FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52  
53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   >>   >|  
same to me," sighed Eph. "To my untrained ear all Japanese names sound alike." "Whatever you do," warned Jack, "don't, hurt the poor fellow's feelings by calling him Kimono." "Why not?" "Well, the Japanese are a proud and sensitive race. "Suppose they are?" "Do you know what 'Kimono' means, Eph?" "Haven't even a guilty suspicion." "It's the Japanese name for a woman's dress." "Wow!" muttered Somers. "I shall surely have to, forget 'Kimono,' then. What do you call his truly name?" "Kamanako," Jack responded, and spelled it. Eph wrote the name down on a slip of paper, saying: "Thank you, Jack. I'll try to commit this name to memory. I don't want to hurt the feelings of a sensitive little fellow. It would be a shame to have to punch him if he felt insulted and made a pass at me." "Punch him, eh?" laughed Jack in genuine enjoyment. "Eph! Eph! Don't make any false start like that!" "What are you talking about?" questioned Somers. "Don't make the mistake, at any time, Of trying to punch that Japanese." "Trying to?" gasped Somers. "Say, if I made a swing at that light colored little chocolate drop, do you think I'd make a false pass and hit my own nose?" "You might be lucky if nothing worse happened," grinned Jack. "Eph, did you never hear of the Japanese jiu-jitsu?" "What's that?" demanded young Somers. "Slang name for something else in the Jap wardrobe?" "No; it's the Jap way of fighting," Captain Benson explained. "And you want to remember, Eph, that's it's a mighty sudden system, too. It hits like lightning. When the smoke clears away you see a little Japanese bowing over you, and apologizing for having rudely tipped you over." "And little Cabbage-Jacko could do that?" Eph grinned, incredulously. "Say, it's wrong to tell me such funny things when I have a cracked lip." "All right," sighed Jack. "But at least you've been warned." Truth to tell, the young submarine commander wasn't much worried about Eph's deliberately provoking any fistic encounter with a fellow much smaller than himself. In the first place, the carroty-haired boy wasn't quarrelsome, unless actually driven into a fight. At all times Somers was too manly to take out wrath on anyone merely up to his own shoulder height. Nearly an hour later Jack Benson stepped through into the conning tower; then moved down the spiral staircase. His rubber-soled deck shoes made no noise. Thus it happened th
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52  
53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Japanese

 

Somers

 

Kimono

 
fellow
 

sighed

 
warned
 

Benson

 

happened

 

grinned

 
sensitive

feelings

 

things

 

incredulously

 

conning

 

cracked

 

spiral

 

rudely

 
lightning
 
system
 
rubber

remember

 

mighty

 
sudden
 

clears

 

apologizing

 

tipped

 

staircase

 
bowing
 

Cabbage

 

explained


haired

 

carroty

 

driven

 

quarrelsome

 

smaller

 

Nearly

 

height

 
commander
 

stepped

 
submarine

shoulder

 

worried

 

encounter

 

fistic

 

deliberately

 

provoking

 

chocolate

 

surely

 

forget

 

muttered