Sang is

Quickly-Ping Sang Watches-Ping Sang in Trouble-A Tsi

on from Colombo, he had hurried down to Hong-Kong to confer with a friend of his, a wealthy

oastal trade by Chinese-owned ships was at a stand-still. One thing was very clear, only ships belonging to Chinese subjects were attacked, and the most tempting bait, if belonging to Europeans, was left severely alone. Not a month ago a fine new steamer of 5000 tons had disappeared w

flying the Chinese colours, ships which they were almost positive did not belong to the

that, ready to hand among the crews of the myriad of junks always assembled there, were hundreds of cut-throats from the lower reaches of the West river only too willing to commit any crime for money; and he was especially anxious to confer with Ho Ming, for thi

December 21 smoking their after-dinner cigars, whilst A Tsi, Ho Ming's confidential clerk an

dvanced through the mat-screened doorway and handed a letter to Pi

al Chinese

e, 14th

R. PIN

ber 2, and proceeded to sea at easy speed, leaving destroyer 'No. 1' to await the arrival of the two Patagonian destroyers left behind at A

immediate preparations for sea. After recoaling 'No. 1' and 'No. 2' from the Sylvia store-ship, a process which occupied seven or eight hours on accou

Cardiff under sealed orders, and am at pre

d again at Malta, to take no more coal from shore, and have arranged for a collier to meet me at

civil authorities, with my proofs of his complicity not yet substantiated. The fact also that he is an American citizen would open up many legal difficulties,

forming me that the Patagonians had not yet le

rong, I have dismounted the guns and the search-lights of

s letter I shall be slowly punching my way against the mo

cquaintance with you there, and to talk of old times

HEL

y indolently back in his luxurious, crimson-upholstered cha

e from between his fat lips as he slowly read this letter, his little eyes tw

he raised a dainty Venetian glass to his lips. He was dressed in dark claret-coloured silk robes, with pantaloons of light gr

ng thin fingers, with their prominent tendons, clenched rather than grasped the carved arms of his chair. His light-blue silk over-garment hardly co

h swung from the ceiling, and contained a cunningly concealed electric light. He was dressed solemnly in black silk, relieved only by gilt buttons. It was this man who for the last ten days had been searching for any traces of the

" said Ping Sang, speaking in Chinese and handing the lett

gain what you have b

Kong. Two days before their arrival an Englishman arrived by a coasting steamer which had picked him up at Amoy, and he is now staying at the Vi

s impatience at Sang's apparent indifference or his comprador's stolidity. "Those junks are probably full of explosives, and it would be an easy thin

his chair, "we must not excite ourselves-that's the only thing we can do at present. We've not the fainte

just for the sake of curi

ess', or the equivalent in Chinese, piously muttered the comprador). We c

I'll try and get a look at this Englishman-I may know him and he may know me. Ha

im go aboard at Aberdeen says h

and I rather fancy he would know me," drawled Ping Sang

*

r of blue trousers, with a dirty blue tunic tied round his naked shoulders, clamouring for purchasers as he fanned a swarm of flies off his sugar-canes with his broad mat hat. This was Ping Sang, and all the while he kept his eyes glued on the hotel entrance. He had bribed a coolie to give him his pla

was sufficient for the old gentleman. The Englishman had gone to Aberdeen, where the two Amoy junks were anchored. Gladly rising to his feet, Ping Sang stretched his cramped legs, slung his two baskets across his shoulders with a bamboo pole, and trotted down the main street, trying to imitate the usual ambling gait of a street hawker. It was sever

uable comprador came rapidly along in a tumble-down double ricksh

extra weight of Ping Sang's fat little person, the old sportsman got u

d with native shipping, came in sight, and A Tsi pointed out to his com

they don't seem to have any," said A Tsi. "If you will wait by the landing-place I will go off to the

ing coolie, and then Ping Sang trudged down to the landing-place with his baskets of sugar-can

nce, got into a sampan, and

i thrown overboard, and, missing his boat underneath, fall with a splash into the sea, bundle and all. He swam ashore easily and scrambled up

upon sign, which meant that the Englishman was aboa

sampan, and urged the boatman to hurry off to the same two junks. Ping Sang just caught a glimpse of his face and it seemed familiar, but where he had seen it before he

brains, but could not, try as

e smartest business men in the Chinese empire, should be such a failure as a hawker, for no one would buy from him. In desperation, hunger overcame his disgust, and he munched one of his own sugar-canes, smiling grimly to himself at the unappetizing meal. Presently th

n stepped out and slowly limped up the sloping landin

Englishman of the "Mysterious Three"-whom he had mentioned in his

ver his baskets. It struck him too that his shoulders and back were not grimed and blackened with the sun, and he was hastily pulling his dirty tuni

forgotten in his "make-up"-and he fumbled in his belt to give himself time to think. Out rolled two of his favourite cigars, wrapped

was too sharp for him, and hauled him to his

e highly amused crowd, whic

ressed in his usual clothes, had now not a word to say. In fact, thoughts and w

ay through, and Ping Sang had perforce to follow

efore Ping Sang knew what had happened a pair of handcuffs were snapped on his wrists and he was sh

get rid of him for prigging my things. There's another of them somewhere abo

them. They might be in jail for a week or more before being identified, and meanwhile Helston's ships would arri

ent from an upper window of the eating-h

Ping Sang's presence there, and no doubt remained that this European with a limp

entified and released any plan of action would be delayed

than the wealthiest merchant in China and the president of the Trading Association, for he himself

ck to Ho Ming as q

hen he saw the European with a couple of Sikh policemen coming straight to

, that he was now going to be caught on some trumpery charge, and he knew well en

ly for some place in which to hide, but the rooms were as bare as a barn. He then ran to the rear windows to see if he could jump to the ground; but even if he d

at next to this house was a small temple or joss-house, and that a grotesque carving at the corner of one of the projecting eaves stuck out within jumpin

mbered like a monkey to the roof above him, crawled to the edge, balanced himsel

it only made him grip more firmly as he fell on the grinning dragon, the rotte

e could but climb to the top he would be able to reach Ho Ming across the mountain; so, clinging to bushes and clumps of grass, pulling himself up from rock to rock, he painfully made his way upwards. Looking over his s

nly get on to the roof by climbing the pillars in front

that would give foothold, now slipping and sending down a shower of stones, now gaining a yard or two. His hands were bleeding and numb with pain as he fought his w

oolies clambering after him, whilst the Englishman

ime, for with his naked feet and want of training he could not hope

re at everything he could loosen and hurled it down on his pursuers. The foremost was hit on the hand, and slid some feet before he could steady himself. Another had his eyes fille

ded side of the mountain slopes. He was now free from immediate danger, but must reach Ho Ming without a moment's delay. He dare not descend to the main road, because the poli

mountain to the Peak, but he must do it and wait till dark befo

getting his directions from the sun, and occasion

elow him glistening in the sun, and the dark mountain ranges of the mainland looming behind it. The tiny boats

oke. Quickly he glanced towards the narrow waters of the Lyemoon Pass, knowing that through this entrance men-of-war usually arrived, and then from a little black, moving object on the water he saw a tiny ball o

arer and nearer, and as it emerged from the dark shadows of the Lyemoon Pass, h

s leading, a merchant ship with short, stumpy funnel, and then three destroyers. At last Helston's squadron had arrived, a

ts of the villas on top of the Peak. Creeping behind garden walls and thick hedges, he made his way, without being seen, to the belt of trees and bu

ittle tailor Hong Sing, with a great bundle of clothes under his arm. He knew him well, and called him by name as he came near. The

almed down he hurrie

clothes to rig A Tsi as a respectable-looking butler. He had no shoes, but Hong Sing knew where he could borro

Hong Sing went on to reconnoitre; but all was safe, and at last

lite and obsequious to a police sergeant than to the wealthiest merchant in the colony, and it was a long time before A Tsi could persuade him to take immediate steps for the release of Ping Sang. He ha

Get them to telegraph to Aberdeen to send him up to head-quarters with an escort. Write a

rospect of interviewing the Chief of Police, and sat down to write a letter,

ies, and was soon carried down to Murray Pier, off which the little squa