iQoo] Torrential Rain 



country bringing me a basket of apples. This created Seniai 

 a generally favorable impression, and after some dis- s^"''™-'''y 

 cussion the gentlemen present decided to send the 

 boy to America to be educated, for which purpose 

 they themselves started a subscription. In due time, 

 therefore, he accompanied me to San Francisco, where 

 he entered a high school, becoming ultimately a 

 merchant in Monterey. 



In the course of the night following our conference 

 Sendai was deluged by a tremendous rainfall, fairly 

 a cloudburst, which raised the river to an unprece- 

 dented height, so that the swollen waters carried 

 away all the bridges over its fifty-foot gorge. Leav- 

 ing next morning, we were accordingly compelled to 

 make a long detour to catch the train from the south 

 which, unable to proceed farther, turned back toward 

 Tokyo. It then took us till eight o'clock in the 

 evening to reach Nikko, our destination. 



The rain still fell in sheets, and the two-mile ride 

 to the Hotel Arai up and down hill by the side of a 

 turbulent torrent and through a dark avenue of 

 cryptomeria trees was weird in the extreme, because 

 one caught only casual glimpses of things, while the 

 roar of the invisible river sounded always in the ear. 

 To add to the confusion, my two kuruma men eijgaged "Cussing 

 in a noisy dispute and the leader poured out savage °^g^/^^„.. 

 utterances which I took to be "cussing on the up 

 grades," until by and by the pusher insisted on 

 changing places, after which we whirled along swiftly. 



The next morning was intensely clear, and for the 

 first time in our experience the central range of Japan 

 stood revealed free from mist. The prospect seemed 



I 67 •} 



