The Argosy, Vol. 76, No. 3 — page 98: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

568 way to join some relatives at the [American legation in Pekin. I under- stand that you will touch at Shanghai, so I wish to ask if you will allow Miss Downs to take passage on the Atlanta as far as Shanghai. She can easily get from there to Taku, and there is no regular boat here for a month. It is important that she should reach Peking as soon as possible. “My dear man, of course,” said’ Oakes pleasantly. “I’m only afraid, though, that Miss Downs will find the trip far from a pleasant one. You know we carry coolies north.” “Ves, I know, but Innes and I are old friends, and he will look after her. Innes tells me that he will sail as soon as the ebb is making. Feeling sure that you would accede to my request, I brought Miss Downs and her luggage along in my sampan. She is waiting on the deck. I will ask her in with your permission, Innes.”’ He went out upon the deck, and, coming back presently with a tall girl whom Jim remembered vaguely to have seen on the decks as he came in, he introduced Oakes to her. “Mr. Oakes says he will be very glad to be of service to you, Mar- jorie. Let me present him to you.” . She extended her hand cordially, and Jim, getting a good glimpse of her, was suddenly glad that he had so graciously acceded to the request that the consul had made so informally. “T hope you will be comfortable, Miss Downs. You may rest assured that all three of us will do all that we can to make you so. May I introduce my friend, Mr. Hemingway?’”’ So Hemingway, too, seated himself, and the little party chatted informally after the manner of English-speaking peoples in the Far East, till finally Mr. Locke, all things being arranged, bade the girl a courteous good night. “T will leave you now, Marjorie. Be sure you let us hear from you at Shanghai. Your cabin is probably ar- ranged now if you wish to turn in. Isn’t it, Mr. Innes?” THE ARGOSY. “The boy is fixing it now. Good- by, Locke. I'll look after Miss Downs as if she were my own daughter. There’s your sampan.now, knocking at my paint work as if she’s waitin’ for a summons to come aboard. I hear ’em gettin’ the anchor already, so you'll just be sayin’ good-by.” The flat little sampan lagged astern in the last gleam of lights from the open cabin ports, and the girl standing with her new acquaintances at the rail watched it fade away into a blur ot blackness astern. A ripple among the nested stars un- der the Atlanta’s fore-foot told that she was working’ out under her own steam, and presently the clang of the bells from the engine-room told them that the quartermaster on the bridge had signaled for half-speed ahead, and the Atlanta, with her berth-deck packed with over eight hundred coolies and her cabin list of three, passed slow- ly out into the blackness of the outer roads, Coolies, however, are only one de- gree more uncertain than dynamite, which the Atlanta also carried. A sweltering dawn ushered in the new day, and Marjorie, sipping her early morning tea in her stateroom, was suddenly aware of excitement on the decks outside. | She heard the patter of naked feet on the boards—then a long hush, fol- lowed by a hasty colloquy, and—the call was passed for all hands to mus- ter. She heard the call for the mus- ter, but attached no importance to it, for it is a necessary precaution on a ship where each of the eight hundred coolies carried knife or hatchet in spite of a careful search for hidden arms, for Swatow and Canton both know that neither can be fairly classed as a safe port. No port can be where the Six Companies hold undisputed sway. She sat and listened with a strained look upon her face, and presently, set- ting down the cup, she stepped out up- on the deck in time to hear the mate and a quartermaster demanding in no COMicdoo S CO@