of several struggling men. One of them broke free, went over the rail, and struck with a splash. His head came up into the moonlight. Rising, I caught sight of Yu standing at the rail, pistol in hand, and called to him; he shot while I was calling, and to the report, the swimming man vanished.
Glancing around, I saw that the steward and crew were in sight. Yu turned to me and smiled thinly under his stubble of beard.
“A Jap,” he said briefly. “Stowaway,”
“Then he was the fellow in the cabin! I heard him and woke up—”
“Boarders away!” sang out the voice of O’Grady, behind me. “What’s up?”
For answer, Yu lifted his arm and pointed. Then I saw what until now I had overlooked in the swiftness of things.
We were in midstream, shooting rapidly through the water, which lay like a wide silvern flood in the light of the high moon. Two hundred yards to our right, heading as though to meet us at a convergent angle, was another craft—a gasoline launch, to judge from the sound of her exhaust. From either bow was thrown up and back a curving wave of water, which indicated her speed, half hiding her from view.
While we stared, a flash leaped out amidships of her, and I caught the whine of a bullet close overhead. O’Grady ducked, then laughed.
“More o’ your pleasant friends, Breck? Faith, we’re not goin’ to be lonely, at all events. Who is she, or what?”
I repeated the question to Yu. He snapped an order at the steward, who vanished, then turned to me with a warning gesture.
“A police boat, bribed by Schneider to halt us, and she has the speed of us. Fortunately, I know these boats very well; I think I can stop her. Will you gentlemen kindly lie down? I believe they will shoot again.”
At another order from him, the speed of the launch slowed a bit, and Yu stretched out on the afterdeck. The steward appeared and put a rifle into his hand. A moment later, he fired. To the crack, O’Grady caught my arm excitedly as we crouched.
“Breck, ’pon my word, the beggar’s usin’ explosive bullets! If he hits her petrol tank, what price we’re hung for piracy?”
“You never heard of a newspaper man getting hung for anything,” I said.
“Oh!” and he chuckled at that, “But I’m no journalist, me lad; I’m an Irishman. And ye never heard of an Irishman bein’ drowned that was born to be hung! But I’m with ye, hanging or no hanging. Wish that boy o’ yours ’ud give me a try with that rifle!”
Indeed, Yu had taken two shots, seemingly without result. I left O’Grady, and crawled aft behind Yu, and perceived that he was aiming at the very bow of the other craft. He no doubt knew that her gasoline tank was there.
Meantime, bullets were driving about us, and now there came a tremendous bang, and a one-pounder shell screeched overhead. If that police craft had carried a machine gun instead of one designed to sink pirates, we could not have lasted. She was converging every moment, and now was not a hundred yards distant.
Then Yu fired for the third time.
I saw him lay down the rifle and come up, squatting. Then a red sheet of flame leaped from the water, and we reeled under the blast of the concussion. When the following blackness passed, I saw Yu still squatting there, and we were still heading upstream. I leaped up.
“Head back and pick ’em up!” I shouted to the helmsman in the stern.
He made no motion to obey. O’Grady joined me, with a shout, and then we found Yu suddenly erect before us, hand outstretched.
“Master,” he said, “men who take bribes deserve what happens. Besides, you are in my charge. Until you are set ashore, my orders are obeyed, not yours. Then I serve you without protest, with perfect obedience! But meantime, leave things to me.”
To protests, oaths, orders, he was absolutely impervious; so were his men. Except by actual force, we could do nothing. When we realized this, we were a mile distant from the scene of the fight, and the police boat must have gone down like a shot. At length O’Grady laughed and turned away.
“Never mind, Breck, when in Rome, do as the Romans do! Let the boy run the show; faith, he’s made a good job of it so far! I say, Yu, when are we to be landed?”
“At this time tomorrow night, sir,” returned Yu, “you will be ashore and on your way up-country. As you will travel all night, I respectfully suggest that you sleep as much as possible all day.”
“Do you expect any more such trouble as we’ve just had?” I asked.
“Yes, master.” Yu nodded thoughtfully. “We change crews at ten in the morning, when we reach a place this side of Nanfu. We shall have trouble getting past that town, but the new crew will probably bring some warning.”
I stared at him in stark amazement. “What system do you use? Wireless?” This was probably a shrewd guess, but Yu merely looked blank and refused to explain. As a matter of fact, I believe that Kohler did have a private wireless system of his own that covered a large portion of China.
O’Grady and I went back to sleep. What the Irishman thought about all this, was uncertain; yet he certainly enjoyed himself hugely. Nor did I care particularly what he thought. It was enough that he was a good comrade, and one to depend upon, as he had proven there at the Fuchow landing-stairs. It seemed to me that the mystery surrounding this adventure spiced it for him, and because of this he asked no questions.
Something went wrong with the engines, I believe, and we were an hour late at Nanfu. About two miles this side of the town, we slipped in to the shore, entered what appeared to be a canal mouth, and a moment later were floating in a hidden anchorage surrounded by trees. Here lay a wharf, a godown from which men were bringing fuel, a house sitting back from the water, long boathouses, and a small dry-dock; all of them quite invisible from the river. As we slid up to the landing, Yu approached the astonished pair of us.
“We shall be here twenty minutes, master,” he told me. “If you care to visit the guesthouse yonder, you will find luncheon ready. If not, you may care to stroll along the shore.”
“Is this a private estate?” I asked him, careful not to mention Kohler’s name before O’Grady. He grinned at that.
“Yes, master.”
O’Grady asked no questions, but he looked unwontedly thoughtful as we docked.
Now, how it was managed I don’t know, for I am certain there was no wireless aboard the launch. Perhaps it was prevision on the part of Kohler. At all events, we had no sooner lined up than a coolie presented himself at the wharf with an envelope, which he handed to me. I opened it with a word of apology to O’Grady, and found a curt note addressed to me and signed by Kohler. It read:
Yu is in charge until you leave the launch. Then everything is in your hands. Do not interfere with him or with what he does. Luck to you!
I tore up the message and went up to the guesthouse with O’Grady. There we found deft servants, an excellent luncheon, and some English magazines that were given us to take along.
Much as I knew of Kohler, this place was a revelation to me. The very significance of such a place was astounding. Certainly,
