CHAPTER XII
CUSTOMS AND COSTUMES
Dulcie dressed for the luncheon that was being given for her by theJapanese Vassar Club, and was immediately driven away to their clubhouse by the faithful Bill. The men of the party had a luncheon at theAviation Club, an important function because both Mr. Hammond and Davidwere to be presented with decorations. Already Mr. Hammond wore twogorgeous medals presented to him in Friedrichshafen. David glittered ina slightly smaller way and it embarrassed him very much.
When the party from the Moonbeam entered the club, they saw that a largenumber of very high ranking officials were present. Most of them beingolder men, they did not speak English, so the speeches of the hosts andthe replies of the guests trickled through the medium of an interpreter.Aside from that drawback, and the presence of glittering orderliesstanding behind the chairs of the Japanese generals and ministers, theymight have been dining at any first-class hotel at home.
The young officer on David's right spoke only a few broken words ofEnglish, but beamed and smiled so brightly that David wished he couldcommunicate with him in some common tongue. Suddenly he thought of analmost forgotten knack of caricature which had always gone over big atschool. He brought out a pencil and on the back of the menu drew, with afew sharp strokes, pictures of Mr. Hammond and the others, not sparinghimself.
They were very funny. He set them forth on the top of a fat and wobblyblimp with sagging hull. Each one of them was looking through long fieldglasses toward a point marked with a rising sun. The young Japaneselaughed heartily and handed him another card. On the bottom of thisDavid drew a small, distant glimpse of the landing field at Kasumigaura.The eager visitors were shown dancing on the top of their unwieldy ship,and from each mouth issued a balloon inscribed "_Banzai_."
David was not sure that the idea would get across, but it did. Theclever sketches traveled around the great table, and with the laughterthey called forth the stiff decorum of the meal lightened into a morefree and friendly atmosphere.
Helping each other as best they could, with gestures and drawings, Davidmanaged to tell the group of young aviators about him many thingsconcerning aviation in America that they were very anxious to know.
The luncheon lasted far into the afternoon. The ceremonies attending thepresentation of the medals were long and dignified. When the big,glittering, bejeweled bauble had been pinned on Mr. Hammond's coat, withmany suave and pleasant words from the donors, and when Mr. Hammond hadreplied with thanks and prophecies for the welding of nations throughaviation, David felt his muscles tighten. Now he would get a medalpinned on him, but he wouldn't have to speak. He hadn't spoken inFriedrichshafen, so why here? When his name was spoken, he went to thehead of the table, where he stood facing the highest ranking officer ofthe aviation corps in Japan. David stood very straight and stiff, hisbroad shoulders squared, his head high. He was very handsome--andexceedingly embarrassed.
The general, medal in hand, began to speak, slowly, so the interpretercould keep pace with him. To David's consternation, the general referredto David's youth and to the fact that he had taken over the ship in theteeth of a hurricane, and had brought her to safety. He congratulatedaviation and America on possessing such a fine young pilot. David felthis very ears growing red. Then the medal was pinned on his breast, andbehold, it was the twin of Mr. Hammond's.
Released at last, David somehow gained his seat, and dropped into it. Helooked at Mr. Hammond. That gentleman was signaling him to get up. Daviddrew a long shuddering breath as he rose.
"Oh, my Lord!" he breathed, and with his voice croaking with fright helaunched into his first public speech.
"Your Excellencies, and gentlemen," he commenced: "I don't know how tothank you for your kindness. I really don't deserve it. The Moonbeam isso staunch that she could just about take care of herself. She's awonderful ship, and I hope you will soon have one like her."
"_Banzai! Banzai!_" cried the Japanese.
"This is a wonderful experience, being here, and I hope it will not bemy last flight to Japan," David continued. "You are all so kind. I onlyhope that many of you, indeed all of you, will come to America as soonas you can so that we may have the opportunity of returning, at least inpart, your many courtesies. We will show you our landing fields. Theyare very large, most of them, but we have nothing as beautiful asKasumigaura.
"I thank you again for the honor you have shown me."
Somehow he found himself safe in his chair, with applause all about him.On his breast the medal winked and flashed. It fussed him greatly.
Someone nudged his elbow. The lieutenant in the next seat held a cardunder the edge of the table. On it his new friend had tried his hand atdrawing. A huge, very Japanesque figure with wide shoulders andsomething, supposedly the uniform of the Moonbeam, loosely encasing hisform, stood smiling widely. Covering his breast was a medal. At eitherside a group of pigmies all ejaculated "_Banzai!_" David recognizedhimself under the queer Japanese features, and shook with laughter, tothe great delight of the artist, who was so pleased with his owncleverness that David made him a present of his gold pencil as asouvenir.
At four o'clock they were all driven to the garden party given on thegrounds of the Emperor's palace. David was in Mr. Hammond's car.
"Well, David, how we do glisten!" said the commander as they took theirseats. "Don't talk to me after our escorts come aboard, as I am afraidit isn't polite. I was proud of you, my boy."
"Gosh," said David, "I thought I'd go right plumb through the floor! Inever made a speech in my life. All dressed up like a band wagon, too.Do I dare take this breastplate off?"
"Heavens, no! We've got to wear 'em on every occasion as long as we arehere. Why, David, it's a tremendous honor."
"Yes, sir; I suppose so."
"Quiet does it now. Here come the others. Unfurl your brightest smile,"and Mr. Hammond turned to the officers approaching the car.
The host at the garden party was the Emperor's personal representative,the Minister of Ceremony. He was a gentle, unassuming old man with akindly face and the perfect manners made by centuries of ceremonioususage. He was assisted by many members of the court, of whom Hata wasthe most important.
The gardens were lovely beyond words to the appreciative eyes of thevisitors. They seemed like fairyland. Each shrub, each tree, each tinyplant grew in orderly, exquisite beauty.
David found Dulcie gazing out at a carved and filigreed pavilion whichseemed to have drifted down softly upon the lake, where it rested in afringe of bright green water plants.
"I couldn't bear very much of this," she said soberly. "It is toobeautiful. It won't let me be myself at all. I like to be good, but Icouldn't keep on being as good as I am this minute. I couldn't stand it.You know, David, the beautiful places at home shout at you, like anorgan or a big chorus. This whispers and murmurs. You have to stop andlisten to it, and when you do that, it gets you."
"Come over here and break the spell," laughed David. "They are servingAmerican ice cream in the gaudy silk tents beyond that hedge."
The dinner that night was given by the city of Tokio. Mr. Hammondpromised to send David back to the hotel for Dulcie when it was over, sothat she might see the dancing in the Tea House of a Thousand Flowers.
There was no formal placing at this dinner. Many of the Japanese spokeEnglish, and David, to his great joy, found the youngest reporter seatedat his left, with the star reporter just across the table. The tableswere placed around the walls of the large room, with a space in themiddle.
"What's all that floor space for?" asked the youngest reporter, who wasoccasionally known as Fred. "Do you suppose the Geishas are going todance here? It gums my works if they are, because I simply gotter havethat Tea House of a Thousand Flowers for local color. Gosh, isn't thisgreat?"
"When you have been a correspondent as long as I have," the starreporter cut in, "you won't need local color. You will carry your ownpaints. I could write up that Tea Hou
se of a Thousand Flowers right nowso you could actually smell it. But they won't have the Geishas here."
"I heard they are going to give some heavy stuff between courses," saidDavid. "Historical, and all that. Hope they do. I want to see somethinggood. Why can't they give us a devil-dance, or something?"
"Cling to your lingerie," advised the star. "If I mistake not, you willsee the real thing tonight. Something to make the Geishas look like arow of sparrows hunting crumbs on a park bench."
The first course came on, and David fell to, softly voicing the hopethat he might be spared to go home once more. At the close, while theplates were changed, soft queer music was played on strange instruments,the like of which David had never seen.
"Kind of throbbish, isn't it?" he asked Fred.
"Hang on!" admonished the star, substituting his own cigarette for oneof Japanese make.
At the close of the second course, the plates were changed quickly andthe lights went down to a dusky glow. The music changed.
All at once two figures occupied the center of the floor. They were menlithe and supple. They were masked hideously. Their costumes wereindescribable. At once they plunged into an orgy of action through whichran a certain savage grace. They crept, leaped, swayed, whirled, theirgorgeous jeweled costumes swinging and flashing. Then they were gone,the lights flashed up.
"That is the beginning of a most old and antic dance," remarked aJapanese on David's right. "You know, antic--that which has come downfrom so old time. Regard--behold! More is yet coming."
"What is it all about?" asked David.
"Old-time devils in Japan," explained the man.
"I thought so," said David. "They sort of look that way."
"Yess, that way," agreed the Japanese. "You watch!"
The dance alternated with the dinner. Changes of masks, differentcostumes, and new dancers came and went in an exhibition more exoticthan David's wildest dreams.
At last it was over. The two chief dancers fell, having carefullypretended to stab each other with long thin swords, and were assistedout by helpful hands. The dance and the dinner were ended.
"I'm all bogged down," said the youngest reporter. "I've a notion to gohome and go to bed."
"What, and miss seeing the Tea House of a Thousand Flowers?" asked thestar. "You can't do that. Come on, little one! Don't let's forsakeCaptain Ellison."
"I'm the quitter," said David. "The chief told me off to go and bringMiss Hammond over to see the Geishas. I must beat it."
When Dulcie came down in the elevator and stepped into the bright lightof the lobby, David involuntarily exclaimed at her fresh beauty.
"Good Lord, woman, what have you done to yourself? You look as new aspaint."
"Some of it is paint, of course," said Dulcie, "but I've had a nap, andI've had good care."
"I'm like to drop in my tracks," said David, "and your father--well, Icaught him sneaking a powder into his glass somewhere about the middleof the nineteenth course."
"Bicarb--I hope it fixed him."
"If it didn't, that dinner will," groaned David. "I'll bet they hadthree chefs--Japanese, American, and French--to fix that dinner. TheJapanese camouflage things so you don't know what you are eating. Ithought I was taking a dandy baked apple. It had red cheeks, and a freshstem sticking out with a real apple leaf on it. And by George, it wasmashed potato! Everything like that.
"I keep drawing dinner partners who can't speak English, and somebody'sFrench doesn't click, perhaps it is mine. They try me in German, andsome other funny lingoes; then we all give up, and nod and wave our armsat each other the rest of the meal. Believe me, I've had my lesson. WhenI get home I am going to learn to speak German and French and Spanish,some Italian, a little Scandahoovian, and enough Czechoslovakian to putme across."
"You are going to be busy," Dulcie said grimly.
"Well, joking aside," David continued, "an aviator ought to be able tospeak something beside the good old mother tongue. It makes me ashamedto grin and flap and contort my face at these people who are doingeverything that can be done to make our visit pleasant, and showering uswith presents, beside. And we can only thank them through aninterpreter. I've always suspected those guys. I'm afraid they don'ttransmit the fine shades of my eloquence."
"I know," said Dulcie. "I'd like to tell my little maid how I appreciateeverything she does for me. It's an awful nuisance that I can't. Andtonight what a lot more fun it would be if we could know what it is allabout."
"Being a mere man," said David, "I shall get quite a kick merely out ofseeing those Geisha girls dance. Hello, here we are already!"
They had arrived at the most pretentious and luxurious tea house in thecity, the Tea House of a Thousand Flowers. A couple of Japanese aviatorswere watching for them, and ushered them into the tea house, where anative orchestra was tuning up. Most of the passengers of the Moonbeamwere present, while the officers and crew had come as one man. Dulcieand David joined Mr. Hammond and his hosts, and immediately refreshmentswere served.
The Geisha girls trotted out on the floor. They had honored theiraudience this night by wearing their most elaborate and colorfulcostumes. The music beat out a strange dreamy tune. The tiny dancerswith their placid, bland little faces might well have been animatedflowers. Their shuffling short steps gave the effect of gliding as theygyrated, weaving and interweaving in a series of rhythmic movements asold as time--movements that had been premeditated and practiced to thelast turn.
"What a kick the crew is getting out of all this," whispered David."They will all go home and talk darkly about having seen the Geishagirls dancing and they will say, 'Boy, it was some dance, believe me!' Iwish you could have seen the other dance at the dinner. That was justplain fierce."
The music stopped and the little dancers trotted out. Next came a troupeof Japanese jugglers, who whirled gaily painted barrels, gold chairs andsmall boys about their heads with an abandon that made Dulcie gasp andthe crew of the Moonbeam roar with approval. Next came a tight-rope act,which included such difficult and daring feats that the audience wasspellbound.
"Makes me feel as though I was at home at Keith's, only it's a thousandtimes better than Keith's ever thought of being," whispered David.
After the tight-rope walkers the Geishas were to dance again, and thenmore juggling and a sword dance, but Dulcie said, "I've seen enough,David. I'm tired, after all. Can't we go?"
"Same here," responded David. "It has been a whirligig of a day. Askyour father if we can't be excused."
"That's all right," Mr. Hammond agreed. "I'll explain to the Master ofCeremonies. Go out as quietly as you can."
Prince Hata accompanied them to the car, where Bill lounged at thewheel.
"Perhaps a little drive under our Japanese moon would make morehappiness for you after your strenuous day," suggested the Prince, as hesaid good-night.
"That would be fine," declared David. "Just for a little while."
The Prince spoke to Bill. As they drove away, Dulcie said, "How nice andfriendly they are to each other! Not a bit haughty. Did you notice whata friendly sort of understanding smile Prince Hata gave Bill?"
"No; but they are all polite."
"They never seem to scrap," said Dulcie. "It is beautiful."
"Uh-uh! They never do seem to scrap but, my child, these angel beingscan fight like demons. All this politeness, centuries old, has made themvalue each other. That's simply psychological. They are utterly loyal toJapan for what it is, what it has been, and what it will be. However,they are struggling against the terrible handicap of lack of territory,and the only possible way for them to get it is through conquest. Thesea won't give it to them, and other nations naturally won't donate it.So if they want it, they have got to fight for it. And as they are notafraid to die, why, when they do fight, Miss Hammond, they just waderight in."
"Well, don't let's go under the crust, tonight. I want my memories allas lovely as this." She leaned forward. "Where are you taking us, Bill?"
The youn
g Japanese slowed down and turned deferentially.
"There iss a place in the Imperial grounds, near the Emperor's palace,that iss said to be of the loveliest in Japan. It iss said that theEmperor himself loves it. The windows of hiss personal suite look uponit. The Emperor sits long in those window, and dreams upon it. They havemany names for it; 'Pearl of Japan' and 'Window of Heaven' and 'Visionof the Heart'."
"Oh, do take us there, Bill!"
"How will you get into the grounds?" asked David. "I understand thepalace gates are locked and guarded at night."
"I was most graciously given permission that I should take you there.Usually only princes of the blood are allowed to be admitted at night."
At the gate of the Imperial grounds, two sentries sprang from theshadow. Orders had evidently been given them, however, for they glancedat Bill and saluted.
They rolled forward into the soft and perfumed dusk of over-archingtrees. Bill put the dimmers on, and the big car made scarcely a sound.
"Do you know," said David after a silence, "I have a feeling that thisis the greatest concession they have made us; the greatest compliment.To bring us into the Emperor's grounds at night, to see a view! Even ifhe is away, everything belonging to the royal family is guarded asthough sacred. It's queer!"
On and on they went, until a sudden turn brought them to an arch made offlowering trees, cut and woven and trained into a perfect bow. Theypassed under it and on into a denser shade, and suddenly beheld thevista they had come to see. Bill stopped the car.
In awed silence they regarded the serene beauty of the view. Beyond theblack shadow of the trees, the water lay like sheets of dazzling silver.At the water's edge, grass and flowers assumed new tints, shadows werepurple, and far in the distance the Sacred Mountain seemed to float likean opalescent bubble in the ether. Overhead hung the great golden moon.
At last Dulcie spoke in a whisper, "Thank you, Bill!" And understanding,as always, Bill turned the car and returned to the great gate.
Dulcie was silent all the way to the hotel. When she stepped out, sheturned impulsively to Bill.
"I'll never forget this evening, Bill. I wish I could do something nicefor you." She unclasped her bag, but there was a queer dignity aboutBill that forbade a tip. She snapped it shut. "You speak English sowell; if you are ever in New York, find my father. I'd perfectly love tohave you for my chauffeur."
The young man's eyes suddenly danced. "It is that I thank you, MissHammond. I'll not forget," he said.
Dulcie did not waken the following morning in time to see her father.Indeed she was just dressed when word was brought up that the car waswaiting to take her to see the princess. It was late when she returned,and she ordered dinner in her own room, and went early to bed.
Mr. Hammond and David did not return to the Imperial Hotel until a verylate hour. Stopping at the desk on the way to his room, Mr. Hammondfound that the whole party had been the guests of the hotel for theentire time of their visit.
Early transportation had been arranged to take them to the port atKasumigaura in the morning so, writing a word to Dulcie warning her tobe on time, Mr. Hammond smoked a last cigar and tumbled into bed.