Not being at the first table with the passengers, I had small opportunity to see how he treated Miss MacDonald, but from what Slade told me I was concerned. The small chap was always in attendance upon the ladies when they were on deck. He was politeness itself, and he busied himself with all kinds of little efforts to make them more comfortable than they were.
"If honorable ladies will allow, I fix the rugs in chairs," he would say, and although the weather was tropical, a rug made a softer seat when they took the air on deck, which they did nearly all daytime while we ran our westing down beneath the tropic of Cancer.
With a good full month or six weeks before us, and a fair wind on the starboard quarter all the time, we had a stretch of water to cross that put one in mind of steamers. The ship ran steadily day and night at about from eight to ten knots an hour. We seldom touched a sheet or halyard except to set it up, and the gentle heeling with the trade swell made the voyage seem like a yachting trip.
Komuri had much time to devote to the comfort of the ladies, and the elder one seemed to like him very much indeed. He told them stories of the warlike Samurai, and honor and self-respect stood out plainly in them all. It was not a bad thing, except that he always seemed to be something of a hero, and no steward either second or first should be such a thing where there are seamen around waiting for the job.
"I have always believed that you heathen were very able people," said Miss Aline, "and if you were treated properly you would be just as gentle and tractable as the European races."
"Heathen," said Komuri calmly, "are those who do not accept your own honorable views. Who knows which is right? It is a word we never use in Japan."
She looked at him a moment, and said: "You are quite incorrigible. I hope you are not really bad, after all."
"Honorable lady must see by how I do—not how I talk; she judge humble self most true. Her heart right," said the Japanese, which I thought was going some for a second steward, especially when I remembered how Slade stood, or wished to stand, in a certain quarter. I thought it best to let the humble steward see he was going far enough.
"Say, king, old man," I interrupted, "Jack wants you to get busy with the potatoes for dinner. He's waiting for the peelings."
Komuri nodded to me respectfully.