The Devils Admiral | Page 8

attempted to mislead me
about the time of the vessel's departure. I saw a chance to trap him, and
asked:
"Was that what you wanted to tell me?"
He parried it, and while he fumbled in his pockets for something, a
trick to gain time, he was thinking hard and fast.
I had him against the ropes, so to speak, and he knew it, for what he did
want to find out was whether I knew the telephone message to be
fraudulent. If I did, he wanted to take credit for setting me right; and if I
didn't, he wanted me to miss the Kut Sang. So, knowing his game, I
came to the conclusion that I must not press him too hard and so make
him suspicious that I knew his true character--his character, that is, as a
decidedly suspicious person.
"I was told that she sails in the morning, but it was some mistake," I
told him, as if I had not found anything peculiar in the error and was

not the least disturbed about it.
"Oh, no! Nothing in that!" he cried, unable to conceal his delight over
my admission of how much I knew. "For a minute I thought there
might be something in the story, after all, when I heard you say she was
delayed. That is just what I was going to tell you--there is no truth in
that report. Some person, who I cannot say, also gave me
misinformation regarding the Kut Sang. I feared that you might have
had the same experience. That, however, is only a part of it--what I
want to tell you is that it is now possible to buy a ticket in the Kut
Sang."
"I already have my ticket," I said. "So we will be fellow-passengers,
and I hope you will pardon my throwing you down the stairs; but I was
running after a beggar or a thief."
"Indeed! Do you know the rascal, or did you see him so that you can
give a comprehensive description of him to the police?"
"A little red-headed man," I said, watching him closely. "Did you see
him before you started up the stairs?"
He burst out in a dry, mirthless cackle of laughter, and slapped his
knees, much as if he had heard a good joke.
"If you will come in to tiffin with me, Mr. Trenholm, I will tell you
about him."
Assuming affability, I accepted his invitation, and we went into the
dining-room together and found a table to ourselves in the corner. I was
rather pleased at having an opportunity to study him, especially at his
own suggestion, and I made up my mind that before the lunch was over
I would have solved the mystery of who or what the missionary was,
and why he had the little red-headed man at my heels since I had
arrived in Manila that morning, and why he had attempted to keep me
out of the Kut Sang.
"And who is this little red-headed man?" I asked as we took our chairs.

He bowed his head and mumbled a grace before replying, and I had a
sense of mental conflict between us, and knew that I would have to
guard against chicane, or the suave old fellow would talk me out of my
suspicions.
"It must have been Dago Red you saw," he began, grinning, and
wagging his head. "I hope he did not actually steal anything, my dear
Mr. Trenholm. I am quite sure you must be mistaken about his being a
thief; but it is quite possible, he has deceived me."
"I found him sneaking near my door in the hall," I said. "Who is this
Dago Red?"
"A worthy man," he replied getting serious. "I am afraid you have done
him an injustice, for I sent him up to see if you were in your room, and
after I had given him the errand the clerk informed me that you were in,
and I started up myself."
"He didn't appear anxious to talk with me when he saw me open the
door."
"You probably startled him by--"
"But who is he?"
"Petrak, I think his name is, although I am not sure, and my poor old
memory cannot hold names long. He is a sailor who has been
shipwrecked, and he became a vagrant here and was sent to Bilibid
Prison. Much of my work is in prisons, and I took charge of him when
he got out and sent him to the Sailors' Home, sure that he would be able
to get a ship again. That was a couple of months ago, and when I
arrived to-day he met me and told me that he had left the Home
because the keeper was prejudiced against him, owing