The times., 1898-06-19
THE LIGHT OF LY-CHEE.

at the yellow. slant+eyed face that looked
down at me and then to the door, as If
fearful of something behind.
No lemember Cabbagee Jimmy. eh?
Long time ago; Austlaiia-M Mellyong-sta-
tion-dlought-eh. Now lemember, eh?.
And while the man spoke there came to
mind memoressef a far-away land; of tor
rid heat, of dead and dying sheep and cat
tie. OF. all ths,ehorror OF AN Australian
drought, with among them one grateful
! recollection of a patch of verdure. sole
thing almost that made life endurable at
desiccated. God-forsaken, hateful Merry
ong. Why, OF course, l remember Cab
basee" now, and how patiently during all
those long rainless months he stroye to
keep the station in green. stuff, carry
! ing water TO the ash heap called garden,
| morning. noon and night, in his struggle
against nature in that drear Western
wilderness vre-
and now, as l sit in my pajamas on the
! edge OF my bunk and looked at the bui-
| let headed. ugly beggar, | felt quite pleas
\ ed at the unexpected meeting, little think
/ ing that it would turn out so badly for
| poor Jimmy. ! suppose my face showed
| my thoughts. for he grinned. exhibiting
/ all his discolored fangs of teeth as ne
i said. ''AIl-lil Me cooks mate. Spose
| no CANNON! Me see you come on board.
GU look outi Bad lot sailah feliah. ALI
Annoy men. You no tell L say. and. draw
ing a Tong. finger suggestively across his
throat. Jimmy disappeared.
Talk about the world being wide! Why,
| il was about ten years ago since, giving
| up squatting in disgust / had gone back
| to my Old profession medicine, and prac-
| ticed mostly ever since in Sydney and
| Melbourne. Now, taking my first holiday
| in the East. / must needs stumble across
! Cabbage Jimmy, transformed into
| cooks mate of the Ly-chee. a coasting
| steamer in which l was making u trip
| from Singapore to Swatow. And as l sat
| there, through my mind ran thoughts of
| those long-gone, dreary days of hopeless
/ struggle with drought and disaster on
| ever-dry back creeks; of the sultry. stiff
| ling weather with never break for
months, while ruin was spelling itself
| slowly out and the stink of rotting car
casses mingled with that Of the gidyea.
Merryong, yes; l remembered" all
| right, now, But what did Jimmy mean
| by his warning? 1t might be serious.
| and perhaps l had better tell the skipper
| at once. So getting on deck, / assembled
| 10 the bridge. 1t was beautiful morn
/ ing, and the Ly-chee was punching along
| with the coast well in sight on the port
| hand. and whole crowd of Chinese try
ills 10 put some h.lli OI DItltt lltO llit
! cargo which numbered the craft fore and
! aft.
! was the only white passenger, but oc
! cupying a large deck cabin next to me
| were three Chinese gentlemen who l had
| hard were going to start business in
1 Swatow as bankers. And, to judge from
1 the pile of iron-bound boxes that filled
a spare berth, they seemed TO have
| brought lots of stock in the shape of dol
| lars with them. They were quiet folk,
! well hammered after their fashion. Cour-
| leous and polite, bu1 unable TO speak
word OF English, even the vile ''pidgin
universally in vogue; therefore our in
| tercourse was limited.
! Nothing was further from my mind than
! 10 pose as an alarmist. Moreover, I had
4 my doubts as - how the skipper. who
| was inclined to be bumptiOus and TO fan
| cy that he and his little iron tank owned
| the ocean, would take any warning from
/ d stranger and new chum- Also. l knew
that times were quiet. gunbOaJs plentiful.
and pirates fast becoming an anomaly
Still. the eX-gardener of MerryOng' )
words. few and slight as they were. had
/ carried conviction with them. ] had seen,
| TOO. that Jimmy was badly frightened
! Therefore, considering all this. ! felt il
my duty 10 tell the captain our conversa-
lion word for word. He received very
much as l expected he would, perhaps
| rather more 50.
Pooh" said he with a supercilious
4 laugh the fellow was only taking a rise
| out OF you- OF course, some years back.
We ali had 10 go armed and keep a bright
lookout. But now-why. l don't think
! there's pistol amongst US? It's only raw
passengers that get scared My crowd 5
| all right. They were especially recon-
| mended by Liuchang. the cOmpany's COM
pradore. Nor. in any case. would they be
game 10 play any hanky-panky on me;
I'm too well known. The other passen-
gers yondeT. have got about 10000 taels
! on board, and you bet they wouldn't have
shipped with me if they'd had any doubts.
1 'Biiged 20 you mister all the same But
| don't be alarmed. nor raise a scare
| amongst the others if you can help 1t.
| Youth see Swatow. and the Ly-chee too.
safe enough" Which. after results con-
sidered has always struck me as a good
example Of one of those random remarks
that. after the event. one thinks a most
perverse and unknd fate must have put
, into the speakers mouth.
Resides the captain and myself, the
only other Europeans on the Ly-chee were
the two mates and the chief engineer
the second being a Malay of peculiarly
: villanous aspect.
= OF course. my story being made light
Of by the captain. I could not very well
even if I had wished to do so. have gone
so as their personalities We're in no way
inviting: the two deck officers beinl
merely Straits Settlement beach-combers
hunted by the police into so much ac
tivity as would earn them few dollar:
for a spree before the next bout of loaf
ing. This much a friend in Singapore haC
told me: adding. however for my com
fort that they would serve as well as the
/. / best for a short passage. The engineer
was of different stamp-a big Aberdo
man. and decent man enough: but on,
= who / felt would be little inclined L
trouble himself with anything out of hi!
own beaten routine.
| J. however determined to have anothe
! talk with Jimmy. and see whether
couldn't get something a little more def
mite from him. But he fought very sh,
Of me. and it was late that night befor
/ succeeded in cornering him alone in tn
, bit Of a sentry box they called the pantry
Now, Jimmy l said. without pream
| BILE. lets hear all about this business
You knowi" and / took up knife tha
lay handy and put It to my throat Conn
on: fire away. I'll see that nobody doe
} you any harm. What are your Amo,
friends up to-a bit of piracy, eh?'
No sayee; no savee," replied Jimmy
turning actually green with fear, Will,
showing the whites of his eyes in a horri
BILE manner as he stared over my shoulder
What YOU wantee? Me cooks mate
! | No savee" he continued as, turning.
! found myself face TO face with the stew
: ard, tall Chinaman with a long, broad
= red scar running down the side of his lef
cheek from ear to chin, giving him a yer,
| truculent look.
Me steward. sah,' said he darting ;
o | most malignant glance at Jimmy. 'Shee
> steward. You wantee watah; me blinge
! you. Soda watah, blandee, lemon quash