aloon; his knees had that limp sea-bend of the sailor and his out-turned
toes seemed to grasp the uncertain rise and fall of the carpet beneath
his feet; he was a mariner now, not a preacher, for no landsman could
hold himself so easily in a vessel which pitched and rolled in the long
swells of the China Sea.

I looked at him defiantly, and his eyes seemed to dare me to speak out
and say the things which were in my mind. He seemed to understand that I
was trying to frame a denunciation, for I was white to the lips with rage
at him.

"You seemed determined to sail in the _Kut Sang_, Mr. Trenholm," he said:
"So your insistence to be a passenger was to slay a fellow-man, was it? I
am shocked beyond measure!"

"You hound!" I screamed. "You have played your cards well, you and your
little red-headed scoundrel! If you think I am a spy you will find--"

"Tut, tut, Sally Ann!" said Captain Riggs. "We can't have any of that.
Hold your tongue, sir, or I'll have you in irons."

"If you'll give me ten minutes privately, captain, I'll tell you who this
devil--"

"I'm a man of the cloth, and I will not countenance such language!"
shrieked Meeker in an attempt to check me; but I could see that I had
cut him deeply, for he whitened and stepped toward me with closed fist.
"Don't you call me devil! You know nothing of me--tell it if you
will--what do you know? Where did you get that name?"

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" said Riggs, still holding one of my pistols in
his hand, and keeping an eye on the bulkhead door for the return of the
mate.

"He's a Japanese spy," I said. "He's no missionary at all, but a spy, and
the fool believes that I am in the Russian service. He tried to hold me
in Manila, and when I would not listen to his lies he has taken this way
to discredit me, probably have me hanged! It's all a plot--"

"That will do," commanded Riggs. "You have not been tried yet, Mr.
Trenholm. You can tell all that to the judge. If you go on this way I
will be compelled to make a prisoner of you. I am not taking that red
chap's word for what he says about you, but if you go on like this I will
have to put you in confinement. Otherwise, you will simply be restricted
to your cabin until we reach Hong-Kong. I will have to make sure that you
have no more arms, and if you will promise to remain in your room, that
will do until this matter is turned over to the courts, and then you may
state your case."

"Are you not going to put this m