Puck — May 15, 1878 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

PUCK. A NEAR SHAVE. OME years ago I was accountant at the <S) Yokohama branch of one of our great In- dian banks. At the time of which I am writing the natives of Japan had not entirely lost that simpli which made them pay so dearly for the civilization they now strut about in. The character of the lower classes had not yet been altered by innovation and reform, and the commercial relations between the sons of Niphon and the traders of the West resem- bled very much those which Mr. Diedrich Knickerbocker describes as existing between the Dutch traders and the aboriginal Amer- - icans under the happy reign of Van Twiller. Difficulties arose occasionally; for John Bull, wherever he has planted his foot, has shown himself generally to be a bit of a bully; and the Japanese, a high-spirited and warlike race, occasionally resented attempts at bullying by drawing their swords in remote, unfrequented places on solitary, defenseless foreigners; the result of which was that Her Britannic Majesty’s chargé d'affaires, with very plausible grounds of excuse, generally extorted a pretty round sum from the native government, and by thus appealing to the touchiest point of the Japanese —their purses—procured for a certain inter- val tranquility and peace. However, the Ja- panese soon saw that the Western barbarians really meant nothing worse than trade and barter, so they dropped their pride and their swords, and descended to the arena on equal terms. Trade was then good; there was less rivalry amongst bankers and merchants than at pres- ent, the greed for gain had not yet turned the heads of the natives, tea and silk paid well, and our half-yearly ‘balance-sheets generally showed well on the right side. We had plenty of work to do, but we also had plenty of lei- sure, and at most times one of our staff could leave his duties for a few days’ ramble up country, or a yachting expedition down the bay. For the information of those unacquainted with the office arrangements of the far East, it may be stated that all offices are divided into two distinct sections—the European and the Asiatic. In the European department are the manager or principal, the juniors, and the Portuguese clerks. All the head and book work is done here; there is no paying coin over the counter, or, in fact, any contact with the outer world beyond the mere inspection of drafts and checks handed in for payment. In the Asiatic section are the comprador, a China- man, generally speaking, the petty king of the whole establishment; the ‘‘shroffs,” also China- men, who are the actual receiving and paying cashiers, and who have absolute charge of the counter business, subject, of course, to sub- sequent checking by the Europeans; and the Japanese coolies. At our bank a European always superintended the weighing of all dollars received during the day at the termination of business hours, saw them packed, and locked up in the treasury. Beyond this there was little interference with the hard money arrangements on the parts of the Europeans; and hence the comprador and shroffs were chosen, not only for their intimate knowledge of all the ins and outs of exchange, and of the thousand and one dodges of the natives, but for their birth, education, and respectability. The tea season was well advanced and we were fairly busy; the weather was oppressively hot in our dusty settlement, so the European junior had a fortnight’s leave for a ramble up country. I, as accountant, did his work as well as my own, and amongst the extra duties which devolved on me was the weighing of the dollars every evening, and seeing them’ safely locked up in the treasury. As I went into the office one morning, the comprador met me at the door, grinning all over with excitement, and pointing to a paragraph in the daily paper which announced that one of the great native banks in Curio Street had been robbed of some five thousand pounds’ worth of gold coin, and that no trace had yet been found either of the robbers or their booty, remarkad: “I think that belong number one clever jobbery. S’pose we no can keep sharp look-out allo same hap- pen to us.” So-I thought, and gave orders that the “momban” or night-gate guard should be doubled, that the treasury locks should be seen to, and that every precaution should be taken to guard against nocturnal visits. One evening, some weeks after this, when autumn had fairly arrived and the days began to draw in, the comprador told me as we were putting the dollars into the treasury—I had got the notion into my head that I would see them in every night myself, notwithstanding that my junior had long since returned—-that some Japanese of high birth and rural position, who had never been into a European settle- ment before, wished very much to see our treasury, which, from its strength and extent, had gained a name as one of the sights of Yokohama. After consulting with the mana- ger, I acceded to the request, and was intro- duced to the visitors. They were three in number—a burly, simple-looking old man; his wife, a buxom damsel, many years younger; anda 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 appear- ance 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 inquired incessantly into the dimensions and thickness of the walls, required minute ex- planation about the foundations—and all with the most artless Bozotian air imaginable. I, as showman, allowed them to inspect everything to their hearts’ content, carefully, however, in- serting myself between them and the dollar- bags, for I had little faith in the immaculine character even of high-bred, rustic Japanese, especially when I called to mind the late great robbery. ‘They must have rcmained a long half-hour before I suggested that they should come round to the “ Junior Hong;” and, as 1 locked the treasury doors behind them, I think I recollect a twinkle in the eyes of the old comprador as he prepared to take himself off to his opium-pipe behind. However, | treated them to a bottle of Heidseick, filled their pouches with Bristol birdseye, and said good- bye in the most affectionate manner at the gates. Then I started for a spin on the run- ning-path, as our animal athletic sports were shortly coming off, and I was in hard training. It was pretty dark as 1 came back. Yoko- hama in those days could not boast of a soli- tary street oil-lamp, much less a gas-jet, and we had literally to feel our way with the uncer- tain aid of lanterns from house to house. Still it was not so dark but that I could distinguish three figures on the pathway opposite, in front of a large bungalow, which had been to let for some months past—a large house, with a proli- fic garden in front, in the midst of which was a huge azalea-bush, another of the sights of Yokohama. The three figures were close to- gether; I could distinguish two men and a woman; and, unless my eyes played me woefully false, they were my rustic friends of the after- noon. However, { thought no more about it, and turned in to dinner. In another day or two, we heard that the buagalow opposite had been let to a highly respe€table firm of Japan- ese merchants, who intended to live there in European style. Workmen were to be seen day and night, repairing, repainting, and gener- ally doing-up the place; brand-new furniture was discharged at the doors in van-loads; the garden, which had become neglected and over- grown with weeds, was replanted and trimmed up; and in a very short time the mouldy old residence had assumed a spick-and-span ap- pearance, which made it a prominent feature on the road. Matters went on in the usually somewhat monotonous fashion of Yokohama at this sea- son of the year; no more big robberies had been reported; nevertheless I still kept the double guard on the premises, and _neyer lost sight of the idea, that any relaxation of vigi- lance might lure daring schemers to make an attempt on our dollar-bags one of these autumn evenings. One evening I 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 I found that the giant azalea bush had disappeared. At five o'clock, when I left the bank, 1 could swear it was there, but as I now peered through the bars of the gate, there was 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 gigan- tic azalea, merely for the sake of convenience, would be in their eyes a gross act of vandalism. 1 was looking further into the garden to see if by chance it had been transplanted, and at the end of the piece of ground another unaccount- able sight presented itself, Through a side- entrance coolies were unloading a cart of dollar- boxes as fast as they could, and by the uncertain glimmer of a lantern I 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 mean? If men wanted dollar-boxes in the ordinary course of business, they had them in during the day-time, and not at seven o'clock in the evening. Besides, what could tea and silk dealers want with dollar-boxes? At the time, I put the disappearance of the azalea-bush down to the energy with which the proprietors of the house were embracing foreign notions— the dollar-box question was too much for me. Judge of my surprise, when the next morning I beheld the azalea-bush in its accustomed place! I certainly wasn’t in any way affected by liquor the previous evening, for I was in strict training, and the disappearance of the huge azalea-bush would have been a trick too great, even for the eyes of a drunken man to be deceived by it. Putting this and the dollar-box business to- gether, I am sorry to say that 1 began to sus- pect my rustic friends, but I resolved to wait till the evening, in order to have my suspicions verified. True enough, as I passed the gate at the same hour as on the previous evening, the azalea-bush was gone, and nothing but a bare uneven space marked its site. Well, I knew that azalea-bushes are not, even in eccentic Japan, put out during the daytime, and taken in at night to nurse like tender, delicate exotics, so I called the comprador, told him what 1 had remarked, and desired him to watch for a night. He told the same story, and my suspicions were confirmed, that something of an extraordinary nature was going on somewhere in the neigh- borhood of the bungalow over the way. 1 set men to watch for the actual operation of carting away the bush, but on the nights when they watched, it remained undisturbed. One man reported that at midnight he had seen the glim of lanterns flitting about in the garden, had heard voices and the sounds of digging, and I comicbooks.com