tipping the hotel 5 yen. Nine yen would not take me back to Tokyo. I had
better not have tipped the hotel; what a pity! However, I would be able
to manage it somehow. I considered it better to run short in my return
expenses than to tell a lie.

"I cannot do it the way you want me to. I return this appointment."

I shoved back the note. The principal winked his badger-like eyes and
gazed at me. Then he said;

"What I have said just now is what I desire of you. I know well that you
cannot do all I want, So don't worry."

And he laughed. If he knew it so well already, what on earth did he
scare me for?

Meanwhile the bugle sounded, being followed by bustling noises in the
direction of the class rooms. All the teachers would be now ready, I was
told, and I followed the principal to the teachers' room. In a spacious
rectangular room, they sat each before a table lined along the walls.
When I entered the room, they all glanced at me as if by previous
agreement. Did they think my face was for a show? Then, as per
instructions, I introduced myself and showed the note to each one of
them. Most of them left their chairs and made a slight bow of
acknowledgment. But some of the more painfully polite took the note and
read it and respectfully returned it to me, just like the cheap
performances at a rural show! When I came to the fifteenth, who was the
teacher of physical training, I became impatient at repeating the same
old thing so often. The other side had to do it only once, but my side
had to do it fifteen times. They ought to have had some sympathy.