“I am always suspicious of these beachcombers in foreign ports,” the boatswain’s mate added; “they get sort of denationalized after they’ve been living apart from their own people, and they can’t always be trusted to play fair. Randall is an American, that’s a sure thing; you can’t miss the Broadway accent when you hear it so far from home.”
While O’Neil was yet carrying on his one-sided conversation the carriage had stopped, and the mafoo was knocking loudly at the door of a Japanese house in one of the less pretentious parts of the city. After the occupants of the house had gone through the usual formula to discover the identity of their unexpected visitors, the door was opened and the two sailors were asked to enter.
“Is Sago in?” O’Neil asked the shy girl who was holding the lantern inside the dark little anteroom, where visitors were expected to remove their shoes before entering the house. She nodded, and in her high-pitched voice a summons was directed upward.
“Sorry to drag you out this time of the evening, Sago,” O’Neil explained as, in answer to the girl’s call, the captain’s Japanese steward came down the stairs to meet them, “but we need your help, so I looked you up.”
Sago’s sphinx-like face did not portray the surprise which O’Neil’s words might have been expected to cause.
“Please come inside,” the steward urged. “I wish to introduce you to my cousin and his family.”
O’Neil and Marley readily followed the steward, while curious Japanese of all ages appeared mysteriously from many directions to gaze upon their visitors.
Sago motioned with his hand to a Japanese of about his own age, which might be anything from forty upward, standing at the head of the landing. The Oriental bowed low with a loud hiss of his breath through his close shut teeth, while O’Neil and Marley insisted upon a good American hand-shake. The same process was gone through with about a dozen people who congregated about the sailormen. This formality over, the host clapped his hands and at once the women scurried away, like a covey of partridges, soon reappearing with refreshments, the usual cakes and tea.
“Do your friends speak English?” O’Neil asked in his usual direct way, avoiding unnecessary and useless ceremony.
Sago shook his head with an amused smile.