t, but the
scene of the conflict lay in densest shadow, so that the figures were
indistinguishable.

"Help! By Gawd! they're strangling me------"

From almost at my feet the cry arose and was drowned in Chinese
chattering. But guided by it I now managed to make out that the struggle
in progress waged between a burly English sailorman and two lithe
Chinese. The yellow men seemed to have gained the advantage and my
course was clear.

A straight right on the jaw of the Chinaman who was engaged in
endeavouring to throttle the victim laid him prone in the dirty roadway.
His companion, who was holding the wrist of the recumbent man, sprang
upright as though propelled by a spring. I struck out at him savagely.
He uttered a shrill scream not unlike that of a stricken hare, and fled
so rapidly that he seemed to melt in the mist.

"Gawd bless you, mate!" came chokingly from the ground--and the rescued
man, extricating himself from beneath the body of his stunned assailant,
rose unsteadily to his feet and lurched toward me.

As I had surmised, he was a sailor, wearing a rough, blue-serge jacket
and having his greasy trousers thrust into heavy seaboots--by which I
judged that he was but newly come ashore. He stooped and picked up his
cap. It was covered in mud, as were the rest of his garments, but he
brushed it with his sleeve as though it had been but slightly soiled and
clapped it on his head.

He grasped my hand in a grip of iron, peering into my face, and his
breath was eloquent.

"I'd had one or two, mate," he confided huskily (the confession was
unnecessary). "It was them two in the Blue Anchor as did it; if I 'adn't
'ad them last two, I could 'ave broke up them Chinks with one 'and tied
behind me."

"That's all right," I said hastily, "but what are we going to do about
this Chink here?" I added, endeavouring at the same time to extricate my
hand from the vise-like grip in which he persistently held it. "He hit
the tiles pretty heavy when he went down."

As if to settle my doubts, the recumbent figure suddenly arose and
without a word fled into the darkness and was gone like a phantom. My
new friend made no attempt to follow, but:

"You can't kill a bloody Chink," he confided, still clutching my hand;
"it ain't 'umanly possible. It's easier to kill a cat. Come along o' me
and 'ave one; then I'll tell you somethink. I'll put you on somethink, I
will."

With surprising steadiness of gait, considering the liquid