Excerpt from Schoolboy Days in Japan The region was wild and almost uninhabited, it being far removed from the railroads, which have increased with marvellous rapidity of late years in other parts Of the kingdom; but Alice and Gerard, accustomed from their earliest childhood to accompany their father on his long tramps, and even on his mountaineering expeditions, found the ascent neither difficult nor arduous. Such was not the case, however, with the young Japanese, who seemed to have engaged in the undertaking without duly considering the consequences. He appeared, too, quite as timid as he was awkward, for he paused at the slightest Obstacle. Before beginning the ascent, M. Duplay had taken the precaution to fasten securely around his own body a long, strong rope, which was attached to the belts of the three children, and of his valet, Omar, and, lastly, to that of the native guide who preceded them. But this precaution, though of considerable service to the more experienced tourists, proved a positive source of danger to a laggard like Shakespeare, inasmuch as the rope was likely to throw him down at any moment by reason of his hesitating movements and sudden pauses. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.