The Devil's Admiral

Sang. The truth of it was, he didn't want me to write this story. There were things he didn't wish to see in

never I hinted that I would like to tell of our adventure of the Kut Sang. "They want yarns of them floating hotels called lin

ack boy there got into wouldn't be just the quiet sort of reading folks want these days. It

inced when I mentioned certain events, although I always insisted that he was the bravest man among us, having a better realization

ys he was not afraid is either a fool or a liar; and, if only a liar, still a fool for telling himself that which he knows to be a lie. The bravery of

d life for me. In the old logbooks I found no men to compare with the Rev. Luther Meeker; or Petrak, the little red-headed beggar; or Long Jim or Buckrow or Thirkle. I never found in their pages a cabin-boy like Rajah the Malay, strutting about with a l

e when I am old and my memory and imagination begin to fail. Not that I ever expect to forget, because that would be

ry trivial detail comes out as clearly as if it were all being done over again in a motion picture. The night gloom in the hall brings back to me the 'tween-decks of the old tub of a boat; the green-pl

and I caught myself tensing my muscles for a death grapple. To me the Kut Sang is a personality, a sentient being, with her own soul and moods and temper,

when she should have gone to the junk pile years before. But her very antiquity charmed me, for her scars and wrinkles told of hard service

he had made Hong-Kong in five days, her name would be lost in the memory of countless other steamers, and there would be

ould I forget with the black boy stalking about the house-half the time in his bare feet and his native costume, which

should begin with my first sight of the missionary and the little red-headed man, so

brought me across the China Sea from Saigon. The first glance marked him as a missionary, for he wore a huge crucifix c

parable sense of mystery. With his big goggles of smoked glass he reminded one of some sea-monster, an illusion dispelled by his battere

d, except for a few wisps of hair at the temples. He appeared to be of great age-a fossil, an animated mummy, a relic from an ancient gr

I stepped ashore, and the fi

a cedarwood box, and the sign of the cross on the ends! Oh,

ts and chests; and, if the crucifix were not enough to indicate his profession, black lettering on his possessions advertised him as "The Rev. Luther Meeker, London Evangelical Society.

customhouse and reported myself in Manila, bought all the newspapers I could to learn how t

stroyed. There might be orders sending me anywhere, but I hoped that I would leave Manila for the Strait of Malacca to meet the Baltic fleet. What I feared most was the end

and taken it to the Oriente Hotel, of which I knew nothing except that it was in the walled city and across the river from the cable office. To

t it better to risk being shaken to death than drowned in the dirty Pasig, so I hailed a cochero. The villain demanded a double

he whining missionary. He prayed for his bones over the rough places, and for his life, when the driver took a corner recklessly, a

there, who had done me favours, and I was to leave it at the Hong-Kong-Shanghai Bank for the consul, who would call for it. That bank carried an expense accou

it to me, but for the instant

an Co

-Kong-Sha

ni

r. James A

amate

eker, "you have droppe

ith a splotch of black wax imprinted with a coat of arms or a crest, or some su

y dear sir," he said, m

in the bus smiled and winked at me openly, as if t

gh. I ignored the remark, somewhat pleased that I had rebuffed him, for I well knew he would talk me into a fever if I did not keep him at a distance; and, furthermore, I did not relish the idea of having hi

Plaza Moraga, when I observed the signboard of the very bank mentioned.

Trego! Here are your papers for the consul," he called to a man somewhere behi

tle man wore a white canvas navy-cap; but his appearance was dirty and disreputable, and he had the aspect of a beggar. His visage was wizened and villainous

my gold. As I filled my purse I was conscious of some one behind