Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-16
THE YELLOW DANGER
THE STORY OF THE WORLDS GREATEST WAR.
BY NJ P. STiIEL.
ry r. f.
BY NJ. P. SHIEL.
Copyright. 1899. by R. F. Fenno Col

/
| lashed. azure blue eyes possessed tie fac
| ulty of seeing
1t often happened that people who came
INTO contact with this young sailor thought
| vi MN second time at unexpected mo-
! ments, as the admiral now did.
| IN previous chapter we said that DIR.
| zen Row, sitting in a London bus on "A GER
| tam night, was perhaps the most inlpor-
| tant person I'm the world We should have,
stated the fact with quite absolute decision
H., II II were not that we were thinking OF
| this particular sub-lieutenant John Hardy.
/ they two-the little Chinese doctor and
THIS consumptive English lad-held In their
Names Eas the destinies Of the world.
| fach mad his own idea OF the shane Which
| the future Of the human race shoula take.
| each was determined that II should Take
the shape which he chose. and no other.
ana each ives immensely strong
| TX was fated that these two should meet
| soon-and more than once
| IL was now o'clock and the blueiackets
! mac already passed in swarm of hurry
/ ing boats to their respective shins AZ tbe
| kilograms arrived from the coast guards.
| men on the southeast coast they were trans
m ,a by semaphore TO the feet. The Mag
niflcent, under Rear Admiral John Fellowes,
| was the flagship OF the second In command
| or the channel squadron, and now I'm the
| ship OF the fleet
AT the Horse Guards meanwhile LORD
Wolseiey was receiving and sending mes
sase after message, both telephone and
Geographic, relating to the dispatch OF
| troops from Aldershot. Victoria, London
| Bridge and Chaplain Junction to the SOUTH
| Every ten pinutes Brighton and South
| Coast train packed with over a thousand
| regulars and volunteers carrying a DAYS
| cooked rations, dashed forth from each OK
THESE stations. Away in hasty flight swept
| the long strings of brstling carriages the
throttle valves shriekins the dragon cry Of
defiance and challenge which England sent
out In answer to her foes.
| BY O'Clock fifteen thousand men were
massed upon Brighton, and an unaccustonll
ed rattle OF some ninety limbers sent thrills
OF very unusual dismay through the placid
| ocurgeoiste OF London by -the-Sea. War SO
long word and a myth, had suddenly be.
| come n thing, real enough. near enough.
Long hles or private carriages, taking away
mostly women and children, wended north-
! ward upon the Brighton road. while y
crowd filled the steep street leading to the
station. TO watch the ever-new batch OF
| arrivals which debarked at all the plat
| FOL ms. up and down alike and at sldings,
| the emptfes being returned along the up
and down lines according to convenience
| BY o'clock thirty thousand troops with
| one hundred and ten guns. under Sir Evelyn
| Wood. were concentrated, and waiting for
the enemy; and all through the night the
| number was being rapidly increased.
But they waited in vain.
England had-Seen several times invaded
| by foreigners. The last occasion was IN
! tho year 1865, and that occasion Providence
| designed to be the last forever. This lana
| had since then nursed a race as superb
and firm as the foot with which she spurned
| the breakers raving round her inviolate
| shores.
| At one bell in the second dog watch the
| signal was given from the flagship; tho
| channel squadron, in double line ahead.
| at intervals of six cables, some under
| forced draught was to steam down Spit
head for the channel, the Magnificent, like
| the bell-wether of q flock, leading one
| line, the Prince George the other.
AT that moment John Hardy climbed from
the lookout pinnace which he had been
pei mitted to command. onto the deck OF the
Jupiter ,..,.
| himself, he skunk guiltiy. He knew that
he had only to be noticed to be turned per-
euptorily away. He was merely a visitor
a guest-a privileged one. IL is true-but en-
outsider. That he should dream of taking
part In the coming fight was preposterous,
the more so as every man knew beforehand
that all were going to certain death. And
no had no shadow of status in any ship
present
But he wanted desperately to see the row,
and his mind was one of those dominant
ones not very subject to considerations Of
routine.
Once, when a ''cmef-captain" of cadets
on the Britannia, with no further tempta-
ton to dissoluteness than his weekly two
and-six-pence of pocket-money. he had been
reported to the admiralty for ''unsatisfac-
tory conduct" another such report, and he
would have hidden farewell to the British
navy forever, 1t was that Same gypsy at
titude OF mind. that sort of devil may-cars
lawlessness characteristic of him, when
was working in him now, as he stood sulk-
fly there, abaft the after-funnel. He felt
like being shut out and banished-and he
wanted to see the row. He thought OF
skedaddling and hiding till the ship was
we'll out from land.
In this contrvance. and even while he
hesitated. Captain Angus Macleod sighted
him.
of Hardy's father. and was an executor or
the very large real and personal torture
of which the boy was the heir HARDY now
at the age Of nearly nineteen, was an or
phan. The family was Hampshire. lhe
country house in which he had passed MS
earlier boyhood lies fifteen miles south OF
Andover.
The captain beckoned. Hardy ran and
stood before him on the hurricane deck,
with downcast eyes ana cheeks DiUs'llS
like girls BY nature he was extremely
bashful
you here?" said the captain. with deep
seriousness in his tone. -. -,,,t
LAS you see, ST. answered Jonn, Win
faint attempt at a smile and nervous
shifting of e leg
you know as well do. John," SAID
the cantain. sternly. that this is only
piece oe insolence on yoEr part!
IF Il strikes you in tGat light, s!r-oe
course; but / Ghould take it very krdiy
OF you If you could see your way to let NE
be in for the trouble"
precedented piece Of check John Ha.dyt
Be good enough TO get ashore, cir. DO YOU
imagine that am going to have your b!o'd
on my hands. then?
Whose blood. air?''
Your blood, sir
MY blood is all right. sir" said John,
sulkily. 49,. ....,,
see that we are all going 70 pretty certain
death, boyP'
II can't think that sir.
mot? Aren't French and German can-
non as good as English, then2'
They may be on land, sir; but hafhly'
think, on her majesty's seas
AT these words, her majestys seas
back went the captains head in one sud-
den cry of gleeful laughter. Her majeStys
seasi Perhaps there was not one hVihs
man English enough and audacious enough
TO produce that phrase save this particular
sub-lieuterant standing bashruily there.
But he on his part. saw nothing e&-
traordinary in the phrase; il slipped from
him quito naturally. an offspring OF ms
ouietly supercilious habit OF mind.
The captains face settled soon again 10
gravity. This was no laughing matter.
.sBut we are wasting time John Hardy
he said severely "Will you be good enough
now to leave my shipT'
I'm what, sir?
'Tn-in-what did you come in?'
TN the picket boat, sir
The caDtain turned his face from Glde 70