senger, who was not a deck-passenger.
He was the only saloon passenger, and because of that, he slept first
in one, then in the other of the two small cabins, alternating
according to which side the wind blew from.

"You would not mind, perhaps," continued the Captain, "if, after
all--in spite of this long delay--we still found time for the lonely
man? An unscheduled call, much out of our way--oh, a day's sail from
here, and we, as you know, go slowly----"

"Three days from now--four days from now--it matters little to me when
we reach Bangkok," said the passenger largely, "but tell me of this
man."

Upon the sideboard, under an inverted wineglass, sat a small gilt
Buddha, placed there by the China-boys. The Captain fixed his eyes
upon the Buddha.

"Like that. Immovable and covered in close, sitting still in a small
space. Covered in. Some one turned a wineglass over on him, long ago,
and now he sits, still and immovable like that. It makes my heart
ache."

"Tell me. While we are waiting."

"Three years ago," began the Captain dreamily, still looking at the
tiny gilt Buddha in its inverted wineglass, "he came aboard. Bound for
nowhere in particular--to Bangkok, perhaps, since we were going that
way. Or to any other port he fancied along the coast, since we were
stopping all along the coast. He wanted to lose himself, he said. And,
as you have seen, we stop at many remote, lonely villages, such as
this one. And we have seen many lonely men, foreigners, isolated in
villages such as this one, unknown, removed, forgotten. But none of
them suited him. He had been looking for the proper spot for many
years. Wandering up and down the coast, in cargo-boats, in little
coasting vessels, in sailing vessels, sometimes in native junks,
stopping here and there, looking for a place where he could go off and
live by himself. He wanted to be quite, absolutely, to himself. He
said he should know the place immediately, if he saw it--recognise it
at once. He said he could find himself if he could get quite
absolutely away. Find himself, that is, recover himself--something, a
part of him which he had lost. Just temporarily lost. He was very
wistful and very eager, and said I must not think him a fool, or
demented. He said he only wanted to be by himself, in the right spot,
to accomplish his purpose. He would accomplish his purpose and then
return.

"Can you see him, the lonely man, obsessed, going up and down the
China Coast, shi