The Flying Boat Part 24

"What is it?" Burroughs shouted from within.

"Time fo' gettee up, sah," called the man, grinning at the can of shaving water he carried.

"What time is it?"

"No savvy allo plopa; time fo' gettee up all-same."

"It's hardly light, confound you! Didn't I tell you I wanted a long sleep?"

"Plenty muchee solly, sah; time fo' gettee up. One piecee fella outside come look-see Ma.s.sa Bullows; he say he no can wailo[#] befo' he hab talkee cash pidgin[#] 'long-side Ma.s.sa Bullows."

[#] Go away.

[#] Money matters.

"Send him to Sing Wen. You know perfectly well I don't do business in bed, you a.s.s. Any more of this foolo pidgin and you'll get the sack."

"Ma.s.sa no unastan'," cried Chin Tai excitedly. "This piecee man he say he come look-see Sing Wen evely day-lo; Sing Wen say he no can makee anyting fo' he; he muss waitee fo' ma.s.sa come back."

"Who is the blackguard?"

"He velly 'spectable fella, sah; he belongey opium shop-lo Pa-tang side."

"Oh! That's quite enough. Tell him to get out; I've nothing to do with him or his opium."

"My tellum all that, sah; he say he stop plenty longee time; ma.s.sa no look-see he, ch'hoy! he cut float on door-step all-same."

Extravagant as this threat might appear, Burroughs knew that it was by no means unheard-of for a Chinaman, smarting under a sense of injustice, to commit suicide on the threshold of the man who had injured him. He was considering whether he had not better get up and prevent the horrid deed, when Errington, who occupied the next room, came in by the communicating door.

"You're in for it, old chap," he said, laughing. "The receiver's as bad as the thief, you know, and there's going to be trouble about that moustache of yours."

He picked up the moustache from the dressing-table, and dangled it before Burroughs' disgusted eyes.

"Hang it all!" cried Burroughs, "I had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Sing Wen is the culprit."

"Qui facit per alium----"

"Oh, shut up! He wasn't my agent."

"You'll find it hard to prove that after giving him a hundred dollars.

Better see the fellow and save scandal. I'll stand by you, Moley."

Burroughs got out of bed, muttering anathemas, threw on his dressing-gown, and went to the door, followed by Errington. The sight of the grinning China boy waiting there with his shaving-can exasperated him, and Chin Tai shrank against the wall before his master's glare.

They went down-stairs. On the step at the outer door squatted the sleek form of the highly respectable brother-in-law of Sing Wen's brother. He rose and kow-towed humbly.

"Now, what do you want?" said Burroughs sternly.

"My velly solly come this time wakee up hon'ble genelum," said the man.

"My catchee plenty smart inside. Sing Wen he pay-lo hantun[#] dolla fo'

Toitsche genelum moustachee. Mandalin he makee my pay-lo hantun dolla squeeze.[#] My catchee nuffin, losee my numpa one cutsoma; he no belongey my shop no mo'e. Hai! plenty bad pidgin. Wuss pidgin all-same.

My pay-lo barber fella tin[#] dolla fo' fixee moustachee. My losee hantun dolla one time, 'nother time tin dolla; my tinkee hon'ble genelum pay-lo tin dolla, my wailo all plopa inside."

[#] Hundred.

[#] Fine.

[#] Ten.

"That's only fair," said Errington in a laughing undertone to Burroughs.

"You don't want the poor chap to be absolutely out of pocket over the business."

"It might be worse," growled Burroughs. "I'll give you a chit[#] to Sing Wen to pay you ten dollars. That'll satisfy you?"

[#] Note.

"My savvy hon'ble genelum numpa one fella," cried the delighted man, bowing to the ground.

"I say, what'll you give me for this?" asked Errington, producing the moustache from behind his back.

The Chinaman stared. His eyes gleamed.

"Hai! My pay-lo fifty dolla," he exclaimed. "Takee wailo tin dolla, forty dolla lef behind." He opened his money pouch and counted out the notes. "My savvy catchee plenty good pidgin, galaw!"

"Don't offer it to Mr. Reinhardt, you know," said Errington, as the man pocketed the moustache.

"My savvy plopa pidgin," said the man with a leer, and shuffled away.

Reinhardt had a very unpleasant quarter of an hour with Su Fing on the chief's arrival at Meichow. Explain, protest as he might, the rebel refused to believe him, and accused him (unkindest cut of all) of voluntarily transferring his moustache to Burroughs for the purpose of deception. But Reinhardt was a German, and therefore personally inviolate. Su Fing sent him ignominiously down the river, expressing with ironic courtesy his ardent wish that his moustache would never grow less.

Reinhardt would gladly have gone into retirement until he could once more show a German face to the world. Unhappily, within a week a peremptory message from his firm summoned him to Shanghai. His appearance in the European quarter was the reverse of triumphant. Some old acquaintances affected not to recognize him; others addressed him in such tones of mournful sympathy that he could hardly control his rage.

The story had already got about, and when he entered the Club (for he did not lack courage) the air of kindly commiseration with which he was greeted drove him frantic. The younger members of the club talked among themselves of getting up a subscription for the purchase of a new moustache. In a few days his dressing-table was littered with a great variety of infallible hair-growers. The directors of Ehrlich Sohne said very unpleasant things of the ridicule he was reflecting on the firm.

There were bets in the Club that he would stand it for ten days; but n.o.body grudged paying up when, at the end of a week, it was known that he had taken pa.s.sage for Hamburg. There was a vast crowd to see him off, and this evidence of his popularity gained him the good-will of the uninformed pa.s.sengers until the story leaked out on board the liner. His voyage home was not pleasant.

The last that was heard of Conrad Reinhardt was a story from the German Cameroons. He had got into bad odour with the natives, and one day disappeared. Several persons, probably innocent, were punished; but he was soon forgotten.

Lo San and Chin Tai had behaved very well during the time of stress in which their lives and their masters' hung in the balance. But when they returned to the routine of service at Sui-Fu, their daily bickerings were resumed. Chin Tai's animosity was fed by the substantial present with which Errington rewarded Lo San's devotion. Lo San, it must be confessed, was very exasperating. In the midst of a wordy war with his fellow-servant he would twit him with his ignorance and want of enterprise. He took a delight in displaying to the cook and other domestics, in Chin Tai's presence, the card tricks by means of which he had paid his way to Meichow.