Mortmain Part 8

"Pardon me, sir," said Joyce, opening the door and handing a long box to Miss Fickles; "some roses with Lady Bella Forsythe's compliments, and 'opin' as 'ow you'll soon be all right again, sir."

THE RESCUE OF THEOPHILUS NEWBEGIN

I

The _Dirigo_ was a one-hundred-and-twenty-two foot gunboat, spick and span from the Cavite yard--lithe as a panther, swift as a petrel, gray as the mists off Hi-tai-sha--and she was his very own. The biggest, reddest day in all his twenty-three years of life was when the Admiral's order had come to leave the _Ohio_, where he had acted as a sort of apotheosized messenger boy and general escort to civilians' fat wives, and to proceed at once to Shanghai to a.s.sume command of her, provision and await further orders. It had cost him nine dollars and seventy-five cents to cable the joyful news adequately to his mother in Baltimore, and although the family resources were small--his father had died a lieutenant commander the year before--she had cabled back a "good luck and G.o.d bless you" to him. He only got as an ensign a paltry one hundred and twenty-eight dollars per month, and out of it came his mess bills and other expenses, but for all that he had enough to go down Nanking road and buy his mother a handsome mandarin cloak--Harry Dupont was going back on leave--and then to invite all the fellows he knew in Shanghai harbor to a jamboree at the club. It was going on at the time this story opens, boisterously and uproariously as befits the blow-out of a twenty-three-year old ensign who has just received his first command. The older civilians, who were drinking their comfortable "B & S" on the veranda, merely shrugged their shoulders as an impromptu refrain rose louder and louder to the pounding of bottles and the jingle of silverware.

Here's to the Kid and the _Dirigo_, He's off for a cruise on the Hw.a.n.g-ho!

The officers of the squadron, not wis.h.i.+ng to spoil the fun, slipped off to the billiard room or the bridge tables, or strolled back to the bar.

Most of them had letters to write for the American mail, which would leave the following morning, and more than one sighed as he glanced toward the upper veranda from below the club house. They knew how many and how long the years would be before any of those boys would be called "captain"--well, let them enjoy themselves! What was the use of croaking? There were compensations--of a sort. Even if one's people _were_ all on the other side of the globe or migrating from boarding house to boarding house in a vain endeavor to keep up with the changes in the billets of their husbands and fathers, one was still an officer of Uncle Sam's navy.

So reflected Follansbee, executive officer of the flags.h.i.+p _Ohio_, which had slipped into Woosung, ten miles below Shanghai, just as the sunset gun on the forts was echoing over the closely packed junks along the water front, and while the boy was engrossed to the extent of total oblivion with the club steward over the decoration of his dinner table and the choice between various highly recommended brands of Scotch and Irish. Follansbee was a good sort, who had already waited thirty-five years to get his battles.h.i.+p and was waiting still, and he had seen Jack Russell, the boy's father, die the year before at Teng-chan of a combination of liver and disappointment, all too common among naval officers in the East. Follansbee's own liver was none of the best, but he had cut down on the drink, and, anyhow, his wife was coming out on the _Empress of India_ next month. He hoped to G.o.d the _Ohio_ wouldn't be ordered to Sulu or some place impossible for her to follow him. That boy of Russell's--he liked that boy, he was all to the good; knew his place and kept his mouth shut. Follansbee wasn't going to b.u.t.t in and spoil his fun. It would do him good to get a little drunk. He remembered when he got _his_ first gunboat--thirty years ago. Whew! Follansbee stared up at the veranda, then sighed again and started down the _bund_.

Shanghai harbor was alive with light. The murmur of the city rose and fell on the soft, fragrant air, shockingly penetrated every now and then by the discordant shrieks of swiftly hurrying launches. The _bund_ was crowded with coolies, some toiling with heavy loads, others pulling their 'rikishas. Here and there flashed the colored lanterns of pedestrians. Beyond the junks lay many cruisers sweeping the starlit night with their quickly moving searchlights. Then one of these took him bang between the eyes and he stumbled and fell against some one coming up the walk.

"Where the deuce--!" shouted a clear young voice angrily. Then the note changed. "I beg pardon, sir--these confounded lights--I didn't see you at all."

Follansbee returned the mids.h.i.+pman's salute.

"Don't mention it!" he growled. "But what are you doing ash.o.r.e? I thought you had the deck."

"I did, but I'm trying to find Russell. The Admiral wants him. I took the s.h.i.+p's launch to the _Dirigo_ and they said there he was ash.o.r.e and hadn't left any word, only that he'd be back late. Have you seen him?"

"Can't you _hear_ him?" inquired Follansbee laconically.

A figure in white duck loomed suddenly into view on the veranda rail waving a bottle and shouting at the top of his lungs:

"I've got command of the _Dirigo_ An' I'm off for a cruise on the Hw.a.n.g-ho!"

followed by a tremendous chorus accompanied by cracking gla.s.s and unearthly yells.

"Do I!" exclaimed the mids.h.i.+pman under his breath. "Is that him?"

At that moment a searchlight illumined the figure in question and the mids.h.i.+pman answering his own question, "Yes, that's him," scrambled on up the steps.

Follansbee wondered how long it would take to deliver the Admiral's order and felt his way gingerly through the crowded street.

When the mids.h.i.+pman burst panting upon them they were standing on their chairs with their arms around one another's necks shouting the swinging chorus of

"The good old summer ti-i-me!

Oh, the good old summer ti-i-me!

For she's my tootsie-wootsie in The good old summer ti-i-me!"

"Come on up! There's plenty of room on my chair!" cried the boy excitedly, at sight of the mids.h.i.+pman, "we've only just begun." His face was very, very red and his eyes were very, very bright.

"Oh, the good old summer time!

Oh, the good old----"

"Here, what's the matter with you? Let me alone! What?"

He dropped his arms and climbed soberly enough down to the veranda floor while his comrades continued their refrain.

"Orders! From the Admiral! Is he here? I didn't know that the _Ohio_ had come in. With you in a jiffy."

"Don't wait," urged the mids.h.i.+pman, "it's important!"

The boy turned white.

"It isn't--bad news?" he asked apprehensively.

"No, no," answered the other quickly, remembering the news the boy had had the year before. "Just orders."

"Well, I won't spoil their fun," said the boy, echoing the sentiments earlier expressed by Follansbee. "Back in a minute, fellows: I've got to telephone! On with the dance, let joy be unrefined!"

While they slipped through the door the chorus changed again, and as the boy seized his cap, sprang down the steps and started for the launch landing, high above and behind him, he could still hear them singing:

"Here's to the Kid and the _Dirigo_, He's off for a cruise on the Hw.a.n.g-ho!"

II

"You sent for me, sir?"

Jack Russell stood in the doorway of the Admiral's cabin on the _Ohio_, cap in hand. The Admiral had been poring over some papers on his desk and for a moment did not dissect the voice from the whirring of the electric fan over his head, but as the boy took a step or two forward he turned and nodded.

"Oh, it's you, Russell. I didn't mean to disturb you on sh.o.r.e, but I've something for you to do and the sooner you start the better."

The boy awaited his words breathlessly--his first orders.

"It's rather a mean job, but I've n.o.body else available and, if you make good--of course, you _will_ make good--in fact, it's rather a chance to distinguish yourself."

"Thank you, sir."

The Admiral paused as if surely to observe the effect of his words.

"I want you to rescue a couple of missionaries."

The boy's countenance remained immobile.

"I received word this evening," continued the Admiral, picking up a half-smoked cigar, "that the rebellion has spread into Hu-peh and as far south as Kui-chan. They have murdered three American missionaries. Most of the others have escaped and have been reported safe, but nothing can be learned of two missionaries at Chang-Yuan--very estimable people, highly thought of in their denomination."