CHAPTER XXIII.
HONG KONG--A HAPPY TIME IN TOKIO--HONOLULU AGAIN--ARRIVAL IN SAN FRANCISCO, AND A GREAT RECEPTION BY THE PRESS--ARCHIE AND BILL ARRIVE IN NEW YORK, AND ARE THE HEROES OF THE HOUR.
AFTER a short and pleasant voyage they reached Hong Kong, and Archiefound this city to be much more interesting than he had expected to findit. It was charming, he thought, to run across a place which combinedthe conveniences of England and America with the picturesque odditiesof China and Japan, and he enjoyed himself to the utmost during the twodays they spent there. Bill Hickson enjoyed the place, too, and theywould both have liked to remain longer had it been possible for them todo so, but they were anxious to see something of Japan before sailingfor San Francisco, and their steamer was due to leave Yokohama in elevendays.
But they did enjoy Hong Kong to the utmost while they were there. Theycalled first, of course, upon the American consul, whom they found to bean exceedingly pleasant man. They learned, to their great surprise, thathe had read of Archie Dunn, and of Bill Hickson, too, in the Enterprise,and Archie began to think that his paper had a much wider circulationthan even the editors claimed for it. He thought it very remarkable,at first, that a man living in Hong Kong should have read about hisPhilippine experiences in a New York paper, but of course, after hethought of it awhile, it didn't seem such a very remarkable thing, afterall. And after this, when they heard of people having read of them,they weren't so much surprised, having come to realise the tremendouscirculation of this paper.
The consul did all in his power to make their stay in Hong Kongpleasant. He was anxious to have a formal dinner for them, but BillHickson said that he would much prefer not having to dress up, andArchie was willing for Bill's sake to forego the honour. So they spenttheir two days in going about the city, visiting the quaint Chineseshops, and seeing everything of particular interest. They found manywonderful things to look at, and Archie said that he couldn't imagineany more delightful place; but Bill told him to wait until they reachedJapan, for he'd find that much more charming than Hong Kong. "I've beenthere before," said Bill, "and I know what I'm talkin' about, and I saythere ain't no such place on earth as Japan for interestin' things tolook at, and pleasant things to do." And when, a few days later,Archie was initiated into some of the mysteries of Japanese life byhis experienced friend, he was willing to admit the truth of all hehad heard concerning the land of the chrysanthemum. He found everythingquite beyond his expectations. The people themselves were more quaintin their dress and manners than he had expected to find them, and thehouses and the pagodas were much more picturesque than he had imaginedthey would be. And the whole atmosphere of the country seemed filledwith romance and history, and it wasn't at all hard to believe that theJapanese have longer family trees than any other nation on earth.
They spent a few days travelling through the provincial districts of thelittle kingdom, and then they reached Tokio, where Bill was anxious tospend several days. "I know some folks here who can take us around andshow us everything that's worth seeing," he said, "and we can spend ourtime to better advantage here than anywhere else I know of." And sureenough, Bill did know some people in the capital city, some pleasantEnglish people, who had met the open-hearted Westerner when he was inthe city years before, and who had at once appreciated the true nobilityof his character. They were very kind to Archie,--so kind that the ladthought he had never before met such pleasant people. And they werethoroughly interested in all his adventures, from the time he left homelate in the preceding summer until now. He had to tell them all abouthis New York adventures, and also about their experiences together inthe Philippines, and his new friends showed the greatest interest in allhe had to say, and seemed to find it all vastly entertaining. They wereanxious, Archie thought, to make him have a very good time in Tokio, tomake up for some of his hard experiences, and if this were indeed theirobject, they succeeded admirably in accomplishing it. Every day wasfilled with surprises, and every night Archie thought he had enjoyedhimself more this day than the day before. They travelled about the cityso persistently, on foot and in the quaint jinrikishas, that he feltthat he knew almost every part of Tokio, and he witnessed every side ofnative existence, as well as the life in the foreign quarter. It wasall charmingly new and interesting, and, as in Hong Kong, they wereboth sorry when the day for their sailing came around. And always sinceArchie has declared that no one can be more kindly hospitable than theEnglish.
The voyage from Yokohama to San Francisco was slow and monotonous,Archie thought, for he was now very impatient to reach the UnitedStates, and he had also grown very tired of travel by water. There weresome very pleasant passengers, but Archie couldn't see that he had amuch better time than when he was peeling potatoes corning over. Thatwas interesting enough, anyhow. The only break in the monotony was theday they were enabled to spend in Honolulu, and on that day Archie wentagain to some of the places he had seen during his first visit to theattractive city. And he called again upon some of the friends of hisfirst visit, and found that most of them had read of his great successas a war correspondent, and of his many exciting experiences in thePhilippines. They were all profuse in congratulating him upon whathe had accomplished, and every one seemed to think he had been verysuccessful indeed.
While they were in Honolulu a vessel arrived, bound for Japan, andArchie was delighted to find it was the same vessel upon which he hadworked his passage from San Francisco on his way to Manila. He wentaboard and met some of the friends he had made there, and found thatthey all knew now who it was they had carried as chore-boy in thegalley. They all seemed glad to hear of his success, and to know thathe was coming home as a first-class passenger. The cook treated him withmuch deference, and started to apologise for his treatment of Archie onthe way over; but the boy stopped him, and told him that no apologywas necessary. "I think I may have been an unwilling worker," he said,"because of course I didn't like the work at all, and it was hard forme to take an interest in peeling potatoes when I was looking forward toaccomplishing such great things in the Philippines."
"Oh," said the cook, "you was a fine worker. Sure, I ain't had so gooda boy since." And Archie laughed to see the change in opinion which issometimes brought about by a change in circumstances.
Archie enjoyed the city quite as much as before, but he was glad,nevertheless, when the steamer continued her voyage east. And then hebegan to count the days until they should arrive in San Francisco, andof course these last days seemed the longest ones of the voyage. Butthey gradually passed away, and as they steamed ahead, coming nearerevery hour to that dear land called "home," both Archie and Bill beganto wonder how they would like it all, after their adventurous life inthe Philippines. Bill, in particular, was doubtful whether he wouldagain be able to settle down to a quiet existence in some small place,and Archie assured him that he must live in New York, where he would besure to find things lively enough to suit him.
At last came the eventful day when the great steamer threaded her waythrough the beautiful Golden Gate, and discharged her passengers at thepier. As Archie and Bill had but little baggage, they were almost thefirst ones to leave the vessel, and were hurrying away to find a hotelwhere they could remain overnight when Archie felt some one touch him onthe shoulder, and, turning about and seeing no one he knew, was aboutto go on, when a man introduced himself as being the San Franciscocorrespondent of the Enterprise. "And these gentlemen here," said he,"are reporters from the newspapers here. They would be glad to haveyou say a few words about your experiences during the last few months."Archie was quite dumbfounded. It had never occurred to him that he was aperson so important as to be interviewed, but he was willing and glad toaccommodate the reporters, and told them to accompany him to his hotel.Once there, he answered all their questions, and didn't find it hard atall to give them his opinion of the situation in the Philippines, andwhat he thought should be done by the government to stop the rebellion."The President will soon put an end to it," he said, "if he can onlyhave
the support of Congress. But as long as there are members ofCongress fighting his policy, the insurgents are going to continue theirinsane efforts to establish an independent government." And some of thereporters smiled to hear so young a fellow talking about the policy inthe Philippines. They felt that he was well-informed, however, and putdown every word he said.
The interviews over, Archie and Bill went early to bed. The Enterprisecorrespondent had telegraphed the news of their arrival to New York, andhad received word from Mr. Van Bunting to send them on to New York atonce. So, early in the morning, the two started for the East, and thetrain seemed to travel quite as slowly as the steamer. "It does seemgood to be in our own country again," they said a hundred times duringthe days that followed, and when they reached the Empire State and begantheir journey down the Hudson River, Archie could hardly restrain hisenthusiasm at being again in his native commonwealth.
There was quite a delegation at the Grand Central Station to meet them.Mr. Jennings was there in person, and he explained that Mr. VanBunting was waiting anxiously at the office to see him. Then there werereporters from the various other city papers, who wanted interviews,but Archie was told to say whatever he had to say in the columns of theEnterprise, so he had to deny the reporters for the first time. BillHickson was introduced at once, and became the lion of the hour. Everyone had read of him, and was glad to shake his hand, and poor Bill wasquite bewildered by so much attention. They didn't linger long at thestation, however, but hurried down to the Enterprise office, where Mr.Van Bunting was awaiting them. He grasped Archie's hand in his as theyentered, and cried, "Well done, my boy, well done." And Archie felt asif he had grown three feet that instant.