ng than Hong Kong. "I've been
there before," said Bill, "and I know what I'm talkin' about, and I say
there ain't no such place on earth as Japan for interestin' things to
look at, and pleasant things to do." And when, a few days later,
Archie was initiated into some of the mysteries of Japanese life by
his experienced friend, he was willing to admit the truth of all he
had heard concerning the land of the chrysanthemum. He found everything
quite beyond his expectations. The people themselves were more quaint
in their dress and manners than he had expected to find them, and the
houses and the pagodas were much more picturesque than he had imagined
they would be. And the whole atmosphere of the country seemed filled
with romance and history, and it wasn't at all hard to believe that the
Japanese have longer family trees than any other nation on earth.

They spent a few days travelling through the provincial districts of the
little kingdom, and then they reached Tokio, where Bill was anxious to
spend several days. "I know some folks here who can take us around and
show us everything that's worth seeing," he said, "and we can spend our
time to better advantage here than anywhere else I know of." And sure
enough, Bill did know some people in the capital city, some pleasant
English people, who had met the open-hearted Westerner when he was in
the city years before, and who had at once appreciated the true nobility
of his character. They were very kind to Archie,--so kind that the lad
thought he had never before met such pleasant people. And they were
thoroughly interested in all his adventures, from the time he left home
late in the preceding summer until now. He had to tell them all about
his New York adventures, and also about their experiences together in
the Philippines, and his new friends showed the greatest interest in all
he had to say, and seemed to find it all vastly entertaining. They were
anxious, Archie thought, to make him have a very good time in Tokio, to
make up for some of his hard experiences, and if this were indeed their
object, they succeeded admirably in accomplishing it. Every day was
filled with surprises, and every night Archie thought he had enjoyed
himself more this day than the day before. They travelled about the city
so persistently, on foot and in the quaint jinrikishas, that he felt
that he knew almost every part of Tokio, and he witnessed every side of
native existence, as well as the life in