Adventure, July 1, 1928 — page 152: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

146 “Can you speak English?” he asked. The man nodded. “Then perhaps you'll answer my ques- tions now. Where do you come from? And what are you doing on board this ship? You had best speak the truth!’* The Chinese’s eyes narrowed into the merest slits, though he never shifted his gaze. He was certainly a handsome fel- low, though far from pleasant looking. He looked as if he had about as much pity and human sympathy in his composition as a cobra. He replied in almost perfect English. “TI tell you nothing until I know who you are,” said he. “Why should I?” ““You’re a cool customer, anyway,” said Eade. “I’m a passenger on board this ship, if you want to know—and that’s all you will know. You seem to have for- gotten that you’re a stowaway, if you understand what that means.” The other laughed—not as a white man laughs, just a curl of his thin lips and a kind of snarl. “If I wanted to,”’ said he, “I could take a first class passage from here to Frisco. When I travel I please myself.” Eade was getting interested. He wanted to find out more about this ex- traordinary man,’ who was certainly no coolie, Lut a well educated, high class_ Chinese. Liu Tang, however, knew how to keep his own counsel; and it is open to question whether Eade would have dis- covered anything more about him that night, even if Quental had not then re- turned to the poop, accompanied by his lascar serang—a gray bearded, barefoot seaman from the Malabar coast, with a countenance as brown and wrinkled as a walnut. : When Quental saw that Liu Tang was sitting up, he stepped back quickly and let out an oath, in a breathless, frightened voice. “Liu Tang, it’s queets now, see?” he cried. “I pay you back, yes. But you come aboard my ship without passage money. I put you in irons, savvy? I gotta the law my side, Liu Tang. Hands up, or I shoot you, presto!” CHARLES GILSON As he spoke, he produced from out of: his coat pocket a huge revolver, the big- gest Eade had ever seen in his life. Whether or not the little Portuguese was capable of using it to any good effect was another question, for the American ob- served that Quental’s hand was trembling, and though his words were brave enough, there had been a distinct quaver in his voice. The Chinese, on the other hand, re- garded the captain with the utmost scorn. In the lamplight his features were seen to assume a sneer in which there was as much amusement as contempt. At the same time, he did what he was told, though it was only with the greatest difficulty that he succeeded in holding up his hands. : Drawing himself into an upright posi- tion, still sitting on the deck, he swayed slightly from side to side, as if he were still dizzy. Quental, with his revolver leveled at Liu Tang, gave orders to the serang who, with the deft hands of a sailor, quickly knotted the two wrists together after he had lowered both arms behind the Chinese’s back. “Now you queeck march,” said Quen- tal. “You gotta get up, or I shoot. Lock you up in a safe place, Liu Tang. I gotta the law; you not forget that. I queeck settle a Chinese stowaway. You not do what I say, and I punch a hole right through your stomach, savvy?” GAIN EADE feared for the China- man’s life; for Quental was so obviously frightened that he might let off the gun by mistake at any moment. For the time being, most of Eade’s sympathy was on the side of the unfortunate Liu Tang. “Hold hard a bit!” he intervened. “The fellow can’t get up, Guess he’s half asleep still, and his head sings like a kettle. If you want to lock the poor devil up, I suppose you’re within your rights; but give him a chance, Captain. You can’t hit a man when he’s down.” “Give him chance!” Quental almost screamed. ‘That yellow devil! Much comicloooks.com