wax seals.

I had a mind to tell the old fellow the joke on him, but that would
require explaining where the letter to the consul came from, which would
hardly be playing fair with my friend in Saigon. If he knew the truth he
might abandon his trip to Hong-Kong in the _Kut Sang_, and I would be rid
of him, for I knew he was going with me in the steamer for the purpose of
attempting to learn what my business would be in the British port.

If I was to remain in Manila I would have disillusioned him, and so put a
stop to his trailing me about, but, as I was leaving in a few hours, I
anticipated but little more trouble from him or the redheaded man.
Besides, I saw an opportunity to make game of him by telling him his
mistake after we were well to sea and leading him on a fool's voyage.

"I am sure that we will have a pleasant passage in the _Kut Sang_," he
said. "I am something of a literary man myself, Mr. Trenholm--an
exhaustive life of the saints, a shilling in paper covers, four shillings
in cloth, with gilt title and frontispiece of me. It is recommended by
the Bishop of Salisbury, and in its class quite a standard work.

"Then I did some poems, chiefly on sacred subjects. Not much as poetry,
perhaps, judged by severe standards, but I am told they are regarded as
marvels of piety and sweetness. I may have a copy in my luggage, which I
will show you after we are settled aboard the steamer."

I let him ramble on like that, turning over in my mind the while all the
schemes I intended to put into play to convince him I was really a spy,
and when a boy brought a paper I fell upon the war news.

"Another Russian defeat," I half moaned, and made out that I was
dreadfully upset because the Japanese were winning battles.

He said he deplored war, and had a prejudice against the Japanese, and
hoped they would lose, and praised the Russians as brave and pious. When
I expressed satisfaction at his views in order to prove my character as a
Russian agent, we might have been mistaken by an observer for a couple of
old friends.

He wearied me, however, with his chatter and efforts to make himself
agreeable, and after the meal I escaped from him on the plea of business
which must be attended to before the steamer sailed.

Leaving the walled city, I crossed the Bridge of Spain to the Escolta and
took a stroll in Calle Rosario, where the Chinese merchants keep
themselves in grateful shade with miles of awning. After an hour of
s