n
found myself sitting under the trees in Uyeno Park, surrounded by my
deserters, enjoying things as well as any one of them there.

[Illustration: A TOY-SHOP]

It was on this day, out of the pure joy of the idea, that Inchie
proposed to give me a real Japanese dinner, and at the same time show me
some of the fine old classical dances of Japan. I remember that night so
well! Inchie invited three other Japanese friends, and we all went down
into the basement with rod and line, or, to be exact, with a net, to
catch our own fish for dinner. It was to me novel sport chasing those
lazy old goldfish round the tank. I secured a monster, which beat
Inchie's out and out for size. Inchie was in splendid form on this
occasion; it was a field-night for him, and he was quite at his best. He
was an enormous eater; he ate anything you chose to give him, and he
enjoyed the dinner that followed our half-hour spent below stairs, I
must confess, far more than I did. For although the repast was of the
very best quality, it was after all Japanese, which statement speaks for
itself, as every one knows that Japanese food does not by any means
commend itself to the British palate. There was our just-caught fish
cooked with bamboo, meat of different sorts, and many varieties in the
soup character, some of which were not bad. As for the Sake, it tasted
like bad sherry; but it had a most exhilarating effect on Inchie, and in
a very short time produced in him a most natural and joyous frame of
mind which enabled me to see a side of his disposition that under
ordinary conditions would never have come to the surface. One of the
courses of this dinner of dinners was a chicken, provided out of
deference to my European tastes, and Inchie carved it. It was a muscular
bird; but Inchie carved it with a pair of large chopsticks as I have
never seen a chicken carved before in any part of the globe. Not even
Joseph of the Savoy with his flourish of fork and knife in mid-air could
compete with Inchie and his pair of wooden chopsticks. No knives nor
fingers were used; but the whole was limbed, cut up, and served in less
than the period that Joseph would take in his skilled dexterity.

I remarked upon his skill in handling the chopsticks, and Inchie at once
suggested that we should all have a competition to see who could pick up
the greatest amount of peas with chopsticks in the shortest possible
time. Each was given a lacquer tray with carefully numbered gre