ids showed surprise. The right hand, holding a bit of tow,
mechanically continued polishing the brass around the port-hole, but the
left--long, thin, and with claw-like nails, shot stealthily forward and
snatched the pistol.

For a full minute the polishing continued, then face and figure
vanished, and Reynolds was left staring in impotent rage at the empty
port-hole.

When the room steward appeared in answer to an imperative summons, he
was directed to send Tsang Foo to room No. 7 at once.

Tsang came almost immediately, bearing tea and anchovy sandwiches, which
he urbanely placed on a camp-stool.

"Where's my pistol?" demanded Reynolds hotly, holding to the door to
steady himself.

Tsang's eyes, earnest as a dog's, were lifted to his:

"He fall overboard," he explained suavely, "me velly solly."

Reynolds impulsively lifted his arm to strike, but a second impulse,
engulfing the first, made him turn and fling himself upon his berth,
struggling to master the heavy sobs that shook him from head to foot.

The Chinaman softly closed the door and slipped the bolt, then he
dropped to a sitting posture on the floor and waited.

When the squall had passed, Reynolds addressed his companion from the
depths of the pillows in language suited to his comprehension.

"Me belong large fool, Tsang!" he said savagely. "Have drink too much.
No good. You go 'long, I'm all right now."

Tsang's eye swept the disordered room and returned to the figure on the
bed. "Suppose me go," he said, "you makee one hole in head?"

"That's my business," said Reynolds, his wrath rekindling. "You go
'long, and get my pistol; there's a good chap."

Tsang did not stir; he sat with his hands clasped about his knees, and
contemplated space with the abstract look of a Buddha gazing into
Nirvana.

Reynolds passed from persuasion to profanity with no satisfactory
result. His language, whether eloquent or fiery, beat upon an
unresponsive ear. But being in that condition that demands sympathy, he
found the mere talking a relief, and presently drifted into a recital of
his woes.

"I'm up against it, in the hole, you know, much largee trouble," he
amplified with many gestures, sitting on the side of his berth, and
pounding out excited, incoherent phrases to the impassive figure
opposite. "Company sent me out to collect money. My have spent all. No
can go back home. Suppose my lose face, more better die!"

Tsang shifted his position and nodded grav