A United States Midshipman in Japan

HE SEIZED THE OUTSTRETCHED HAND
by Lt. Com. Yates Stirling Jr. U.S.N. Author of “A U.S. Midshipman Afloat” “A U.S. Midshipman in China” “A U.S. Midshipman in the Philippines”
Illustrated by Ralph L. Boyer
THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA MCMXI
COPYRIGHT 1911 BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY
Philip Perry and Sydney Monroe are young officers in the United States navy. Although they have been out of the Naval Academy less than two years, and are still ranked as midshipmen, they have seen active service, as related in “A United States Midshipman Afloat” and “A United States Midshipman in China.” “A United States Midshipman in the Philippines” tells how Phil, with Sydney for executive officer, commanded a small gunboat in expeditions against the insurgents. Boatswain Jack O’Neil has been with the lads in many of their hazardous adventures, and the three are now on the “U. S. S. Alaska” in Japanese waters.
The story deals with a misunderstanding between the United States and the Island Kingdom. This complication causes a few days of anxiety to both nations, and gets some people into serious difficulties but, needless to say, it is purely fictitious.
A United States Midshipman in Japan
It was one o’clock in the afternoon, and there was unusual activity in the railroad station at Yokohama. Uniformed officials were scurrying to and fro, bending every effort to dispose of the great crowd of stolid Japanese travelers and at the same time, with due formality and ceremony, provide a special train for their lately arrived American naval visitors.
So painstaking and anxious were these energetic and efficient little personages to please those whom their government had chosen to honor, that suddenly, at a signal, they stemmed the great influx of their own people, sidetracked the steady and ever-increasing flow of bright colored silks, and did it as easily as if they were but putting a freight train on a siding. Not one murmur was heard from the crowd delayed so abruptly; the travelers waited, talking and laughing joyfully. To them it was all pleasure. There was no necessity for haste. When the honorable railroad officials were ready, then there would be plenty of time for them to get on their trains. They had no thought of questioning the acts of their Emperor’s officials, who wore the imperial badge of office—the sixteen petal chrysanthemum.