Under Sail. Lincoln Colcord

a hint of deep emotion.

      "'It is as I told you' said he at last 'Now, perhaps, you will believe'

      "'For Heaven's sake, what are you talking about?' I demanded 'Tell me instantly what is wrong'

      "He nodded slowly. 'There is plenty of time—and I will tell. It is often said that the season that brings a late typhoon, as now, is also ushered in by an early typhoon. So it was this season. A very severe storm came down before its time, and almost without warning.... It was this storm into whose face our late friend Captain Turner took his ship, the Speedwell, sailing from Hong Kong for New York some four months ago'

      "'You don't mean that Turner has lost her?'

      "'I regret to inform you, yes. Also, he has lost himself. Three days after sailing, he met the typhoon outside, and was blown upon a lee shore two hundred miles along the China Coast. In this predicament, he cut away his masts and came to anchor. But his ship would not float, and accordingly sank at her anchors....'

      "'Sank at her anchors!' I exclaimed 'How could that be? A tight ship never did such a thing'

      "'Nevertheless, she sank there in the midst of the storm, and all on board perished. Afterwards, the news was reported from shore, and the hull of the Speedwell was discovered in ten fathoms of water. There has been talk of trying to save the ship; and Captain Wilbur himself, her owner, in a diver's suit, has inspected the wreck. Surely, he should be well-fitted to save her again, if it were possible! He says no, and it is reported that the insurance companies are in agreement with him. That is, they have decided that he cannot turn the trick a second time' Lee Fu's voice dropped to a rasping tone 'The lives, likewise, cannot be saved'

      "I sat for some moments in silence, gazing at the green bronze dragon on the desk. Turner gone? A friend's death is shocking, even though it makes so little difference. And between us, too, there had been a bond.... I was thinking of the personal loss, and had missed the significance of Lee Fu's phraseology. I looked up at him blankly; found him still regarding me with up-turned eyes, his chin sunk lower on his breast.

      "'That is not all' said he suddenly.

      "I sat up as if under the impact of a blow. Across my mind raced thoughts of all that might happen to a man on that abandoned coast. 'What more?' I asked.

      "'Listen, Captain, and pay close attention. I have investigated with great care, and am fully satisfied that no mistake has been made. You must believe me.... Some weeks after the departure and loss of the Speedwell, word came to my ears that a man had a tale worth hearing. You know how information reaches me, and that my sources run through unexpected channels among my people. This man was brought; he proved to be a common coolie, a lighter-man who had been employed in the loading of the Speedwell. Note how slight chance may lead to serious occasions. This coolie had been gambling during the dinner hour, and had lost the small sum that he should have taken home as the product of several days' labour. Like many others, he feared his wife, and particularly her mother, who was a shrew. In a moment of desperation, as the lighter was preparing to leave the vessel for the night, he escaped from the others and secreted himself in the Speedwell's lower hold, among the bales of merchandise. What he planned is hard to tell; it does not matter.

      "'This happened while yet the ship's lower hold was not quite filled' Lee Fu went on after a pause 'The coolie, as I said, secreted himself in the cargo, well forward, for he had entered by the fore hatch. There he remained many hours, sleeping, and when he awoke, quietness had descended on the deck above. He was about to climb into the between-decks, the air below being heavy with the odours of the cargo, when he heard a sound on the ladder that led down from the upper deck. It was a sound of quiet steps, mingled with a faint metallic rattling. In a moment a foot descended on the floor of the between-decks, and a lantern was cautiously lighted. The coolie retreated quickly to his former hiding place, from which post he was able to see all that went on'

      "Again Lee Fu paused, as if lingering in imagination over the scene. 'It seems that this late and secret comer into the hold of the Speedwell was none other than her owner, Captain Wilbur' he slowly resumed 'The coolie knew his face; a distant cousin had once been in the employment of the Wilbur household, and the man was already aware whose ship it was. Most of the inner facts of life are disseminated through the gossip of servants, and are known to a wide circle. Furthermore, as the lighter had been preparing to depart that evening, this coolie had seen the owner come on board in his own sampan. Afterwards, through my inquiries among sampan-men and others, I learned that Captain Turner had spent that night on shore. It was Captain Wilbur's custom, it seems, frequently to sleep on board his ship when she lay here in port; the starboard stateroom was kept in readiness for him. So he had done this night—and he had been alone in the cabin'

      "'What was he doing in the hold with a lantern?' I asked, unable to restrain my impatience.

      "'Exactly ... you shall hear. I was obliged to make certain deductions from the story of the coolie, for he was not technically acquainted with the internal construction of a vessel. Yet what he saw was perfectly obvious to the most ignorant eye.... Have you ever been in the lower hold of the Speedwell, Captain Nichols?'

      "'No, I haven't'

      "'But you recall the famous matter of her bow-ports, do you not?'

      "'Yes, indeed. I was in Singapore when they were cut'

      "The incident came back to me at once, in full detail. There had been a cargo of ironwood on the beach, destined for the repair of a temple somewhere up the Yang-tse-kiang; among it were seven magnificent sticks of timber, each over a hundred feet in length and forty inches square at the butt—these were for columns, I suppose. It had been necessary to find a large ship to take this cargo from Singapore to Shanghai; the Speedwell had finally accepted the charter. In order to load the immense column-timbers, she had been obliged to cut bow-ports of extraordinary size; fifty inches in depth they were, and nearly seven feet in width, according to my recollection—the biggest bow-ports on record.

      "'It has been my privilege' Lee Fu went on 'to examine the fore-peak of the Speedwell when these ports were in and her hold was empty. I had once chartered the ship, and felt alarmed for her safety until I had seen the interior fastenings of those great windows which, when she was loaded, looked out into the deep sea. But my alarm was groundless. There was a most ingenious device for strengthening the bows where they had been weakened by the cutting of the ports. Four or five timbers had been severed; but these had been reproduced on the port itself, and the whole was fashioned like a massive door. It lifted upward on immense wrought iron hinges, a hinge to every timber; when it was lowered into its place, gigantic bars of iron, fitted into brackets on the adjoining timbers, stretched across its inner face to hold it against the impact of the waves. At the bottom there were additional fastenings. Thus the port, when tightly caulked from without, became an integral part of the hull; I was told, and could believe it, that there had never been a trace of leakage from her bows. Most remarkable of all, I was told that when it became necessary to lift these ports for use, the task could easily be accomplished by two or three men and a stout watch-tackle.... This, also, I am prepared to believe'

      "There seemed to be a general drift to Lee Fu's rambling narrative, but I hadn't yet caught sight of a logical dénouement. 'To resume the story of the coolie' he continued with exasperating deliberation 'This, in plain language, is what he saw. Our friend, Captain Wilbur, descended into the lower hold, and worked his way forward to the fore-peak, where there was little cargo. There he laboured with great effort for several hours; you will recall that he is a vigorous man. He had equipped himself with a short crowbar, and carried a light tackle wrapped about his body beneath the coat. The tackle he loosened and hung to a hook above the middle of the port; I take it that he had brought this gear merely for the purpose of lowering easily the iron cross bars, so that they would make no noise. Had one fallen...'

      "'Good God, Lee Fu, what are you trying to tell me?'

      "'Merely occurrences. Many quite impossible things, Captain, nevertheless get themselves done in the dark, in secret places, out of sight and mind.... So, with the short crowbar he pried loose little by little the iron braces to the port, slinging them in his tackle and dropping them softly one by