assed over; he gave a few sharp orders. Moorings were cast
off, a pinch of sail was lifted forward. The big craft found her freedom
with a lurch and a stagger; then pulled herself together and left the
land with a steady rush, skimming dead before the wind across the smooth
upper reach of the harbor and quickly losing herself in the murk and
spray that hung off Kowloon Point. Lee Fu somehow managed to avoid the
fleet at anchor off Wanchi; straight down the length of the bay he
struck, and in an incredibly short time we had left the harbor behind
and were whirling through the narrow gut of Lymoon Pass before a
terrific squall, bound for the open sea.

"I watched Captain Wilbur. He stood carelessly at the rail during our
race down the harbor, scanning the boat and the water with an air of
confidence and unconcern. A sneer curled his lip; he had made up his
mind to see the nonsense through. The sailor in him had quickly
recognized that the craft would stand the weather in smooth water; he
probably expected any minute that Lee Fu would call it quits and put
into some sheltered cove.

"But when we shot through Lymoon Pass, I saw him turn and scrutinize the
Chinaman closely. Darkness was falling behind the murk, the real night
now; and ahead of us lay a widening reach among the islands that opened
abruptly on the main body of the China Sea. We were rapidly leaving the
protection of Victoria Island. Soon we would be unable to see our way.
Ten miles outside a high sea was running. And with every blast of wind
that held in the same quarter, the center of the typhoon was bearing
down on us with unerring aim.

"These things were as patent to Wilbur as to any of us. In fact, his
knowledge was his undoing; had he been less of a sailor, or had he been
entirely ignorant of sea matters, he could have resigned himself to the
situation on the assumption that Lee Fu never would put himself in
actual danger. Perhaps Lee Fu had foreseen this when he chose the sea as
the medium of justice; perhaps he had glimpsed the profound and subtle
truth that Wilbur couldn't properly be broken save in his native
environment. He knew the sea, had trifled with it; then let him face the
sea.

"The time came, just before we lost the loom of the land, when Wilbur
could stand it no longer; as a sailor, used to responsibility and
command, he had to speak his mind.

"He dropped aft beside Lee Fu, and put his hand to his mouth. 'You're
running to your deat