“Help, Ned! Help!” roared Herc. But Ned had all he could do to help himself right then. Like so many ants swarming upon and attacking an interloper in their domains, the little brown men had swarmed upon him, also. The brawny arms of the Dreadnought Boy flung them off right and left, and as they fell back in the crowd they knocked over more of the clustering people like balls in a bowling alley.
“Hurray! A king-pin!” cried Ned, as down went five or six of the Japs in a heap.
But before the words were fairly out of his mouth, more of the men leaped upon him from behind. By a quick movement, Ned fell backwards, crushing the breath out of his surprised opponents. He was up again in a jiffy, only to[241] find that he was still assailed by uncountable numbers. They swarmed like flies round a honey-pot, and do what he would, the boy could not shake them off.
A short way from him he saw Herc being borne down, and then saw him struggle to his feet again.
“Whoop! Huroo!” yelled Herc suddenly.
Around the corner had come a string of ’rickshaws, each containing two jolly tars.
“Manhattans, ahoy!” bawled Herc.
“Ahoy, mates!” shouted the sailors in the foremost ’rickshaw, and then, as they saw who it was, they set up a yet louder yell.
“Come on, ship-mates! To the rescue! Hurray for Red-Head!”
“Hurry up!” shouted Herc.
The Jap ’rickshaw pullers dropped their shafts and ran for their lives. They had no desire to get mixed up in a mêlée. Out of the odd rigs in which they had been enjoying a sight-seeing[242] spin, the sailors came jumping. Many of them were from the Manhattan, and several were from other ships. But both Dreadnought Boys were general favorites and in a jiffy the Japs were parting right and left as the American seamen waded in to the rescue of their ship-mates.
Five minutes after the arrival of the men-o’war’s-men not a Jap was to be seen, and the two boys were explaining how they had come to get into trouble.
“Red-Head, as usual,” laughed a tar from the Manhattan. “Strong, you ought to leave him tied up some place when you come ashore.”
“I like that! Haven’t I the right to take a bite to eat when I see an old wooden idol letting good grub go to waste?” expostulated Herc.
“When you’re in Rome, do as the Romans do,” put in another sailor,—the one whom the sailors nick-named “Ben Franklin.” “In some parts of the island your appetite might have been gone for good after your escapade, Master Red-Head.”
[243]
“How is that?” sputtered Herc.
Ben Franklin made an expressive gesture, signifying that Herc might have lost his head for his prank.
“Woof!” exclaimed Ned’s chum, “that would have been a fine dessert. Come on, ship-mates, I’m going back to the ship and sleep in the magazine. It’s safer than it is ashore.”
“For you it is, anyhow,” chuckled a tar. “But hullo, mates, where are all the ’rickshaw men? They’ve all gone.”
“Scared away, I reckon,” laughed another, a man off the Idaho. “Tell you what we’ll do, we’ll be our own ’rickshaw pullers.”
“Hooray!” cried the men; and amidst a great to-do and lots of laughter the blue-jackets placed themselves between the shafts, the fortunate riders (whose turn at pulling was to come later on) shouting with glee.
“Get up there!” roared Ben Franklin at Herc, and off the red-headed youth darted at top speed.
[244]
“Whoa! Whoa!” bawled the philosophic sailor, “not so fast! Take in sail, mate! Shorten sail! Rocks ahead!”
The warning came too late. One wheel of the ’rickshaw struck a rock at the edge of a little bridge and Ben Franklin, amidst the roars of the tars, went sky-rocketing into space over the rail of the bridge. He landed in a lot of soft mud and injured nothing but his dignity.
“You’re a horse that needs breaking,” he said to Herc, as he took his seat once more in the ’rickshaw; and, despite all Herc’s pleadings, he was compelled to pull the mud-stained Ben all through the streets of Yokahama as a punishment for his skylarking.
The ’rickshaws were left at the ’rickshaw stand near the docks where it was certain that their owners would reclaim them. Then the liberty parties embarked and were towed back to their ships by the various steamers.
So ended a stay in Yokahama, not a quarter of the details of which we have had space to describe.[245] The fleet there, as everywhere, met unbounded enthusiasm and entertainment, and thousands of post cards and photographs were sent home t............