“Hey, stop!” cried Ned suddenly, as they passed under a majestic grove of big trees bordering both sides of the road. The shade felt grateful after the heat of the sun. At the end of the colonnade of trees was a temple, a fairy-like structure about which people were clustered. It had struck Ned that something interesting might be seen there.
“You no tired?” he asked of the coolie as they alighted.
The man grinned and shook his head.
“No, honorable sailor. Me no tired. Me go all same one, two, ten, twenty mile.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Herc, “you can have your job! I wouldn’t pull one of these rickety shaws, or whatever you call them, half a mile on a bet.”
“Honorable red-o-head sailor no used pullee ’rickshaw.”
“Hey, Ned, did you hear what he called me?” sputtered Herc, full of indignation.
“That’s all right, Herc. Your thatch was a birthday present. Don’t be ashamed of it. Come on, let’s go and have a look at that temple. I’ve a notion something interesting is going forward yonder.”
“All right; but I don’t want these Japs calling me ‘red-head.’ I get enough of that in the fleet. I can dispense with it on shore.”
Arm in arm, the two young blue-jackets set off under the trees. In many of the branches hung little articles formed of bits of glass decorated with bright colors. As the breeze blew, the bits of glass jangled together with a pretty tinkling sound that made Ned exclaim admiringly.