hat's your message?"

"Me wait, mastel, six, seven day," said Ling, "wait fol the smoke-junk,
to tell you that the Govelnol at Seoul, he got know about evelything,
and he sendee tloops catchee you, if he can. Excellency Kyong-Bah tell
me say you he must havee those lifles, and think you get them safe
thlough if you vely quick and caleful; but he tell me say you must
hully, ol you be caught."

"And that's over a week ago!" groaned Drake. "What chance have we,
think you, Mr Frobisher, of getting this cargo safely through now?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Frobisher cheerfully, seeing that Drake was inclined to
take a dismal view of things; "if we can get 'em ashore uninterfered
with, I'll engage to deliver them to Kyong-Bah, or whatever the johnny's
name is, safely enough. _Nil desperandum_, you know, skipper--that's
Latin for `You never know what you can do till you try'."

"Those Latin chaps certainly did know how to say a lot in a few words,
didn't they, Mr Frobisher?" remarked Drake, a little more cheerfully.
"But do you really think you can get through if we get the arms safely
ashore?"

"Sure of it," answered Frobisher, with a good deal more confidence than
he really felt. "I'll take this chap as a guide, collect sufficient
carts and mules at Sam-riek to take the whole lot at one trip, and then
get this man Ling to show me some bypath over the hills which the
Government troops are not likely to take. I understood you to say that
there is a good road from Yong-wol to Sam-riek; and, if I know anything
of Orientals, the troops will take it. If, then, we take another route,
you will have the pleasure of seeing those fellows sitting on their
haunches in Sam-riek, waiting for you to unload your cargo into their
lap, while I shall be travelling another way, under a heavy press of
canvas, conveying the consignment on its way to its proper owners.
Savvee?"

Drake brought his hand down on Frobisher's shoulder. "By the Great Horn
Spoon, Mr Frobisher," he exclaimed, "I don't know what I should have
done without you! That's a Hundred A1 plan; and if you can only get
safely away before the troops appear, I'll engage so to arrange matters
that they shall believe the cargo to be still in the ship. That'll keep
'em busy long enough to allow you to carry out your part without
interference. Of course a lot'll depend upon the extent to which the
people of Sam-riek dislike the Government. If they are really on the
side of the rebe