ed angrily, "there you are, sir! Why didn't you come at
once, sir?"

"I did, sir; but was kept waiting till you were ready."

"Well, sir, don't answer in that pert way. It sounds like insolence.
That will not do, Mr Herrick, if you wish to get on in your profession.
Now, sir, your orders were to stop by the landing-place, with the boat
in charge, ready for my return, were they not?"

"Yes, sir; but--"

"Silence, sir! How dare you interrupt me? I go up through the broiling
heat to have an interview with that wretched, stolid, obstinate
mandarin, with his confounded button and peacock-feather; and when I do
get back, perfectly exhausted by the heat, half-dead, I find no boat."

"No, sir; but--"

"Silence, sir! Will you let me speak? The consequence is that, because
you choose to disobey orders, and take the men off to indulge in some of
the disgusting drinks of this wretched country--"

"I beg pardon, sir," I cried; "I--"

"Mr Herrick! am I to place you under arrest? Be silent, sir. I say, I
return with my escort from an important diplomatic visit, arranged so as
to impress the people, and when I return, almost fainting with the heat,
there is no boat, because you have allowed the men to impose upon you;
and you are away drinking with them, I suppose?"

"No, sir; I--"

"Mr Herrick!" he roared, "I will not bear it. I say there was no boat;
and not only am I forced to submit to the indignity of waiting, and
listening to the gibes of the low-class Chinese, and to see their
scowls, but our delay there--through you, sir--results, I say results,
in the miserable wretches taking advantage thereof, and, thinking me
helpless, working themselves up to an attack. When at last you do come
crawling up with those four men, they are purple-faced from drinking,
every one threatened by apoplexy--why, your own face is crimson, sir;
and I could smell the men when I stepped on board."

"No, sir--the dirty harbour, sir," I said. "Smells horrid."

"You are under arrest, sir. Go! No; stop and hear me out first, sir.
I say that, through your delay, I am kept there on that wretched wharf;
and when I do push off, I have--I, Her Majesty's representative, in the
sight of these Chinese scoundrels--I have, I say, to suffer from the
insult and contumely of being pelted, stoned, of having filth thrown at
me. Look at my nearly new uniform coat, sir. Do you see this spot on
the sleeve? A mark that will never come out. That w