rfield called me to his side--he,
aided by one of the blue-jackets, was examining the body of Lo Chuh
Fen.

"Look here!" he murmured as I went up to him. "This chap has been
searched! After he was dead, I mean. There's a body-belt that he
wore--it's been violently torn from him, his clothing ripped to get
at it, and the belt itself hacked to pieces in the endeavour to
find--something! Whose work has that been!"

"The work of the man who got away in the boat," said I. "Of course!
He's been after those rubies and pearls, Scarterfield."

"We must be after him," he said. "You say you think he was wounded in
getting away?"

"He was certainly wounded," I affirmed. "I saw him fall headlong in
the boat after the first shot; he recovered himself, fired the shot
which no doubt finished Baxter, and must have been wounded again, for
the two men again fired simultaneously, and the man in the boat swayed
at that second shot. But once more he pulled himself together and
rowed away."

"Well, if he's wounded, he can't get far without attracting notice,"
declared Scarterfield. "We'll organize a search for him presently. But
first let's have a look into the quarters that these Chinamen
occupied."

The smoke of the fire--which seemed to have broken out in the
forecastle and had been confined to it by the efforts of the sailors
from the destroyer--had now almost cleared away, and we went forward
to the galley. The fire had not spread to that, and after the scenes
of blood and violence astern and in the cabin the place looked
refreshingly spick and span; there was, indeed, an unusual air of
neatness and cleanliness about it. The various pots and pans shone
gaily in the sun's glittering lights; every utensil was in its place;
evidently the galley's controlling spirit had been a meticulously
careful person who hated disorder as heartily as dirt. And on a shelf
near the stove was laid out what I took to be the things which the
vanished cook, whoever he might be, had destined for breakfast--a
tempting one of kidneys and bacon, soles, eggs, a curry. I gathered
from this, and pointed my conclusion out to Scarterfield, that the
presiding genius of the galley had had no idea of the mutiny into
which he had been plunged soon after midnight.

"Aye!" said Scarterfield. "Just so--I see your point. And--you think
that man of Lorrimore's, Wing, was aboard, and if so, he's the man
who's escaped?"

"I've strong suspicions," said I. "Yet, they we