged his shoulders and his nostrils quivered with +anger. "Now a cast-off garment, a thing useless, undesired." He tried to +rise and June saw that he used crutches and that it was very difficult +for him to walk. + +"Do you want me to help you?" he asked. + +[Illustration: "'Do you want me to help you?'"] + +The man waved him aside. His eyes had changed into red hot cinders +again, and he seemed to have forgotten that June was there. "I ask help +from nobody," he muttered fiercely, "I live my own life. The beggarly +Japanese I would never accept from, and my own country does not see fit +to help me." His chest heaved with wrath, and he twisted his mustache +indignantly. + +"Why don't you go home?" asked June. + +Monsieur turned on him fiercely: "Go home? Mon Dieu, do you suppose +there is a waking hour that I am not thinking, longing, praying to be +back in France? Do you suppose I have left any stone unturned? Any plan +unmade that might take me away from this hateful place? It has been +fourteen, fifteen years since I came away. It was a Japanese that had me +dismissed from the service; he bore tales to the minister, he told what +was not true. Oh, then I had honor, I was too proud to explain, but +now!" he lifted a pair of crippled hands to Heaven, and shook them +violently at the trees above, "now I know that honor does not pay, it is +not worth while. I will give anything to get back to France!" + +June sat still and watched him. He had never seen anyone behave so +queerly, and he was very much mixed up as to what it was all about. + +"I guess I have to go now," he said, "Toro's waiting." + +Monsieur's eyes flashed suspiciously. "Who's waiting?" he asked. + +"Toro, he is Seki's brother, he knows how to build awful nice houses and +blockades too." + +"Blockades?" repeated Monsieur, "what kind of blockades?" + +"Like the soldiers make, we watch them all the time; come on, I will +show you." + +The two made their way down the steps slowly, for Monsieur could go only +a little way at a time. Toro looked mildly surprised when June came back +with a companion, but he did not give a second glance at Monsieur, who +was evidently a familiar figure about the town. + +For a long time the two children played in the sand, and Monsieur sat +beside them and acted as interpreter, speaking first to one in Japanese, +and then to the other in English, giving directions and suggestions and +proving a first-rate play-fellow. + +"Why, you know a lot about forts and mines and blockades and things, +don't you?" asked June. + +Monsieur looked absently across the lake. "Alas!" he said grimly, half +to himself, "I know too much for their good and for mine." + +When the temple bell from the hillside boomed the supper hour, the boys +gathered up their things and started home. + +"Good-by," said June to Monsieur, "I hope you'll come back and play with +us another day." + +Monsieur bowed very politely, but he did not answer, his half-closed +eyes still rested on the little forts that the boys had been making in +the sand, and his thoughts seemed to be far away. + +When June reached the street, he turned to wave a good-by, but Monsieur +was hobbling down the hill, his figure, in spite of the crutches, +looking very straight and stiff against the evening sky. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + +IT was a long time before June saw Monsieur again, for there were +picnics up the river, with lunches cooked on the bank, there were jolly +little excursions in sampans, and trips to the tea-houses, and flower +shows, and an endless round of good times. Seki San kept June out of +doors all day, and watched with glee the color return to his cheeks, and +the angles of his slender body turn into soft curves. + +At night, she and June and Toro, with Tomi frisking and sneezing at +their heels, would join the happy, chattering crowd that thronged the +streets, and would make their way to the flower market where tall +flaming torches lit up the long stalls of flowers, and where merchants +squatting on their heels spread their wares on the ground before +them,--curious toys, old swords, and tea-pots with ridiculous long +noses. And in front of every door was a great shining paper lantern with +queer signs painted on it, and other gay lanterns of all shapes and +sizes and colors went dancing and bobbing up and down the streets like a +host of giant fireflies. + +It was no wonder that June hated to go to bed when so much was happening +outside. Only the promise of a story moved him when Seki gave the final +word. But for the sake of a story he would have gone to the moon, I +believe, and stayed there too. + +When at last he was bathed and cuddled down in his nest on the floor +with a huge kimono--four times as big as the ones Seki wore--spread over +him, Seki would sit on her heels beside him, sewing with an endless +thread, which she only cut off from the reel when the seam was finished. +And June would watch her pretty, plump little hands, and the shadows of +her moving fingers as he listened to queer tales of the sea-gods and +their palace under the waves. Sometimes she would tell of the old +samurai and their dark deeds of revenge, of attacks on castles, and +fights in the moats, and the imaginary clashing of swords and shouts of +men would get so real to June that he would say: + +"I don't want any more scareful ones to-night. Please tell me about the +little mosquito boy." + +Then Seki would begin: "Very long times ago, lived very good little boy, +who never want to do anything but reverence his mother and his father, +and his grandfathers and grandmothers. All times he think it over to +himself how he can serve his parents. One night the wind blow up from +the south and bring a thousand hundred _ka_, mosquito you call him, and +they bite very much. So good little boy takes off all his clothes and +lies at the door of his house so mosquitoes bite him and get so full of +boy that they have not room more for father and mother." At which point +June would never fail to laugh with delight, and Seki would look hurt +and puzzled and say, "Not funny, June, very fine, kind, and noble of +good little boy." + +After Seki had put out the light and joined the rest of the family in +the garden, June would lie very still and the thoughts that had been +crowded down in the bottom of his heart all day would come creeping up +and whisper to him. "Mother is a long way off; suppose she has gotten +lost and never comes back again. Perhaps I haven't got a father any +more, maybe the soldiers have put him in the ground as they did Teddy's +papa. Suppose I have to live here always and grow up to be a Japanese +man, and never see the ranch in California nor my pony any more?" And a +big sob would rise in his throat and he was glad of the dark, for the +tears would come no matter how hard he tried to keep them back. But he +never called Seki, nor let any one know. Sometimes he got up and got his +little gun and took it back to bed with him; it was so much easier to be +a soldier if you had a gun in your hand. + +But one morning when he awoke, two delightful things happened. First he +saw up in the air, apparently swimming about over the house-tops, an +enormous red fish as large as he was, and when he ran to the door there +were others as far as he could see waving and floating about tall poles +that were placed outside nearly every house. + +Without waiting to be dressed he rushed into the garden to ask Seki San +what it all meant. When she saw him, she dropped the letter she was +reading and came toward him as fast as her little pigeon toes would +carry her. + +"It's from your mother," she cried, her face beaming with joy. "She did +never get losted at all. She is with your father now, and he will have +the strength again, and they will come back so sooner as he can journey. +Oh! I could die for the happiness!" + +June jumped up and down, and Seki San giggled, and Tomi barked until the +family came out to see what was the matter. + +"And what did she say? Tell me!" demanded June. + +"All this, and this, and this," said Seki, spreading out the closely +written sheets. Then with many pauses and much knitting of brows and +pointing of fingers, she read the letter aloud. There was very little +about the sad journey, or the dreadful fever, or the life at the +hospital. It was mostly about June, whether he was well, whether he was +very unhappy, if he coughed at night, if he missed her very much. + +"And these at the end I sink I can not read," concluded Seki, pointing +to a long row of circles and dots. + +June looked over her shoulder. "Why Seki!" he exclaimed, "that's the +only part I can read! They are kisses and hugs, I showed her how to make +them. That long one is a pink kiss, and this starry one is silver with +golden spangles," he laughed with delight; then his eye catching sight +of the fish overhead, he said: + +"Say Seki, why did they put out the fish? Is it because my father is +getting well?" + +Seki San smilingly shook her head. + +"It's a matsuri, a festival," she explained; "this is the boys' day and +wherever a boy live, they put out a big paper fish with round mouth open +so----, and when the wind flow in, the fish grow big and fat and make +like swim in the air." + +[Illustration: "'It's a Matsuri--a festival,' Seki explained."] + +"But why do they put out fishes?" persisted June. + +"'Tis the carp fish," said Seki San, "because the carp very strong and +brave, he swim against the current, fight his way up the waterfall, not +afraid of the very bad discouragings, like good boy should be." + +June was much more interested in the fish than in the moral, and when +Toro brought a big red one for him and a paper cap and banner, he +hastened away to be dressed so that he could be ready for the +festivities. + +Taking it all in all, it was about the happiest day he had ever spent in +his life. When he and Toro started forth the streets were already full +of people, men and women in holiday attire, little girls in bright red +petticoats and fancy pins in their hair, every boy with a fish on a +stick, small children with bald-headed babies tied on their backs, all +trotting merrily along to the matsuri. + +Everywhere June went a crowd went behind him, for a little foreign boy +with gray eyes and fair hair, and strange foreign clothes was one of the +greatest sights of the day. Sometimes a woman would stop him and look at +his hat or his shoes, and a circle would close in and Toro would be +bombarded with questions. But the people were always so polite, and +their admiration was so evident, that June was rather pleased, and when +he smiled and spoke to them in English, they bowed again and again, and +he bowed back, then they all laughed. + +It was a terrible trial to June not to be able to ask questions. He was +brimful of curiosity and everything he saw and heard had a dozen +questions hanging to it. Usually Seki San supplied the answers but +to-day Toro was in command, and while he was a very careful little +guide, keeping tight hold of June's hand, pointing out all the +interesting sights, and trying to explain by sign and gesture, still he +did not know a single word of English. + +After passing through many gay streets they came to a tall red gate +which June had come to recognize as the entrance to sacred ground. But +inside it was not in the least like any churchyard he had ever seen. It +was more like the outside of a circus where everything delightful was +happening at once. On one side was a sandman making wonderful pictures +on the ground with colored sand. First he made a background of fine +white sand, then out of papers folded like cornucopias he formed small +streams of black and red sand, skilfully tracing the line of a mountain, +using a feather to make the waves of the sea, and a piece of silver +money to form the great round moon, and before you knew it there was the +very picture you had seen on fans and screens and tea-pots ever since +you could remember, even down to the birds that were flying across the +moon. + +Then there were jugglers and tight rope walkers, and sacred pigeons that +lit on your head and shoulders and ate corn out of your hand. June +thought he had never seen such greedy pigeons before. Two or three +perched on his hand at once, and scolded and pushed each other, and even +tried to eat the buttons off his blouse! + +Up the mountain side, flanked by rows of stone lanterns, ran a wide +flight of steps and at the top was the gate-way to the temple itself. On +either side were sort of huge cages, and in them the most hideous +figures June had ever seen! They were fierce looking giants with +terrible glass eyes and snarling mouths with all the teeth showing, just +as the Ogre's did in the fairy tale. One was painted all over green, and +the other was red, and they held out clutching fingers as if ready to +pounce upon the passer-by. While June was looking at them and feeling +rather glad that they were inside the cages, he saw two old men dressed +in white, climb slowly up the steps and kneel before the statues. Bowing +their heads to the earth and muttering prayers, they took from their +belts some slips of paper, and after chewing them into wads began +gravely to throw them at the fierce green demon behind the bars. + +June giggled with joy, this was something he could quite understand. +Taking advantage of Toro's attention being distracted, he promptly began +to make wads too, and before Toro could stop him he was vigorously +pelting the scowling image. In an instant there was angry remonstrance +and a group of indignant worshipers gathered around. Fortunately Seki +San appeared on the scene in time to prevent trouble. + +"But I was only doing what the others did!" explained June indignantly. + +"It is no harm done," said Seki, reassuringly after a few words to those +about her, "you not understand our strange ways. These are our Nio or +temple guardians that frighten away the evil, bad spirits." + +"What makes the pilgrims throw at them, then?" asked June. + +"They throw prayers," answered Seki San very seriously, "they buy paper +prayers from the old man at the gate, and throw them through the +grating. If the prayer sticks, it is answered, if it falls down it is +not answered. Come, I will show you!" + +They went very close, and looked through the bars; there on the grating, +on the floor and even on the ceiling above them were masses of tiny +paper wads, the unanswered prayers of departed thousands. + +"Well, three of mine stuck!" said June with satisfaction. "Do you +suppose it's too late to make a prayer on them now?" + +Seki thought after considering the matter that it was not. + +"But I haven't got anything left to pray for!" said June, regretting the +lost opportunity. "Father's getting well, and he and Mother are coming +home, and I have got pretty near everything I want. I believe I'd like +another fish though, and oh! yes, I want a little pug dog, jes' 'zactly +like Tomi." + +"It's tiffin time," said Seki San, "and after that will be the +fire-work." + +"In the day-time?" asked June. + +"Oh yes, very fine nice fire-work," said Seki. + +They left the temple grounds, and made their way up the river road, +where everybody was having a tea-party out under the trees. Seki San +secured a tiny table for them and they sat on their heels and ate rice +out of a great white wooden bucket, and fluffy yellow omelet out of a +round bowl, and the sunshine came dancing down through the dainty, +waving bamboo leaves, and everybody was laughing and chattering and from +every side came the click-clack of the wooden shoes, and the tinkle of +samisens and the music of falling water. + +Suddenly Toro pulled June's sleeve and motioned excitedly to the +road-way. Coming toward them in a jinrikisha, looking very pale and thin +and with both arms in bandages, sat Monsieur. + +June broke away from Seki and raced after the jinrikisha. "Oh! Mister," +he cried, "Mr. Frenchman." + +Monsieur, hearing the English words, stopped his man and turned around. +When he saw a very flushed little boy in blouse suit and a wide brimmed +hat, he smiled. + +"Ah!" he cried, "my friend of the garden! My prince who found the +Sleeping Beauty." Then he began to laugh so hard that it started up all +his rheumatic pains, and he had to sink back and rest before he could +speak again. "I am very bad since I saw you last," he said; "these dogs +of Japanese will let me die here. One day in France will make me well. I +may have it yet--I must get back some way--some way!" His eyes looked +excitedly over June's head out into space as if trying to span the miles +that lay between him and his beloved country. + +"My papa will take you home when he comes," said June; "he's a soldier." + +Monsieur shrugged his shoulders: "Your papa would not care _that_," he +said, snapping his fingers; then seeing June's disappointment he added +kindly, "But you--will you not come to see me? I will make you more +forts, I will show you my goldfish." + +"Yes, I'll come," said June. "When?" + +But before Monsieur could answer, Seki had called June and the +jinrikisha had started on its way. + +Late in the afternoon, as the revelers straggled home tired but happy, +June slipped his hand into Seki's. The merry noises of the day had given +place to the quiet chirp of the crickets and the drowsy croaking of the +frogs, and the little breezes that stirred overhead sounded sleepy and +far away. + +"Seki," said June, "I didn't make any prayer on that paper that stuck on +the old giant's nose, do you think it too late?" + +"No," said Seki San, willing to humor him. + +"Well," said June sleepily, "I pray that the French gentleman will get +back home." + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + +ONE morning several weeks later, June was lying on his back in the +garden wishing he had someone to play with. Toro was away at school and +Seki San was having her hair dressed. He had watched the latter +performance so many times that it had ceased to interest him. Seki would +sit for hours on a white mat before the old hair-dresser who combed, and +looped and twisted the long oily strands into butterfly bows of shining +black. + +The only person on the premises who was at leisure was Tomi, but that +was just the trouble, he was so much at leisure that he refused to stir +from his warm spot on the sunny steps no matter how much June coaxed. To +be sure there was a yellow cat next door, but she did not understand +English as Tomi did, and when June called her, she humped her back and +would have ruffled her tail if she had had one, but Japanese cats do not +have tails, so when they get angry they always look disappointed. + +Just as June was getting a bit lonesome the postboy came trotting in +with a letter for Seki San and June ran in to take it to her. + +"For me?" said Seki San, looking very comical with one loop of black +hair hanging over her eye, "from Meester Carre? I sink it is a mistake, +I do not know Meester Carre." + +"Read it," demanded June impatiently. + +"It say," went on Seki San slowly, "that Meester Carre is not able to +write hisself but he desire the writer to ask me will I permit the +little American boy to come to see him to-day. He is sick on the bed, +and have the low spirit. He will keep safe care of the little boy and +send him home what time I desire." + +"Oh, let me go, Seki! Please let me go!" cried June. + +"But who is Meester Carre?" + +"He is the Frenchman," said June. "He is a soldier and has got the +rheumatism. He has goldfish too, and a sword. Oh Seki, please let me go! +Oh, do let me go!" + +"Ah yes," said Seki, "one leg is shorter than the other leg and he walks +with sticks, and he has long white whiskers on his lip, ah! yes, I +know." + +"Can I go?" begged June. + +Seki San took a long while to think about it. She consulted her mother +and the old man next door, and the doctor who lived at the corner, but +by and by she came back and said he could go. + +"I will send you in good Tanaka's 'rikisha, he will take good care of +you and bring you back at tiffin time." + +June was greatly excited over the prospect and stood unusually still +while Seki San buttoned him into a starchy white blouse and pinned a +scarlet flower in his buttonhole. + +"Can't I pin my flag on too?" he begged, and Seki, who could not bear to +refuse him anything, fastened the bit of red, white and blue silk on the +other side. + +"Now keep your body still," cautioned Seki San as she put him in the +jinrikisha and gave final instructions to Tanaka who was bowing and +grinning and bowing again, "Tanaka will wait for you, and you must come +when he calls you. Be good little boy! _Sayonara!_" + +June had never felt so important in his life. To be going out all by +himself in a jinrikisha was quite like being grown up. The only thing +lacking to make him quite happy was a pair of reins that he might +imagine he was driving a horse instead of a little brown man with fat +bare legs and a big mushroom hat who looked around every few moments to +see if he was falling out. + +They trotted along the sunny streets, passing the temple grounds where +the green and red Nio made ugly faces all the day, and where the greedy +pigeons were waiting for more corn. They passed over the long bridge, +skirted the parade ground, then went winding in and out of narrow +streets until they came to a stretch of country road that ran beside a +moat. + +Here there was less to see and June amused himself by repeating the few +Japanese words he had learned. "Ohayo" meant "good-morning," and it was +great fun to call it out to the children they passed and see them bow +and call back "Ohayo" in friendly greeting. He knew another word too, it +was "Arigato," and it meant "thank you." He used it on Tanaka every time +he stopped by the wayside to pluck a flower for him. Once when they +rested June saw a queer old tree, with a very short body and very long +arms that seemed to be seeing how far they could reach. June thought the +tree must have the rheumatism, for it was standing on crutches, and had +knots on its limbs just like Monsieur had on his fingers. But the +strange part of it was that from nearly every branch fluttered a small +strip of paper with something written on it. June had seen this before +on other trees, and he remembered that Seki San had told him that these +little papers were poems hung there when the tree was covered with +cherry blossoms. + +Now June always wanted to do everything anybody else did, so when they +started off again, he decided that he would make up a poem to hang on +the tree as they came back. He knew one that he had learned from a big +boy coming over on the steamer, and he said it over softly to himself: + + "King Solomon was the wisest man; + He had some ready cash, + The Queen of Sheeny came along + And Solly made a mash." + +To be sure he didn't understand at all what it meant, but it sounded +nice and funny and always made him laugh. + +"I'd like to make up one out of my own head though," he thought, and he +sat so still that Tanaka glanced back uneasily. + +It was a very hard matter indeed, for when you write a poem you have to +get two words that sound alike, and then find something to write about +them. It took him so long that by the time he finished, the shaft of the +jinrikisha came down with a jerk and he looked up to find that they had +stopped in front of a house all smothered in vines, with two inquisitive +little windows peering out like eyes behind a tangle of hair. Everything +about the place looked poor and neglected. + +As June and Tanaka made their way up the path, June gave an exclamation +of delight. There about the door were bowls and jars and basins of +goldfish. Every available receptacle had been pressed into service, and +big fish and tiny ones in every shade of radiant gold swam gaily about +in the sunshine. + +It was such an engrossing sight that June almost forgot to go in and +speak to Monsieur who lay in a bed, near the door. + +"Ah, at last," cried the sick man. "My little friend is welcome. There, +sit in the chair. Though I am poor, I live like a gentleman. See, I have +a bed and chairs and a table!" + +June looked about the shabby crowded room, at the dusty flag of France +that was draped over the window, at the map of France that was pinned on +the wall beside the bed, at the cheap pictures and ornaments and the +soiled curtains, then he remembered Seki San's room, clean and sweet and +airy with nothing in it but a vase of flowers. + +"I'd rather sit on the floor," he said as he took his seat beside the +bed, adding immediately, "I can stay until twelve o'clock!" + +Tanaka had gone to take a bath after his warm run and to drink tea at +the little tea-house across the road. + +Monsieur lay propped up in bed with his bandaged hands lying helpless on +the cover-lid. But his eyes were soft and kind, and he had so many +interesting things to talk about that June found him a most entertaining +host. After he had shown June his sword and told a wonderful story about +it, he returned to the goldfish. + +"Alas, there are but twenty-one now," he sighed. "Napoleon Bonaparte +died on Sunday. Have you seen the Grand Monarch? He is the great +shining fellow in the crystal bowl. Those smaller ones are his +gentlemen-in-waiting. Here is Marie Antoinette, is she not most +beautiful?" + +June was introduced to every one in turn and had endless questions to +ask in regard to the story of each. Monsieur was the only person he had +ever met who always had another story on hand. Everything suggested a +story, a story was hidden in every nook and corner of Monsieur's brain, +they fairly bubbled over in their eagerness to be told, and June was as +greedy for more as the pigeons were greedy for corn, and he thought up +new questions while the old ones were getting answered. + +Once Monsieur recited something in verse to him, and that reminded June +of his own poem. + +"I made up one coming," he announced, "do you want to hear it?" + +Monsieur did. Monsieur was very fond of verse, so June recited it with +evident pride: + + "Oh Gee!" said the tree, + "It seems to me + That under my branches + I see a bee!" + +"Bravo!" said Monsieur, "you will be a poet and a soldier too!" + +"I'd like to write it down," said June, "so I can hang it on the tree." + +"To be sure, to be sure," said Monsieur, "you will find pen and ink in +the table drawer. Not that!" he cried sharply as June took out a long +sealed envelope. "Give that to me!" + +June handed the packet to Monsieur in some wonder and then continued his +search. + +"Here's a corkscrew," he said, "and some neckties, and a pipe. Here's +the pen! And may I use this fat tablet?" + +When the materials were collected, June stretched himself at full length +on the floor and began the difficult task. + +"I never did write with a pen and ink afore," he confided to Monsieur, +"you will have to tell me how to spell the big words." + +The room grew very silent and nothing was heard but the scratch, scratch +of June's clumsy pen, and the occasional question which he asked. A +strange change had come over Monsieur; his face, which had been so kind +and friendly, grew hard and scheming. He had drawn himself painfully up +on his elbow and was intently watching June's small fingers as they +formed the letters. Presently he drew the long envelope from under his +pillow and held it in his hand. It was a very fat envelope with a long +row of stamps in one corner, but there was no address on it. Twice he +put it back and shook his head, and twice he looked longingly at the map +of France, and at the flag over the window, then he took it out again. + +"Will you write something for me now, at once?" he demanded in such a +hard, quick voice that June looked up in surprise. + +"Another poem?" asked June. + +"No, a name and address on this envelope. Begin here and make the +letters that I tell you. Capital M." + +"Do you like wiggles on your _M's?_" asked June, flattered by the +request and anxious to please. + +"No matter," said Monsieur impatiently, "we must finish before twelve +o'clock. Now--small o--" + +June put his tongue out, and hunching up his shoulders and breathing +hard proceeded with his laborious work. It was hard enough to keep the +lines from running uphill and the letters from growing bigger and +bigger, but those difficulties were small compared to the task of +guiding a sputtering, leaking pen. Once or twice he forgot and tried to +rub out with the other end of it and the result was discouraging. When a +period very large and black was placed after the final word, he handed +the letter dubiously to Monsieur. + +"Does it spell anything?" he asked. Monsieur eagerly read the scrawling +address. "Yes, yes," he answered, "now put it inside your blouse, so. +When you get home wait until nobody is looking, then put it in the +mail-box. Do you understand? When nobody is looking! Nobody must know, +nobody must suspect, do you understand?" + +[Illustration: "'Does it spell anything?' June asked."] + +"Oh, I know, it's a secret!" cried June in delight. "I had a secret with +mother for a whole week once. I wouldn't tell anything if I said I +wouldn't, would you?" + +June was looking very straight at Monsieur, his round eyes shining with +honesty, but Monsieur's eyes shifted uneasily. + +"I would never betray a trust," he said slowly, "if I were trusted. But +they believed lies, they listened to tales that the beggarly Japanese +carried. They have made me what I am." + +June was puzzled. "Who did?" he asked. + +But Monsieur did not heed him; he was breathing quickly and the +perspiration stood out on his forehead. + +"And you will be very careful and let no one see you mail it," he asked +eagerly, "and never, never speak of it to anybody?" + +"Course not," said June stoutly, "that wouldn't be like a soldier, would +it? I am going to be a soldier, like you and Father, when I grow up." + +Monsieur shuddered: "No, not like me. I am no longer a soldier. I am a +miserable wretch. I--I am not fit to live." His voice broke and he threw +his arm across his eyes. + +June looked off into the farthest corner of the room and pretended not +to see. He felt very sorry for Monsieur, but he could think of nothing +to say. When he did speak he asked if goldfish had ears. + +When the noon gun sounded on the parade grounds, Tanaka came trotting to +the door with his jinrikisha, smiling and bowing and calling softly: +"Juna San! Juna San!" + +June gathered his treasures together, a new lead pencil, an old sword +hilt, some brass buttons and, best of all, a tiny goldfish in a glass +jar. + +"Good-bye," he said as he stood by the bed with his hands full, "I am +coming back to-morrow if Seki will let me;" then a second thought struck +him and he added, "I think you _look_ like a soldier anyhow." + +And Monsieur smiled, and stiffening his back lifted a bandaged hand in +feeble salute. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + +"SEKI SAN, have you got a big enderlope?" June asked the question from +the door-step where he was sitting with his chin in his hand and a very +worried look in his face. + +It was two days after his visit to Monsieur and the big letter was still +buttoned in his blouse. He had started to mail it as soon as he reached +home, but just as he was ready to drop it in the box, he discovered that +every "s" turned the wrong way! It was a dreadful blow to his pride, for +the rest of the address was quite imposing with big flourishing capitals +that stood like generals over the small letters, and dots that would +have surely put out all the "i's" had they fallen on them. He never +could send Monsieur's letter with the "s's" looking backward, he must +try to set them straight again. + +So, very carelessly, in order not to excite suspicion, he asked Seki for +pen and ink. He had written many letters to his mother and father, but +always in pencil, and Seki hesitated about giving him ink. + +She said: "Our ink not like your American ink, live and quick as water, +it hard like paint. We not use pen, but brush like which you write +pictures. I sink it more better you use pencil." + +But June insisted and when he gained his point, he carried the small box +into the garden and took out his letter. The jar containing his goldfish +was close by, so he dipped his stick of paint into the water and rubbed +it vigorously on the paint box. At the last moment just as his brush was +poised in the air, he had a moment of misgiving, "maybe 's's' do turn +that way!" he said, but the brush full of paint was a temptation not to +be resisted, so he took each little "s" by its tail and turned it inside +out. The paper was soft and thin and took the ink like blotting paper. +June watched with dismay as the lines spread into ugly blots, and when +he tried to make the letters plainer he only made the blots bigger until +they all seemed to join hands and go dancing over the envelope in +fiendish glee at his discomfort. + +For two days he had tried to think of a way out of the difficulty but +before he could find one he would get interested in something else and +forget about the letter. It was only when it felt stiff inside of his +blouse that he remembered, and then he would stop playing and try again +to solve the problem. At last in desperation he appealed to Seki San for +an envelope. + +"It is not so much big," she said, bringing out a long narrow envelope +and a roll of paper. "Why you want to write such big letter to your +mother? She coming home soon!" + +"It isn't big enough," said June fretfully, then an idea struck him. +"Seki, I want to go see Monsieur to-day." + +Seki San sat down on the step beside him and shook her head positively: + +"No, no," she said, "not to-day, nor to-morrow, nor any day. He is not a +good man, I made mistakes in letting you go." + +"He _is_ a good man!" cried June indignantly, "he told me stories, and +gave me lots of things." + +"I tell you 'bout him, June," said Seki San. "One time Monsieur very +skilful smart man in Tokyo. He write pictures of the forts and show the +Japanese how to find coast in time of war. He know more plenty than +anybody about the coast and the mines. Then he is not behave right, and +get sent out of the service, and he get sick in the hands so he can make +no more maps, and he come down here and live all alone by himself. That +was long time ago, but yesterday a high up messenger come from Tokyo, +and asked for Monsieur Carre. The Emperor have desire to buy his old +maps and reports, and get his help in making new plans. When the +messenger come, they say Monsieur fall back on the bed very white and +afraid, and say he will not give up the papers. Then messenger say maybe +he has sold his papers to a foreign country and he get very much angry, +and say if Monsieur Carre do not give the papers in twenty-four hours, +he will have him arrested and take him to Tokyo. Still Monsieur keep the +tight lips, and a guard is waiting outside his house." + +With troubled eyes, June listened to every word. "_Did_ he sell the +papers, Seki?" he asked anxiously. + +"He will not say," said Seki, "they say he will not say, but it was a +bad, wicked act if he sold our secrets, and he may die for it!" + +June stirred restlessly, and the packet in his blouse caught in his +belt. He put up his hand to straighten it, and as he did so, a startled +look of inquiry passed over his face. Could those papers in the long +envelope have anything to do with Monsieur's present trouble? Why had +Monsieur not wanted him to tell? Had his mistake about the "s's" +anything to do with it all? The secret, which at first had seemed such a +mysterious and delightful possession, suddenly grew into a great and +terrible burden that he longed to cast at Seki's feet and ask her to +share. + +But the thought of telling what he knew never crossed his mind. He had +given his word, and he felt that to break it would be to forfeit forever +his chance of becoming a soldier. But something must be done, he must go +to Monsieur and tell him the truth at once. + +"Seki," he said persuasively, "Monsieur is sick in bed, don't you think +it would be nice for me to take him a little cake?" + +"You can not ever go there any more," repeated Seki San positively. "I +did a mistakes in letting you go." + +In vain June pleaded, every argument that he could think of he brought +to bear, but Seki was firm. By and by he began to cry, at first softly, +begging between the sobs, then when he got angry he cried very loud and +declared over and over that he would go. + +Seki San was amazed at his naughtiness. It was the first time since his +mother left that she had known him to be disobedient. When persuasion +and coaxing proved in vain, she carried him into the house and carefully +closing the paper screens left him alone. Here he lay on the floor and +cried louder than ever. Seki San and her mother and the old man next +door stood on the outside and peeped through the cracks, gravely +discussing the situation. Even Tomi sniffed uneasily, and gave sharp, +unhappy barks. + +[Illustration: "They peeped through the cracks, gravely discussing the +situation."] + +After ever and ever so long the cries grew fainter and gradually ceased, +and Seki peeping around the screen whispered to the others to be very +still as he was going to sleep. + +June lay quiet on his face, but he was not asleep. Once in a while he +opened his eyes a very little and peeped out, then he closed them +quickly and listened. By and by he heard Seki go back to her work, and +the old man next door hobble across the garden. Inch by inch June +crawled over the mats until he reached the screen, which he carefully +slid back. After waiting for a few breathless minutes, he reached out +and got his shoes from the door-step and put them on. Back of the house +he could hear Seki singing at her work, and not six feet away Tomi lay +snoozing in the sun. Softly and cautiously he slipped out of the house, +across the strip of a garden where all the leaves seemed to be shaking +their heads at him, through a narrow passageway, then out of the gate +that divided the little world he knew from the vast unknown world that +lay beyond. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + +EVEN more than usually quiet and deserted was the narrow street. The +noon sun glaring down on the town had sent everybody into the shade, and +at first June attracted little attention as he trudged off in the +direction of the parade grounds. He knew the way that far, for Toro +often took him there to watch the men drill. Soldiers passed him now in +twos and threes, looking very smart in their buff uniforms with swords +clanking at their sides, and as they passed they laughed and turned to +look curiously at the small foreign boy. In fact curious eyes were +peering out of many of the open front shops, and mothers were even +holding up their babies and pointing to the strange little person who +was passing. + +Here and there children were dipping water with their hands from pails +and sprinkling the dusty street, and when they saw June they paused and +gazed open-mouthed, or shouted derisively: "Eijin! Eijin!" The whole +world seemed strange and unfriendly, and even the sun tried to see how +hot it could glare down on June's bare head. + +When he reached the parade ground, he stopped to rest, but no sooner had +he sat down than a circle gathered around him, two jinrikisha men, four +boys, a girl with a baby on her back and an old fish woman. There was no +chatter, they were all too interested to talk, they just stood and +looked and looked until June felt that their eyes were pins and that he +was the cushion. After a while he turned to one of the men and said: "Do +you know where Monsieur Carre lives?" + +They looked at each other and smiled. It was much as if a new bird had +twittered a strange note, and one boy tried to imitate the sound and +repeated "Carre lives?" to the great amusement of the rest. + +"Monsieur Carre!" went on June, getting angry, "he's a Frenchman. Don't +you know where he lives?" + +"Where he lives?" mimicked the boy and they laughed more than ever. June +was so angry by this time that he could not tell which he wanted most to +do, to cry or to fight. + +Beyond him was a wilderness of criss-cross streets with strange eyes +peering at him from every quarter. What if he should get lost and +swallowed up for ever in this strange place where nobody knew him nor +loved him nor spoke his language? + +Instinctively he looked back toward the way he had come. He had only to +retrace his steps past the parade ground, hurry back in a straight line +until he came to the big red gate that marked the entrance to the +temple, and then turning to the right run breathlessly down the street +to the little gate in the wall, and after that to throw himself into +Seki's arms and tell her all his troubles! + +But what would become of Monsieur? It must be very dreadful to be sick +in bed with a guard waiting to arrest you if you do not get some papers +for him, papers which you do not possess. And if Monsieur was arrested +he never would get back to France! + +All this flashed through June's mind as he sat under the pine tree, +trying with all his might to keep the black eyes all around from seeing +that he was about to cry. Just then a soldier went by holding himself +very erect and looking neither to the left nor the right. Suddenly June +remembered that soldiers did not cry, and with resolution he got up and +turning his back to the temple gate and the parade grounds, he continued +courageously on his way. + +Far in the distance he could see, high on a hill, the old castle which +he knew he must pass before he should come to Monsieur's. There were +many streets to be passed, and many obstacles to be overcome, for as +June got further from home the curiosity concerning him increased. It +was very warm and he was tired but he dared not sit down for he dreaded +the gaping crowd and the curious eyes. By and by he came to the old moat +which circled the castle, and as the road led out into the country, the +boys who had followed him gradually fell back until he realized with joy +that there were no more wooden shoes clattering after him. + +In the moat big lotus leaves floated on the water and working among them +were coolies, naked, except for a loin cloth. They were too busy to take +any notice of a strange little boy, so he sat on a rock under a tree for +a long time and wondered how it would feel to be down there under the +lily pads and the lotus leaves, and if the same hob-goblins and sprites +that live under the sea did not sometimes come to play in the moats, and +take moonlight rides on the big broad leaves? + +The sun which had beaten so fiercely on his head was slowly dropping +toward the distant mountain when he started once more on his way, and a +long shadow went beside him. The shadow was a great relief for it kept +him company without staring at him. By and by even the shadow deserted +him and he trudged along the country road following a vague impression +that somewhere around the foot of the mountain Monsieur lived. + +It was very quiet and lonesome with only the crickets and the frogs +talking to each other out there in the grasses, and June's feet were +tired and his head ached and he was hungry. A big lump kept lodging in +his throat no matter how often he swallowed. Now that the gray twilight +was creeping on, all sorts of fears assailed him. Ever since he could +remember Seki San had told him of the hob-goblins and gnomes that haunt +the woodlands and mountains in Japan. There were the Tengu, half bird +and half man, that play all sorts of mischievous pranks on the farmers, +there was the "Three-eyed Friar," and the "White Woman" who wanders +about in the snow, and worst of all was a bogie with horns, whose legs +dwindled away to nothing at all, but whose body was very large and +horrible with a long neck twisted like a snake. + +As he thought about it his heart began to thump, and he quickened his +steps to a run. All the trees seemed to be reaching out clutching hands +as he sped by, and the darkness kept creeping closer and closer. The +sobs which he had held back so long came faster, and at last breathless +and panic-stricken he sank exhausted by the roadside and waited in dumb +terror for what might happen. + +Looking fearfully around he saw just above him a kind, white face +peering out of the twilight. It was only a stone face, and it belonged +to an image that was sitting cross-legged on a mossy stone, but June +felt as if he had met a friend. Of all the gods and goddesses that Seki +San had told him about, the one he knew best was Jizo, the friend of +little children. The drooping figure, the gentle face, and the shaven +head had become as familiar to him as the pictures of Santa Claus at +home. He had met him in the temples, in the woods, on the river road, in +big stone statues and little wooden ones, and now when he found him here +in this lonesome night world, he felt a vague sense of relief and +protection. + +Climbing up on the stone he fingered the pebbles that filled Jizo's lap, +and touched the red cotton bib that was tied about his neck. He knew +what it all meant for Seki San had told him many times. Jizo was the +guardian of dead children, and the red bib and the pebbles had been +placed there by mothers who wanted the kind god to look after their +little babies who had passed away into another world. There were +hundreds of pebbles about the statue, in its lap, about its hands and +feet, and even on its bald head, and June was very careful not to +disturb any of them. He wished he had something to give the good god, +but he was too tired to go down and look for a pebble. He searched +through his pockets but nothing seemed to suit. Finally he separated one +object from the rest, and placed it gently in Jizo's upturned hand. It +was the old sword hilt that Monsieur had given him. + +[Illustration: "It was the old sword-hilt that Monsieur had given him."] + +Then, because he was very sleepy and tired, and because he was afraid of +the dark, he nestled down in the niche under Jizo's upraised arm, and +all the hob-goblins and evil spirits slipped away, and the stars came +out and the big white moon, and the monotonous droning of the crickets +and frogs seemed to be Seki San humming him to sleep, and the stone +figure against which he leaned seemed to sway toward him in the +moonlight and the face changed to the gentlest, sweetest one he knew, +and instead of the little pebbles on the head there was a crown of +thorns. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + +HOW long June slept there he did not know, but he was awakened by +someone shaking his arm and holding a paper lantern close to his face. +When he got his eyes open he found that it was a jinrikisha man and that +he was talking to him in Japanese. + +"Where's Seki?" June asked, looking about him in bewilderment. + +The man shook his head and continued to talk excitedly in Japanese. + +"I want to go to Monsieur Carre's," said June very loud as if that would +help the man to understand. + +"Wakarimasen," said the man. + +"Monsieur Carre!" shouted June, and again the man shook his head and +said, "Wakarimasen." + +Over and over June repeated "Monsieur Carre," and pointed down the +moonlit road. Finally in desperation he scrambled from his perch and +seizing a stick thrust it under his arm like a crutch, then he humped +his shoulders, drew down his brows, and limped along saying with a +groan, "Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!" as he had heard Monsieur say it. + +In an instant the man clapped his hands and laughed. "Hai, Hai," he said +and when the jinrikisha was wheeled about and June was invited to get +in, you may be sure he lost no time in doing so. He even forgot to give +a good-by look to Jizo, who sat smiling out into the moonlight with the +little pebbles on his head. + +It was a wonderful ride, through the soft shiny darkness, with only the +pitter patter of the kurumaya's sandals to break the silence. June, +curled up on the seat, was not thinking of poor Seki San and her anxiety +concerning him, neither was he thinking of the mother and father who +would soon be coming to him over the sea, nor of Monsieur with the guard +at his door. He was wondering if the stars were the moon's children, and +who woke the sun up in the morning. + +And all the time a light at the foot of the hill was getting closer and +closer, and before he knew it, they had stopped at the little brown +house where the windows peeped through the vines. + +A voice spoke sharply in the darkness and before June could get down a +man in uniform with a star on his breast, stopped him. The jinrikisha +man seemed to be explaining and the soldier to be asking questions, and +while they talked June sat very still with his heart beating furiously +against the long envelope in his blouse. + +He was just as frightened as he had been back in the woods when the +hob-goblins were after him, only it was different. Then he cried and ran +away, now he was not thinking of himself at all, but of Monsieur who +might have to go to prison and die if he should fail to get the papers +to him. + +After what seemed to him hours of time, the guard evidently came to the +conclusion that a sleepy little boy who had lost his way could do no +harm, so he lifted him down and took him up the path. + +June was too full of anxiety even to glance at the goldfish as he passed +them. He walked straight up the path and into the room where Monsieur +lay. On the bed was an old man who looked as if he might have been +Monsieur's father; his body seemed to have shrunk to half its size and +his face was old and white and drawn. Only the eyes made June know that +it was Monsieur himself, and the fierce startled look in them recalled +the day he had stumbled over him in the Daimyo's garden. + +"I was coming to see you and I got lost," began June, but Monsieur held +up a warning hand. + +"The guard will inform me in Japanese," he said so coldly that June +wondered if he were angry with him. + +After a great deal of talk, the guard went away leaving June sitting +half asleep on the floor with his head against the bed. In an instant +Monsieur was leaning over him shaking his shoulder. + +"Tell me!" he demanded, "tell me quickly why did you come?" + +June rubbed his eyes and yawned; at first he could not remember, then it +began to come back: + +"I made the 's's' the wrong way," he murmured, "and when I tried to fix +them I spoiled your letter." + +"Yes, yes," cried Monsieur, now out of bed and on his knees before the +child, "and you tore it up, you destroyed it?" + +June shook his head wearily, "It is inside here, but I can't undo the +buttons." + +Monsieur's hands, bandaged though they were, found the packet and drew +it eagerly forth. "Thank God! thank God!" he whispered, pressing the +unbroken seal again and again to his lips. + +"Did I save your life?" asked June making a mighty effort to rouse +himself, and enjoy his reward. + +"Not my life, boy; that did not matter; it is my honor you have saved, +my honor." And Monsieur lay back upon the bed and sobbed like a little +child. + +"He's coming!" warned June, and Monsieur had only sufficient time to +wipe away the tears from his withered old cheeks before the guard +returned with the jinrikisha man. + +After a consultation in Japanese, Monsieur said to June, "I have told +the man how to take you home. They will be very anxious about you. You +must start at once." + +"I'm hungry," said June, "I'd like some of those little crackers that +you gave me before." + +The guard, obligingly following directions, produced a paper bag from +the table drawer. + +"I wish they were animal crackers," said June, "I like to eat the +elephant first, then he gets hungry and I have to eat the bear, then the +bear gets hungry and I have to eat the pig, and the pig gets hungry and +I have to eat the rabbit until there aren't any left in the bag." + +"You have not spoken to any one about the letter?" whispered Monsieur as +he pretended to kiss June good-by. + +"'Course not!" declared June indignantly. "It's a secret!" Then as if +remembering a lost opportunity he added: "Oh! you couldn't tell me a +story, could you? Just a teeny weeny one?" + +"Not to-night," said Monsieur laughing, "why, it is eleven o'clock now. +But to-morrow, next day, always when you come, the stories are waiting, +all that my brain and heart can hold." + +And with this promise June was bound to be content. + +It was hard to believe that the way back was as long as the way he had +come, for before he knew it the wall beside the moat appeared by the +roadside, then the parade grounds dim and shadowy in the moonlight, then +the crowded streets of the town. He did not know that he was the chief +cause of the commotion, that for two hours parties of searchers had been +hurrying along every road leading out of town, that people were telling +where they had seen him last, and that anxious groups were looking over +the low wall into the black waters of the moat. + +He only knew that from the moment he reached town a crowd followed his +jinrikisha, that his kurumaya could scarcely push his way through the +questioning throng, and that at last they stopped and a shout went up, +the crowd parted, and through the opening dashed Seki San, her hair +hanging limply about her face, her eyes full of joy, and her arms +out-stretched. + +"Oh! My little boy darling!" she cried. "You have given me many +troubles. Where you been, where did you go?" + +But June attempted no explanation; the papers were safe with Monsieur +and he was safe with Seki San, and whether or not he had done right was +too big a problem to wrestle with. + +After Seki had fed him and bathed him, and kissed his many bruises to +make them well, he put his arms about her and gave her a long, hard hug. + +"I am awful sorry I had to run away," he said and Seki's English was not +good enough to understand just what he meant. + +[Illustration: "Long after he was asleep she sat beside him."] + +Long after he was asleep she sat beside him on the floor, crying softly +into her sleeve, and holding fast to his hand while she gave thanks not +only to her new Christian God but to some of the heathen ones as well +for sending him back to her. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + +LATE in the summer, when the tiny maple leaves were turning blood-red +and the white lotus was filling every pond and moat, June and Seki San +journeyed back to Yokohama. They were going to meet the big steamer that +was on its way from China to America, and June was to join his mother +and father and go back with them to California. He was so happy over the +prospect that he could not sit still a minute, but kept hopping from one +side of the car to the other and asking Seki more questions than she +could possibly answer. + +"Do you s'pose my mother'll know me now I've got so fat? Has my father +grown any since I saw him? Will he carry a sword? What do you s'pose +they will bring me?" and so on until there were scarcely any questions +left to be asked. + +"One more day," said Seki San sadly, "and Seki will have no more little +boy to hold her sleeves behind and tease and tickle her under her necks. +She will have a very, very lonely heart." + +June's merriment ceased for a moment and he looked serious. The fact +that Seki could not go back with him had been a misfortune that he had +not yet faced. + +"I'm going to get my father to come back for you next year," he said at +last, "you and Tomi and Toro, and your mamma with the black teeth too. +We will have a little Japanese house on the ranch, and Toro can ride my +pony." + +But Seki shook her head and wiped her eyes. + +"You will go back to your dear, affectionate home," she said, "and be +big mans when I see you once more. But I will hear your lovingest little +boy voice down in my heart alway!" + + * * * * * + +It was a happy meeting the next day on the steamer when June actually +saw his mother, and clung about her neck as if he would never let go +again. Then he had to be taken up on the shelter deck and introduced to +a strange, pale man reclining in a steamer chair, who they said was his +father. At first it was a dreadful disappointment, and he submitted to +being kissed with an effort. But when the man lifted one eyebrow and +puckered his mouth into a funny shape, and said, "Why, Mr. Skeezicks, +you haven't forgotten your old Pard?" a dark spot seemed suddenly to go +out of June's mind and in its place was a memory of the jolliest, +funniest playfellow he had ever had in his life. With a rush he was in +his lap. "You used to tell me about the Indians," he cried accusingly, +"I remember now. What became of Tiger Tooth and the little white child?" + +"We will have just fourteen days to tell stories," said Captain Royston. +"I shall probably be a dumb man by the time we land in San Francisco. +You must sit down here now and tell this little mother of yours the +story of your life. Where did you get these red cheeks and fat legs?" + +And with Seki San sitting on the floor at their feet, and with a +frequent hug from mother and many a laugh from father, the story of the +summer was told. + +When the last launch brought the passengers out from the shore, who +should come aboard but Monsieur Carre. He was regularly engaged in +Government service at Tokyo now, and when he saw in the paper that +Master Robert Rogers Royston, Junior, would join his parents and sail +for America on the S. S. _Mongolia_, he made the short trip to Yokohama +to say good-by. + +He was so dressed up that June scarcely recognized him. His white +mustache was waxed until it stood out very straight, and his hair was +parted all the way down the back. He still carried a heavy cane and +limped when he walked, but his hands, though knotted and gnarled, were +free from bandages. + +Captain and Mrs. Royston welcomed him cordially as a friend of June's +and even Seki San, who still looked upon him with suspicion, was +discreetly silent. + +"Are you going back to France?" asked June. + +"Next year," answered Monsieur. "I will have made sufficient money to go +home, and then! Ah, Mon Dieu! I will never leave it again." + +"I will write you a letter," said June, adding slyly, "I'll be sure to +make the 's's' turn the right way." + +Monsieur put his finger on his lips and June nodded understandingly. + +"What secret have you there?" asked Captain Royston. + +Monsieur put his hand on June's head, and looking straight in the +Captain's eyes, he said: + +"Your boy will make a fine soldier; he has courage and honor, and he can +keep a secret. I congratulate you!" + +Just then a gong sounded and the first officer ordered everybody who was +going ashore to hurry. There was general bustle and confusion, June had +a vague impression of Monsieur kissing him on both cheeks, and +disappearing down the rope ladder, of Seki San kneeling before him while +he clung to her neck and begged her not to leave him, then he was +sitting on the railing, with Father's arm about him, and Mother holding +one hand while with the other he waved good-by to the friends below. + +[Illustration: "June waved good-by to the friends below."] + +The little launch grew strangely blurred as it danced away over the +water. June did not see the crowd on the deck, nor the pilot at the +wheel, nor even the white and orange flag that floated from the mast. He +was watching the pink rose in Seki's hair growing fainter and fainter in +the distance. + +"And now," said Father, with decision, "I think it's about time to get +busy with the Indians." + + + + + Transcriber Notes + +Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_. + +Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS. + +Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of the +speakers. Those words were retained as-is. + +The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up +paragraphs and so that they are next the text they illustrate. Thus the +page number of the illustration might not match the page number in the +List of Illustrations, and the order of illustrations may not be the +same in the List of Illustrations and in the book. + +Errors in punctuations and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected +unless otherwise noted below: + +On page 90, "chlidren" was replaced with "children". + +On page 116, a comma was placed after "with suspicion". + +On page 116, the single quotation mark after "leave it again." was +replaced with a double quotation mark. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Captain June, by Alice Hegan Rice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN JUNE *** + +***** This file should be named 38228.txt or 38228.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/2/38228/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ernest Schaal, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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