the world, but stranded in a foreign and an unfriendly
country; for there were but few Americans left in the city.

The girl arose and crept nervously into the dining-room. She turned
on the electric light; everything seemed in order. She hurried over
to Goyu's room, and knocked. There was no answer. Then slowly
opening the door, she peered in--the room was empty and disordered.
Plainly the occupant had bundled together his few belongings and
flown.

Ethel stole back through the silent house and tremblingly took down
the telephone receiver. In vain she called the numbers of the few
American families of the city. Last on the list was the American
Consulate, and this time she received the curt information that the
consul had left the city by aeroplane "with the other foreigners."
The phrase struck terror into her heart. If the European population
had flown in such haste as to overlook her, clearly there was
danger. A great fear grew upon her. Afraid to remain where she was,
she tried to think of ways of escape. She could not steer an
aeroplane even if she were able to obtain one. Otaru was far from
the common ways of international traffic and the ships lying at
anchor in the harbor were freighters, Japanese owned and Japanese
manned.

Ethel looked at her watch--it was nine-twenty. She tiptoed to her
room.

An hour later she was in the street dressed in a tailored suit of
American make and carrying in her hand-bag a few trinkets and
valuables she had found in the house. Passing hurriedly through
quiet avenues, she was soon in the open country. The road she
followed was familiar to her, as she had traveled it many times by
auto.

For hours she walked rapidly on. Her unpracticed muscles grew tired
and her feet jammed forward in high-heeled shoes were blistered and
sore. But fear lent courage and as the first rays of the morning sun
peeked over the hill-tops, the refugee reached the outskirts of the
city of Sapporo.

Ethel made straightway for the residence of Professor Oshima, the
Soil Chemist of the Imperial Agricultural College of Hokiado--a
Japanese gentleman who had been educated and who had married abroad,
and a close friend of her father's. As she reached the door of the
Professor's bungalow, she pushed the bell, and sank exhausted upon
the stoop.

Some time afterward she half-dreamed and half realized that she
found herself neatly tucked between white silk sheets and lying on a
floor mattress of a Japanese