Year: 1878

q name as one of the sights of Y Yokohama.
After consulting with the manager,
acceded to the request, and was intro
duced to the visitors. They were three
in NUMBER burly, simple-looking old
man; his wife, a buxom damsel, many
years younger; and slim, wiry youth,
with sharp restless eyes, which seemed
utterly at variance with his clownishly-
cut clothes, and who seemed to be a sort
of henchman or feudal retainer. They
were soon in raptures over the big iron
gates, the complicated locks, the solid
plates of the walls, ceiling and flooring,
the symmetrical rows of dollar-bags, and
the general appearance of security and
strength. None more so than the slim
retainer, who was even ultra-Japanese in
his curiosity, for he inspected locks and
bolts, thumped and stamped on iron
plates, and enquired necessarily into the
dimensions and thickness Of the walls,
required minute explanation about the
foundations and all with the most art
less Beotian air imaginable. Las show
man, allowed them to inspect everything
to their hearts content, carefully, how
ever, inserting myselfbetween them and
the dollar bags, for had but little faith
in the immaculate character even of
high bred, rustic Japanese, especially
when called to mind the late great
robbery. They must have remained a
long half hour before 1 suggested that
they should come round the Junior
Hong" and, as l locked the treasury
door behind them, think 1 recollected
twinkle in the eyes of the old compra-
dor as he prepared to take himself off to
his opium pipe behind. However 1
treated them to a bottle of Heidseick,
filled their pouches With Bristol birds
eye, and said good bye in the most affec-
tionate manner at the gates. Then l
started for spin on the RUNNING path,
as our annual athletic sports were shortly
coming of, and 1 was in hard training.


1t was pretty dark as I came back.
Yokohama in those days could not boast
of a gas jet, and we had literally to feel
our way with the uncertain aid of Ian
terms from house to house. Still it was
not so dark but that could distinguish
three figures on the pathway opposite,in
front of a large bungalow, which had
been to let for some months pasta
large house with prolific garden in
front, in the midst of which was O huge
azalea- brush, another of the sights of
Yokohama. The three figures were
close together; 1 could distinguish two
men and woman; and, unless my eyes
played me wofullv false, they were my
rustic friends of the afternoon. How
ever, thought no more about it, and
turned in to dinner. In another day or
two we heard the bungalow opposite had
been let to highly respected firm of
Japanese merchants, who intended to
live there in European style. Work
men were to be seen day and night, re-.
pairing, repainting and generally doing
up the place; bran new furniture was
discharged at the door in van loads; the
garden, which had become neglected
and overgrown with weeds, was replant-
ed and trimmed up and in very short
time the mouldy old residence had as
sumed a spick and spack appearance,
which made it prominent feature on
the road.


Matters went on in the usually some
what monotonous fashion of Yokohama
at this season of the year; no more big
robberies had been reported, neverthe-
less still kept the double guard on the
bank primises, and never lost sight of
the idea, that any relaxation of vigilance
might lure daring schemers to make an
attempt on our dollar-bags one of these
dark autumn EVENING"


One evening was returning from my
usual spin on the running path, and was
passing the gate of the bungalow in
front of our bank, when something
struck me as peculiar in the aspect Of
the place. On nearer examination, /
found that the giant azalea bush had
disappeared. At five o'clock, when !
left the bank, could swear it was there,
but as now peered through the bars Of
the gate, there were certainly nothing
to be seen. This was very extraordinary,
for the Japanese are such intense lovers
of all that is striking, or picturesque, or
beautiful in nature, that the removal of
an object such as this gigantic azalea,
merely for the sake of convenience.
would be in their eyes a gross act OF
vandalism. was looking farther into
the garden to see if by chance it had
been transplanted, and at the end Of the
piece of ground another unaccountable
sight presented itself. Through side
entrance coolies were unloading a cart
of dollar-bo1es as fast as they could, and
by the uncertain glimmer of lantern
1 could see that the man in the cart was
my burly visitor Of some time previous,
and that the man at the house-door was
he of the sharp eyes and inquisitive turn
of mind, associated with the same visit.
What did this mean2 If men wanted
dollar boxes in the ordinary course of
business, they had them during the day


time, and not at seven o'clock in the
evening. Besides, what could tea and
silk dealers want with dollar-bo1es? At
the time, I put the disappearance OF the
azalea-bush down to energy with which
the proprietors of the house we're en-
bracing foreign notions-the dollar-box
question was too much for me.


Judge of my surprise, when the next
morning beheld the azalea-bush In its
accustomed place. 1 certainly wasn't In
any way affected by liquor the previous
evening, for 1 was in strict training, and
the disappearance of huge azalea-bush
would have been a trick too great, even
for the eyes of drunken man to be de-
ceived by it, Putting this and the dollar
box business together, 1 am sorry to say
that began to suspect my rustic friends,
but resolved to wait till the evening In
order to have my suspicious verified.
True enough, as l passed the gate at the
same hour as on the previous evening,
the azalea-bush was gone, and nothing
but bare uneven space marked its site.