H. Bedford-Jones

“ Queerly enough, what had taken place was now perfectly clear to me, though I was slow to absorb the scene just below my eyes, where a flare had been lighted, bringing every detail of the well-deck into high relief. What ridiculous folly in all our suspicions, all our wise and philosophical discussions! What fools we mortals are!
Because Li was a trusted servant, suspicion fled him afar. Because McGregor was personally disliked and detestable, perhaps because he was a half-caste, suspicion had gripped hard and fast upon him. ”

“ I was there, pounding the old tinpan in Hung Charley's joint, for my bed and board. Oil men work hard and play hard, and there was no romantic illusion about Hung Charley's place, believe me! It was bad. Howell was bad, too. He was no angel.
His old Chinese-owned tinpot had been in harbor three days, and I had heard of him. I think he was Welsh, originally—small, dark, vibrant as a flame. A thin and bitter man with a kick in each fist and a reputation for brutality, but said to be on the square in most ways. Not where laws were concerned, but where squareness counted—man to man. ”

“ Such is always the case, I presume, in deadly instants. Out in the passage between the cabins I was fumbling with one hand for my pistol, running, and I was aware of bland little Li standing in the doorway of the skipper's cabin, staring round-eyed at me. My thought was all on reaching Howell and getting him here at once, and I tore past the steward without a pause. ”

“ The only crowd who have any possible ethics are the Chinese. After all, it's their country.”
“Ye're a fool,” said Stuart dourly, and rose and went out.
“Yes, I'm afraid you're a fool, Browne,” said the skipper cheerfully, with a wink at Miss Lui. “There's the only logical standpoint in the China affair. Everybody who doesn't agree is a fool.” ”

“ Miss Lui is looking up her bullion—”
“Oh, shut up!” I said, and looked down at the deck where McGregor lay. “I'd give it all and more if we had that chap back, if we hadn't made that blunder about him.”
Howell dragged himself over to me and put a hand on my arm.
“Would you now, son?” he said, and his voice was queerly soft. “If you feel that way about it, how d'you think I feel—eh? My blunder, not yours. There's things a man can't forget and never will, Browne—things that burn into him and bite into him until his soul turns over and writhes, and he's got to live with himself. Aye! ”

“ We knew, however, that the comprador had not indicated the pirate's name to Johnson for nothing, and the knowledge slowly festered in all of us, working uneasiness. We said no more on the subject, but I knew Howell was fully alive to what sort of man lay beneath the sleek, golden hide of McGregor.
I did have a lingering suspicion that the sick man forward, who remained sick, might be Wang Shui; certainly none of the other men aboard answered Miss Lui's description of the pirate. So, just to satisfy myself, I went forward one afternoon and descended to the forecastle, in the bows. ”

“ Stuart opened his mouth to protest, but Howell broke in with a laugh.
“Right! Let's cut politics out. You're dead right, Miss Lui. The chief here has been drinking in all the pap that was fed him. Whew! Regular old war stuff, isn't it? Going all over the world, too. Well, the old world will wake up some day. Meantime, what's going on behind the arms convention? Rankest sort of rot. Everybody's running arms to their friends, and trying to stop any being run elsewhere, and that's the truth.” ”

“ Miss Lui leaned her head to one side and looked at him.
“Hm! Are there other sources?”
“Look at this crew of mine and you'd think so,” said Howell. “My mate gone; good old Sing gone, new men from stoke-hold to quartermasters—huh! If they've got wind of your bullion, then stand by for trouble. You've never seen piracy, have you?” ”

“ The air seemed full of voices, all Chinese. They came from the water, from below, from above. Miss Lui was not in sight. I was there all alone except for a dead coolie on the deck.
Then Howell came in sight, pulling himself along the rail and grimacing. He halted and waved a hand at me.
“All over! That's our craft down there—they've got men aboard now.”
“Our craft?” I said, staring. “No ship—oh! That dark splotch on the water!”
“That's it,” said Howell. “Your red lanterns and the shooting did the business for us. It's all over but the paying. Twenty per cent. split for you, old chap.” ”

“ The urgency spurred me to an effort of will, jerked me to myself, luckily, for Miss Lui all but collapsed against me, whimpering that she had killed two men. It made me laugh, even at such a moment. She, who had seen battle and the hideous track of Chinese armies, unnerved over killing two coolies! But there's no logic in a crisis, not to mention a woman. They must have tackled her at pretty close quarters, too.
I utilized fragments of her torn silk blouse to bind up the scratch along her arm, and presently she began to laugh at herself, shamedly, and pulled herself together. ”

“ Supposing our conjecture is true and Wang Shui is aboard—eh? Supposing these grease marks mean just that. Easy enough to prove! You say you've seen him and talked with him, Miss Lui?”
“Yes. A man one wouldn't forget,” she said. None the less, she was smiling a little as if she knew just what the skipper was driving at. And she did.
“Well, it's simple;” said Howell. “We'll call all hands for medical inspection. You take a look at every man aboard. ”

“ The bigger a man is, inside himself, the more he realizes that words are only wind after all; the viler they are, the more amusing. You can gage the bigness of a man by the importance he attaches to an epithet. ”

“ It seemed rather ridiculous about the paying, but the comprador died as we were puffing out to sea, and Howell had him buried quickly, without formalities. This brought the horns and hoofs home to us. I stood at the bridge-rail for a time, then found a deck-chair and took the darkness comfortably, and reflected. I did not know everything, but I could guess at some things. That comprador had been poisoned today, in such a way that he could not speak again. What had he found out, that he must be put out of the way before he could tell it to Howell?
A queer business all around. ”

“ Orientals are deceptive, of course, to western eyes; the sleek, smiling, gentlemanly little Malay gives no hint that he may run wild with a knife at any moment. With these four, however, there was no mistake. They were thoroughly bad. I began to appreciate what lay behind Howell's words regarding the crew he had been forced to ship down south; I might have known there was a joker in the business somewhere. Because I was husky and Hung Charley answered for me, Howell wanted me along as company.
“All set, Browne? Good lad. Look alive, down there!” ”

“ Howell gave me a grin.
“Anybody, my son, anybody—we're not protected! We're not running 'em for the Japs, the British, or the French. Merely for ourselves and for the Chinese. And that's the worst sort of crime! Ethics be hanged. Miss Lui, or rather her father, is paying to have one lot of stuff shipped; I've bought the other lot, chiefly machine guns, and am shipping it on my own, and my chief interest lies in getting paid.”
“Aye,” said Stuart, giving him a shrewd look. “To let Chinese use them against white folks, aye!” ”

“ They've got a comprador aboard. I want one o' my own. I'm taking on some cargo before dawn tomorrow morning that will need checking. I'm not sure of my men by a long shot. My gang got about wiped out with the cholera down at Macassar and I had to ship a bad crew. We go out with the tide to-night. What say?”
“Well,” I said, “I'd say there was something queer in the wind, if you're sailing to-night and taking on cargo before morning.”
“Good for you!” he said, and chuckled. He had bright, sharp eyes, like those of a bird. “The lord hates a fool and so do I. When will you be aboard?” ”

“ At that instant, with the stoppage of the engines, I realized that my muscular control had returned. I could move. Perhaps the mere cessation of that steady pounding thrum below jerked my brain back to normal; an abrupt silence can do queer things to the human brain. My hand completed the motion it had begun when I was passing Li, and brought the pistol out of my pocket.
Then I felt pain, with the motion. The steward's knife had slipped from a rib, most luckily, and instead of piercing me had butchered my back, very likely taking in some of the nerve ganglia on its way. ”

“ Glad to meet you,” said the skipper, tone belying words lustily enough. “Going back to S'pore with your craft, I suppose?”
“No, I'm going on to Kwangtung with you,” said Miss Lui.
“You'd better not. It's no joy trip!” said Howell. She laughed softly, a clear and whimsical little laugh.
“I'm forced to act as agent for my father and the company, Captain.” By her use of this word, I knew she had learned her English in America. An English-trained person would not have used the title alone. “There's too much at stake, you see. ”

“ He and I arranged for the cargo at Macassar. Now, then, use your head! Why is Johnson drunk and laid out for the night? Why's the comprador sick?”
“Honest men,” I said. He took my arm.
“Right. Let's go have a look at Sing.”
We went, we had our look and found the man dying, senseless, beyond speech. It was no ordinary sickness.
“Obviously,” said Howell to me, “the steward poisoned him—eh? But the obvious is seldom true, except for fools. I'm no fool. Li's the best man aboard here, except Stuart. Well, we're swinging around. Tide's on the ebb. You'd best stay on the bridge.” ”

“ You've discovered one of the great truths about life,” he said after a silent moment. “The smaller, pettier, dirtier a man is, the more he resents any imputation on his honor, and the more important words appear to him. ”

“ We had an illicit cargo which would preclude our going into any port or getting aid from any other ship, short of extreme distress. Further, that cargo was as good as ready money when landed in any Chinese port; item, Miss Lui had brought along a lot of bullion, probably contributions to the Cantonese cause, collected in Singapore. It had to be gold, for the mad wars and rumors of wars in China had knocked out banking systems. All in all, the Wung Chow was made to order for Wang Shui and his gang. And if it was his gang which had come aboard at Macassar, we were just naturally out of luck. ”

“ There's nothing so vast and terrible in the world as the causes of things, the tiny trifling causes reaching back to greater causes, reaching out ahead with effect after effect. Moses and Luther Burbank alike knew it, as their works show, but most of us disregard these things. ”

“ Well, when you get to be my age you'll sheer off all the privations possible. Get your fill of hardship before thirty—either go under or be able to enjoy your ease by contrast with the past—learn the lesson! Life's all a lesson anyhow. ”

“ It's in my boat now.”
“Order it up,” said Howell.
He turned to me, and listened a moment as the woman went to the rail and called down. His hand fell on my arm.
“Sing's cabin has been thoroughly cleaned out,” he said quietly. “It's number five. You'll find it in shape for her. Tell her I'll send bedding as soon as we're off. Old Li's pretty busy just now. Then get aft to your job. Here's the invoice.”
It was, of course, not sheer chance alone which gave her the cabin of the late comprador. Those things are never sheer chance; they reach out and back and around in ever-widening circles. ”

“ Howell and two of the men were going over the ship from truck to keelson, so I went up to the bridge. McGregor was there, having the deck. Everything had been very pleasant with the half-caste. That is, he was always purring and pleasant. He said, “Good-morning,” looked down and saw Miss Lui walking into the bows, and grinned.
“She has seen more than most men,” he said to me. ”

“ Howell loomed up beside me with a sharp word. I handed him the invoice.
“All correct, sir. No damage.”
“Wasn't their fault,” he said. “—— you, watch yourself! I can't play nurse-maid all voyage. What'd I give you that gun for, you idiot? Shoot first and talk after. Better make a mistake than let the other chap make one. It's gone off well, very well; all stowed safe, the horizon clear, no suspicion—good! Get to sleep. See you today sometime.”
Dawn was coming into the sky, and we were heading north toward China. ”

“ Well, I'll say no more, but if those engines hold together to Canton, I'll be fair amazed! When I'm off watch, those fool Chinese assistants of mine are liable to fill the oil-cups with water. That's about what they know. How's everything, Cap'n?”
“Promising,” said Howell, and we settled down to our meal.
Promising as to what? I wondered. A mate who was “velly dlunk”, a second officer who looked like a sing-song girl, a crew of the vilest Chinese I ever laid eyes on and unlawful occasions ahead!
Later, Howell took me up to the bridge and gave me a cheroot.
“Ever kill a man, Browne?” ”

“ All the war lords set up for themselves, or were puppets worked by strings. Then came the Red movement in Canton, and it can't be beaten! Not because it's red—that's mostly propaganda, mind—but because it's simply a cause to fight for. ”