10 MYSTIC ISLES 



the glowing rim of the western horizon, and the air was 

 suffused with a trembling rose color, when Leung Kai 

 Chu tapped at my cabin-door, which gave on the boat- 

 deck. I opened it, and he bowed, and handed me an 

 image. It was of porcelain, precious, and I was at a 

 loss to know whether he had felt the need of a httle 

 money and had brought it to sell, or had been impelled 

 to give it to me because of my feeble efforts to cheer 

 him. I made a gesture which might have meant pay- 

 ment, but he raised his hand deprecatingly, and for the 

 first time I saw him smile, and I was afraid. He 

 bowed, and in the mandarin language invoked good for- 

 tune uj)on me. He had the aspect of one beyond good 

 and evil, who had settled life's problem. When he left 

 me I stood wondering, holding in my hands the majestic 

 god seated upon the tiger, the symbol of the conquest of 

 the flesh. 



I heard a shout, and dropping the image, I rushed 

 aft. Leung Kai Chu had thrown himself over the rail 

 just by the purser's office. A steward had seen him 

 fling himself into the white foam. I tore a gas-buoy 

 from its rack and tossed it toward the screw, in which 

 direction he must have been swept. A sailor ran to the 

 bridge, the whistle blew, and the ship shook as the en- 

 gines ceased revolving, and then reversed in stopping 

 her. Orders were flung about fast. A man climbed 

 to the lookout as the first officer began to put a boat into 

 the water. The crew of it and the second officer were 

 already at the oars and the tiller as the ropes slid in 

 the blocks. The passengers came crowding from their 

 cabins, where they were dressing for dinner, and there 

 were many expressions of surprise and slight terror. 



