anion he learnt many strange things. Odd
bits of half-told stories, confidences respecting some girl, or some
ambition--and now and then a warning.

"You are so new and green to the East," said Hoskins, his first friend, a
police officer returning from short leave. "You had better keep your
eyes skinned! Rangoon is not like India, but a roaring busy seaport,
where every soul is on the make. You will find various elements there,
besides British and Burmese. Tribes from Upper Burma, Tibetans, Hindoos,
Malays, Chinese and, above all, Germans. They do an enormous trade, and
have many substantial firms and houses, and put through as much business
as, or more than, we do ourselves. No job is too small, no order too
insignificant for their prompt attention. They have agents all over the
country, who pull strings in wolfram and the ruby mines, and have a
finger in every mortal thing. I'll say this for them, they're most
awfully keen and industrious, and stick at nothing to earn the nimble
rupee, underselling when they can, and grabbing contracts and trade
secrets. Some of these days they will mine us out of Burma!"

"So I see they needn't go to you for a character," remarked Shafto.

"Oh, they are not all tarred with the same brush! I have some good pals
in the German Club--fellows that are as straight as a die. Is this your
first journey out of England?"

"Yes, bar winter sports in Switzerland, when I was a kid."

"Well, you will see a small bit of the world this trip; as soon as we
collect the passengers at Marseilles, and once the awnings and the moon
are up, things will begin to hum!"

"How do you mean hum?"

"We shall have sports, dances, concerts--this has always been a gay ship,
and the purser is a rare hustler. We are due at Marseilles to-morrow
morning, and we take in a cargo of the lazy luxurious folk who abhor 'the
Bay,' and have travelled overland. I'd have done the same, only I'm
frightfully hard up; three months at home, having a 'good time,' comes
pretty expensive!"

"I hope you will be a fixture in Rangoon?"

"I'm afraid not; I'm going straight up to Mandalay, but I shall be down
later, and meanwhile I'll do my best to settle you in that chummery.
I'll send a line to FitzGerald of my service; he lives there; a rattling
Irishman, with lots of brains in his handsome head, and a good sort;
there's also Roscoe, a clever oddity, and MacNab of the Irrawaddy
Flotilla--a wonderful golfer. Most o