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"Wow!" muttered Somers. "I shall surely have to, forget 'Kimono, then. What do you call his truly name?" "Kamanako," Jack responded, and spelled it. Eph wrote the name down on a slip of paper, saying: "Thank you, Jack. I'll try to commit this name to memory. I don't want to hurt the feelings of a sensitive little fellow.
"There's just one drawback, though, Kamanako. We can carry very few people aboard, so that everyone who does ship with us has to count. In other words, our steward must also cook the meals in the galley." "I think that will be all right, honorable Captain," replied the Japanese, thoughtfully. "How many have you on board?" "Six," answered the young submarine commander.
Eph, however, had his own private idea of vengeance to execute. Up the stairs he went, holding hard to the spiral rail, for he was still a bit dizzy. Kamanako, having dropped into the stern of a shore boat, looked unconcerned as he was pulled away. "Yah!" grunted Eph, shaking his fist. "You kimono! Kimono! Kimono!" "What does that mean when it's translated?" inquired Hal, looking interested.
"Good evening, honorable gentlemen," said the Japanese, turning when he heard the new arrivals entering. "Mr. Kamanako is going to leave us," announced Trotter, with a smile. "He goes north to-night. Here is the slip of paper, my boy, that will take you past any meddlesome inquiry. But it is good only until midnight, so I advise you to be sure to catch to-night's express."
"What charge?" "Felonious assault upon Hastings and myself." "Good," chuckled Trotter. "I shall have to see the judge privately, and ask him to make sure that Gaston Goubet gets the longest sentence possible. Nothing like prison bars to stop the work of these international spies!" "Why, here's even little Kamanako," smiled as he turned over another page.
"Now, you laugh at me," replied the Japanese. "Laughing at you? Not a bit!" "You have told some one that I am a spy," replied Kamanako, without a trace of grudge in his voice. "So now, I cannot leave Spruce Beach. Ticket agent, he will not sell me. If I try to go on foot, the roads are watched. If I take to woods, even, I shall be found." "Sorry," nodded Jack Benson, and passed on.
"There's that infernal Jap spy that scoundrelly thief of other men's secrets!" Kamanako halted as abruptly as though he had been challenged by a sentry. As he saw the young captain a dark, red flush crept into the cheeks of the little, brown man. "You talk much," sneered the Japanese his anger rising.
"You won't need me on deck any more, will you, sir?" asked Williamson, saluting. "No; I shall be on deck," Jack replied, returning the salute. "Very likely Mr. Hastings will be here with me, for that matter." Soon after the machinist had gone below Eph Somers returned to the deck. "I've been posting that Kimono," Eph explained. "Kamanako," laughed Captain Jack.
"This very queer thing," he murmured. "What for you use it thermometer." "No," retorted Jack Benson, frigidly, eyeing the detected one. "It's a barometer, and it shows which way a meddler blows in!" "I don't understand," remarked the Japanese, looking perplexed. "Then I'll help you to understand. First of all, put that gauge down on the table!" Kamanako did so, then made a little bow.
Jack greeted him, halting. "I had an idea you had left Spruce Beach." "I should have done so, but I started too late," replied Kamanako, still smiling. Nothing ever daunts that Japanese smile. One of these little men, being led away to have his head chopped off, goes with a smile on his little brown face. "Started too late?" asked Jack. "How was that?"
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