The result of the night's traffic, then, spelled failure for British
justice, the S.S. Mahratta sailed one stewardess short of her
complement; but among the Chinese crew of another steamer Eastward
bound was one, Chung Chow, formerly known as Sin Sin Wa. And sometimes
in the night watches there arose before him the picture of a black
bird resting upon the knees of an aged Chinaman. Beyond these figures
dimly he perceived the paddy-fields of Ho-Nan and the sweeping valley
of the Yellow River, where the opium poppy grows.
It was about an hour before the sailing of the ship which numbered
Chung Chow among the yellow members of its crew that Seton Pasha
returned once more to the deserted wharf whereon he had found Mrs.
Monte Irvin's spaniel. Afterwards, in the light of ascertained facts,
he condemned himself for a stupidity passing the ordinary. For while
he had conducted a careful search of the wharf and adjoining premises,
convinced that there was a cellar of some kind below, he had omitted
to look for a water-gate to this hypothetical cache.
Perhaps his self-condemnation was deserved, but in justice to the
agent selected by Lord Wrexborough, it should be added that Chief
Inspector Kerry had no more idea of the existence of such an entrance,
and exit, than had Seton Pasha.
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