or papers might be, I of course, knew
nothing, for all this was done in silence. But had I known anything,
or heard anything, it would have seemed of no significance compared
with what I just then saw--a thing that suddenly turned me almost sick
with a nameless fear and set me trembling from toe to finger.

The dapper and smug Chinaman, statuesque on one side of the table,
immovable save for an occasional puff of his cigar, suddenly shot into
silent activity as the two men turned their backs on him and bent,
apparently absorbed, over the desk in the corner. Like a flash (it
reminded me of the lightning-like movement of a viper) his long, thin
fingers went into a waistcoat pocket; like a flash emerged, shot to
the glasses on the table and into two of them dropped something small
and white--some tabloid or pellet--that sank and dissolved as rapidly
as it was put in. It was all over, all done, within, literally, the
fraction of a second; when, a moment or two later, Baxter and the
Frenchman turned round again, after throwing the ledger-like book and
the papers into the desk, their companion was placidly smoking his
cigar and sipping the contents of his glass between the whiffs.

I was by that time desperately careless as to whether I might or might
not be under observation from the open door and stairway of my own
cabin. I remained where I was, my eye glued to that ventilation-hole,
watching. For it seemed to me that the Chinaman was purposely drugging
his companions, for some insidious purpose of his own--in that case,
what of the personal safety of Miss Raven and myself? For one moment I
was half-minded to rush round to the other cabin and tell Baxter of
what I had just seen--but I reflected that I might possibly bring
about there and then an affair of bloodshed and perhaps murder in
which there would be four Chinese against three others, one of
whom--my miserable self--was not only unarmed, but like enough to be
useless in a scene of violence. No--the only thing was to wait, and
wait I did, with a thumping heart and tingling nerves, watching.

Nothing happened. Baxter gulped down his drink at a single draught;
the Frenchman took his in two leisurely swallows; each flung himself
on his bunk, pulled his blankets about him, and, as far as I could
see, seemed to fall asleep instantly. But the Chinaman was more
deliberate and punctilious. He took his time over his cigar and his
whisky; he pulled out a suit-case from some n