CHAPTER VII. NATTIE CARRIES HIS POINT.
When Nattie left his brother and Mori in the office of Black & Company, it was with the determination to ascertain whether the tall, thin man with the Gladstone bag was really the late bookkeeper, Willis Round.
If the lad had been asked why he was placing himself to so much trouble for such a purpose he could not have answered.
There was no reason why Round should not return to Yokohama if he so minded. And he had every right to remove his whiskers if he chose to do so; and again, there was no law to prevent him from calling upon the firm of Black & Company.
Still, in view of recent circumstances, it seemed suspicious to Nattie, and he sped down the street with the firm resolve to prove the identity at once. As the reader may have conjectured, the younger Manning brother had a strong will of his own.
It was his claim, not uttered boastfully, that when he set a task unto himself, he generally carried it out if the thing was possible. He proved that characteristic in his nature in the present instance.
On reaching the corner of the next street, which happened to be the broad thoroughfare running at right angles from the Bund, he caught sight of his man in the door of a famous tea house much frequented by the good people of Yokohama.
The fellow had paused, and was glancing back as if suspicious of being followed. On seeing Nattie, he turned quickly and disappeared into the tea house. When the lad reached the entrance, he found the front room untenanted save by a group of waiter girls.
They greeted his appearance with the effusive welcome of their class, but he brushed them aside with little ceremony and passed on into the next apartment. This also was empty. The more imposing tea houses of Japan are generally two-story structures, divided into a multitude of small and large rooms.
The one in question contained no less than a round dozen on the ground floor, and as many in the second story. There was no central hall, but simply a series of public rooms extending from front to rear, with private apartments opening on each side.
Nattie had visited the place times out of mind, and he knew that an exit could be found in the rear which led through a small garden to a gate, opening upon a back street. The fact caused the lad to hasten his steps.
While hurrying through the fourth apartment, he heard voices in a side room. They were not familiar, but he halted at once. Suppose Round—if it were he—should take it into his head to enter one of the private apartments? He could easily remain concealed until a sufficient time had elapsed, and then go his way unseen.
For a brief moment Nattie stood irresolute. If he remained to question the matsumas it would give the evident fugitive time to escape by the rear gate. And if he hurried through the garden and out into the back street, Round could leave by the main entrance.
"Confound it! I can't stay here twirling my thumbs," he exclaimed. "What shall it be, back gate or a search through the blessed shanty? I'll leave it to chance."
Thrusting a couple of fingers into a vest pocket, he extracted an American quarter, and flipped it into the air.
"Heads, I search these rooms; tails, I go out the back gate," he murmured, catching the descending coin with great dexterity.
"Tails it is. Here goes, and may I have luck," he added.
Hurrying through the remaining apartments, he vanished into the garden just as a tall, thin man carrying a Gladstone bag cautiously opened a side door near where Nattie had juggled the coin. There was a bland smile upon the fellow's face, and he waved one hand airily after the youth.
"Ta, ta, Master Manning," he muttered. "I am thankful to you for leaving the decision to a piece of money. It was a close call for me, as I do not care to have my identity guessed just at present. Now that the coast is clear, I'll drop in on the Blacks again and tell them to be careful."
Making his way to the main entrance, he called a passing 'rikisha and ordered the karumaya to carry him to the Bund through various obscure streets. In the meantime, Nattie had left the garden by way of the rear gate. A hurried glance up and down the narrow thoroughfare resulted in disappointment.
A search of adjacent streets produced nothing. Considerably crestfallen, the lad returned to the tea house and questioned the head of the establishment. He speedily learned to his chagrin that the man for whom he had been searching had left the place not five minutes previously.
"Just my luck," he murmured, petulantly. "Here, Komatsu, give this to a beggar; it's a hoodoo."
The affable manager accepted the ill-omened twenty-five cent piece with many bows and subsequently placed it among his collection of rare coins, with the inscription: "Yankee Hoodoo. Only one in Yokohama. Value, ten yen."
It was with a very disconsolate face that Nattie left the tea house on his way to the office of the new firm. He felt positive in his mind that the thin man was really Willis Round, and the actions of the fellow in slipping away so mysteriously tended to increase the lad's suspicions.
"If he cared to return to Yokohama, he could do so," he reasoned, while walking down Main Street. "It's no person's business that I can see. And if he desired to increase his ugliness by shaving off his whiskers it was his own lookout. But what I don't like is the way he sneaked out of Black's counting-room without speaking to us. He was certainly trying to avoid recognition, and that's flat.
"I wonder what he had to do with that debt?" added the lad, after a while. "He is mixed up with the Blacks in some way, and I'll wager the connection bodes ill to some one. Perhaps it is to us."
He had reached this far in his reflections when he chanced to look down a small alley leading from the main thoroughfare to a public garden. A jinrikisha was speeding past the outlet. The vehicle contained one man, and in an instant Nattie recognized in him the subject of his thoughts.
To cover the distance to the garden was a brief task for the lad's nimble feet. As he emerged from the alley, however, he plumped into a couple of American man-of-war's men. The collision carried one of them into the gutter, but the other grasped wildly at his supposed assailant's collar.
"Nattie plumped into a couple of American man-of-war's men. The
collision carried one of them into the gutter, but the other grasped
wildly at his supposed assailant's collar." (See page 64)
He missed, but nothing daunted, the sailor started in pursuit, calling out in a husky voice at every step. In his eagerness to catch up with Willis Round, Nattie had continued his flight. The hubbub and outcry behind him soon brought him to a halt, and he faced about just as several policemen and a dozen foreigners and native citizens joined in the chase.
What the outcome would have been is hard to say had not help arrived at that opportune moment in the shape of a friend—a clerk at the legation—who suddenly appeared in the doorway of a private residence within a dozen feet of the lad.
"What is the matter, Manning?" hastily asked the newcomer.
As quick as a flash Nattie bounded past him, and closed the door just as the infuriated sailor reached the spot.
"For goodness' sake, old fellow, get me out by the back way!" breathed the lad. "I haven't time to explain now. I'll tell you all about it this afternoon. I am following a man, and I mustn't lose him. Let me out by the rear, please."
Considerably mystified, the clerk obeyed. A moment later Nattie was again speeding down a street toward the Bund. As luck would have it, he caught sight of his man at the next corner. The jinrikisha had stopped in front of Black & Company's office.
Hurrying ahead, the lad contrived to enter the door at the heels of the fugitive. He stepped lightly across the counting-room, and was within a foot of him when he threw open the door leading into the merchant's private office.
At sight of them both Ralph and his father sprang to their feet. Totally unsuspicious of the proximity of his pursuer, the tall, thin man tossed his portmanteau upon a chair, and was on the point of greeting the occupants of the office when he saw them looking behind him in evident surprise.
He turned, gave Nattie one startled glance, then made an involuntary movement as if contemplating flight. The lad barred the way, however. Grinning triumphantly, he lifted his hat with a polite bow, and said:
"Why, this is an unexpected pleasure, Mr. Round. I did not know you had returned to Yokohama. How is everything in London?"
"What are you talking about?" growled the fellow. "I don't know you."
"Indeed! How poor your memory must be. You worked for my father as confidential clerk and bookkeeper for many years. Surely you must remember his son, Nattie Manning?"
The mocking tone caused Round to frown darkly. He saw that further denial was useless. Curtly turning his back to Nattie, he stalked to a chair and sat down. During this little byplay Ralph had been staring at the intruder in a peculiarly malevolent manner.
"What do you want in here?" he demanded, at last. "This is our private office, and we receive people by invitation only. Get out."
"With the greatest pleasure," sweetly replied Nattie. "I have secured all that I desire. I wanted to satisfy myself as to that man's identity, and I have succeeded. The removal of one's whiskers don't always form an effectual disguise, you know. Ta! ta!"
He left the office with a triumphant smile, and quickly made his way to the counting-room of the new firm. Grant and Mori were engrossed in drawing up several tables of import orders, but they gave instant attention to his story.
"It certainly proves one thing," remarked the lame youth. "Mr. Willis Round attempted to visit Yokohama in disguise. Now what can be his reason?"
Before either Nattie or Mori could reply, the front door was thrown open, and the very man they were discussing stepped into the office. There was an expression of cordial good nature upon his face, and he advanced with one hand extended in a friendly attitude.