a skull without flesh upon it; the eyes concealed behind smoked glasses.
“May I have a word with you, Mr. Doane?”
The mate considered; then, stooping, entered the tiny cabin. The pedler closed the door; quietly shot the bolt; then removed his cap and the queue with it, exposing a full head of stubbly black hair, trimmed, as is said, pompadour. The glasses came off next; discovering wide alert eyes. And now, without the cap, the head, despite the hair and the seriously intellectual face, looked, balanced on its thin neck, more than ever like a skull.
“You will not know of me, Mr. Doane. I am Sun Shi-pi of Shanghai. I was attached, as interpreter, to the yamen of the tao-tai. I left his service some months ago to join the republican revolutionary party. I was arrested shortly after that at Nanking and condemned to death, but his excellency, the viceroy – ”
“Kang?”
“Yes. He is on this boat. He released me on condition that I go to Japan. I kept my word – to that extent; I went to Japan – but I could not keep my word in spirit. My life is consecrated to the cause of the Chinese Republic. Nothing else matters. I returned to Shanghai, and was made commander there of the ‘Dare-to-dies.’ You did not know of such an organization? You will, then, before the winter is gone. We shall be heard from. There are other such companies – at Canton, at Wuchang – at Nanking – at every center.”
Doane seated himself on the narrow couch and studied the quietly eager young man.
“You speak English with remarkable ease,” he said.
“Oh, yes. I studied at Chicago University. And at Tokio University I took post-graduate work.”
“And you are frank.”
“I can trust you. You are known to us, Mr. Doane. Wu Ting Fang trusts you – and Sun Yat Sen, our leader, he knows and trusts you.”
“I did know Sun Yat Sen, when he was a medical student.”
“He knows you well. He has mentioned your name to us. That is why I am speaking to you. America is with us. We can trust Americans.”
Doane’s mind was ranging swiftly about the situation. “You are running a risk,” he said.
Sun Shi-pi shrugged his shoulders. “I shall hardly survive the revolution. That is not expected among the ‘Dare-to-dies.’”
“If his excellency’s soldiers find you here they will kill you now.”
“The officers would, of course. Many of the soldiers are with us. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.”
“What is your errand?”
“I will tell you. The revolution, as you doubtless know, is fully planned.”
“I’ve assumed so. There has been so much talk. And then, of course, the outbreak in Szechuen.”
“That was premature. It was the plan to strike in the spring. This fighting in Szechuen has caused much confusion. Sun Yat Sen is in America. He is going to England, and can hardly reach China within two months. He will bring money enough for all our needs. He is the organizer, the directing genius of the new republic. But the Szechuen outbreak has set all the young hotheads afire.”
“I am told that the throne has sent Tuan Fang out there to put down the disturbance. But we have had no news lately.”
“That is because the wires are cut. Tuan Fang will never come back. We will pay five thousand taels, cash, to the bearer of his head, and ask no questions. We must exterminate the Manchus. It has finally come down to that. It is the only way out. But we must pull together. Did you know that the Wu Chang republicans plan to strike at once?”
“No.”
“I have been sent there to tell them to wait. That is our gravest danger now. If we pull together we shall win. If our emotions run away with our judgment – ”
“The throne will defeat your forces piecemeal and destroy your morale.”
“Exactly. My one fear is that I may not reach Wu Chang in time. But” – with a careless gesture – “that is as it may be. I will tell you now why I spoke to you. We need you. Our organization is incomplete as yet, naturally. One matter of the greatest importance is that our spirit be understood from the first by foreign countries. There is an enormous task – diplomatic publicity, you might call it – which you, Mr. Doane, are peculiarly fitted to undertake You know both China and the West. You are a philosopher of mature judgment. You would work in association with Doctor Wu Ting Fang at our Shanghai offices. There will be money. Will you consider this?”
“It is a wholly new thought,” Doane replied slowly. “I should have to give it very serious consideration.”
“But you are in sympathy with our aims?”
“In a general way, certainly. Even though I may not share your optimism.”
“On your return to Shanghai would you be willing to call at once on Doctor Wu and discuss the matter?”
“Yes… Yes, I will do that. I must leave you now. We are nearly at Kiu Kiang.”
Sun, glancing out the window, raised his hand. Doane looked; two small German cruisers, the kaiser’s flag at the taff, were steaming up-stream.
“They know,” murmured Sun, with meaning. “I wish to God I could find their means of information. They all know. From the Japanese in particular nothing seems to be hidden. Two or three of your American war-ships are already up there. And the English, naturally, in force.”
“They must be on hand to protect the foreign colony at Hankow. The Szechuen trouble would justify such a move.”
But Sun shook his head. “They know,” he repeated. Then he clasped Doane’s hand. “However… that is a detail. It is now war. You will find events marching fast – faster, I fear, than we republicans wish. Good-by now. You will call on Doctor Wu.”
The steamer moved slowly in toward the landing hulk. Doane, from the boat deck, by the after bell pull, gazed across at the park-like foreign bund, with its embankment of masonry and its trees. Behind lay, compactly, the walled city. Everything looked as it had always looked – the curious crowd along the railing, the water carriers passing down and up the steps, the eager shouting swarm of water beggars. Below, the coolies swung out from the hulk, ready to make their usual breakneck leap over green water to the approaching steamer. Now – they were jumping. The passengers were leaning out from the promenade deck to watch and applaud… Doane’s thoughts, as he went mechanically through his familiar duties, wandered off inland, past the battlements and towers of the ancient city to the thousands of other ancient cities and villages and farmsteads beyond; and he wondered if the scores of millions of lethargic minds in all those centers of population could really be awakened from their sleep of six hundred years and stirred into action.
Could a republic, he asked himself, possibly mean anything real to those minds? The habit of mere endurance, of bare existence, was so deep-seated, the struggle to live so intense, the opportunity so slight. Sun Shi-pi and his kind were a semi-Western product. They were, when all was said and done, an exotic breed. They were the ardent, adventurous young; and they were the few. There had always been a throne in China, always extortionate mandarins, always a popular acceptance of conditions.
The lines were out now. And suddenly
