Peter the Brazen: A Mystery Story of Modern China

whose interest may be distracted on the slightest provocation. An intelligent and wary student of human nature, Peter dropped his eyes to the man's long, claw-like fingers. These were twitching ever so slightly, plucking slowly--it may have been meditatively--at the hem of his black silk coat. At the intentness of Peter's stare, this twitching abruptly ceased. The sampan whacked alongside. The big man tossed a small, orange-silk bag to the deck. He climbed the ladder as if he had been used to climbing all his life. "I don't care for his looks," remarked Miss Vost, looking up into Peter's face with a curious smile. "Nor I," said Bobbie MacLaurin. The richly dressed stranger vaulted nimbly over the teak-rail, recovered the orange bag, and approached MacLaurin. His head drooped forward momentarily, in recognition of the authority of the blue uniform. He said in excellent English: "I desire to engage passage to Ching-Fu." "This way," replied the _Hankow's_ captain. "You seemed to recognize him," said Miss Vost to Peter, when they had the deck to themselves. "Perhaps I was mistaken," replied Peter evasively. He suddenly was aware of Miss Vost's wide-eyed look of concern. Impulsively she laid her hand on his arm. She had come up very close to him. Her head moved back, so that her chin was almost on a level with his. "Mr. Moore," she said in a low, soft voice, "I won't ask you any questions. In China, there are many, many things that a woman must not try to understand. But I--I want to tell you that--that I think you are--splendid. It seems so fine, so good of you. I--I can't begin to thank you. My--my feelings prevent it." "But--why--what--what----" stammered Peter. "Oh, Mr. Moore, I know--I know!" Miss Vost proceeded earnestly. "Like all fine, brave men, you are--you are modest! It--it almost makes me want to cry, to think--to think----" "But, Miss Vost," interrupted Peter, gently and gravely, "you are shooting over my head!" In the rakish bows of the _Hankow_ arose the clank and clatter of wet anchor-chains. A bell tinkled in the engine-room. The stout fabric of the little steamer shuddered. The yellow water began to slip by them. On the shore two pagodas moved slowly into alignment. The _Hankow_ was moving. Miss Vost strengthened her gentle hold upon Peter's reluctant arm. Her bright eyes were a trifle blurred. "Last night, when we met on the bund," she went on in a small voice, "I knew immediately--immediately--what you were. A chivalrous gentleman! A man who would shelter and protect any helpless woman he met!" "That was nice of you," murmured Peter. Like Saul of Tarsus, he was beginning to see a bright light. "And it was true!" Miss Vost plunged on. "Now--now, you are risking your life--for poor, unworthy little me! Please don't deny it, Mr. Moore! I only wanted to let you know that I--I understand, and that I am--g-grateful!" Her eyelids fluttered over an unstifled moistness. "Bobbie _loves_ you," blurted Peter. "He'd do anything in the world for you. He told me so. He told me----" Miss Vost opened her eyes on a look that was hurt and humiliated. "What?" "He'd go to hell for you!" "He's an overgrown boy. He doesn't know what he says. That's nonsense," declared Miss Vost, looking away from Peter. "I know his type, Mr. Moore. He falls in love with every pretty face; and he falls out again, quite as easily." "You don't know Bobbie, the way I do," said Peter stubbornly. "I don't have to. I know his kind--a girl in every port." "No, no. Not Bobbie!" For a moment it seemed that they had come to an _impasse_. Miss Vost was blinking her eyes rapidly, appearing to be somewhat interested in a junk which was poling down-stream. She looked up with a wan smile. Tears were again in her eyes. "Mr. Moore," she said in a broken voice, "what you've told me about Mr. MacLaurin, Captain MacLaurin, moves me--deeply!" "Do try to be nice to Bobbie," begged Peter. "He is the finest fellow I know. He is true blue. He would give his life for your little finger. Really he would, Miss Vost!" The bright eyes gave him a languishing look. "I'll try," she said simply. That night the banks of the great river were gray and mysterious under the effulgence of a top-heavy yellow moon. The search-light on the peak pierced out the fact that a low, swirling mist was creeping up from the river's dulled surface. The air was damp with the breath of the land. Occasionally the gentle puffs of the wind bore along the water the flavor of queer, indistinguishable odors. Elbow to elbow, glancing down at the hissing water, Miss Vost and Peter stood for a number of sweet, meditative moments in silence. At length Miss Vost slipped her arm through his. "Sometimes," she murmured, inclining her head until it almost rested against his shoulder, "I feel lonely--terrible! Especially on such a night as this. The moon is so impersonal, isn't it? Here it is, a great, gorgeous ball of cold fire, shining across China at you and me. In Amoy it seemed to frown at me. Now--it seems to smile. The same moon!" "The same moon!" whispered Peter as her warm hand slipped down and snuggled in his. "Don't _you_ ever feel lonely--like this?" demanded Miss Vost suddenly. Peter sighed. "Oh, often. Often! The world seems so big, and so filled with things that are hard to learn. Especially at night!" He wondered what she thought he meant. "I--I feel that way," Miss Vost's absorbed voice replied. "I try--and try--to reason these things out. But they are so baffling! So elusive! So evasive! Here is China, with its millions of poor wretched ones, struggling in darkness and disease. There are so many! And they are so hard to help. And out beyond there, not so many miles beyond that ridge, lies Tibet, with her millions, and her ignorance, and her disease. And to the left--away to the left, I think, is India. "If a person would be happy, he must not come to China or India. Their problems are too overwhelming. You cannot think of solutions fast enough, and even while you think, you are overcome by the weariness, the hopelessness, of it all. I wish I had never come to China. "I happened to be in Foo-Chow not long ago. There is in Foo-Chow a thing that illustrates what I mean. It is called the baby tower. Girls, you know, aren't thought much of in China. At the bottom of the tower is a deep well. Women to whom are born baby girls go to the baby tower----" Miss Vost shuddered. "The babies are thrown into the well. I have seen them. Poor--poor, little creatures--dying like that!" Miss Vost sniffled for a moment. Brightly she said: "I like to talk to you, Mr. Moore. You're so--so sympathetic!" A great, dark shadow bulked up against the rail alongside Peter. "Good evening, folks!" declared the pleasant bass voice of Bobbie MacLaurin. "We were just talking about you, Bobbie," said Peter affably. "As I was telling Miss Vost, you're the most sympathetic man I ever knew! Good night, Miss Vost. Night, Bobs!" CHAPTER XIII When Peter descended the stairway into the narrow vestibule which served as reception-hall, dining-saloon, and, incidentally, as the corridor from which the _Hankow's_ four small staterooms were entered, he had the chilly feeling that the darkness had eyes. Yet he saw nothing. The cabin was dark. Three round ports glimmered greenly beyond the staircase on the cabin's forward side. The glimmer was occasioned by the refracted rays of the _Hankow's_ dazzling searchlight. But these were not the ones he felt. Gradually his own eyes became accustomed to the pulp-like darkness. He steadied his body against the gentle swaying of the steamer, and endeavored to listen above, or through, the imminent thrashing and clattering of the huge engine. He examined the four stateroom doors anxiously. As the darkness began to dissolve slightly, Peter, still conscious that eyes were fastened upon him, made the discovery that the stateroom adjoining his was slightly ajar. The moon favored him--Miss Vost's impersonal moon. It outlined against the slit what appeared to be a large, irregular block. Peter decided that the irregular block was nothing more nor less than the head of a man. To prove that his surmise was correct, Peter quickly shifted the revolver from his right hand to his left, brought it even with his eyes and--struck a match. In the startling flare of the phosphorus the evil glint of Celestial eyes was instantly revealed in the partly opened door. With incredible softness the door was closed. Where there had been half-lidded eyes, a positive snarl, and a shock of blue-black hair was now a white-enameled panel. Peter continued to smile along the barrel, which glistened in the dying flame of the match. He unlocked his door, closed it, and shot the bolt. Switching on the electric light, he cautiously drew back the sheet. Apparently satisfied, he sniffed the air. It was nothing more than stuffy, as a stateroom that has been closed for a week or so is apt to be. Unscrewing the fat wingbolts which clamped down the brass-bound port-glass, he let in a breath of misty river air. Simultaneously voices came into the room. Miss Vost and Bobbie MacLaurin were conversing in clear, tense syllables. Peter could not help eavesdropping. They were standing on the deck, directly over his stateroom, only a few scant feet from his porthole, which was situated much nearer the deck than the surging water. "But I do--I do love you!" Bobbie was complaining in his rumbling voice. "Ever since you set foot on the old _Sunyado Maru_ I've been your shadow--your slave! What more can any man say?" he added bitterly. "Not a great deal," rejoined Miss Vost lightheartedly. She became abruptly serious. "Bobbie, I do like you. I admire you--ever so much. But it happens that you are not the man for me. You don't understand me. You can never understand me. Don't you realize it? You're too sudden--too brutal--too----" "Brutal! I've treated you like a flower. I want to shield you----" "But I don't _need_ shielding, Bobbie. I'm prudent, fearless, and--twenty-two. I don't need a watch-dog!" "Good God, who said anything about being a watchdog?" exclaimed Bobbie. "I--I just want----" "You just want me," completed Miss Vost. "Well, you can't have me." "You love somebody else, then. That young pup!" Peter stared sourly at the bilious moon. "Don't you dare call him a young pup, Robert MacLaurin," retorted Miss Vost resentfully. "He is a fine young man. I admire him and I respect him very, _very_ much." "He can't fool around any girl of mine!" Peter heard Bobbie sucking the breath in between his teeth, as if he might have pricked himself with a pin. Bobbie had done worse than that. "A girl of _yours_!" snapped Miss Vost. Followed low, anxious and imploratory whispers. These were terminated by a long, light, and delicious laugh. "Bobbie, you're so _funny_!" Miss Vost gurgled. "I wish I was dead!" declared Bobbie despondently. "You should go to Liauchow," Miss Vost chirped. "_Why_ should _I_ go to Liauchow?" grumbled the bass voice. "To be happy, you must be born in Soochow, live in Canton and die in Liauchow. So runs the proverb." "Why should I go to Liauchow?" persisted Bobbie. "Because Soochow has the handsomest people, Canton the most luxury, and Liauchow the best coffins!" CHAPTER XIV Peter Moore's curiosity regarding the motives which were sending Miss Amy Vost into Szechwan, most deplorable, most poverty-stricken of provinces, was satisfied before the _Hankow_ had put astern the great