Adventure, July 1, 1928 — page 153: what you’re looking at

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

THE THRALDOM OF SINGAN chance he give me. I gotta him now; you make no- mistake, mister.” Disregarding the Portuguese, and rea- lizing that his own life was in no little danger, Eade placed his forearms under the Chinese’s armpits and lifted him into a standing position. And even then Liu Tang staggered like a drunken man, though he had Eade on one side of him and the serang upon the other. _ - They led him to a small cubbyhole alongside the cook’s galley. The place was unlighted and unventilated, and half filled with all sorts of odds and ends such as coils of rope, paint pots and brushes, oilcans, brooms and holystones. Quental pushed the Chinese over the threshold, then slammed the door, locked it and put the key in his pocket. Then he looked round at Eade and grinned, showing yellow, dirty teeth. “Gotta him!” he repeated. one good night’s work, yes!” “And what about the ship?’ asked Eade. “Are we here for good? Will we want a tug to pull us off, or can you manage it yourself?” The fact that the engines had been silent for some minutes had made Eade think that perhaps Gottheimer was right, and they would never get up to Nolak. Quental shrugged his shoulders. “Much dark now,” said he. “The mast has fouled the trees, mister. Bimeby, when daylight come I think we got off. The tide up then and that make plenty difference. You trust me, mister. I not want lose my ship. “Well,” said the other, “and are you going to leave that fellow in there all night?” “More safer place for him,” said Quen- tal. “You not know him, mister, same like me. Best thing for you, you go to sleep. No one come up this river. We gotta wait.” A IT WAS still quite early, Eade had “Mister, no desire to turn in. He went on to the main deck and lit a cigar, and was there joined after a few minutes by both Madame Scala and Gottheimer, 147 who announced that -there was nothing the matter with the lady’s shoulder be- yond a severe contusion. The three talked for a while on general topics, Gottheimer becoming almost amiable. And then Madame Scala de- clared that she had no intention of sleep- ing anywhere but on deck, as below there was not a breath of air to breathe. In- deed, she had-already given orders to the Chinese steward to bring up her mattress and blankets. As Gottheimer refused to follow her example, saying that he would rather sleep in an oven than be eaten alive by mosquitoes—John Eade was left in a predicament. He knew that he would never get a wink of sleep in his cabin; but, on the other hand, his inexperience of the East led him to think that he ought to consider the proprieties. When Madame Scala went below to undress, Eade decided to make the most of the few minutes that were left to him and finish his cigar on the poop, wh’ch, being well out toward midstream, seemed to be the coolest part of the ship. There the hurricane lamp was still burning where he himself had placed it on the deck; and there, too, lay the curved knife that had dropped from Liu Tang’s hand when Quental knocked him down. Eade picked up that knife and looked at it. It was a murderous looking weapon with a long thin blade and sharp as a razor. The crew seemed to have turned in. Quental had himself disappeared, prob- ably into his cabin. Eade threw the knife down, the sharp point sticking in the hard teak boards, the ivory handle vibrating like a tuning fork. That made him thank his stars that he had managed to hang on to the Chinese during their struggle. If Liu Tang had got a hand free with that knife, it would have been all up with John Eade. He sat down on the iron seat where he had sat with Madame Scala, and tried to think the matter out. He'wondered who the devil this Liu Tang was. He had evidently come on’ board the Chauve- comnlicloooks.com