the boat might be, he was evidently neither an
enemy nor a spy; for hardly had the challenge left the seaman's mouth
when the reply came out of the darkness, in a thin, high-pitched, timid
voice: "All alightee; all alightee; it only me."

"And who the mischief may `only me' be?" growled Drake, who had been
very considerably startled, and therefore felt rather annoyed with
himself.

"Sh, sh! mastel," urged the voice; "you makee not so muchee shout; it
vely dangelous. Thlow me lope, so I climb up; I got big piecee news for
mastel." And the sound of muffled oars was again heard, this time
evidently close to the ship.

"H'm!" muttered Drake under his breath to Frobisher; "I don't much like
the look of this. It seems as though something had miscarried, for this
fellow to come out here at this time of night, with a `big piecee news'.
I suppose there is no doubt the beggar really has a message of some
sort for us, so I'll have to let him come aboard. But if he tries any
hanky-panky tricks, I'll send him over the side in double-quick time to
feed the sharks. I can't afford to have this venture miss fire now.
Jones, open the gangway, and throw a rope over the side," he added,
turning to one of the seamen; "and stand by to hit, and hit hard, if
everything is not exactly as it should be."

A rope was allowed to slide over the side through the open entry port;
and a moment later it began to quiver as the occupant of the boat left
his craft and proceeded to scramble up, hand over hand. Presently there
appeared on deck a little, thin, wizened man, who might have been any
age over sixty. He was clothed in nothing but a length of brown cotton
material swathed round his body, and round the upper part of each leg,
the end being drawn up between the thighs so as to form a kind of rough
apology for a pair of knickerbockers. His lower limbs and feet were
bare, and on his head he wore one of those high, broad-brimmed, conical
hats that are so common among the Koreans.

"Well," exclaimed Drake sharply, as this peculiar-looking individual
reached the deck and stood staring round him, "what the dickens d'ye
want? Who are ye? What's your name?"

"My name Ling-Wong, mastel," replied the Korean, "and I come flom
Excellency Kyong-Bah, at Yong-wol."

"Phew!" whistled Drake, turning to Frobisher. "Kyong-bah is the man I
negotiated with about this cargo. What's in the wind, I wonder? Yes--
go on," he added to Ling impatiently. "W