CHAPTER I.

Off for Japan.

“The Motor Maids are off again,” announced the West Haven Courier one morning, as if every citizen in the gray old town on the coast was not already well aware of it.

The four famous travelers and their chaperone, Miss Helen Campbell, were always off somewhere in the red motor car.  If they were not making a voyage to England with the “Comet” stored in the hold of the ship for immediate use on arrival, or taking perilous journeys across the American continent in the faithful car, they were making excursions to Shell Island or Seven League Island, or down the coast to the Sailors’ Inn.

“Where is it to be this time, Nancy-Bell?” Captain Brown had asked his daughter when she had broken the news to him that she must give up the spring term at High School for something far more educational than mere books.  Perhaps the sea captain had intended to be stern when he asked that question; but Nancy had her own peculiar methods of dispelling sternness.  A beaming anticipatory smile irradiated her face and scattered parental disapproval even as the warm rays of the sun scatter the morning mists.

“Japan!” she announced solemnly; and Captain Brown, who himself had made voyages to Japan in his youth, pricked up his ears like an old hunting dog when he hears the call of the pack.  The name of High School faded from his memory.  It was the high seas he was thinking of—­the great desert of waters, the fresh salt breeze and the foam track left by the little ship as it cut through the waves.

Without a word, he opened an old sea chest and drew out an atlas and chart.  Nancy blinked her eyes and smiled happily.  She wondered if the other girls were having as easy a time in breaking the amazing news to their parents.  Would Elinor Butler’s father and mother consent to her taking this long journey?  Would Mrs. Price be willing to part with Mary for many, many months while that young person journeyed to the other side of the world?  Captain Brown settled himself on a settee in front of the crackling driftwood fire and Nancy seated herself beside him.

“You see, it’s this way, father,” she began, while Captain Brown turned the leaves of the atlas with reverent fingers.  “Billie Campbell’s father is a great engineer—­”

“I’ve known him since he was a boy, child,” interrupted the Captain.

“He’s been invited by the Japanese government to go to Japan on some consulting work, and he says he can’t live without Billie another summer, and Billie says she can’t exist without us; so Mr. Campbell is to take a house in Tokyo and we are all to go.  Mr. Ignatius Donahue is going to take us across to San Francisco in his private car.  He says it’s a very small return for something we did for him once, and the end of the story is that we are to sail for Japan in two weeks.  Isn’t that delightful, Captain Brown?” she added, giving her father a tight hug and kissing him on the end of his nose.  “And aren’t you overjoyed for your little daughter to have such an opportunity to see the other side of the world?”