Captain June

by Burt L. Standish

  CHAPTER V

  IT was a long time before June saw Monsieur again, for there werepicnics up the river, with lunches cooked on the bank, there were jollylittle excursions in sampans, and trips to the tea-houses, and flowershows, and an endless round of good times. Seki San kept June out ofdoors all day, and watched with glee the color return to his cheeks, andthe angles of his slender body turn into soft curves.

  At night, she and June and Toro, with Tomi frisking and sneezing attheir heels, would join the happy, chattering crowd that thronged thestreets, and would make their way to the flower market where tallflaming torches lit up the long stalls of flowers, and where merchantssquatting on their heels spread their wares on the ground beforethem,--curious toys, old swords, and tea-pots with ridiculous longnoses. And in front of every door was a great shining paper lantern withqueer signs painted on it, and other gay lanterns of all shapes andsizes and colors went dancing and bobbing up and down the streets like ahost of giant fireflies.

  It was no wonder that June hated to go to bed when so much was happeningoutside. Only the promise of a story moved him when Seki gave the finalword. But for the sake of a story he would have gone to the moon, Ibelieve, and stayed there too.

  When at last he was bathed and cuddled down in his nest on the floorwith a huge kimono--four times as big as the ones Seki wore--spread overhim, Seki would sit on her heels beside him, sewing with an endlessthread, 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 ofher moving fingers as he listened to queer tales of the sea-gods andtheir palace under the waves. Sometimes she would tell of the oldsamurai and their dark deeds of revenge, of attacks on castles, andfights in the moats, and the imaginary clashing of swords and shouts ofmen would get so real to June that he would say:

  "I don't want any more scareful ones to-night. Please tell me about thelittle 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 tohimself how he can serve his parents. One night the wind blow up fromthe south and bring a thousand hundred _ka_, mosquito you call him, andthey bite very much. So good little boy takes off all his clothes andlies at the door of his house so mosquitoes bite him and get so full ofboy that they have not room more for father and mother." At which pointJune would never fail to laugh with delight, and Seki would look hurtand puzzled and say, "Not funny, June, very fine, kind, and noble ofgood little boy."

  After Seki had put out the light and joined the rest of the family inthe garden, June would lie very still and the thoughts that had beencrowded down in the bottom of his heart all day would come creeping upand whisper to him. "Mother is a long way off; suppose she has gottenlost and never comes back again. Perhaps I haven't got a father anymore, maybe the soldiers have put him in the ground as they did Teddy'spapa. Suppose I have to live here always and grow up to be a Japaneseman, and never see the ranch in California nor my pony any more?" And abig sob would rise in his throat and he was glad of the dark, for thetears would come no matter how hard he tried to keep them back. But henever called Seki, nor let any one know. Sometimes he got up and got hislittle gun and took it back to bed with him; it was so much easier to bea soldier if you had a gun in your hand.

  But one morning when he awoke, two delightful things happened. First hesaw up in the air, apparently swimming about over the house-tops, anenormous red fish as large as he was, and when he ran to the door therewere others as far as he could see waving and floating about tall polesthat were placed outside nearly every house.

  Without waiting to be dressed he rushed into the garden to ask Seki Sanwhat it all meant. When she saw him, she dropped the letter she wasreading and came toward him as fast as her little pigeon toes wouldcarry her.

  "It's from your mother," she cried, her face beaming with joy. "She didnever get losted at all. She is with your father now, and he will havethe 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 thefamily 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 closelywritten sheets. Then with many pauses and much knitting of brows andpointing of fingers, she read the letter aloud. There was very littleabout the sad journey, or the dreadful fever, or the life at thehospital. It was mostly about June, whether he was well, whether he wasvery 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, pointingto a long row of circles and dots.

  June looked over her shoulder. "Why Seki!" he exclaimed, "that's theonly part I can read! They are kisses and hugs, I showed her how to makethem. That long one is a pink kiss, and this starry one is silver withgolden spangles," he laughed with delight; then his eye catching sightof the fish overhead, he said:

  "Say Seki, why did they put out the fish? Is it because my father isgetting well?"

  Seki San smilingly shook her head.

  "It's a matsuri, a festival," she explained; "this is the boys' day andwherever a boy live, they put out a big paper fish with round mouth openso----, and when the wind flow in, the fish grow big and fat and makelike swim in the air."

  "'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 andbrave, he swim against the current, fight his way up the waterfall, notafraid of the very bad discouragings, like good boy should be."

  June was much more interested in the fish than in the moral, and whenToro brought a big red one for him and a paper cap and banner, hehastened away to be dressed so that he could be ready for thefestivities.

  Taking it all in all, it was about the happiest day he had ever spent inhis life. When he and Toro started forth the streets were already fullof people, men and women in holiday attire, little girls in bright redpetticoats and fancy pins in their hair, every boy with a fish on astick, small children with bald-headed babies tied on their backs, alltrotting merrily along to the matsuri.

  Everywhere June went a crowd went behind him, for a little foreign boywith gray eyes and fair hair, and strange foreign clothes was one of thegreatest sights of the day. Sometimes a woman would stop him and look athis hat or his shoes, and a circle would close in and Toro would bebombarded with questions. But the people were always so polite, andtheir admiration was so evident, that June was rather pleased, and whenhe smiled and spoke to them in English, they bowed again and again, andhe bowed back, then they all laughed.

  It was a terrible trial to June not to be able to ask questions. He wasbrimful of curiosity and everything he saw and heard had a dozenquestions hanging to it. Usually Seki San supplied the answers butto-day Toro was in command, and while he was a very careful littleguide, keeping tight hold of June's hand, pointing out all theinteresting sights, and trying to explain by sign and gesture, still hedid not know a single word of English.

  After passing through many gay streets they came to a tall red gatewhich June had come to recognize as the entrance to sacred ground. Butinside it was not in the least like any churchyard he had ever seen. Itwas more like the outside of a circus where everything delightful washappening at once. On one side was a sandman making wonderful pictureson the ground with colored sand. First he made a background of finewhite sand, then out of papers folded like cornucopias he formed smallstreams 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 silvermoney to form the great round moon, and before you knew it there was thevery picture you had seen on fans and screens and tea-pots ever sinceyou could remember, even down to the birds that w
ere flying across themoon.

  Then there were jugglers and tight rope walkers, and sacred pigeons thatlit on your head and shoulders and ate corn out of your hand. Junethought he had never seen such greedy pigeons before. Two or threeperched on his hand at once, and scolded and pushed each other, and eventried to eat the buttons off his blouse!

  Up the mountain side, flanked by rows of stone lanterns, ran a wideflight of steps and at the top was the gate-way to the temple itself. Oneither side were sort of huge cages, and in them the most hideousfigures June had ever seen! They were fierce looking giants withterrible glass eyes and snarling mouths with all the teeth showing, justas the Ogre's did in the fairy tale. One was painted all over green, andthe other was red, and they held out clutching fingers as if ready topounce upon the passer-by. While June was looking at them and feelingrather glad that they were inside the cages, he saw two old men dressedin white, climb slowly up the steps and kneel before the statues. Bowingtheir heads to the earth and muttering prayers, they took from theirbelts some slips of paper, and after chewing them into wads begangravely 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 beganto make wads too, and before Toro could stop him he was vigorouslypelting the scowling image. In an instant there was angry remonstranceand a group of indignant worshipers gathered around. Fortunately SekiSan 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 thoseabout her, "you not understand our strange ways. These are our Nio ortemple 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 paperprayers from the old man at the gate, and throw them through thegrating. If the prayer sticks, it is answered, if it falls down it isnot 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 tinypaper wads, the unanswered prayers of departed thousands.

  "Well, three of mine stuck!" said June with satisfaction. "Do yousuppose 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 thelost opportunity. "Father's getting well, and he and Mother are cominghome, and I have got pretty near everything I want. I believe I'd likeanother fish though, and oh! yes, I want a little pug dog, jes' 'zactlylike Tomi."

  "It's tiffin time," said Seki San, "and after that will be thefire-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 Sansecured a tiny table for them and they sat on their heels and ate riceout of a great white wooden bucket, and fluffy yellow omelet out of around bowl, and the sunshine came dancing down through the dainty,waving bamboo leaves, and everybody was laughing and chattering and fromevery side came the click-clack of the wooden shoes, and the tinkle ofsamisens and the music of falling water.

  Suddenly Toro pulled June's sleeve and motioned excitedly to theroad-way. Coming toward them in a jinrikisha, looking very pale and thinand 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 brimmedhat, he smiled.

  "Ah!" he cried, "my friend of the garden! My prince who found theSleeping Beauty." Then he began to laugh so hard that it started up allhis rheumatic pains, and he had to sink back and rest before he couldspeak again. "I am very bad since I saw you last," he said; "these dogsof Japanese will let me die here. One day in France will make me well. Imay have it yet--I must get back some way--some way!" His eyes lookedexcitedly over June's head out into space as if trying to span the milesthat 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_," hesaid, snapping his fingers; then seeing June's disappointment he addedkindly, "But you--will you not come to see me? I will make you moreforts, I will show you my goldfish."

  "Yes, I'll come," said June. "When?"

  But before Monsieur could answer, Seki had called June and thejinrikisha 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 givenplace to the quiet chirp of the crickets and the drowsy croaking of thefrogs, and the little breezes that stirred overhead sounded sleepy andfar away.

  "Seki," said June, "I didn't make any prayer on that paper that stuck onthe 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 getback home."