The North Pacific

hey would have called on the lady who was to entertain, and, after flattering her and making their personal regard for her as prominent as possible, would have brought the conversation

s the English equivalent

ally announced. "Twelve girls," she

larger boys, pushing forward. "

permitted," she said. "I cannot invi

girls in another. Once beyond the school limits, the two divisions became mixed. O-Hana-San was only nine years old, and Oto, being fifteen (this was about a dozen years before the build

himself, "let's go down to the shore." When Oto was distur

t mysterious country Korea, which he had heard his father say was "a dagger, aimed at the heart of Japan." He longed to fight for the Empire, which he adored with all the passionate worship of the true Japanese. He was an adept at seamanship, in a small way, before he was fourteen; perfectly at home in the water or on it; and possessed with an a

ad gone forth suppressing the order, or depriving it of its essential characteristics, he had joined a band of Samurai who refused to obey the imperial command, and in a fight which followed he had lost his life. Oshima's father wa

ten all about little Blossom and her party. O-Hana-San was a great favourite with Oto, it i

tles had been fought out, on sea and land. "I'm as warm as if I ha

an here to work out, for man?uvring a battle-ship in the fa

shima. "Here goes for a dip into t

hore, gamboling like a porpoise, swimming on his b

ed in tracing a diagram of a sea-fight. After a while he glan

shima! Quick! There'

is shoulder. There, not a hundred yards away, was the dreaded black fin, glistening i

Oto, springing down headlong over the rocks, perceived that his friend was a little

e point!" he shrieked,

a and swam straight toward the shark. There was no more shouting now; only two

sed, and the ugly fin seemed irresolute. Oshima was now swimming more slowly. Younger than Oto, and far less robust, he was beco

eemed in a fair way of escaping to shallow water if not to the land itself. The monster, with a twist of

e creature began to turn, to seize his prey, the black fin disappeared. Quick as a flash Oto doubled himself in the water and dived. A moment l

his victor, watching sharply for his late foe, made his way ashore as swiftly as possible. He f

make the offer that changed the boy's whole life. He proposed to the elder Owari to send Oto at his own expense to any naval school in the world, and educate him for th

ew years later the two comrades went to America, performed their duties faithfully, and, in pursuance of direct orders from high authority, concealed their identity by returning as cabin stewards; the me

would not have been disappointed in a meal, Oshima's father would not have felt the impulse of gratitude which influenced him to bestow a naval education upon his neighbour's son; in short the Retvizan's plans would never hav

isted. She wore a blue flowered silk kimono, with sleeves touching the ground; a blue girdle lined with scarlet; and a fold of the scarlet scarf lay between her neck and the kimono. On her little feet were white tabi, socks of cotton cloth, with a separate place for the great toe (which was a very small one, nevertheless), so as t

ey played at quiet and polite little games until dusk, when the party broke up, and O-Hara-San (Spring), O-Yuki-San (Snow), O-Kiku-San (Chrysanthe

y cut the waters of the Indian Ocean with her snowy stem, he thought of the dark-eyed Blossom in the far-off little village of Nippon; and, as he tripped to and from the pantry, and returned with delicacies for the cabin table, balancing himself gracefully aga