"I will see that he remains in jail for a couple of weeks, anyway," decided Grant. "He deserves some punishment."
"When shall we close up?" asked Nattie, gayly. "This is a great holiday, you know. We are due at the race track by ten."
"It's a quarter past nine now," replied the young Japanese, looking at his watch. "Suppose we start at once?"
The suggestion was acted upon with alacrity. Leaving the office in charge of a native watchman, the three youths took jinrikishas and proceeded to the "bluff," where the sports of the day were to take place.
The storm of the preceding night had ended in delightful weather. The tropical rays of the sun were tempered by a cooling breeze from the bay. The air was glorious with briskness, and so clear that the majestic peak of Fuji San seemed within touch.
The city was in gala attire. Banners of all nations were flaunting in the breeze, but after the Japanese flag of the Rising Sun, the grand old Stars and Stripes predominated. It could not be said that the firm of Manning Brothers & Okuma had failed in patriotism.
Streaming from a lofty flagstaff on the roof was an immense American ensign, and draping the façade of the building were others intertwined with the standard of the country. The streets were decorated with arches and bunting, and every second native wore a little knot of red, white and blue.
It was a unique celebration, from one point of view. Many years before, the gallant Commodore Perry had sailed into the Bay of Yokohama with a message of good will from the then President of the United States to the ruler of Japan.
At that time the island kingdom was walled in by impassable bulwarks of exclusiveness and hatred of foreigners. For thousands of years she had calmly pursued her course of life, lost to civilization, and satisfied with her reign of idols and depths of barbarism.
It required a strong hand to force a way to the central power, and time waited until the Yankee commodore appeared with his fleet of ships. Other nations had tried to pierce the barrier. England, France, Germany made repeated attempts, but were repulsed.