The Argosy, Vol. 76, No. 3 — page 99: what you’re looking at

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

THE THING THAT WAS CAESAR’S. uncertain terms to be told the where- abouts of the doctor. The doctor was found pawing over a coolie in his cabin, carefully exam- ining him under the jaws and arms. He turned as Oakes and the master came in. “ He’s got it, sir,” he said shortly. “ Good: Heavens! And us with eight hundred aboard. Why, they certified to the outfit when they came aboard! And we not twenty hours out of Swa- tow. Why, Enloe, no port along the coast will let us in—” Dr. Enloe nodded grim acquies-. cence. “ And aboard—’”’ “Don’t leave me out,’ said Oakes grimly. “ ?m-under contract with the Japanese government to begin work on the Chenampho Extension, with a for- feiture of a thousand dollars a month if I do not begin on time. Pleasant outlook,” and he smiled about as hap- pily as a man smiles when told that he is about to be hanged. “ What’ll you do, captain? ” “Oh, mark time up and down the coast, I suppose, till it wears away. There’s no necessity to tell Miss Downs.” , It could not long be kept from her. They had overlooked the fact that cabin-boys will talk, and that Miss Downs, being no “ Flapper,” but a qualified nurse on her way from the pest-hole of Swatow to Peking, knew the pidgin English of the coast quite as well as the master himself. By consequence, Oakes found him- self stopped on the way to his state- room by a tall, fair-haired. girl, who questioned him and Enloe directly, and to whom they could not avoid a direct answer. “Vou must not think I am afraid of it,” she said slowly. “I have seen it too often to fear it. I am sorry for the poor coolies down there ‘tween decks. down there in the hospital, doctor?” “Good Heavens, Miss Downs! Do us with Miss Downs Can I be of any assistance 569 you mean that you are willing to go down into the hospital and take charge of the two cases there if it should be necessary—’’ ““Bubonic?’’ she asked tersely. Enloe nodded. “Yes,”- she said. ‘“ Wait.” She disappeared for a few moments, and presently reappeared clad in a trim- fitting nurse’s uniform. “ Show me the way,” she directed. Oakes and Hemingway looked at her admiringly. This was man’s efficiency. They followed her into the dim re- cesses of the lower deck, where the bunks were arranged for the coolies. It was dark in the ’tween decks, and the air reeked with the acrid smell of Oriental humanity, which is like noth- ing else under heaven. A quartermaster, standing guard at a bulkhead door, motioned toward the little hospital, away in the stern of the vessel, over the kick of the screw. “ They’ve took him aft, doctor,” he said. So-they trailed aft again, to find the gaunt figure of a huge Chinaman ly- ing on one of the canvas bunks swing- ing to the heave of the ship, his torso gleaming like wet copper in the sea- glare that came through the open ports, mingled with the smell of fresh paint and Chinese cooking. The doctor asked a question. “He says,” said Dr. Enloe, “ that he is not a coolie. He says that he is a priest and that he shipped as a coolie because he had no money with which to pay his passage to Taku. He says that his temple will pay. He wishes to go to Taku. He says he will show his mark to prove the truth of his statement—” The sick man stripped his arm to the shoulder, showing in very truth upon his breast the little red triangle that marks the men of the Shan-tse clan, than which there is no higher class of priests in all north China. The smile with which he attempted to greet them was wiped out in a sud- den spasm of pain. Enloe bent over COMicdoo S CO@