Under the Dragon Flag | Page 3

after midnight, the city was distant, and
moreover the search for a lodging would in his condition be a matter of
time and difficulty. Taking pity on his forlorn state, I offered him the
shelter of my own roof for the night, an offer he was not slow to accept,
remarking that one gentleman should help another; and that if I had any
"tidy brandy" he would be able to get on well enough until to-morrow.

So we set out for my lodgings in Cecil Street.
This chance meeting was the beginning of a long and intimate
acquaintance. In the course of conversation I disclosed to Charles
Webster--such was his name--the desperate state of my affairs, with the
gloomy prospect they entailed. The remedy he proposed--and when
sober he spoke well and sensibly--was drastic and by no means
unfeasible. "Cut it all and go to sea," he said. "You've enjoyed yourself
while your money lasted, and what's the good of money but to spend?
You've spent yours--now go to sea and get some more. That's how I
do--have a regular good blow-out when I draw my pay, and then ship
for another voyage."
"That is all very well for you," I replied, "but how can I, without either
training or experience, get a berth on board ship?"
"I can do it for you," replied Webster. "Lots of vessels are ordered to
sea in a hurry, and not particular in picking up a crew, or perhaps a
trifle over-loaded or not properly found, and short-handed in
consequence. That's the sort of craft I'd look out for you, and if one
wouldn't take you, another would. I'd tog you out like an A.B., and
swear you knew your duty."
"And what when they found I didn't?"
"Wouldn't matter a straw when we were afloat. All they could do would
be to d----n my eyes or yours and make the best of it. It's done every
day. Certificates go for nothing, they're so easily obtained. When the
voyage was over, you'd be up to a thing or two, and the skipper would
rather sign your papers than be at the bother of going and swearing you
weren't a thorough seaman; then you could get another job without me.
It's done constantly, I tell you, and why not? Nobody can do anything
without learning. You take a trip with me, and I'll make a sailor of you.
You've stood by me like a gentleman, and I'll give you a lift if I can."
Well, to cut the story short, I resolved, after some cogitation, to follow
his advice, as, in the circumstances to which I had contrived to reduce
myself, I saw nothing better to do. My introduction to a seafaring life

was effected pretty much on the lines indicated in the foregoing
conversation. The change from the existence of a voluptuary,
squandering thousands on the wanton pleasure of the moment, to that
of a common sailor, was at first anything but agreeable, and often and
bitterly did I curse the follies of the past. However, we learn from
experience, and probably I have profited by the unpalatable lesson.
Webster was a firm ally, and showed that despite his dissolute and
reckless mode of living, he really did possess something of the
character which he claimed, that of a gentleman. Under his tuition, and
being moreover, like Cuddie Headrigg, "gleg at the uptak," I made
rapid progress in knowledge.
We made several voyages together. In the summer of the year 1894 we
were in San Francisco, and rather at a loose end; Webster with a good
deal of money in his possession, and spending it as usual in riotous
living. We were intimate at this time with a man named Francis Chubb,
an Australian by birth, an able seaman, and a very reckless, daring, and
resolute character. To him it is owing that I have this tale to tell. One
night as we were sitting over our potations, he made us a singular
communication and a singular proposition. A shipper and merchant of
the place, by whom he had often been employed, had, he said, asked
him if he was open to run a cargo of warlike stores for the use of the
Chinese soldiers in the struggle which had just broken out, there being
rumours that the Chinamen were ill-prepared for a contest, and badly in
need of supplies. Chubb added that he had practically closed with the
offer, and was looking about for men whom he could depend upon to
join him in the enterprise, which his employer, foreseeing from the turn
events were taking that the Chinese ports were likely soon to be
blockaded, meant as a "feeler" to test the facilities for, and the profit
likely to arise from, the organization of