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It seemed the essence of spring, and we had a mile or more of it all before we reached the brink of the canon. For even here the river had begun a gorge for itself through the plain. We left our jinrikisha at the top and zigzagged on foot down the steep descent, and straightway departed the upper life of fields and larks and sunshine for a new and semi-subterranean one.
The jinrikisha man, who stood a smiling spectator, saw Dick Merrit's hand move toward his pocket, and was instantly alert and eager to settle the matter. "Him ve'y bad girl," he said; "him make dead for catty. You give me ten sen, I take girl homely. You have much of catty."
It was on the day but one before the festival of the fifth moon that we set out, or, in English, the third of May; and those emblems of good luck, the festival fishes, were already swimming in the air above the house eaves, as we scurried through the streets in jinrikisha toward the Uyeno railway station.
The harbor and shipping lay in the foreground; beyond the shore line rose large buildings, smaller ones creeping up the mountain side; this whole panorama was bathed in sunlight. Immediately on landing a jinrikisha ride was enjoyed, and I was propelled about in an aimless fashion, enjoying the street scenes, visiting the heights, and the Horse's Temple.
A few illustrations of this spirit of confidence from my own experience may not be without interest. On first coming to Japan, I found it usual for a Japanese who wished to take a jinrikisha to call the runner and take the ride without making any bargain, giving him at the end what seemed right. And the men generally accepted the payment without question.
If you happened to fall into one of those shoes, you'd be lost for ever and ever, and that big Mr. Saito would be inviting me to cut off my head." Yuki San laughed and smoothed the cushions in the jinrikisha while she gave minute directions to the jinrikisha men. Merrit made his adieu with high good humor, and so many big words that Yuki San was hard pressed to interpret.
"San-ju-san-gen-do Temple," the man in front said, putting down the shafts of the jinrikisha confidently. "Thirty-three thousand images of great god Kwannon. Come see? No? So desu ka?" Later he stopped at a flower-girt tea-house. "Geisha maybe! Very fine dancers. Come see? No? So desu ka?"
Before Otsu was reached a sudden rainstorm came on, and Percival was made yet more uncomfortable by having the hood of the jinrikisha put up, and a piece of stiff oilcloth tucked about him. By the time he rattled into the courtyard of the small Japanese inn, he was cramped and cold and very cross.
The train ride to Yumoto was most unusual, as the line lay through a succession of small villages, the road sometimes being so narrow that we could see into the homes or look into shop windows as we went through a business street. At Yumoto we took a jinrikisha for the ascent to Miyanoshita; the route was picturesque.
Dick rose, red and confused. Then he climbed into the jinrikisha, trying to ignore the smiles of the man. Yuki Chan, with her hands joined just below her sash, bent her body like a half-shut jack-knife. "Arigato arigato," she said politely, as she bowed again and again. "Him say t'ank you," interpreted the jinrikisha man. "Good-by," called Dick. "Don't forget be good!"
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