Under Sail. Lincoln Colcord

all, damn him, he sustained a reputation for expert mastery over this profession to which he'd dealt such a foul blow.

      "'It is a triumph of character!' Lee Fu used to repeat, as we compared notes on the case from time to time. 'I think he has not been guilty of a single minor error. His correctness is nothing short of diabolical. It presages disaster, like too much fair weather in the typhoon season. Wait and watch; mark my word, Captain, when the major error comes it will be a great tragedy'

      "'Must there be a major error?' I asked, falling into the mood of Lee Fu's exaggerated concern 'He's carried it off so far with the greatest ease'

      "'Yes, with the greatest ease' said Lee Fu thoughtfully 'Yet I begin to wonder whether he has been properly put to the test. See how the world protects him! Sometimes I am appalled. It is as if we wrapped the doers of evil in cotton wool, so that not even rudeness might disturb them. He has merely maintained a perfect silence, and the world has done the rest. It has seemed more anxious to forget his crime than he to have it forgotten. So he lives with impunity, as it were. But he is not invulnerable. Life will challenge him yet ... it must be ... life, which is truth, and not the world. Can a man escape the anger and justice of the gods? That is why I concern myself with him—to know his final destiny'

      "'You admit, then, that he's not the incarnate criminal you once thought him' I chaffed, unable to take the matter so deeply to heart 'He may be only a stupid fool with a wooden face and naturally good manners....'

      "'Not stupid' Lee Fu interrupted 'Yet, on the other hand, not exceptional, not superior to life. Such faultless power of will is in itself no mean part of ability. He is, as you might say, self-centred—most accurately self-centred. But the challenge of the gods displaces the centre of all. He will be like a top that is done spinning. A little breath may topple him at last. Wait and see.... But, for the present, it is evident that were is nothing more to be learned. The mask is inscrutable'

      "Thinking the case over at sea, I often laughed to myself over Lee Fu's intensity. Voyage followed voyage; at one time when I had just come in from Bankok and was on my way from the Jetty to Lee Fu's office, I passed Captain Wilbur on the opposite side of Queen's Road. He waved a hand to me as he turned the corner: at once it flashed across my mind that I hadn't observed the Speedwell in the roadstead as I came in. When I had finished my business with Lee Fu, I asked him for an explanation of Wilbur's presence in Hong Kong without his vessel.

      "'You are mistaken, Captain—it has little significance' he answered with a quizzical smile 'So, after all, you pay a little attention? The fact is, the successful Captain Wilbur has retired from active service on the sea. He is now a ship owner, nothing more, and has favoured Hong Kong above all other ports as the seat of his retirement. He resides in a fine house on Graham Terrace, and has three chairmen in white livery edged with crimson.... Captain Nichols, you should steal a ship'

      "'Who has gone in the Speedwell?' I inquired

      "'An old friend of ours, one Captain Turner' said Lee Fu slowly, glancing in my direction.

      "'Not Will Turner?'

      "'The same'

      "I pursed up my mouth in a silent whistle. Will Turner in the Speedwell! Poor fellow, he must have lost another of his ill-starred vessels. Hard luck seemed to pursue him. One ship would be sold from under his command; several he had lost in deep water, by fire, storm or old age; another had sprung a leak in the Java Sea, to be condemned a little later when he had worked her into Batavia. A capable sailor and an honest man; yet life had afforded him nothing but a succession of hard blows and heavy falls. Death and sorrow, too; he had buried a wife and child, swept off by cholera, in the Bay of Bengal. A dozen years before, Turner and I had landed together in the China Sea, and were thrown much in each other's company; I knew his heart, his history, some of his secrets, and liked him tremendously for the man he was.

      "Watching Lee Fu in silence, I thought again of the relationship between Will Turner and this extraordinary Chinaman. I won't go into that story now, but there were overwhelming reasons why these two should think well of each other; why Lee Fu should respect and honour Captain Turner, and why Turner should consider Lee Fu his best friend. It had come about as the result of an incident of Turner's early days in the East; an incident of a ship, a rascal and a doctored charter-party, that might have turned into an ugly business save for the conduct and perspicacity of the two chief victims. It had thrown them violently together; ever since, they had kept the bond close and hidden, as became men of reserve. Probably I was the only man in the world who knew how strong it was.

      "And now Turner had taken Wilbur's ship. Strange how this new development seemed to impinge on Lee Fu's fancy, how it brought the Wilbur case nearer home. The next moment, of course, the impression had passed; and I saw that, instead of marking another stroke of ill-luck for Turner, it might spell the beginning of good fortune.

      "'What happened to the old Altair?' I asked. Turner had commanded a trading packet of that name three months before.

      "'She was bought by certain parties for a store-ship, and now lies moored on Kowloon-side' answered Lee Fu 'I was about to make a proposal to Captain Turner, when this plan came forward' he went on, as if excusing himself 'I did not know of it until he had actually accepted. I said everything in my power to dissuade him...'

      "'What's the trouble? Didn't Wilbur do the right thing by him?' I asked.

      "'Captain, you are perverse. The business arrangement is immaterial. It is unthinkable that our friend should command a ship for such a man. The jealous gods have not yet shown their hand'

      "'Nonsense, Lee Fu!' I exclaimed, finding myself irritated at the out-cropping of the old conceit 'Since the thing is done, hadn't we better try to be practical in our attitude?'

      "'Exactly' said Lee Fu 'Let us be practical.... Captain Nichols, is it impossible for the Caucasian to reason from cause to effect? There seems to be no logic in your design—which explains many curious facts of history. I have merely insisted, in our consideration of this case, that a man who would do one thing would do another, and that sooner or later life would inevitably present him with another thing to do'

      "'But I've known too many men who escaped what you call destiny' I argued peevishly.

      "'Have you?' inquired Lee Fu.

      "He said no more, and we went out to tiffin"

      IV

      "That year I plunged into the Malay Archipelago for an extended cruise, was gone seven months among the islands, and wasted another month coming up the China Sea in order to dodge the tail-end of the typhoon season. But luck favoured me, of course, since I wasn't in a hurry; and so it happened that for the last three hundred miles across from Luzon I raced with a typhoon after all, beating it to an anchorage in Hong Kong by a margin of twelve hours. It was an exceptionally late storm; and the late ones, you know, are the least dependable in their actions. Typhoon signals were flying from the Peak as I came in; before the Omega's sails were furled the sky to the eastward had lowered and darkened like a shutter, and the wind had begun to whip in vicious gusts across the harbour.

      "I went ashore at once, for I carried important papers from Lee Fu's chief agent in the islands. When I reached his outer office, I found it full of gathering gloom, although it was still early afternoon. Sing Toy immediately took in my name. In a moment I was ushered into the familiar room where my friend sat beside a shaded lamp, facing a teakwood desk inlaid with ivory and invariably bare, save for a priceless Ming vase and an ornament of old green bronze.

      "'Back again, Lee Fu' said I, placing the island letters on the desk before him 'And just in time, it seems' A rising gust outside whined along the street.

      "He paid no attention to my greeting or the letters. 'Sit down, Captain' said he 'I have bad news'

      "'Yes?' I queried, somewhat alarmed at the vagueness of the announcement. So far as I was aware, no matter that we shared between us could result in 'bad news' said in such a tone.

      "Folding his hands across his stomach and slightly bowing his head, he gazed at me with a level upturned glance that without betraying expression carried by