"Say, I understand Koga-san is going to n.o.beoka."

"Isn't it too bad?"

"Too bad? But it can't be helped if he goes there by his own preference."

"Going there by his own preference? Who, Sir?"

"Who? Why, he! Isn't Professor Koga going there by his own choice?"

"That's wrong Mr. Wright, Sir."

"Ha, Mr. Wright, is it? But Red Shirt told me so just now. If that's wrong Mr. Wright, then Red Shirt is bl.u.s.tering Mr. Bluff."

"What the head-teacher says is believable, but so Koga-san does not wish to go."

"Our old lady is impartial, and that is good. Well, what's the matter?"

"The mother of Koga-san was here this morning, and told me all the circ.u.mstances."

"Told you what circ.u.mstances?"

"Since the father of Koga-san died, they have not been quite well off as we might have supposed, and the mother asked the princ.i.p.al if his salary could not be raised a little as Koga-san has been in service for four years. See?"

"Well?"

"The princ.i.p.al said that he would consider the matter, and she felt satisfied and expected the announcement of the increase before long. She hoped for its coming this month or next. Then the princ.i.p.al called Koga-san to his office one day and said that he was sorry but the school was short of money and could not raise his salary. But he said there is an opening in n.o.beoka which would give him five yen extra a month and he thought that would suit his purpose, and the princ.i.p.al had made all arrangements and told Koga-san he had better go......."

"That wasn't a friendly talk but a command. Wasn't it?"

"Yes, Sir, Koga-san told the princ.i.p.al that he liked to stay here better at the old salary than go elsewhere on an increased salary, because he has his own house and is living with his mother. But the matter has all been settled, and his successor already appointed and it couldn't be helped, said the princ.i.p.al."

"Hum, that's a jolly good trick, I should say. Then Koga-san has no liking to go there? No wonder I thought it strange. We would have to go a long way to find any blockhead to do a job in such a mountain village and get acquainted with monkeys for five yen extra."

"What is a blockhead, Sir?"

"Well, let go at that. It was all the scheme of Red Shirt. Deucedly underhand scheme, I declare. It was a stab from behind. And he means to raise my salary by that; that's not right. I wouldn't take that raise.

Let's see if he can raise it."

"Is your salary going to be raised, Sir?"

"Yes, they said they would raise mine, but I'm thinking of refusing it."

"Why do you refuse?"

"Why or no why, it's going to be refused. Say, Red Shirt is a fool; he is a coward."

"He may be a coward, but if he raises your salary, it would be best for you to make no fuss, but accept it. One is apt to get grouchy when young, but will always repent when he is grown up and thinks that it was pity he hadn't been a little more patient. Take an old woman's advice for once, and if Red Shirt-san says he will raise your salary, just take it with thanks."

"It's none of business of you old people."

The old lady withdrew in silence. The old man is heard singing "utai" in the off-key voice. "Utai," I think, is a stunt which purposely makes a whole show a hard nut to crack by giving to it difficult tunes, whereas one could better understand it by reading it. I cannot fathom what is in the mind of the old man who groans over it every night untired. But I'm not in a position to be fooling with "utai." Red Shirt said he would have my salary raised, and though I did not care much about it, I accepted it because there was no use of leaving the money lying around.

But I cannot, for the love of Mike, be so inconsiderate as to skin the salary of a fellow teacher who is being transferred against his will.

What in thunder do they mean by sending him away so far as n.o.beoka when the fellow prefers to remain in his old position? Even Dazai-no-Gonnosutsu did not have to go farther than about Hakata; even Matagoro Kawai [11] stopped at Sagara. I shall not feel satisfied unless I see Red Shirt and tell him I refuse the raise.

[Footnote 11: The persons in exile, well-known in j.a.panese history.]

I dressed again and went to his house. The same younger brother of Red Shirt again answered the bell, and looked at me with eyes which plainly said, "You here again?" I will come twice or thrice or as many times as I want to if there is business. I might rouse them out of their beds at midnight;--it is possible, who knows. Don't mistake me for one coming to coax the head teacher. I was here to give back my salary. The younger brother said that there is a visitor just now, and I told him the front door will do; won't take more than a minute, and he went in. Looking about my feet, I found a pair of thin, matted wooden clogs, and I heard some one in the house saying, "Now we're banzai." I noticed that the visitor was Clown. n.o.body but Clown could make such a squeaking voice and wear such clogs as are worn by cheap actors.

After a while Red Shirt appeared at the door with a lamp in his hand, and said, "Come in; it's no other than Mr. Yoshikawa."

"This is good enough," I said, "it won't take long." I looked at his face which was the color of a boiled lobster. He seemed to have been drinking with Clown.

"You told me that you would raise my salary, but I've changed my mind, and have come here to decline the offer."

Red Shirt, thrusting out the lamp forward, and intently staring at me, was unable to answer at the moment. He appeared blank. Did he think it strange that here was one fellow, only one in the world, who does not want his salary raised, or was he taken aback that I should come back so soon even if I wished to decline it, or was it both combined, he stood there silent with his mouth in a queer shape.

"I accepted your offer because I understood that Mr. Koga was being transferred by his own preference......."

"Mr. Koga is really going to be transferred by his own preference."

"No, Sir. He would like to stay here. He doesn't mind his present salary if he can stay."

"Have you heard it from Mr. Koga himself?"

"No, not from him."

"Then, from who?"

"The old lady in my boarding house told me what she heard from the mother of Mr. Koga."

"Then the old woman in your boarding house told you so?"

"Well, that's about the size of it."

"Excuse me, but I think you are wrong. According to what you say, it seems as if you believe what the old woman in the boarding house tells you, but would not believe what your head teacher tells you. Am I right to understand it that way?"

I was stuck. A Bachelor of Arts is confoundedly good in oratorical combat. He gets hold of unexpected point, and pushes the other backward.

My father used to tell me that I am too careless and no good, and now indeed I look that way. I ran out of the house on the moment's impulse when I heard the story from the old lady, and in fact I had not heard the story from either Hubbard Squash or his mother. In consequence, when I was challenged in this Bachelor-of-Arts fashion, it was a bit difficult to defend myself.

I could not defend his frontal attack, but I had already declared in my mind a lack of confidence on Red Shirt. The old lady in the boarding house may be tight and a grabber, I do not doubt it, but she is a woman who tells no lie. She is not double faced like Red Shirt, I was helpless, so I answered.

"What you say might be right,--anyway, I decline the raise."

"That's still funnier. I thought your coming here now was because you had found a certain reason for which you could not accept the raise.

Then it is hard to understand to see you still insisting on declining the raise in spite of the reason having been eradicated by my explanation."

"It may be hard to understand, but anyway I don't want it."