rat that had been eating rice on the top of a shelf, and, in its
alarm, had dashed in her face.




XLVIII

_September 14th_.


Yves has dropped his silver whistle in the sea, the whistle so
absolutely indispensable for the maneuvers; and we search the town
through all day long, followed by Chrysanthème and Mdlles. La Neige
and La Lune, her sisters, in the endeavor to procure another.

It is, however, very difficult to find such a thing in Nagasaki; above
all, very difficult to explain in Japanese what is a sailor's whistle
of the traditional shape, curved and with a little ball at the end to
modulate the trills and the various sounds of official orders. For
three hours we are sent from shop to shop; at each one they pretend to
understand perfectly what is wanted and trace on tissue-paper, with a
paint-brush, the addresses of the shops where we shall without fail
meet with what we require,--away we go, full of hope, only to
encounter some fresh mystification, till our breathless djins get
quite bewildered.

They understand admirably that we want a thing that will make a noise,
music in short; thereupon they offer us instruments of every and the
most unexpected shape,--squeakers for Punch-and-Judy voices,