A Chinese Command | Page 8

I quite forgot to mention that. He told me that if I
decided to join him he would require me to be on board as soon as I
possibly could. Indeed, he hinted that if I could make it convenient to
turn up tomorrow evening and sleep aboard the ship, he would be more
than pleased. You see, he has his cargo pretty nearly loaded, and hopes
to be able to get away at midday the day after to-morrow; so the sooner
I am on board the sooner I shall be able to take some of the worry and
trouble and work off his shoulders."
"Great Scot!" exclaimed Dick, jumping up, "he wants you to join as
soon as that! Why, I fully expected that you wouldn't be leaving under
a week at the least. So to-night will be your last sleep in the old bed, for
some months to come, at any rate--for I want you to make this place
your home again as soon as ever you return. Make the most of it,
therefore. You don't know where you may have to lie, in what queer
places you may have to sleep, before you get back. Well, I suppose I'll
see you in the morning at breakfast; and at any rate you'll be back here
after you've interviewed Drake, in order to pack your traps, say
good-bye, and so on?"
"Yes, you'll see me at breakfast, Dick; and I shall be back as soon as
possible after I have seen the skipper, to pack and to say good-bye. By
gad, Dick!" he went on, with a little burst of emotion, "but I'm more
than sorry to have to leave you. You've been a mighty good chum to
me, and as long as I live I'll never forget your kindness. I wish to
goodness you were coming along too."
"So do I, old chap," answered Penryn, gripping his friend's hand; "but
as to `goodness' and `kindness' to you, and all the rest of it--why, that's
all rot, you know. Any man would do the same for his pal."
"Not every man, Dick," returned Murray, soberly. "If you only knew it,
there are not a great many of your sort knocking about nowadays. Good
night, again, old chap."
Frobisher slept well, and was not visited by any dreams, sweet or

otherwise. We are sometimes told that dreams are sent to us as
warnings, as forerunners of events that are to happen to us in the future;
but if this is really true it seems strange that Murray's sleep should have
been so deep and dreamless. For had that young man been able to
foresee but one half of the strange and terrible adventures that were in
store for him, it is scarcely to be doubted that he would, in spite of his
long period of unemployment, have gladly allowed Captain Drake to
take somebody else in his place, notwithstanding the offer of the forty
pounds a month salary, and the thousand-pound bonus at the successful
termination of the venture.
CHAPTER TWO.
EASTWARD HO!
So soundly and dreamlessly did Frobisher sleep that he did not wake
until the clear notes of the dressing bugle--a solemn farce which Dick
insisted upon his servant performing when ashore--had almost finished
ringing through the little cottage.
Punctually at 8 a.m. the old marine who acted as Dick's servant when
he was ashore, and as general housekeeper and caretaker when he was
afloat, sounded the bugle as a signal to his master that it was time to
turn out; and the neighbours in the houses round about--who, by the
way, referred to Penryn as "that very eccentric young man"--had come
to look upon the instrument somewhat in the light of a town clock; so
much so that several of them set their watches by it, and one old
gentleman was in the habit of leaving his front door and sprinting for
the eight-fifteen train to town punctually upon the first note.
Frobisher sat up in bed with a yawn, and was half-way to the bath-room
before he was sufficiently wideawake to recollect that this morning was
different from the three hundred and sixty-five odd preceding mornings.
But as he remembered that at last he had secured the offer of regular
and profitable employment--although not quite along the lines he had
hoped for--he let out a whoop of rejoicing that made the cottage ring.
Having completed his toilet, Frobisher came downstairs whistling, to

find Penryn standing in front of the fire, warming his coat tails and
sniffing hungrily, while from the direction of the kitchen came certain
savoury smells.
"'Morning, Murray!"
"'Morning, Dick!" was the response. "What's for breakfast this
morning?"
"Don't know," answered his friend, "but it smells like eggs and bacon,
and steak and mushrooms, and chops