ill. Number one police chop."

"Not the first time it wouldn't be!" retorted the fireman. "Not the
first time as you've been in trouble, Pidgin. An' unless they 'ung
yer--which it ain't 'umanly possible to 'ang a Chink--it wouldn't be
the last--an' not by a damn long way ..._an'_ not by a damn long way!"

Ah-Fang-Fu, shrugging resignedly, shuffled from bunk to bunk in quest
of a disused pipe, found one, and returning to the extemporised table,
began to load it, muttering to himself.

"Don't like to 'ear about your wicked past, do you?" continued Bill.
"Wicked old yellow-faced 'eathen! Remember the 'dive' in 'Frisco,
Pidgin? _Wot_ a rough 'ouse! Remember when I come in--full up I was:
me back teeth well under water--an' you tried to Shanghai me?"

"You cutee palaber. All damn lie," muttered the Chinaman.

"Ho! a lie is it?" roared the other. "Wot about me wakin' up all
of a tremble aboard o' the old _Nancy Lee_--aboard of a blasted
wind-jammer! Me--a fireman! Wot about it? Wasn't that Shanghaiin'?
Blighter! _An'_ not a 'oat' in me pocket--not a 'bean'! Broke to
the wide an' aboard of a old wind-jammer wot was a coffin-ship--a
coffin-ship she was; an' 'er old man was the devil's father-in-law.
Ho! lies! I _don't_ think!"

"You cutee palaber!" chattered Ah-Fang-Fu, busy with the pipe. "You
likee too much chin-chin. You make nice piece bhobbery."

"Not a 'bean'," continued Bill reminiscently--"not a 'oat.'" He sat up
violently. "Even me pipe an' baccy was gone!" he shouted. "You'd even
pinched me pipe an' baccy! You'd pinch the whiskers off a blind man,
_you_ would, Pidgin! 'And over the dope. Thank Gawd somebody's still
the right stuff!"

Suddenly, from a bunk on the left of Gaston Max came a faint cry.

"Ah! He has bitten me!"

"'Ullo!" said Bill--"wotcher bin given' _'im,_ Pidgin? _Chandu_ or
hydrerphobia?"

Ah-Fang-Fu crossed and handed him the pipe.

"One piecee pipee. No more hab."

Bill grasped the pipe eagerly and raised it to his lips. Ah-Fang-Fu
returned unmoved to his Patience and silence reclaimed the den, only
broken by the inarticulate murmuring and the lapping of the tide.

"A genuine customer!" whispered Max.

"Ah!" came again, more faintly--"he ... has ... bitten ... me."

"Blimey!" said Bill in a drowsy voice--"'eave the chair at 'im,
Pidgin."

Stuart was about to speak when Gaston Max furtively grasped his arm.
"Ssh!" he whispered. "Do not move, but look ... at the top of the
stair!