H. Irving Hancock

“ Making another low bow, Darrin answered:
“I am grateful to have been permitted to render some service to their Majesties, the Emperor and the Empress of Japan.”
Dan’s face, at first fiery red, went pale as he in turn made another low bow. He could think of nothing to say. His mind seemed blank. He felt he was going to make a fool of himself. But his head was now as low as he could make it, and he knew he must say something. ”

“ Dave confessed.
“Think of the wonderful work of the artist,” suggested Toruma, “who, in an age when magnifying glasses were unknown, could join all the parts of that inlaying so perfectly.”
“It is wonderful,” murmured Dave. “The artist’s eyes must have been as keen as any magnifying lens.”
For some minutes more Darrin examined the medallion, both with the glass and without. The Japanese, smiling and affable, stood enjoying his very evident pleasure. Their hearts warmed to a foreigner who could feel such real appreciation of the marvels of the ancient art of their country. ”

“ To the watchers from the deck of the gunboat this canoe appeared to be empty.
Then the light shifted enough to pick up the second, larger canoe, now darting shoreward under the impetus of two powerful paddlers.
“Ahoy, there, shorebound boat!” yelled Ensign Darrin lustily. “Lay to and give an account of yourselves!”
The challenged canoe moved on so rapidly as to call for the constant shifting of the searchlight’s beam.
“Lay to, there, or we fire!” bellowed Ensign Darrin over the rippling waters of Manila Bay. ”

“ When the governor and his little suite were brought to the magazine their faces betrayed unspeakable terror.
“May I ask what insane project is now being considered?” quaked Sin Foo.
“Certainly,” Dave answered blithely in his ear. “When all other hope is gone, my fighting men will fall back to this spot. When we are all together, and your countrymen are about to conquer, we intend touching off the train of powder that shall blow us all free from Chinese vengeance.” ”

“ Then, as their informant left them, the three Japanese held swift, sorrowful conference.
“Of course we must go to the hotel at once and see Mr. Darrin,” proposed Toruma.
“I feel that it will be necessary,” bowed Katura. “But let none of my friends suspect that it was more than a joke. An American officer and gentleman could not be an intentional thief.”
“Even as a joke it was in very, very bad taste,” declared Lieutenant Hata slowly and gravely.
“Say not so,” urged Katura. “Let us say nothing, and suspect or accuse no gentleman.” ”

“ I can see that,” said Ensign Darrin quietly. “I am greatly obliged to you for what you have told me, for it has cleared up many points that had puzzled me.”
“You think me a villain—an utter scoundrel, don’t you?” asked Pembroke.
“Yes,” Dave assented, speaking as quietly as before. “Any man who can plot to take innocent lives at wholesale is certainly a wicked scoundrel. But, if you should recover, I hope that you will lead a new life, and will be manly hereafter.”
“I—I wonder if a man can do that, after he has led the kind of life that I have led?” smiled Pembroke, weakly. ”

“ Dave wondered. “The average Englishman has no more patience with silly dueling than we Americans have.”
It would have done Dave’s heart good, just then, had he known how Danny Grin had met and talked to the two Japanese seconds.
On hearing that Ensign Darrin would not, under any circumstances, consent to a duel, Toruma and Hata had smiled as genially as Dan had expected they would do.
“I don’t know,” pursued Dan, “whether you can understand the feelings that prompt an officer to decline a duel.”
“The reason that comes most quickly to mind,” replied Toruma, “is the feeling of fear.” ”

“ Inside, Belle, the lacquer box in her hand, and supposing that it was a servant who had knocked, stepped over to open the door.
And there she stood in the doorway, the lacquer box in her hand, the medallion plainly showing.
The eyes of the three young officers immediately turned toward that priceless heirloom, not a betraying sign came to their faces.
“A thousand pardons, madam,” begged Toruma. “We have knocked at the wrong door. We sought the apartment of Mr. Darrin.”
“Then you have found the right door,” smiled Belle. “I am Mrs. Darrin. Unfortunately, my husband is out.” ”

“ Dave returned. “However, if Pembroke is not a gentleman and a straightforward fellow, it is as easy to believe that he lied as that he spoke the truth.”
“Don’t bother any more about it,” advised Ensign Hale bluffly. “The money is gone. As to the rest of the story, it isn’t worth puzzling your heads over. Your adventure was all grossly material. No such things as mysteries or romances are left in the world—nothing but work.”
“Nevertheless,” smiled Ensign Darrin seriously, “I shall continue to admit myself puzzled until I have succeeded in gathering certain information that I really wish.” ”

“ Darrin returned. “Neither, you may be sure, does Miss Chapin herself so consider it. To her way of thinking, she is devoting her life to one of the noblest ideals that can animate the human mind.”
“I wouldn’t mind so much if she were like the average girl,” Dan rambled on, rather vaguely. “But for a stunner like Miss Chapin—such a dainty little piece of exquisite womanhood—”
“Oh,” laughed Dave. “Then it isn’t her services that you begrudge the natives of China, but her good looks.” ”

“ But my first look at you made me feel certain that something was wrong.”
“Something is wrong,” replied Lieutenant Toruma quickly. “But what was it that you saw near the coat room of the American Club?”
“I saw my countryman slip his hand in one of your pockets, sir,” continued the stranger, addressing Katura. “He took out some small object—a lacquer box, I should say, but I cannot be sure.”
“It was a lacquer box!” cried Katura, a fierce light leaping to his eyes, while his face, first paling, next turned to a deep red hue. “It is a lacquer box that I have just missed.” ”

“ It was Ensign Darrin who discovered a small, outrigger canoe stealing forward in the night. Two seconds later the marine also reported it. Calling the nearest sailor to him, Dave gave him brief, whispered instructions which sent the young man slipping noiselessly forward.
“Shall I hail that craft, sir?” whispered the sentry, standing stiffly beside the young officer.
“Not yet,” Dave rejoined. Both stood there, watching keenly. Few landsmen, on such a night, would have been able to make out so small a craft at such a distance. Those who follow the sea are trained to cat-like vision. ”

“ Darrin went on, “if there is any connection between ‘Burnt-face’ and Pembroke.”
“That is much less likely,” answered Hale.
“Last of all, if Pembroke is in the least shady, I’d like to know something definite about him,” wound up Ensign Dave.
“Go to the Frenchman for that,” advised Hale.
“Thank you; I believe I shall.”
“But what does it matter, Darrin,” asked Lieutenant Warden, “whether Pembroke is all right, or not? You turned him aside from visiting this craft, so what does it matter whether the fellow is a gentleman or the reverse?” ”

“ Dan wondered.
“It is more likely that his hatred is directed against the car itself,” Darrin replied.
“But why should he hate a mere assemblage of mechanical units?” Dan demanded.
“I suppose that, being a Chinaman, he regards an automobile as the work of the Evil One,” Dave smiled. “Your real, old-fashioned Chinaman isn’t strong for new-fangled ideas. In some parts of China the appearance of an automobile, even to-day, would rouse a mob to wild fury.”
“Queer old place, China!” uttered Dalzell. ”

“ Darrin’s superior officers gave him an order to meet Mr. Katura on the field of honor, Darrin would be there ahead of time. But Mr. Darrin took the oath of the service, binding him to obey the Navy regulations, and one of those regulations expressly forbids him to fight duels, or to take any part in one.”
“What shall we tell Mr. Katura?” pressed Hata darkly.
“Tell him anything you please,” offered Danny Grin obligingly.
“But he will feel at once, as we do, that Mr. Darrin declines the meeting because Mr. Darrin has not the valor to meet a resolute man on the field of honor.” ”

“ Down to a vault, at the rear of the shop, the salesman led the way. Opening the vault door he nimbly slipped out two trays of exquisite yet eccentric Hindu jewelry.
“Now, let the excellency gloat over these,” begged the salesman, throwing out a bewildering array of rings, brooches, amulets, bracelets, neck chains and the like, set in a dazzling array of precious and semi-precious gems.
“How much is this chain?” asked Dave, picking up one of beautiful workmanship. ”

“ As the last act, Sampson relaxed his watch over his excellency. Signs were made to the governor’s chair bearers to take their lord back to the yamen. Nor did the departure of the governor take any time at all.
“Well done, Darrin! Fine, Dalzell!” boomed the hearty voice of Lieutenant-Commander Tuthill as the two young officers stepped on the deck of the gunboat. “Every man under your command has behaved like an American!” ”

“ Dave went on, speaking as softly as he could and make himself heard above the din of combat. “What I am going to offer you is the best, under the circumstances, that I can wish for her. That is—at the instant when hope must be finally abandoned—instant death. In the magazine there is a heavy stock of powder. One of my men is now laying a powder train which, when touched off, will explode the magazine. In my opinion, when all hope has gone, the wisest thing for all of you is to be near enough to die in the big upheaval of the exploding magazine. ”

“ You see, Darrin, this isn’t the first time I have served Chinese officials among white men. I was in Nu-ping when that yarn got abroad that the missionaries had secretly looted that old temple and had removed millions in loot, burying the treasure secretly in the compound grounds of the mission at Nu-ping. You have no idea how such stories take hold in China. Doubtless, as a result of former rebellions and wars in China, the country is full of spots where fortunes have been buried for safety, with the people who buried the treasure killed off and the secret lost. ”

“ CHAPTER XVII—DAVE FACES THE HUMAN TEMPEST Lieutenant Katura stood in the long counting-room of the Okugawa Bank, a film of despair over his eyes, while Toruma and Hata, their words exhausted, looked on helplessly. Just then a young man, perhaps an American, well-dressed, keen, hustling and alert, bustled up to them. ”

“ Placing a whistle to his lips, Dave ran along the wall. Even above the Babel of voices the shrill note of the whistle was heard.
“Aye, aye, sir!” bawled down a petty officer overhead.
“Turn your marksmen loose on that rabble before the gate. Use the machine gun, too. Make it as deadly for the scoundrels as you know how. Up to the ramparts you men at the gate, and fire on the mob!”
Chinese yells of battle changed to groans of pain as the American firing rattled out more heavily than at any other time that day. ”

“ Going below Ensign Darrin washed off the dust of his forenoon’s wanderings, smoothed back his hair, and with a final look in the glass drew on his coat and started above.
Dave was now in about the middle of a three-weeks’ leave, which Dalzell had taken at the same time. In the Navy service an officer does not have, regularly, one day in every seven on which he is free from toil. He is on duty, day and night, seven days a week. ”

“ The Americanized Chinese boy was now close beside the naval officers. A small, skinny yellow hand reached out.
“I’m sure Belle will be delighted with that necklace,” Dave murmured to himself.
Alas! That jewel box no longer rested in his pocket, for the yellow boy with the bead-like eyes, at that very instant, had filched the little package. Nor did the picking of the white men’s pockets cease at that point. ”

“ But a turn in the street brought the American naval men in sight of an angry-looking crowd of nearly a thousand Chinese—all men.
“Are they going to block our way?” whispered Dan, marching quietly on when Dave hastened to his side.
“They are not,” Darrin answered bluntly, “though they may try to. No one is going to block us to-day until we have used all our ammunition.” ”

“ Sin Foo turned several shades of frightened green, one after the other.
“Then you must liberate his excellency and his suite at once,” cried the under secretary, falling forward upon his knees. “You cannot, you have no right to risk the governor of Nu-ping in such a fearful tragedy. Order your men to turn us free at once, that we may pass out through the gate!”
“Oh, no!” Ensign Dave Darrin retorted, with ironical cheeriness. “Your governor and his advisers are wholly responsible for the awful position in which we found our countrymen. ”

“ Dave assured her, and glanced past his wife at the other women who had gathered about them.
“Then,” pursued Miss Chapin, taking up the questioning, “you don’t consider that there is any likelihood of our being overwhelmed?”
“It is possible, but I firmly believe that we are going to be able to hold off the enemy all through the night,” said Darrin. “The Chinese are attacking us in great numbers, and they are well armed and desperate. But we are all Americans on the walls, and there is a something in the morale and fighting fiber of an American that bears down and overawes the Chinese. ”