“You see, Darrin, this isn’t the first time I have served Chinese officials among white men. I was in Nu-ping when that yarn got abroad that the missionaries had secretly looted that old temple and had removed millions in loot, burying the treasure secretly in the compound grounds of the mission at Nu-ping. You have no idea how such stories take hold in China. Doubtless, as a result of former rebellions and wars in China, the country is full of spots where fortunes have been buried for safety, with the people who buried the treasure killed off and the secret lost. I believed fully that the missionaries had buried such a treasure here at Nu-ping. The governor was sure of it, and so were his secretaries and the few other officials who had heard the story.”

“Then why didn’t the governor proceed officially and legally to have the mission grounds dug up and searched?” Dave asked.

“Don’t you understand?” cried Pembroke. “If the governor had done that and found the treasure, he would have had to turn it over to the central government. In that there would be mighty little graft for his excellency. Now, unless he did it in an open and official manner, the missionaries could resist and report his excellency to the central government. Being a governor in China in these days isn’t quite so fine a job as it was in the old days under the emperors. In those days the governor was called a viceroy – a ruler who served in the place of the monarch, and a mighty big chap a viceroy was. But these governors of the new breed are not such powerful chaps, though they still have many chances to steal without detection.

“But our yellow governor here at Nu-ping looked the situation over on all sides. He decided that it would be best to have a rebellion take place here on a small scale, have the missionaries killed or chased away, and then have his own men dig up the mission grounds and find the treasure. In the first place, our Nu-ping chap has about twelve thousand troops under his command. They could stop any rebellion that started around here. It was necessary to get the troops out of the way, so his excellency got ready to send them out of the way. He kept in town only the few troops you saw to-day. With so few soldiers he couldn’t be expected to stop a rebellion, could he?

“The more his excellency thought over the matter of the hidden millions in the mission grounds, the more he itched for them. Sin Foo sent for me, and I talked it over with them. The rebellion, once started, might last quite a while. We looked over the American fleet in Asiatic waters and decided that the ‘Castoga’ was the only naval craft of light enough draft to come up the Nung-kiang River to this point. His excellency wanted to take time for a leisurely rebellion, but knew that this gunboat would be sent up here at the first murmurs of trouble. So he sent me to Manila to look over this craft, and, if possible, to cripple or sink her.”

“Sink this gunboat?” asked Dave, in amazement.

“Yes,” Pembroke nodded. “It struck his excellency as being worth while, in case his rebellion here should last long enough.”

“But how could you sink the ‘Castoga’?”

“Not such a difficult thing, if I got myself liked by the officers aboard,” Pembroke replied. “Some afternoon I could put off and come aboard, carrying a suitcase. I could have asked you, or any other officer, to let me leave my case in his cabin over night, couldn’t I?”

“Yes,” Dave said. “But how sink the boat?”

“If the suitcase contained the right contents, and if those contents went off in the dead of night, it would be easy, wouldn’t it?” asked Pembroke, flushing.

“And – you – you – would have done such a thing as that?” gasped Ensign Dave.

“I would have done it – at that time,” Pembroke confessed. “Darrin, drifting through the Orient as I have done for some years, and always needing money – as I did – a fellow gets so he will do many things that he would hardly do in the good old home town.”

Dave shuddered.

“His excellency’s secretary – ” Pembroke went on, but Darrin interrupted to ask:

“The ‘Burnt-face’ chap?”

“Yes. He went to Manila with me to see that I stuck to my job, and that I didn’t misapply too much of the expense money that I carried.”

“I want to ask you something, Pembroke,” Dave broke in quietly. “Do you know anything about the Chinaman who was slain almost alongside this craft one night in Manila?”

“A good deal,” the stricken man admitted. “He was a Christian convert, and the fellow overheard the secretary and myself talking of our plans. In trying to get away the eavesdropper made noise enough so that we pursued him. He escaped us, but we felt that he had to be found. Now, that Chinese convert, like most poor and simple people of his race, did not think of going to the police. He was bound to reason toward more direct procedure. My accomplice felt that the convert would try to warn the commander of the threatened gunboat. That was what he did. He put off alone, at night, to paddle out to the Castoga.’ My accomplice and another Chinese pursued, and – well, you know what was done with the sword.”

Dave looked up from a deep revery as Pembroke finished. As he did so he noticed that the surgeon and a hospital man had been listening in the shadow beyond. Witnesses to such a rehearsal were necessary, so Darrin did not object.

“But tell me one thing,” Dave asked, presently. “In Manila I saw ‘Burnt-face’ look after Miss Chapin with a look amounting to hatred. Why should that have been?”

“Because, in the first place, the fellow hates all Christians, and missionaries in especial. Miss Chapin is a missionary; more, she is engaged to wed the Rev. Mr. Barstow, of the party that you rescued. Now, he and the Rev. Mr. Barstow have been at odds for some time, and the Chinaman hates the missionary most sincerely. Probably the secretary knew that Miss Chapin is engaged to Mr. Barstow.”

“Why did you come up with the party with which Miss Chapin and my wife traveled?” asked Dave.

“Because it was the quickest way to get to Nu-ping,” Pembroke admitted. “And my own reason for coming back here was to get my own share of the loot which, until to-day, I really believed existed in the mission grounds. Now, I think you know all. I – I-”

“You are very tired; I can see that,” said Ensign Darrin quietly. “I am greatly obliged to you for what you have told me, for it has cleared up many points that had puzzled me.”

“You think me a villain – an utter scoundrel, don’t you?” asked Pembroke.

“Yes,” Dave assented, speaking as quietly as before. “Any man who can plot to take innocent lives at wholesale is certainly a wicked scoundrel. But, if you should recover, I hope that you will lead a new life, and will be manly hereafter.”

“I – I wonder if a man can do that, after he has led the kind of life that I have led?” smiled Pembroke, weakly.

“I think so. I believe that you can. But that is not as much in my line as some other questions. The man you should talk with is one of the missionary party. Shall I waken one of them and ask him to come to you?”

“Not to-night,” Pembroke answered, tossing. “I am too weary. If I am alive in the morning, perhaps.”

“Good night,” said Dave, bending over the berth and holding out his hand.

“Can you shake hands with a fellow such as you now know me to be?” demanded Pembroke, in utter amazement.

“Not with the fellow you have been, but with the man I hope you’re going to be,” Dave answered. “Good night, Pembroke.”

“Good night, Darrin.”

CHAPTER XV – WHEN THE FLAGSHIP WAS SIGHTED

In the morning, when Darrin and his chum came on deck, the sun was shining brightly over Nu-ping.

Perhaps a hundred of the smaller houses of the place had been burned by the fires started by the gunboat’s shells the night before, but in a whole city full of small Chinese houses the loss was not especially noticeable.

“You wouldn’t want to land over yonder to-day, Darrin,” smiled Lieutenant Warden, when Ensign Dave saluted him on deck.

“Why not, sir?”

“Soon after daylight the governor’s troops marched into the city. As nearly as we could estimate the strength of the force from this deck, there are about twelve thousand of the troops, and with them are three batteries of field artillery.”

“Are the batteries strong enough to be used against this craft?”

“The batteries might be able to give us a good bit of trouble to handle, but there is no danger of their being employed. It would cost the governor his head to turn his troops against us, for that would be an official act of his, and a violation of China’s peace with us. Of course the pretended riot and rebellion of the populace was carried out by the governor’s secret orders, but we could never prove that. His excellency will be questioned by the Chinese government, but he can claim that the rebellion started when his troops were in another part of the province. The governor will promise Pekin to punish the ringleaders of the rebellion. He will then proceed to ‘try’ and behead a few of his political enemies, and Pekin will be satisfied. That will close the incident.”

A messenger came briskly up, with word calling the executive officer into the presence of his commander.

Pembroke’s confession, which Dave and the witnesses had promptly reported to the Lieutenant-Commander the night before, was the talk of the officers this morning.

The wounded man was said to be in somewhat better condition. All of the wounded sailors, marines and civilians were reported as being in no danger of dying from the injuries received in the spirited fighting of the day before.

Dave’s eyes caught sight of Belle the instant she stepped on deck. He hurried to her, looking her over closely to see how she had stood the excitement and terrors of the day before.

“Do you think I shall ever be able to qualify as a naval man’s wife?” Belle asked, laughing.

“You won’t have to qualify,” Dave assured her. “You’ve already passed all the necessary tests.”

“There were times yesterday when I was dreadfully afraid,” shuddered Belle.

“Then you have mastered the necessary secret of how to conceal your fears,” Darrin assured her. “There was many a time yesterday when I, too, was badly scared.”

“You?” cried Belle, gazing at her husband, in astonishment.

“Yes,” smiled Dave. “Did I betray myself?”

“You are jesting,” Belle declared. “I saw you often, in the worst of the fighting and your courage and endurance were magnificent. Not once did you show any sign of faltering.”

“None the less, I had my moments of scare,” Darrin assured her.

“You surely are jesting,” asserted Belle.

“Not a bit of it, my dear. Every man who has to fight and who is honest about it will admit that he is often badly scared.”

“Am I interrupting a private conversation, Mr. Darrin?” asked the executive officer.

“Not in the least, sir,” replied the young ensign, raising his cap.

“Then what I have to tell you is that our wireless picked up the admiral’s flagship a little while ago, and we have reported what took place here yesterday. We are under orders to sail as promptly as possible, and the flagship will meet us at the mouth of the river. The flagship will also try to pick up some coasting steamer, which will carry the missionary party and others down the coast to Shanghai, which is considered a safer place at present for Americans.”

“Did the Admiral approve of what was done here yesterday, sir?”

“He expressed neither approval nor criticism, but will take our detailed report when we join. The ladies will be summoned to breakfast soon, Mr. Darrin. Most of the officers will breakfast at second table to-day, but on account of Mrs. Darrin’s presence on board you will go to first table with her. You will take my place at the head of the table.”

“And, of course, as soon as the civilians are transferred to that coasting steamer I shall have to go with them,” pouted Belle. “It may be months before I shall see you again. I had hoped to be with you at least a few weeks in Manila. Instead, I had to come here. I have had a day with you – and what a day!”

“It’s hard, dear,” sighed Dave, “but such is a naval officer’s life. However, our turn will come. One of these days I shall be ordered to shore duty for a while, and then we shall be together, month after month. We shall even be able to have a little home of our own. It may be, dear, that my shore duty will be at Washington.”

“Yes,” groaned Mrs. Darrin. “And if you send for me to come and join you in Washington, by the time I arrive there I shall find out that you have just been sent away on a three-year rescue cruise to find some lost explorer at the South Pole! That is the Navy!”

When the breakfast call came Dave led his wife into the wardroom, conducting her to her seat at table and seating himself beside her.

Before the meal was ten minutes under way the deck watch began to make active preparations for the start down the river. As the anchor was being hoisted a large boat put out from the shore flying the governor’s banner.

As it came alongside a great bale was hoisted on board, addressed, simply, “To the American Ladies.”

An envelope bearing a similar address was brought aboard by an officer from the governor’s yamen, as well as a second envelope addressed to Lieutenant-Commander Tuthill.

The second letter was delivered at once. It contained an expression of the governor’s “profound regret” over the occurrences of the day before, and stated that, the governor’s troops having fortunately returned, his excellency was now able to guarantee the safety of all Americans who might condescend to honor the city by their presence ashore.

The governor’s letter ended with the statement that he had endeavored to express his apologies to the American ladies in a more tangible if very humble and poor form.

The American commander immediately dictated a letter thanking his excellency for his letter and assurances, but adding that, under orders, the American party was being taken to the mouth of the Nung-kiang River.

“Get this letter over the side and signal the engine-room for half-speed ahead,” Lieutenant-Commander Tuthill brusquely directed.

So, before breakfast was ended, the “Castoga” was steaming down the muddy river.

Not until the officers and male guests had been served at second table was any mention of the bale made by the busy executive officer. Then the ladies were once more summoned to the wardroom, while two sailors undid the package that had come from the governor.

The contents would have made a gift fit, indeed, for a royal family. There were more than enough handsome furs to go all around. There were silks, such as are never seen in America. Gold hair ornaments and rare jade jewelry were there in abundance, and many other articles dear to the feminine heart.

“If this is a true expression of the governor’s regret, then I wonder that he could ever have permitted the rioting to start,” said one of the women.

“But, under the circumstances, have we any right to accept such valuable gifts?” asked Belle Darrin.

“Shall I have them thrown overboard, then?” queried Mr. Warden, smilingly.

“No; of course not,” replied another woman, “but I feel that these magnificent gifts should be returned.”

“How?” asked the executive officer. “This gunboat may never enter the Nung-kiang River again.”

“It begins to look,” laughed Dave, “as though the necessities of the case compel the acceptance of these visible expressions of the governor’s invisible regrets. There is no way to send the stuff back.”

It took an hour’s discussion to convince the women that they must perforce accept. That point settled, they proceeded to divide the gifts by lot.

“Where am I going to put all this plunder?” Belle asked her husband as she gathered up her own considerable share of the “expressions of regret.” “I haven’t a single piece of baggage.”

“I fear I shall have to place them in my chest, and turn them over to you when we next meet,” Dave suggested.

“And I may very likely be an old woman by that time,” sighed Belle.

At noon Dave took the bridge until four o’clock. It was just before his watch was finished that the mouth of the river was made. Two miles off shore the flagship could be seen, steaming back and forth. A quarter of a mile away a small ocean-going steamer followed a similar course.

“And I won’t have a chance to cry on my husband’s shoulder for a few moments,” Belle complained, tragically, to another woman. “He’s stuck away up forward on the bridge.”

“Your husband will be off duty in ten minutes,” Lieutenant Warden assured her. “He will have command of the launch that transfers the party to the coasting vessel.”

“In the Navy the smallest favors look like great ones,” Belle observed to herself.

Watch changed just before the gunboat ran up behind the stern of the flagship.

Relieved of his duty on the bridge, Dave received his further orders and immediately called the launch crew to quarters.

Launched and brought alongside, the motor boat was quickly filled with the refugees.

Dave gave the order to cast off, then sat down beside Belle. Their time was altogether too short. The halted coasting steamer received the refugees on board, Dave, too, going up over the side.

In the instant that he and Belle clung together she whispered:

“Shall I go to Yokohama and await the chance to join you?”

“That will be a fine idea, little girl!” cried Dave. Then with a final kiss he went down over the side and into the launch.

“Cast off. Make back to the gunboat.”

The coastwise steamer was already sounding her hoarse whistle, and moving under slow way.

Once in the launch, Ensign Darrin stood up and waved his cap at the lonely little figure standing by the stern rail on the after-deck of the steamship.

Until the launch rounded up under the “Castoga’s” quarter Dave waved his cap frequently. Through the mist that lay over his eyes he could barely see the answering fluttering of white on the deck of the southbound steamship.

“Let the crew remain in the launch,” came from the officer of the deck. “Ensign Darrin will report to the executive officer.”

“Lieutenant-Commander Tuthill and Ensigns Darrin and Dalzell are ordered aboard the flagship,” announced the executive officer. “Mr. Darrin, you will make the necessary change in uniform.”

Hastening to his quarters, Dave changed to full dress uniform for which the regulations now called. He girded on his dress belt, with his dress sword, and drew on white gloves. Then he gained the deck, saluting and reporting to the commander of the gunboat.

“We shall be called upon to make our report, Mr. Darrin, of the Nu-ping affair. It is a good thing that we can do so with clear consciences,” smiled the Lieutenant-Commander.

“The Admiral may not approve of all that I did to His Excellency, the Governor,” remarked Ensign Dave.

“I think he will,” replied the commanding officer. “In my opinion, at least, you made the best possible use of your discretion.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Soon the three officers from the gunboat found themselves on the quarter-deck of the battleship “Katahdin,” flagship of the Asiatic Fleet.

Captain Tucker received them and then remarked:

“I have orders to conduct you at once to Admiral Branch.”

The Admiral gave the three visiting officers pleasant if formal greeting.

“This is my report, sir, in writing, of the affair at Nu-ping,” declared Lieutenant-Commander Tuthill, passing over a bulky official envelope.

“Quite so,” observed Admiral Branch. “I will read it at once.”

For more than five minutes the three officers remained seated, and in silence, while the Admiral slowly turned the pages of the report.

From time to time the fleet commander frowned. Dave, noting this, wondered to what features of his conduct in Nu-ping Admiral Branch most objected.

“Dave is surely going to catch it,” reflected Dan Dalzell uneasily. “I wonder if I shall come in for some of the scotching, too. But probably there’ll be no such luck. Dave was ranking officer ashore, and I acted only on his orders. I wish I could take my share in the storm.”

Having read the last page of the report, the Admiral slowly, thoughtfully folded it, laying it away in a pigeon-hole over his desk.

“Surely, Mr. Darrin, you found some new ways of treating a Chinese viceroy, or, I should say, governor,” remarked the fleet commander dryly.

“I tried, sir, not to subject him to any annoyance or indignity that could be avoided,” Darrin responded gravely.

“And in a way that would have been impossible, had the governor been attended by his usual number of troops,” continued Admiral Branch. “Under the circumstances, however, you treated him in a way that I, as a junior officer, often longed to handle many an important Chinese official.”

Though the fleet commander spoke gravely there was an unmistakable twinkle in his eyes. Dave’s hopes began to rise.

“I shall endorse Lieutenant-Commander Tuthill’s report as being satisfactory to myself,” continued the Admiral, “and then shall send the report on through the usual channels. And I sincerely trust, Mr. Darrin, that the Navy and State Departments at Washington will also endorse the report. For myself, Ensign Darrin, I congratulate you on your handling of a most unusual and highly difficult lot of problems. I congratulate you, sir,” continued Admiral Branch. “I shall be glad to have you aboard this ship.”

“On this ship, sir?” asked Darrin, as he took the Admiral’s outstretched hand.

“Yes; but that is another story, and perhaps I had better tell that first. Some transfers have been ordered in the Asiatic Fleet. Among other changes, Ensigns Holton and Brown, now on this ship, are ordered to duty on the ‘Castoga,’ and Ensigns Darrin and Dalzell are ordered to the ‘Katahdin.’ I fancy, gentlemen,” turning to the two younger officers present, “that very likely you have seen as much as you wish of China for the present, so you will be glad to know that this ship is ordered to Japan, and that we shall likely be there for two months or more. You will move your baggage over to this ship and report for duty as quickly as possible.”

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Dave Darrin on the Asiatic Station. Or, Winning Lieutenants' Commissions on the Admiral's Flagship

CHAPTER XIV – DAVE HEARS SOME EYE-OPENERS

CHAPTER XV – WHEN THE FLAGSHIP WAS SIGHTED

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