BOO'K 9 
 
 f AC If 1C AfgNlfK 
 GALIf
 
 Tangled Flags 
 
 A NOVEL 
 
 BY 
 
 ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER 
 
 Author of 
 
 "Mr. Barnes of New York," "The King's Stockbroker,' 
 etc., etc. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE HOME PUBLISHING COMPANY
 
 Copyright, 1900 
 By A. C. GUNTER 
 
 All rights reserved
 
 TANGLED FLAGS 
 
 I. The Japanese Captain .... 5 
 
 II. "When a Woman Weeps, She Loves!" 18 
 
 III. The Daimio's Blessing .... 34 
 
 IV. A Night in Hong Kong .... 44 
 
 BOOK II 
 THE ORIENTAL ADVENTURER 
 
 CHAPTER PACK 
 
 V. A Crafty Wooer 65 
 
 VI. The Yellow Placard .... 79 
 
 VII. "Blundered Through" . . . 89 
 
 VIII. His Little Missionary Girl . . .108 
 
 IX. " I Have Met His Excellency Before " . 126 
 
 X. Boom-De-Rah's Shinto Advice . . 139 
 
 XI. The Dinner at the Peak Hotel . . 149 
 
 XII. Killing Three Birds with One Stone . 159 
 
 2061S<io
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 XIII. The White Pagoda . . . .178 
 
 XIV. The Coming of the Mandarin . .189 
 XV. The Feast of Belshazzar . . .200 
 
 XVI. The Woman at the Japanese Outpost . 218 
 
 XVII. "Gol Darn It, Plugged with My Own 
 
 Bullet!" 232 
 
 XVIII. By Law of War 247 
 
 XIX. Tangled Flags 264
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE DAUGHTER OF THE AMERICAN ARMS 
 
 MANUFACTURER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE JAPANESE CAPTAIN. 
 
 " Delighted, Captain Katsuma, that your dispatch 
 states those rapid-fire guns have passed the test at 
 Tokio." 
 
 " Yes, respected gentleman, our war-office reports 
 them extremely satisfactory." The soft voice of the 
 Japanese seems to float in the torrid air, though his 
 words are uttered with matematical precision. 
 
 " I knew they would, if first-class American steel 
 and the most skilled of Yankee workmanship has any- 
 thing to do with the manufacture of a weapon," goes 
 on Mr. Boardman, briskly and cheerily. " Though by 
 this time I should think you Japs had discovered that 
 you could always rely upon the Boardman & Colburn
 
 6 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Arms Manufacturing Company." To this he adds: 
 " By Yankee Doodle, your government was a long time 
 making the final trials. Now I suppose I'll soon get 
 my money." The American's tone is eager in business 
 directness. 
 
 " Yes, I think the drafts will probably come by the 
 next mail steamer from Tokio, my esteemed Mr. 
 Boardman," assents the young Japanese officer. 
 
 A very sweet feminine American voice floating to 
 him in silvery soprano from the next room of the Peak 
 Hotel, Hong Kong, tells Captain Osuri Katsuma the 
 reason he has not hurried particularly by dispatch or 
 letter the tests of the firearms delivered to his govern- 
 ment by the Yankee manufacturer. 
 
 As his heart beats to the sound, it shows him why he 
 has been content to linger over a business that per- 
 haps would have been brought to a quicker issue had 
 not the bright eyes, the enchanting figure, and that 
 extraordinary, fascinating, easy, yet keep-your-dis- 
 tance familiarity peculiarity to many American girls, 
 emphasized as well as idealized in the person of Miss 
 Eira Leanore Boardman, the daughter of the great 
 American arms manufacturer, made Kong Kong, even 
 now entered on its warm season, very pleasant to Cap- 
 tain Osuri Katsuma. 
 
 The sweet voice has become music to his ears. The 
 delicate beauty has become the rapture of his eyes. 
 The dainty, personal charm of Eira Boardman has 
 placed in his soul a reverent passion unusual in the 
 land of Dai-Nippon, where women are regared after 
 the Eastern, not the Western, fashion. 
 
 Perchance, this has been made easy by an experience 
 of four years at West Point, where, as the guest of 
 the American Government, this young Japanese noble 
 had marched as a classman of the great military acad- 
 emy under the stars and stripes. Since then, travel in 
 many lands has added the experience of a man of the 
 world to his martial education, and several visits to
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 7 
 
 the United States, on military business as representa- 
 tive of his government in its various contracts for arms 
 and munitions of war, have given him that respect for 
 woman which is more general in America than per- 
 haps any other country of the earth. 
 
 A few light words spoken in a higher tone from the 
 young lady's apartment make his rise. He says : " I 
 know, everything will be satisfactory in your transac- 
 tions with my government, Mr. Boardman. But I'll 
 not detain you, as I believe you expect visitors on other 
 business." 
 
 " Yes, Li Wong Chieun." 
 
 " Ah, the mandarin of the second class, the wearer 
 of the yellow girdle. Will the commissioner of the 
 Chinese Government wear his yellow jacket to im- 
 press you during his negotiations and astound the 
 young ladies ? " laughs the young captain, as he moves 
 nearer to the door. 
 
 After a moment of hesitation, as if something was 
 upon his mind that he deems it advisable to say, yet 
 fears may be unpleasant, he returns and remarks : 
 " Under favor, respected Mr. Boardman, I think your 
 great manufacturing company makes a mistake in sell- 
 ing modern arms to the Chinese. You never know 
 against whom a half-civilized nation may direct its 
 weapons." 
 
 "Do I, my Eastern philosopher?" jeers the other, 
 his voice in merriment assuming a slight nasal New 
 England twang. " This draft from Li Hung Chang 
 for five hundred thousand taels on the Hong Kong 
 and Shanghai Bank, and accepted by their Johnny 
 Bull cashier, doesn't look much like it." Boardman 
 merrily flaunts a bill of exchange in his adviser's face, 
 as he continues : " Besides, the Chinese central gov- 
 ernment at Peking owes my firm over a million taels, 
 which I will get as soon as I have concluded negotia- 
 tions with Li Wonq: Chieun." 
 
 " Still, I repeat that some day you may regret hay-
 
 8 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 ing sold arms to a barbarous people," rejoins the Jap- 
 anese, almost sadly. 
 
 " Barbarous people ! How you Orientals always 
 sneer at one another," chuckles the American. " Bar- 
 barous people! Captain Katsuma, how long ago was 
 it since Japan, your country, to whom through you, I 
 am selling munitions of war, ceased to be barbarous? " 
 
 " About twenty-eight years ! " replies the other, his 
 eyes lighting up, his face becoming fervid. " In 1872, 
 after the revolution, when the Mikado did away with 
 the feudalism of many centuries." 
 
 With this he abstractedly gazes upon a very pretty 
 scene. Below are the white villas, nestled in green, of 
 its English merchant princes, gradually running down 
 to the crowded thoroughfares of the British metrop- 
 olis of Southeastern China, in the blue water of whose 
 roads float detachments of the navies of the world, 
 merchant and militant. Among them quite conspicu- 
 ously gleam the stars and stripes upon some trans- 
 ports en route for the Philippines and several of the 
 big war vessels, whose prowess now makes Americans 
 no longer ashamed of their country's navy. The signal 
 flags on the Peak flagstaff indicate that one of the 
 Indo-China boats will soon be in from Shanghai and 
 Nagasaki. 
 
 Though the afternoon is advanced, the day is quite 
 warm; it is the month of April, and the cool season 
 has ended. The southwest monsoon is rustling the 
 leaves of the trees clustered about the houses of Kau- 
 lung, likewise giving the sampans more vivacious 
 motion as these Chinese craft dash about the shipping 
 or make the crossing from the metropolis to the oposite 
 side of the strait. 
 
 During this, the American, who is a squarely built 
 man of about fifty, with sharp, Yankee business fea- 
 tures, made effective by square jaws and commercially 
 acute eyes, is arranging on the table before him a 
 number of business memoranda, apparently preparing
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 9 
 
 for the visit of the Chinese potentate. He is Mr. 
 Joel Luther Boardman, of the great " Boardman and 
 Colburn Arms Manufacturing Company," of Meri- 
 den, Connecticut. Though he is a man of exceeding 
 wealth, he is combining business with pleasure by a 
 visit to the East, 
 
 The other is Captain Osuri Katsuma, of the First 
 Tokio Regiment of the Japanese Army, who sits a 
 model of Eastern military grace, to which is allied that 
 peculiar martial set-up and bearing that always stamps 
 a West Point man. His upper lip bears a jetty mus- 
 tache, drooping in cavalier luxuriance. With this ex- 
 ception, his mobile features are shaved with military 
 precision. Notwithstanding Hong Kong heat, he is 
 clothed in the afternoon costume of London, Paris 
 and New York, as if his visit were one of punctilio. A 
 Prince Albert coat fits to a line his lithe figure, which 
 but slightly above the medium height is as erect and 
 supple as a yew-stave. His light trousers, creased as 
 accurately as those of any dandy of the Knickerbocker 
 Club over limbs whose agile strength might do honor 
 to a rough-riding trooper, descend to feet of exquisite 
 proportion, booted perfectly in patent leathers and 
 draped by immaculate gaiters. 
 
 A peculiarly heavy gold ring, adorned by a single 
 stone and the insignia of his class at West Point, 
 flashes from one of his sinewy but delicate fingers. His 
 linen is snowy ; his jewelry unobtrusive ; his cravat, 
 the very latest fad. A glossy tile from Dunlap, New 
 York ; a pair of light gloves, and accurate, dude cane, 
 which lie on a seat in front of him, indicate that the 
 Japanese officer in mufti can hold his own as regards 
 costume and appointment with any Western exqusite. 
 
 But this young man's bronzed face, unlike that of 
 a dawdler of fashion, is that of a mathematician domi- 
 nated by decision and lighted by the blackest of spark- 
 ling eyes, which destroy an Eastern languor of the 
 eyebrows, giving to its irregular features a fervid pas-
 
 10 TANGLED' FLAGS. 
 
 sion and potent determination, at times made sad by 
 a kind of Oriental fatalism. Women said there was 
 an air of poetry about him ; men that he was courtesy 
 personified, and his West Point comrades, that Osuri 
 Katsuma would be a good man to stand beside when 
 battle was desperate, reinforcements far away, and 
 death very close. 
 
 Again the charming accents float into them from the 
 next room. " Quick, Flora ! We shall miss the last 
 tune in the Botanical Gardens. I hear Captain Kat- 
 suma's voice in papa's parlor. Let us astound Japan 
 by American female promptness." 
 
 At the words, philosophy leaves the face of the 
 listener. His eyes grow bright with passion, then 
 softly tender; he utters a slight sigh, as he languidly 
 draws on his gloves. 
 
 A moment after, the entry of two young ladies, of 
 brightest plumage, in the lightest of Parisian toilettes, 
 adapted to semi-tropical weather, brings him to his feet. 
 As he bows before the delicate laces and light lawns 
 of Miss Eira Leanore Boardman and her cousin, Mrs. 
 Flora Estrella Elton, he remarks : " You will excuse 
 me, young ladies, but, eliminate that grinning Chinese 
 servant outside and those punka boys in the hall, and 
 your costumes take me back to the Casino at Narragan- 
 sett Pier." 
 
 " Why, Captain Katsuma, as quite a child, I visited 
 Narragansett ! Have you ever been at that place of 
 delightful flirtations?" queries Mrs. Elton, co- 
 quettishly. 
 
 " Fortunately, they are generally not serious ones," 
 remarks the Japanese, dryly. 
 
 Flora Elton is a dashing widow, who being twenty- 
 six, looks twenty-two, and tries to conceal her four 
 extra undesirable years by keeping in hiding, under 
 a French bonne and an East Indian ayah, her off- 
 spring in the form of a polyglot-speaking boy of seven, 
 who is now rebelling in three diverse tongues against '
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. IT 
 
 the pantalets of babyhood, and demanding, with young 
 American progressiveness, knickerbockers, in several 
 different languages. 
 
 " I bathed at Narragansett half a season. Sherry's 
 pavilion and beach are as familiar to me as the shores 
 of Suzvo Nada, our beautiful Inland Sea," continues 
 Osuri. " The surf there was very good, though it was 
 inconvenient to be compelled to wear an infamous 
 bathing costume, which was my abomination. In 
 Japan we swim like the fishes, as God made us." 
 
 This barbaric assertion is greeted by a little snicker 
 from Mrs. Elton, but Miss Boardman, who has been 
 apparently cajoling her papa in a whisper for some 
 favor, leaves her parent, steps to the Japanese, gives 
 him a quick glance of two very bright eyes, and blushes 
 slightly, saying, in an indignant undertone, apparently 
 only intended for his ear: " Captain Katsuma, why do 
 you always try to make me think you a savage? " 
 
 " Because it is safer for me," remarks the young 
 man. An attempted lightness in his voice is contra- 
 dicted by his burning glance, that makes the two blue 
 eyes gazing into his black orbs droop. 
 
 The blushes on the young lady's cheeks become more 
 vivid ; though she says, half laughingly : " Then, why 
 don't you tattoo yourself at once !" But, from this 
 time on, all this day, her manner seems apologetic; 
 there is a curious trouble in her exquisite eyes as she 
 gazes upon the young man who seems to her, with his 
 thoroughbred manner, his drooping mustache and his 
 European etiquette, scarcely more of another race than 
 one of her own countrymen would after a summer of 
 sun exposure, boating and bathing. 
 
 In truth Eira Boardman's conscience is beginning 
 to more than prick her in this matter of Osuri Kat- 
 suma. A coquette not by disposition, but by educa- 
 tion, she has permitted herself to keep a secret ; she 
 has allowed herself to bring passion into the face of 
 this young Oriental officer, who has been dangling
 
 12 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 beside her during a long month in Hong Kong till she 
 knows she plays upon his heart strings with every 
 glance of her violet eyes, every motion of her dainty 
 hand, and every coquettish remark that floats from be- 
 tween her cherry lips, that shade two rows of pearls. 
 
 Just at this moment she has little time for remorse ; 
 Mrs. Elton is laughingly remarking : " Ah, then, you 
 would like Honolulu, Captain Katsuma. That is now 
 American, but tropic and barbaric ! " 
 
 " Quite so. It's very good fun to ride a plank 
 with a Kanaka sea-nymph, oh a moonlit evening, in 
 the reef-surf of Oahu," answers the young man. 
 " But, Miss Boardman, I think we had better bid your 
 papa good-bye and leave him to his business. I see 
 the sedan of the Chinese high commissioner coming 
 up the hill." 
 
 " And I also see Mr. Passmere, strolling with Eng- 
 lish strides from the cable tram," cries Mrs. Elton, 
 eagerly, her eyes growing brighter. 
 
 For the gentleman known to Hong Kong society at 
 this time as the Honorable Arthur Cochrane Pass- 
 mere has a languid, insouciant, boyishly dictatorial 
 manner, which seems pleasing to Flora from very con- 
 trast to the adoration and devotion that has been show- 
 ered upon her in Continental Europe, where she has 
 been besieged with much bowing and adulation, not 
 only for her money bags but for her beauty, by a 
 Magyar count, two or three Italian marquises and a 
 German baron. 
 
 Mrs. Elton has led the existence of a butterfly widow 
 for several years in Europe, and joined her uncle and 
 cousin in London three months ago for this Eastern 
 trip. She continues, effusively : " After the Botanical 
 Gardens, we drive to the Happy Valley, Mr. Passmere 
 suggests." 
 
 " Well, don't let your young man get too spooney 
 on you, Flora," chuckles her astute Yankee uncle, 
 Major Tilford, though red faced would be much safer.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 13 
 
 In my judgment, the Honorable Arthur is so cute a 
 youth he ought to take a policeman round with him 
 when he sees the girls." 
 
 " Oh, you're always talking that way, Uncle Board- 
 man," giggles the widow. 
 
 " Hump ! Keep your eye on him. When the Hon- 
 orable Arthur marries, you can bet there'll be but one 
 boss in the house, and it won't be his wife." 
 i " Pooh ! You're always teasing me," murmurs 
 Flora, her face growing red; Mrs. Elton's late hus- 
 band having spoilt and petted her till she had become 
 even while married a flirt. 
 
 Here Miss Boardman thinks it wise to interpose. 
 She cries lightly : " Now, papa, that's for the trunk 
 from Worth and this is for the trunk from Felix 
 you've ordered to meet me at Peking." The " this " 
 and " that " are two very dainty kisses she gives her 
 father for Parisian millinery and toilettes, 
 t "To to Peking? Isanagi! father of the gods, 
 you you go to Peking?" ejaculates the Japanese 
 officer, his face growing strangely anxious. 
 
 " Certainly ! " answers Flora. " We have letters to 
 the American minister, and " 
 
 " I've personal business with the Chinese central 
 government. Didn't I tell you about that million 
 taels ? " adds Joel. " I've go to go there for my 
 money." 
 
 Any words Captain Osuri might return are obliter- 
 ated by the entrance of Lum Kee, Boardman's Chinese 
 servant, interpreter and liar. 
 
 Chin-chinning obsequiously, Lum Kee, who is a 
 sleepy looking Chinaman, announces, in florid Orien- 
 tal style: " Li Wong Chieun, mandarin of the sec- 
 ond class and high lord commissioner of the Chinese 
 War Board, beseeches humble audience of the great 
 Yankee holder of lightnings and shooter of thunder- 
 bolts." 
 . At this effusion Katsuma bursts out laughing.
 
 14 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " That's an infernal lie, Lumky," grins the Ameri- 
 can, " Now, as you fear my boot, what did Li Wong 
 Chieun really say ? " 
 
 " Well, if excellency must have no like truth," re- 
 marks the Chinaman, in frightened voice, " Li Wong 
 Chieun say : ' Tell foreign devil I gib him audience.' 
 He creep at my feet." 
 
 " Then, quick, get out, and bring his excellency in !" 
 
 The cringing agility with which Lum Kee disappears 
 makes the Japanese look grave. As the ladies leave the 
 room, he queries, seriously : " You you haven't been 
 kicking your China boy, have you, Mr. Boardman? " 
 
 " Why, yes," replies the American. " I did hoist 
 Lumky once or twice on my toe for lying to me. You 
 see, Captain Katsuma, I'm getting into the true Eng- 
 lish way of treating these damned rapscallion coolies. 
 Lumky shivers when I speak to him ; he is beginning 
 to respect and love me." 
 
 " Oh, yes," sneers Osuri, " the English know 
 exactly how to make the Orientals love them." Then 
 he asks, rather anxiously : " You take that Chinaman 
 with you to Peking ? " 
 
 " You bet ! He's my my interpreter. I couldn't 
 get along without him. He's devoted to me, body and 
 soul." 
 
 " Then, don't kick him again ; Lum Kee might love 
 you too much." 
 
 The irregular but expressive features of the Japan- 
 ese have become rather gloomy. As he leaves the 
 apartment even the exquisite graces of the young lady 
 who has tripped out ahead of him bring no smile to 
 his face. 
 
 He notes Eira standing at the hotel door. Mrs. 
 Elton and she have just been joined by Mr. Passmere. 
 This gentleman is to be the escort of the charming 
 widow, whose graces are still very juvenile and whose 
 daintily developed beauty seems apparently extremely 
 potent with the young man, who, in light nanquins,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 1$ 
 
 white pith helmet and delicate patent-leather shoes, 
 which are low-cut to display silk stockings, seems typ- 
 ical of the Anglo-Oriental dandy. 
 
 Both ladies have already greeted the Chinese official, 
 Li Wong Chieun, who has just stepped from his 
 sedan chair borne by four sweating coolies. He is at- 
 tended by his secretary and interpreter, who wears the 
 sign of the Hanlin degree of the Literati. Did 
 not etiquette forbid it, in the presence of his superior, 
 he would wear a pair of yellow horn-rimmed spectacles. 
 As it is, his two extremely placid eyes flicker in near- 
 sightedness as he stands at a respectful distance behind 
 his chief, the high commissioner of the war depart- 
 ment, central government, Peking, who is in full pan- 
 oply of state. The flowered red button upon his skull- 
 cap indicates Li Wong Chieun is of the second rank of 
 mandarins; his yellow girdle, that he is of imperial 
 descent, though this connection may have been even in 
 remote centuries. Peacock feathers denote he has his 
 sovereign's trust, and the sweeping robes of state give 
 majesty, if not grace, to the old Chinese official. 
 
 As the party pause before Li Wong Chieun, the as- 
 tute eyes of the Eastern diplomatist seem to rest upon 
 Mr. Passmere in a way that makes that smooth shaven, 
 delicately barbered young man stand uneasily first on 
 one patent-leather shoe and then on the other. 
 
 To the ladies, and even Katsuma's astonishment, the 
 Honorable Arthur converses with the high commis- 
 sioner in fluent mandarin Chinese, though whether they 
 are passing more than the ordinary high-flowered com- 
 pliments of Celestial courtesy, Katsuma cannot guess, 
 for their voices are guardedly low, and the tongue is 
 not easy to his Japanese ear, though he has some knowl- 
 edge of it. Besides, the two stop speaking as he ap- 
 proaches them. 
 
 Then Li Wong Chieun waves his hand and Mr. 
 Passmere steps uneasily backward as the great Chinese 
 official turns his sleepy, yet acute, almond eyes upon
 
 1 6 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 the younger of the two ladies. A placid smile contorts 
 his lips, that are full, sensual and made unduly red by 
 the betel habit, as he tries to chat to his fair vis-a-vis 
 in pidgin English. 
 
 Though both ladies are worthy of any man's atten- 
 tion, Mrs. Elton being a vivacious semi-brunette of 
 superbly rounded and yet extremely graceful form, 
 the Celestial commissioner seems to turn his almond 
 optics more earnestly upon Miss Boardman, who is 
 of slightly greater height, and more sylph-like figure, 
 and whose brightly, vivacious face is made exquisitely 
 spiritual by eyes blue as ether and floataway tresses 
 sometimes brown, sometimes almost golden. 
 
 A second later, probably at her escort's suggestion, 
 for the Honorable Arthur now seems to be either bored 
 by the affair or anxious to get away from Chieun's 
 sleepy eyes, Flora waves her hand in adieu to the Mon- 
 golian potentate. 
 
 Accepting Passmere's escort, she walks off en route 
 for the tram-cars. After dawdling away half an hour 
 in the Botanical Gardens, till the air grows cooler, they 
 will, in the lower town, take Mr. Passmere's car- 
 riage, which he states he has imported for Peking use. 
 In this they will drive along the harbor to the Happy 
 Valley, the widow chaperoning her more youthful 
 cousin. 
 
 As Flora turns away, to Miss Boardman's surprise 
 and apparently the confusion of his Chinese Excel- 
 lency, Katsuma addresses him in a rather labored man- 
 ner in the language of Cathay. 
 
 After the exchange of a few affable sentences, the 
 older official's gesture indicates adieu. 
 
 With West Point gallantry, the Japanese takes 
 Eira's parasol and raises it. The young lady, gather- 
 ing her white lawn, lace-trimmed skirts about her, is 
 preparing to trip away by his side. Her attitude dis- 
 plays the exquisite proportions of her gracefully devel- 
 oped figure. One pretty foot, perfectly booted in white,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 17 
 
 is advanced before her. Her bright eyes beam like the 
 bluest of topazes. She favors Chieun with a bright, 
 pleasant glance of farewell. 
 
 " Goodie-bye ! Goodie-bye ! " murmurs the Chinese 
 official, in his best pigeon English. 
 
 Anxious to aid her father's business transactions, 
 Miss Boardman turns and holds out to the Celestial 
 potentate a little hand. To her astonishment, perhaps 
 dismay, Chieun gallantly takes this and, sinking on 
 one knee, presses his Oriental lips upon it. 
 
 With a bashful flutter Eira withdraws her fingers 
 from the flabby clasp; and as the young Japanese 
 walks off beside her, says, with a blushing face : " Li 
 Wong Chieun was extremely gallant, wasn't he?" 
 
 " Quite so," answers her escort, caustically. 
 
 " I I presume he learnt that salutation from the 
 Germans," murmurs the girl. 
 
 " Perhaps," replies the young man, " but I never 
 saw a Chinese official kiss a lady's hand before. Oscu- 
 lation is as unknown in China as Japan. He glances 
 over his shoulder, and clenches his fist; for Osuri 
 notes a peculiar flash in the almond eyes of the man- 
 darin, one Eira Boardman cannot read, otherwise her 
 blushes would be crimson. 
 
 Li Wong Chieun had once been attached to the 
 Chinese Embassy at Tokio, and Captain Katsuma had 
 heard of this old gentleman at dinner parties, when the 
 Geisha girls are brought in to sing and dance after 
 sake and tosso have made the blood of gentlemen riot- 
 ous and given to them thoughts of the painted beauties 
 of the Yoshiwara. He knows the Oriental meaning of 
 those expanded pupils, that glow, serpent-like, upon 
 the Western maiden from between yellow gashes 
 under the old Chinese official's expanded eyebrows. 
 That such gaze should be cast upon one whose delicate 
 loveliness he has idealized as that of a goddess of re- 
 finement and purity fires the Japanese officer's blood. 
 
 Kis West Point education has made him as prone to
 
 IS TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 resent insult to womanhood as any other of the four 
 hundred gallant youths who had marched beside him at 
 the American military academy ; he, with difficulty, 
 restrains himself from stepping back to the mandarin 
 of the red button and giving his Eastern highness an 
 old-fashioned, Western slugging. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " WHEN A WOMAN WEEPS, SHE LOVES ! " 
 
 But modern conservatism overcomes the emotional 
 outburst of youth. 
 
 Pretty lips are opening to Osuri ; blue eyes are 
 gazing upon him, and a sweet voice is saying pathet- 
 ically : " Captain Katsuma, you're not holding my par- 
 asol over my head. Oh, mercy, you're dragging its 
 white ribbons in the dust ! Your face is that of a thun- 
 der cloud, when I had hoped that the pleasure of my 
 company might have made you at least gallant enough 
 to smile upon me." 
 
 Compliments are dangerous to Orientals ; they 
 sometimes believe women mean them. The flash 
 leaves the eyes of Eira Boardman's escort. The dark 
 orbs of the Japanese become soft and tender. After 
 this the parasol is held very carefully over the young 
 lady's head, as they trip down the hill. 
 
 " You you speak Chinese ? " asks the girl, in 
 rather amazed tone. 
 
 " Certainly," he returns. Most of our script is in 
 Chinese characters. One who has mastered Jap- 
 anese doesn't fear any tenguage the tongue of man can 
 enunciate. Still, I only know, and that partially, the 
 mandarin dialect there are as many others as there 
 are languages in Europe. 
 
 " And you say kissing is unknown in Japan ? "
 
 TANCLED 
 
 queries Miss Eira, interestedly, but coquettishly ; appa- 
 rently she is becoming interested in things Oriental. 
 
 " Certainly ! " answers Katsuma, impulsively. " I 
 never knew what a kiss was until an American girl" 
 he pauses, hesitates and grows red "until an Ameri- 
 can girl explained the custom to me and illustrated it 
 by saluting her young lady chum," adds the Eastern 
 captain, stoutly. 
 
 " Ah, I perceive," says his inquisitor, sarcastically. 
 A moment later she continues, roguishly: "You have 
 a very bright and agile mind, Captain Katsuma." 
 
 Fortunately, as Eira speaks, they join Mrs. Elton 
 and Passmere, who is calling out to them : " Hurry 
 up, or you'll miss the tram-car, don't yer know. Be- 
 sides, you forget, Miss Eira, it's etiquette for you to 
 walk where your chaperon's eyes can be upon you." 
 
 " Please don't brand me with that awful title," 
 laughs the young widow. " Chaperonage indicates an 
 aged demureness that puts a woman out of the flirta- 
 tion ring." 
 
 " General flirtation and all that sort of thing is 
 beastly, don't yer know," remarks Mr. Passmere, sen- 
 tentiously. " When maid or widow puts her eyes upon 
 a fellah, she should keep them there, can't yer see." He 
 turns a rather severe glance upon the coquettish Flora, 
 whose piquant face under his gaze assumes such a 
 nervous blush that his grey eyes grow triumphant. For 
 the Honorable Arthur has some rather curious ideas in 
 his bright mind about Mrs. Elton. 
 
 " Pooh, -don't give us a lecture, old man ! " jeers 
 Osuri, as the four walk along together, adding: 
 " Mrs. Elton meant that chaperonage suggested ad- 
 vanced age. No woman could mention that forbidden 
 topic unless she felt very sure of her youth." His 
 compliment makes the widow's face extremely benign 
 to Captain Katsuma of the First Tokio, as the quar- 
 tette step into the cable-car. 
 
 On the democratic tram, as they run down the hill,
 
 20 fANGLfit) FLAGS. 
 
 several Chinamen being jabbering in close proximity, 
 Flora laughs : " Where did you pick up their lingo, 
 Mr. Passmere? It must be an awful difficult language 
 for a European." 
 
 " Oh, bless my soul, it's easy enough, don't yer 
 know, if you'll only take it up young enough, can't yer 
 see. I can chat every dialect from Cantonese to Man- 
 darin, with a sprinkling of Hakka and a touch of 
 Shanghai." 
 
 " You must have come to China in babyhood," re- 
 marks Osuri, looking up from a semi-private conver- 
 sation with the beautiful American girl. " I have 
 noticed several Orientalisms in your manner." 
 
 " Yes," interjects Eira, " you shook hands with 
 yourself when you left the Chinese high commissioner, 
 Mr. Passmere. Can you use chop-sticks?" 
 
 " Ah oh of course ; I have been connected with 
 missions and legations since I was almost a child," 
 returns the young man ; his extremely bright eyes 
 growing shifty and uneasy. " Diplomacy seems to 
 run in my family, don't yer know." Then, perhaps, 
 anxious to stop further queries, the Honorable Arthur 
 flashes out : " Like to hear what that Chinese mer- 
 chant in the fore-end of the car is jabbering about? " 
 Next he ejaculates : " No, by chop-sticks, I don't think 
 I'll tell yer." 
 
 " Oh, please do ! " cries Mrs. Elton, curiosity over- 
 coming prudence. 
 
 " Oh, well, if you must have it, he is talking about 
 buying a third wife, can't yer see? Got her in Canton 
 cheap. He is telling how he gave her parents two pigs, 
 six hens and " 
 
 " Then don't continue ! " commands Miss Boardman, 
 in American disgust at the Eastern degradation of her 
 sex. 
 
 Just above the commercial portion of the town they 
 leave the tram and enter the Botanical Gardens. Here 
 the exquisite trees and lovely flowers put poetry in all
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 21 
 
 their souls, even the unexcitable Passmere remarking: 
 " Deuce take me, I can't tell what gets into me when 
 these beastly bushes and flowers are all about me. 
 Somehow or other, it seems to make the ladies very 
 fetching, don't yer know. It rather makes a fellah 
 sort of want to tell 'em that he loves 'em, can't yer see." 
 
 At this Flora's eyes turn romantically upon her cava- 
 lier, and the widow seems anxious to set out for the 
 Happy Valley, where, notwithstanding her duties of 
 chaperonage, she has determined to give the Honorable 
 Arthur Cochrane Passmere, tete-a-tete. 
 
 Almost immediately an incident occurs that makes 
 this lady very eager to leave the gardens. She and 
 her escort are seated a little distance from their com- 
 panions, their voices nearly drowned by the splash of 
 waters in the near-by fountain. The gentleman is 
 remarking : " By Jove, how it adds to the charm of a 
 widow to be unencumbered by souvenirs of a former 
 matrimony. ' 
 
 " How do you know that? " flutters Mrs. Elton. 
 
 " Why, you're so deuced young, don't yer know, 
 you'd have to be carrying the little darling in your 
 arms, can't yer see ! " 
 
 " Y-e-s I I am scarcely twenty-two," murmurs 
 the widow, looking down at as pretty a foot as there 
 is in Hong Kong. Then Flora suddenly grows very 
 pale. Arthur is snarling: "Just listen to that many- 
 language brat in the next walk." 
 
 Mrs. Elton doesn't have to listen much, for to her 
 come in the strident screams of childhood : " Donnes 
 inoi die bonbons, ma belle Lisette. Vite! or, I'll tell 
 mama you were larking with a red-coat. Comprcn- 
 nes, du Aeself " 
 
 At this juvenile oration in most savage polyglot, 
 the widow rises with a pale, frightened face, and 
 falters : " Let's start at once for the Happy Valley, or 
 it will be growing dark before we get back." 
 
 As they leave the Gardens she is dejectedly cogi-
 
 22 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 tating : " Arthur is so awfully dictatorial. Good 
 Heavens, if I ever have to tell him!" 
 
 A few minutes after, in Mr. Passmere's carriage, 
 which he tells them will make Peking open its eyes, 
 they are driving along the Praya. This great business 
 street seems unusually brisk, excited and bouyant; the 
 Sikh policemen striding about vivaciously ; the coolies 
 clicking as they move their immense loads with a vig- 
 orous activity that denotes an expected festival. The 
 whole place seems gay with flags, and though commer- 
 cial, martial. 
 
 " Why does every one appear so excitedly happy? " 
 asks Mrs. Elton. " The English are still righting the 
 Boers, aren't they?" 
 
 " Certainly ! " replies Passmere. " But instead of 
 being checked, we are now winning, don't yer see." 
 
 " That's the reason of the difference in Johnny Bull's 
 appearance," laughs Osuri. A tactician having now 
 command of the British Army in South Africa, Tom- 
 my Atkins is no longer going down to useless death in 
 frontal attacks against impregnable intrenchments 
 manned by deadly marksmen. Roberts has begun his 
 march on Pretoria. The Boers are already being 
 flanked in Natal." 
 
 As he speaks they pass the monument erected to the 
 dead American tars who, with English blue-jackets, 
 fought the Chinese pirates at Kuhlan, in 1855, before 
 which it is the rule that every martial procession 
 pauses, while its bands play " The Star-Spangled Ban- 
 ner " and " God Save the Queen," and then a dirge to 
 the gallant Anglo-Saxons of both nations who died 
 battling for Western civilization against Eastern 
 barbarism. 
 
 Soon after their carriage stops near the English 
 cemetery. Stepping from their vehicle, after some few 
 minutes of listless wandering, Mrs. Elton, taking adroit 
 advantage of surrounding shrubbery and tombs, gets 
 lost with her young gallant, who, while dawdling about
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 2 3 
 
 by her side, has, with modern love of comfort, after 
 asking permission, pulled out a short pipe, plugged it 
 with Cavendish and added the poetry of smoke to the 
 presence of loveliness among romantic surroundings. 
 Their conversation indicates that they are already al- 
 most affianced. 
 
 " By-the-by," remarks Arthur, as he saunters beside 
 his attractive charge, " I expect my sister on the next 
 Pacific Mail boat. Coming out again to visit her 
 bachelor brother, and all that, don't yer know." 
 
 " Oh, the lady who gave you the letter of introduc- 
 tion to me," remarks Mrs. Elton, pleasantly. " Imo- 
 gene and I were religious comrades. She has doubt- 
 less written you that we took a retreat together in the 
 Protestant Sisterhood of St. Ursula, near Bruges, and 
 remained several months as visitors of that institution." 
 
 " Ah, yes, making auricular confession to the Rev- 
 erend Vestry Stole, I believe. I hope he gave good, 
 long prayers and many penances for your numerous 
 flirtations." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; but not enough to cure me," laughs 
 Flora. 
 
 " Yes, you need a right down savage, jealous hus- 
 band for that ! " remarks her suitor, doggedly. 
 
 " You must not talk to me in that way, you auda- 
 cious boy," chides Mrs. Elton, though she turns away 
 her head and blushes vividly, as her cavalier contin- 
 ues, insinuatingly : " Perhaps Imogene thought you 
 required one when she gave me the letter to you." He 
 is too crafty a lover not to emphasize this with a tender 
 squeeze of the delicate, gloved hand. 
 
 " Oh, Arthur, I shall always thank your sister for 
 her letter of introduction," murmurs the widow look- 
 ing down. 
 
 At this, thinking of a very curious epistle in refer- 
 ence to the lady at his side, that his sister has written 
 to him, an exceedingly peculiar expression ripples Mr. 
 Passmere's clean-cut features.
 
 24 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 From it may be quoted : 
 
 " Mrs. Elton would be a magnificent prize I Very 
 lovely and exceedingly rich; she is so sentimen- 
 tal, as well as esthetically religious, that her ardent 
 and emotional nature will make her absolutely pliable 
 to the man who wins her love. Provided she is first 
 snared astutely and then ruled with judicious autoc- 
 racy, not only she, but her entire fortune, some hundred 
 and fifty thousand pounds, may be wholly yours, as this 
 is invested in her own name in English securities. 
 Catch her ! " 
 
 The gentleman looks about. Some graceful weeping 
 willows and a marble mausoleum make the scene beau- 
 tiful, but sad. Behind them are fir-clad hills; three 
 or four laboring coolie-gardeners, at a distance, do not 
 interrupt them ; they are practically alone. 
 
 " Supposing we take a rest," he says, lazily. The lady 
 sinks down, with a little sigh upon a curbstone. The 
 gentleman, bending down over the exquisite widow, 
 looks curiously at her through blue wreaths of vapor. 
 Her eyes are bright with love; his with passion and 
 love of gold ; though behind the brilliant pupils is a 
 peculiar intangible, occult calculation, sinister, yet 
 mathematical 
 
 " You have your answer to my question, ready, 
 Flora ? " he whispers. 
 
 " Oh, why are you so impatient," pleads the lady, 
 nervously. " You give me so little time." 
 
 " How can I give you time ? Don't you see I've got 
 to go on to our legation at Peking? " 
 
 " Oh, you're connected with the British legation." 
 
 " Yes, but unofficially, sub-rosa, don't yer under- 
 stand. Now, if you say the word, I'll take you on 
 with me." 
 
 " Oh r Arthur ! " And Mrs. Elton looks up tenderly 
 to this handsome adventurer, of boyish face and mind 
 as astutely crafty as that of Lucifer himself.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 25 
 
 For the only court the Honorable Arthur represents 
 diplomatically is that of His Satanic Majesty. 
 
 Hong Kong thinks him an Englishman ; he knows 
 he is not! 
 
 Over twenty years before this, two children, named 
 Tracey, of great beauty but abominable heredity, had 
 been left by a dying courtesan at the Five Points' Mis- 
 sion in New York. 
 
 At seven years of age the girl manifested such 
 brightness and charm that, without proper enquiry as 
 to her parentage, she had been adopted by a maiden 
 lady of country location and comfortable fortune named 
 Passmere. Some eleven years after, the death of her 
 protectress, who had also given her her name, left 
 Miss Imogene Tracey Passmere with a moderate com- 
 petency. 
 
 The brother, Tom Tracey, gleaned also from the Five 
 Points' Mission in New York, on account of his beau- 
 tiful face, by the Reverend Ezekiah Reuben Morrison, 
 had been taken when still quite young to China by that 
 missionary. Educated at the mission house Tung- 
 chow, North China, by his clerical patron, his mind 
 being bright by descent from a long line of wary confi- 
 dence men, astute rascals and adroit sneak-thieves, 
 the boy had acquired not only a fairly good English 
 education, but many of the Chinese dialects, speaking 
 these with a fluency only acquired in childhood. At 
 seventeen the young man had become a mission teacher, 
 but about this time his heredity unmistakably display- 
 ing itself in several liasons with native girls, the Rev- 
 erend Ezekiah Morrison had dismissed his protege 
 from the mission house with his anathema and a horse- 
 whipping. 
 
 So Tracey had drifted from Chinese teacher, at 
 Tung-chow, into the life of an adventurer among the 
 treaty ports and trading places of Northern China, 
 where his intimate and fluent knowledge of Chinese 
 had obtained for him employment with the American
 
 26 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Consul at Chefpo. Here, after a year or two, he had 
 been joined by his sister, who had just come into her 
 money by the death of the woman who had adopted 
 her. 
 
 During her visit, Tom Tracey had assumed his sis- 
 ter's name and taken unto himself the much more aris- 
 tocratic cognomen of Arthur Cochrane Passmere. 
 Somewhat later in life he had become attached to the 
 bureau of Sir Robert Hart, Inspector General of Impe- 
 rial Chinese customs. Losing this position, having 
 gained great knowledge of the opium trade and also 
 considerable insight into the enormous profits of opium 
 smuggling, his sister furnishing the capital for the ven- 
 ture, Mr. Passmere had adopted this nefarious, but 
 popular industry, making quite a tidy sum of money at 
 Wenchoo. 
 
 Dissatisfied by the social standing given to her 
 brother in Northern China, Miss Imogene Tracey 
 Passmere had sailed for Europe, taking with her her 
 portion of the profits of the opium industry. On the 
 Continent, her heredity exhibiting itself vividily, 
 this young lady had made several Bohemian ventures, 
 sung a little, painted a little, chiseled a little, had some 
 desperate intrigues with gentlemen in European cap- 
 itals and had finally, for very emotional variety, been 
 aesthetic during a short season and a devotee at St. 
 Ursula's. 
 
 Here to Mrs. Elton's misfortune, Miss Imogene 
 Tracey Passmere had chanced to meet her. In 
 the confidences produced by mutual penance and the 
 intimacy of fasting side by side, the young lady had 
 learned a good deal about the widow's affairs, and that 
 she was meditating very shortly visiting China. Into 
 her brilliant and unscrupulous mind had flown a coup 
 for her brother and incidentally some profit to her- 
 self. She had written some very crafty, yet sound 
 advice, to the Honorable Arthur Cochrane Passmere
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 27 
 
 and enclosed a letter of introduction to the beautiful 
 Mrs. Elton. 
 
 For Imogene's brother has, of his own volition, by 
 this time prefixed to his name the title of Honorable. 
 During his wanderings he has also become legally a 
 subject of the English crown, thinking Her Majesty's 
 government a better protection than any other in the 
 Far East. 
 
 For the last two months he has waited for Mrs. El- 
 ton at Hong Kong. Just across at Kau-lung he has 
 a little villa, and lives in bachelor state, servants being 
 cheap. Not being in trade, and bearing an impressive 
 prefix to his name, he is deemed ostensibly a gen- 
 tleman and has received entree to the Hong Kong Club. 
 
 He is generally regarded as an unattached diplomat. 
 There is no one to contradict this, for though the num- 
 ber of Europeans in any treaty port is so small that 
 most people know everybody else's business, still this 
 gentleman's operations have been nearly altogether in 
 North China and he has not yet been recognized. Of 
 course, in time the Honorable Arthur will be known as 
 well in Hong Kong as he is in Wenchoo, but before 
 this he is determined to make the rich widow his prey. 
 
 He is playing his game very well. With an astute- 
 ness born of the devil, this fair, curly-headed, gray- 
 eyed, Oriental, boyish chevalier d' Industrie conceals 
 his emotions under an assumed British nonchalance 
 which is about as good a diplomatic parry as the 
 " Chinese closed-eye " or " Russian-legation-stare" ; 
 and disguises his sentiments in that indefinite collo- 
 quial English picked up on many bunds and cultivated 
 at several Anglo-Chinese clubs, which is nigh as diffi- 
 cult to accurately construe as Chinese patois or Kal- 
 muck jabber. 
 
 A moment after he says, hurriedly : " But you must 
 keep mum about my diplomatic mission, Flora ; it's 
 a secret between me and Sir Claude Macdonald, that 
 if it came out would set the Peking legations wild ! "
 
 28 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " Oh, Arthur, as if I could ever betray a statesman's 
 confidence," murmurs the widow, in radiant admira- 
 tion, and the two drift into a lovers' conversation. 
 
 During this time, left by themselves, the young 
 American girl and her Japanese escort find themselves 
 beyond the outskirts of the cemetery. Wandering 
 up one of the little ravines which gradually grows 
 wilder in its shrubbery of rank bushes and weeds, 
 Eira seats herself upon a piece of weather-stained 
 granite, gazes dreamily upon the green sea of foliage 
 shading the last resting places of many gallant 
 spirits who have gone down in the fights of commerce 
 against plague and cholera and in the battles of war 
 against Black-flags, pirates and general Eastern sav- 
 agery, and signs for Osuri to take place beside her. 
 
 " You can smoke also. I noticed Mr. Passmere en- 
 joying his pipe fifteen minutes ago, Captain Katsuma," 
 observes Miss Boardman, lightly. You don't effect the 
 meerschaum, but I've seen your hand wander abstract- 
 edly twice toward the pocket that holds your cigar 
 case." 
 
 " Thank you ; you're both observing and kind," re- 
 turns the Japanese. " Perhaps some times too kind," 
 he sighs, in moody despondence. 
 
 " Why, I've only permitted you the most formal priv- 
 ileges of your sex, Captain Katsuma" replies the young 
 lady, her tone growing somewhat colder. 
 
 " Ah, but like Ama-Terasu, our sun goddess, you 
 have let me look upon your face and that makes me 
 nigh onto a god," he murmurs, the softness of passion 
 coming into his Oriental voice. " Now I shall sit in 
 your sunshine." 
 
 Producing a regalia, he lights up and permits the 
 wreaths of vapor to curl about his cameo face as he 
 throws himself almost at Eira's pretty feet and gazes 
 upon the blushing yet troubled countenance of his 
 charming companion. 
 
 But if American young ladies know how to inspire
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 29 
 
 passion, they have the art to prevent its inconvenient 
 declaration. Though Miss Boardman prods her little 
 boot with the ferule of her white parasol nervously, she 
 instantly says, in school-mistress command : " You 
 sometimes mention your Japanese mythology. Tell 
 me at once something about it ; likewise your re- 
 ligion if if you have any ? " Her tone is mischiev- 
 ously impertinent, but, lover-like, Osuri thinks it ex- 
 quisite in its piquant witchery. 
 
 " That's easy to do," he replies. " We have as grand 
 a mythology as the ancient Greeks, and a religion much 
 more sensible. Like most of the aristocracy of Japan, 
 I am a follower of Shinto." 
 
 " Oh, you're not a Buddhist? " 
 
 " No, that's a religion for our masses, excellent to 
 keep common humanity contented and in order. It's 
 very much like Christianity without Christ. The prin- 
 ciples are about the same. The Lord's Prayer was 
 uttered by Confucius, centuries before the Chris- 
 tian era." 
 
 " Oh mercy, you're quite an atheist," shudders the 
 young lady. 
 
 " No, all Shintoists are Deists. We believe in Izan- 
 agi, the father of both the gods and the human race, 
 the great first cause, from whom descended the Mika- 
 do ! It is a Shinto's religion, sentiment, morality 
 whatever you like to call it to obey absolutely his 
 emperor, as the representative of God ; likewise to yield 
 implicit obedience to his father." 
 
 " Goodness ! Then Shintoism isn't likely to be popu- 
 lar in the United States," observes Miss Boardman, 
 airily. 
 
 " No, I'm sorry to say that I have seen even in you," 
 replies the Japanese in solemn reproof, "a careless dis- 
 regard of your father's commands at times, for which 
 I have wondered he didn't reprove you." 
 
 " Reprove me!" echoes Miss Young America haugh- 
 tily. "My father wouldn't dare to; I'm twenty years 
 .of a?e,"
 
 30 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " And I'm nigh onto twenty-seven, and I wouldn't 
 dare to disobey my father. It would bring a curse 
 upon me," says the young man earnestly. " Even now 
 I have written to my father asking his permission to 
 enter into into marriage. I but await his reply " 
 
 The ardor of Osuri's Eastern eyes disconcerts Miss 
 Eira Boardman, though she has gone through a New 
 York season. Its repressed passion makes her tremble. 
 
 She mutters to herself remorsefully : " Great Heav- 
 ens, if Jim knew ! " There is an abashed look upon her 
 face, a tremor in her voice ; she rises and turns coldly 
 away. 
 
 Still his hot breath is fanning her shoulder; she 
 fancies she can hear his heart beat. 
 
 She has kindled a fire she knows she must quench ; 
 she turns upon him and sneers : " And you, Captain 
 Katsuma, who pretend to be a commander of men ; to 
 lead your troops into action ; to be not only a man but 
 a soldier, obey papa like a whipped child ! " 
 
 "A true soldier learns obedience first, command af- 
 terwards ! " he replies hotly to her almost absurd 
 taunt. 
 
 But unheeding both the stout words and the re- 
 proachful glances of wounded manhood, Eira strides 
 hurriedly along a little path leading up into the recesses 
 of the fir-clad hills till after a few steps her course is 
 barred by a low mud wall overgrown with weeds, ap- 
 parently that of a deserted hut. Before this she stands, 
 gazing into a little orifice in its mud face. Anxious to 
 turn the subject, she cries: "Guess what's in this hole, 
 Captain Katsuma. Looks as if it might contain hidden 
 treasure." 
 
 She is half concealed from him by a rank semi-tropi- 
 cal bush, but he springing beside her, seizes the little 
 white gloved fingers that are about to be inserted into 
 the small circular opening, and gasps: " Don't put your 
 hand into that hole ! "
 
 FLAGS. $t 
 
 " Why not, if I please? I'm not in leading strings, 
 if you are. 1 zvill put it in ! " 
 
 As she speaks she finds herself seized around the 
 waist by a pair of arms that seem like springs of steel 
 in their agile power. She is lifted as if she were a 
 child, kicking about her feet among her fluttering petti- 
 coats, and placed behind the Japanese captain. 
 
 " How dare you touch me ! How dare you ! How 
 dare you ! " 
 
 " For this ! Have you ever seen a snake's hole ? " 
 
 " Snake's hole ! " 
 
 "Perhaps you will forgive me now!" 
 
 Katsuma's cane darts like a flash of lighting into the 
 recess. Ten seconds after that dread head of the 
 hooded snake which has presaged sudden death to so 
 many in the East Indies rises from the opening, its 
 fangs erect, its hood extended. 
 
 Miss Boardman utters a cry of horror. The next 
 instant, quick as the cut of a cavalry saber, comes the 
 cane of the Japanese captain, and the cobra half de- 
 capitated is thrown writhing twenty feet away. 
 
 With a low cry Osuri turns from death to beauty, 
 muttering hoarsely : " Forgive me ! " 
 
 " Forgive you," she says quietly. " Why you have 
 saved my life." 
 
 Then the danger being past, Eira Boardman, woman- 
 like, fainting, would sink down, but his arms close 
 around the slight waist of the swooning girl. 
 
 He is carrying her down the path. The rapture of 
 holding in his embrace the woman of his love causes 
 the strong man to stagger ; the exquisite beauties of her 
 form pressed close to his for one instant make him half 
 crazy with almost divine ecstasy as he reverently kisses 
 the pallid cheek of Eira Boardman and begs her to 
 come to life for his sake. 
 
 Then conscious that such caress of his helpless god- 
 dess is unworthy of true love, he places her recumbent 
 against a boulder overgrown with moss by the side of
 
 $2 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 the rivulet, and drawing up water in his hat from its 
 trickling stream, tosses it upon the fair face that is 
 now so white. 
 
 A few moments of such attentions and her blue 
 eyes open, the lilies of her cheeks become pink ; she 
 says slowly : " I am afraid my display of nerves 
 alarmed you, Captain Katsuma, you must think me a 
 disgrace to the advanced womenhood of Yankeeland." 
 
 " Thank the gods you are not unsexed ; that you 
 need protection ; that my support was your aid ! " mur- 
 murs Osuri. 
 
 The rapture of his glances covers their object with 
 a shrinking, almost pathetic self-abasement. She is 
 murmuring to herself : " I should have told him be- 
 fore. What is maiden bashfulness to breaking a man's 
 heart. He should have known the truth." 
 
 But Eira Boardman's remorse would be greater, her 
 humiliation deeper, did she guess that her very efforts 
 to avoid the declaration of the young Japanese officer 
 have but given him a hope that makes him nearly de- 
 lirious with joy. For all the time he is saying to him- 
 self : " My darling's anger arose when I told her I had 
 written to my father asking permission to offer mar- 
 riage. My goddess is indignant that my love was so 
 cold it could wait even for parental blessing." 
 
 " You needn't throw any more water on my face, 
 please," pleads the young lady half laughingly. " My 
 cheeks are so wet, Flora will think I I have been 
 weeping. You you wouldn't want her to suppose that 
 you had brought tears to my eyes." 
 
 The answer of Katsuma half frightens and half as- 
 tounds her. He whispers. " That I could bring tears 
 to your eyes would be the triumph of my life. Old 
 Japan has a maxim, ' When a woman weeps, she 
 loves.' " 
 
 " Not always," remarks Miss Boardman, as coldly 
 as if Osuri had been throwing ice-water upon her in- 
 stead of the tepid drainage of a Hong Kong rivulet.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 33 
 
 She is regaining her composure. Rising, the alluring 
 American says icily : " I suppose by this time my 
 chaperon will be looking for me," and strides rapidly 
 down the path. 
 
 " Ah, now you will keep me at a greater distance ; 
 now I've spoken a little but not enough," murmurs 
 Katsuma reproachfully, as he follows her. 
 
 " Pish, you talk as romantically as if you were at 
 West Point on Flirtation Walk or under Kissing Rock 
 or even in the great mysteries of First-classman's Cave, 
 where the cadet hangs up his cap on a neighboring 
 branch, and his tete-a-tete with beauty is sacred," 
 laughs the pursued one, attempting to conceal embar- 
 rassment under frivolity. 
 
 " How do you know so much of West Point ro- 
 mance? You've never been there, Miss Eira, I be- 
 lieve," he says, a shade of anxious suspicion rippling 
 his expressive features. 
 
 " No, but I've heard," she smiles. Then Miss Board- 
 man's face becomes fiery with burning blushes. She 
 presses her hand lovingly yet rapturously to her throb- 
 bing bosom, and feeling upon it a little bauble hung 
 round her white neck by a delicate golden chain, she 
 thinks : " Fool that I've been ! I should have shown 
 him this before! Then he's a West Pointer he 
 must have guessed ! " 
 
 Even as this flashes through her mind, the sound of 
 a distant cannon comes floating up to her over the 
 graves of the Happy Valley. 
 
 " Hello, isn't it a little too early to be the sunset 
 gun ! " remarks Katsuma, looking at his watch. Then 
 next moment he says, a curious wistfulness in his 
 voice : " I imagined it might be another English vic- 
 tory in South Africa." 
 
 " Why do you guess the British have defeated the 
 Boers ? " queries Eira, opening her eyes. 
 
 " Tactics ! " replies the young West Pointer senten- 
 tiously. Then his face becomes curiously anxious ; he
 
 34 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 asks nervously : " Your father really intends to take 
 you to Peking, Miss Boardman?" 
 
 " Certainly ! " replies the maid. Her eyes grow 
 sadly contemplative; she murmurs: "Only only one 
 thing could by any chance prevent it and that is im- 
 possible ! " 
 
 " Tell me the impossible ! " 
 
 Eira Boardman doesn't answer him. She droops her 
 head and bursts out crying as if her heart is broken. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DAIMIO'S BLESSING. 
 
 What attempts at consolation, Osuri in his passion 
 for his divinity might offer to her tears, is con- 
 jectural ; for before her astounded escort can utter 
 words of solace or place lover's hand upon her, Eira 
 darts from him and running with the speed of a fright- 
 ened fawn, flies down the path. Ere he can overtake 
 her in a short two minutes' run, she is standing beside 
 Mrs. Elton and the nonchalant Passmere, who takes 
 his pipe out of his mouth and remarks: " By Jove, my 
 Japanese friend, it looks at if you're not in form for a 
 footrace with athletic new woman, don't yer know, old 
 fellah." 
 
 But Osuri Katsuma only gazes at Miss Boardman, 
 an astonished expression upon his mobile features. He 
 has observed American beauty in its various stages of 
 flirtation, romance and love at the West Point Acad- 
 emy ; he has seen them run away from military adorers 
 along Flirtation Walk or dodge amorous Plebes under 
 Kissing Rock ; but American beauty in these cases has 
 always, at the last, been overtaken. He has not over- 
 taken Eira Boardman. Still perhaps she didn't expect 
 to run upon the widow and her escort quite so
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 35 
 
 soon. Some weeping willows and a marble tomb had 
 screened them from her. 
 
 To him his enigma affords no immediate chance for 
 inquiry. In a down-hearted, hang-dog way, the young 
 lady keeps very close to her chaperon's side. 
 
 A s they return to the carriage, noting the traces of 
 wa' ery emotion, Mr. Passmen chaffs the new Atlanta 
 ej* :ulating cheerily : " Deuce take me, but you Amer- 
 ici n girls are up to snuff." 
 
 "" How so ? " falters Eira suspiciously. 
 
 " Dont yer know running in the breezes always dries 
 teary cheeks ? " laughs the Honorable Arthur. 
 
 At this, her chaperon putting glance upon her 
 charge, exclaims : " Great goodness Eira, you have 
 been crying ! " then turns eyes of perchance angry 
 inquiry upon the young lady's escort. 
 
 Osuri is about to reply, when he starts aston- 
 ished at the easy yet truthful way by which the 
 quick-witted American girl destroys inquiry. " Yes," 
 she breaks in, " I I nearly put my hand into a cobra's 
 hole, and Captain Katsuma killed the reptile." 
 
 " A cobra's hole ! " screams Mrs. Elton, " Good 
 Heavens, are there such things about here? Let's get 
 away instantly." 
 
 " At one time they were more numerous on the 
 island," remarks the Japanese. " Fortunately now, 
 they are quite rare." 
 
 Then despite his innate politeness he can't help 
 sneering : " That broken bough isn't one ! " For Flora 
 at this point gives a little shriek and bounds high in the 
 air over a small dead limb that is lying in her path. 
 
 " Yes, but it's growing dark," she falters, "and I 
 may step upon one and never know it until until its 
 its fangs My God, what's that ?" Draping her white 
 skirts about her, the lovely widow giving a charming 
 display of most graceful ankles exquisitely hosed skips 
 chudderingly and tremblingly along the road. 
 
 Upon this Passmere gazes for a moment ; then noting
 
 36 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 this display comes under other eyes his face flushes 
 with jealous anger. Perchance wishing to test his 
 power over the fair figurante, he strides after Mrs. 
 Elton, and getting 'beside her whispers severely: 
 " Flora, I am astounded at this public skirt dancing." 
 
 " I I can't help it I'm so afraid of snakes ! " shud- 
 ders the lady. 
 
 " Nevertheless, it must not occur again It's almost 
 immodest." Mr. Passmere's tone is ministerial. 
 
 " Oh Arthur please donM: speak in that way to me," 
 pleads the widow, and her brown eyes fill with tears. 
 
 The young adventurer's cold gray orbs light up with 
 triumph as he notes Flora does not resent his posses- 
 sive manner and droops under his criticism. He thinks : 
 " If a severe word makes % her weep, my game is won." 
 
 Fortunately they are near his equipage, where it takes 
 considerable time and much attention by the Honorable 
 Arthur to place his charge's charmingly outlined figure 
 into this haven of refuge. 
 
 Miss Boardman is now at the carriage. Osuri of- 
 fers to aid her to a seat beside her chaperon, but the 
 delicate hand of the young lady is scare a feather 
 weight upon the arm of this man whose love smites 
 her with a merciless remorse. 
 
 As they roll through the city, the conversation of all 
 four is practically compelled to turn upon South Africa. 
 There is a rumor that Mafeking has been relieved. 
 Though the report chances to be premature by several 
 weeks, elated crowds fill the streets, and cheer for 
 the success of British arms and the English field- 
 marshal whose tactical skill has in a few months 
 brought victory to his country's banners. 
 
 During considerable enthusiastic patriotism, Mr. 
 Passmere's face has a knowing look as if he had also 
 won a victory as well as Baden-Powell, and the brown 
 eyes of Flora Elton droop before his with a peculiar 
 diffidence. 
 
 Upon his companion's emotions, the Japanese officer
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 37 
 
 gazes carelessly, though his eyes, as they meet Eira's, 
 display an almost pathetic inquiry. Even after they 
 have gone up on the tram, as he and Passmere bid 
 their charges adieu at the Peak Hotel, the young lady 
 whose bashful poses sometimes give him rapture, some- 
 times doubt, permits him no opportunity of private 
 word. 
 
 Just as they turn to leave, the Honorable Arthur 
 suggests : " Of course, I shall see you at Mrs. Mur- 
 ray's fete this evening. Her dance will doubtless now 
 be a jubilee over Roberts and Baden-Powell," adding 
 quite eagerly : " You'll join in our rejoicings, won't 
 you, Mrs. Elton ? " 
 
 " Certainly. England's cause is my cause now," 
 whispers Flora, as if some happening of the day had 
 made her almost a British subject. 
 
 "You also, Miss Boardman? You've both got 
 cards, don't yer know," continues Arthur, a flash of 
 emotion struggling with assumed immobility of feat- 
 ure. 
 
 " If papa will take me," replies Eira. 
 
 " Nonsense, lie's bound to ! I never saw a pater- 
 familias so under a daughter's thumb," laughs Pass- 
 mere. "I can book you also, Captain Katsuma! I'll 
 have a card at your hotel in an hour. Georgina Mur- 
 ray always wants military swells, and this will be a 
 martial affair with such jolly news from old 'Babs.' ' 
 
 " Yes, I I think so," answers the Japanese officer. 
 Turning to the American girl, he suggests earnestly: 
 " You haven't answered, Miss Boardman." 
 
 " Very well, I'll go ! " replies the young lady in de- 
 termined tone, her eyes meeting her questioner's quite 
 firmly, for now she has made up her mind : " Best 
 settle this affair at once ; even if papa finds out ! Even 
 if " Her pearly teeth snap together recklessly. 
 
 " Thank you," says Osuri simply, hope making his 
 expressive features radiant. To this he adds : " You 
 will hardly be going till ten. Please tell your esteemed
 
 38 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 father I shall call upon him* at half past nine," and 
 walks off leaving Miss Boardman faltering to herself: 
 " Good Heavens, does this Japanese explosive mean to 
 ask my father for me. Oh mercy, then then it will 
 all come out ! " 
 
 A moment later an expression of relief ripples her 
 mobile features ; she half laughs : " Pish I'm fright- 
 ened at shadows. Katsuma will never make his pas- 
 sion formal, till he receives the assent and blessing of 
 the patriarch of the Katsuma tribe." 
 
 As the Japanese captain rides down the hill he re- 
 marks to his companion : " My dear Passmere, I hope 
 our hostess will excuse me wearing uniform. As an 
 officer of the Japanese Army it would not be well for 
 me professionally to take part in your rejoicings for 
 the English victory, though I'd like to shake hands with 
 Baden-Powell after his seven months' heroic resistance 
 in that isolated bush-frontier town." 
 
 " Very well, old man, come in mufti if you like," re- 
 plies the putative Englishman. 
 
 Soon after they are at the corner of Queen's Road 
 and Wyndham Street standing in the midst of an ex- 
 cited concourse whose antics and hurrahs show that 
 the sturdy Anglo-Saxon race can become as enthusias- 
 tic as the old Romans did over a triumph of their le- 
 gions in distant Syria, ancient Germania or far off 
 Ultima Thuli. Suddenly Passmere starts, looks at his 
 watch and mutters: "By Jove, I've an appointment! " 
 then shakes hands elaborately with himself and elbows 
 his way through the crowd. 
 
 Gazing after his companion's departing figure, Kat- 
 suma wonders why this man, who is apparently an 
 Englishman, should have so many extreme Oriental 
 mannerisms. But no lover is particularly suspicious of 
 another lover, unless they are both lovers of the same 
 woman. And the Japanese gives little heed to the 
 wooer of Mrs. Elton. 
 
 A moment later Qsuri springs hurriedly up to his
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 39 
 
 rooms in the Hong Kong Hotel. These he has occu- 
 pied for some little time. They look out upon the 
 Praya and a slight oreeze enters their windows from 
 the roadstead. A homelike Dai-Nippon appearance 
 has been given to them by his faithful Nihonese boy, 
 Saraki, who has tastefully arranged some of those cu- 
 rious fusuma or paper partitions peculiar to the Jap- 
 anese about the apartment, cutting off a corner in 
 which he has reverently placed some small sticks with 
 little strips of paper attached to them that flutter 
 languidly in the breeze of a briskly moving punka op- 
 erated by two distant coolies. 
 
 His sword of etiquette crossed by a cavalry saber, 
 which has an American appearance, hanging on 
 the wall, remind Katsuma of West Point. Beneath, is 
 a picture of his class at the military academy on the 
 Hudson, besides several individual photographs in ca- 
 det gray that are mixed with those of officers in Jap- 
 anese uniforms and court dresses, prominent among 
 them being a likeness of a young Anglo-Saxon, beneath 
 which is written " Pills." This is nearly opposite that 
 of a kindly faced feudal-looking old daimio, who in the 
 costume of Ancient Japan wears the traditional two 
 swords ; the short one to give him happy dispatch from 
 the cares of this world ; the long one for his enemies. 
 
 As Osuri enters, his Japanese boy after the manner 
 of his country, throws himself at his master's feet and 
 touches the floor with his forehead. 
 
 " Jump up, Saraki ! " cries his master good tem- 
 peredly ; then asks hurriedly : " Any mail ? " 
 
 " Yes, honored captain," and the boy places in Kat- 
 suma's hand a sealed packet together with what is 
 apparently an official communication from the Japanese 
 General-Staff, of which the young man is a junior 
 member. 
 
 " T would be alone." 
 
 " As I have noted you have some weighty thing in 
 mind, I have taken the presumption of placing some
 
 40 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Shinto sticks to bring good fortune and turn the face 
 of Etna from you, my master," remarks the boy in af- 
 fectionate deference as he departs. 
 
 " Ema, the God of Perdition ! It is too much like the 
 name of Eira, my divinity," shudders the young man ; 
 next mutters : " Pish, I'm superstitious ;" then laughs 
 half mockingly: "No more so than Judson of the 
 Hong Kong Club who I saw but yesterday throw some 
 upset salt over his left shoulder, or old Hankey Smith 
 at West Point, under whom I boned mathematics, who 
 used to put on his stockings inside out for luck." Then 
 as if in contradiction to himself, bowing low before 
 the picture of the old daimio, the young man says rever- 
 ently : " The gods grant my father places blessing upon 
 my desire," and breaks the seal of the packet. 
 
 It contains a communication in the script of his 
 country, which is practically the character of the 
 Chinese, and also a letter in a modern envelope. 
 
 To the first of these Katusma gives his immediate 
 attention. He scans its peculiar lettering with fluent 
 ease, and at its close utters a sigh of rapture and hap- 
 piness. 
 
 Though this is practically impossible of English 
 translation, it is dated Uzuki, the fourth day, and gives 
 the formal paternal consent of the old Japanese noble 
 to the marriage of his son to the beautiful American; 
 calling down the blessings of the gods upon what he 
 hopes may be a fruitful union. It warns Osuri to be 
 sure to get an honorable gentleman to act as nakoda or 
 witness at the nuptial ceremonies, such a thing being 
 very important to obtain the blessing of the goddess of 
 good fortune. In addition it contains the following 
 more practical words : " As .your nuptials to a young 
 lady of both rank and fortune of the Great American 
 Republic will probably cost numerous kokus of 
 rice, you being a young military butterfly, I 
 send you my draft on the Hong Kong Bank for 
 ten thousand yens. I also state to you that my coun- 
 try house, the one in 'which you were born, near Hiogp
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 41 
 
 on the Inland Sea, the one you love, is open to receive 
 you and your bride. Imagining my new daughter will 
 prefer to follow the American custom of loneliness dur- 
 ing the first month of her nuptials, 1 and your mother 
 will not immediately take her to our house. We will 
 only visit her when she desires. I send you also a 
 bamboo pole; may you place a paper carp upon it 
 within the year that I may know a son has been born 
 to you ! I presume also from your letter that your 
 tastes being American as regards certain customs that 
 are common among the Japanese nobility, you do not 
 propose to add any second ladies to your household 
 as least not just at the present." 
 
 As he reads the last, at first an amused smile, then 
 almost a look of horror ripples Captain Katsuma's 
 face. He mutters : " Desecrate my divinity by giving 
 Eira rivals ? Never ! Goddess of my soul, my love 
 for you shall last forever ! In that at least, my Ameri- 
 can education has made me better than some American 
 gentlemen I have known. 
 
 Then noting "received and forwarded" upon the sec- 
 ond letter, he tears open the other epistle. Glancing 
 at is enthusiastically, he murmurs : " From dear old 
 ' Pills/ " using a West Point nickname ; and reads the 
 following : 
 
 " Presidio Barracks, San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 "March 3d, 1900. 
 " DEAR OLD BOOM-DE-RAH : 
 
 " Nothing from you since your letter came congratu- 
 lating me upon my good luck in dodging Spanish bul- 
 lets so successfully. Awfully sorry your government 
 refused you permission to volunteer for our war with 
 the Dons, or we might have gone up San Juan Hill 
 together. 
 
 "Since then I have been transferred from the Twelfth 
 Infantry to the Ninth, and by the next steamer will be 
 en route to join my regiment near Manila. Inci- 
 dentally this gives me a chance to see you, something
 
 42 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 I havn't done for nigh onto three years. As I come by 
 the Pacific Mail Boat, I shall look you up in Tokio. 
 
 " I have had two pieces of mighty good luck lately. 
 Promotion has been rapid. I am a first lieutenant 
 now ; something I might have waited for under the old 
 regime till I grew gray, but the Spanish War has at 
 length given an army man something to live for, or die 
 for as the case may be. 
 
 " Sanders, Fredericks and Philpots of our class are in 
 the Ninth, so I shall have plenty of friends in the 
 Philippines. 
 
 "I'm in an awful hurry and must close this letter now 
 as the ambulance is going into town with the mail to 
 catch the outgoing steamer, so I shall have to tell you 
 the rest of my good fortune when I clasp your hand. 
 Expect me certainly by the next Pacific Mail Steamer. 
 "Always your friend, 
 
 "J. BURTON INGRAHAM. 
 " P. S. 
 
 " My other good luck, is a girl ! But I couldn't do jus- 
 tice to her in two lines. Good-bye, the orderly is stand- 
 ing at my elbow with the mailbag as I seal this letter. 
 
 "J. B. I." 
 
 As he reads the last line Katsuma, becoming quite 
 American in his diction, thinks : " By Jove, this takes 
 me back to West Point I can feel my chum's hearty 
 hand-clasp as we promised to be brothers," 
 
 He gazes affectionately at the photograph of the 
 frank, open, manly American face, that has post of 
 honor on the wall and mutters : " Why shouldn't I get 
 'Pills' for my nakoda, my witness. 'Pills' is as honor- 
 able a fellow as ever ran a guard. George, how he 
 stood by me when as a Plebe they put me through their 
 barbaric custom of hazing, something at that time I 
 didn't understand. Wasn't he my comrade, my chum 
 of chums, for the four years we marched in the same 
 gray and white cadet line. Didn't he put upon my fin-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 43 
 
 ger our class ring and wish me joy and honor in the 
 profession of arms. 'Pills' shall be the nakoda at my 
 nuptials." Then he pauses and mutters disappoint- 
 edly : " But 'Pills' isn't a married man, and no bachelor 
 can take that honored position. However, his coming 
 means good luck. This letter has been delayed at 
 Tokio in transmission." He calls hastily : " Saraki, 
 quick ! Run downstairs and find when the next Pacific 
 Mail boat is due." 
 
 The clatter of high clogs tells him his servant is 
 flying down the stairs. 
 
 Two minutes later the Japanese boy brings him word 
 the City of Rio Janeiro is due to-morrow. 
 
 " By the sun goddess, this is a good omen ! " mur- 
 murs the young man. " If Eira looks benignly upon 
 a love she must have guessed; with what pride 
 shall I introduce my coming bride to my chum of 
 chums." Next a curious unhappy fatalism dominating 
 his features he sighs : " But sometimes I think I have 
 been, as the old maxim says, 'throwing a stone at the 
 sun ; attempting to scatter a fog with a fan or trying 
 to dip up the ocean with my hand.' But still another 
 declares: ' Heaven doesn't kill a man; ' I'll have hope 
 until I know I have despair." 
 
 With this he calls cheerily : " Hi Saraki ! Get under 
 way to the florist and take up the finest bunch of 
 orchids with my card to " 
 
 " To the beautiful lady at the hotel on the hill," inter- 
 jects the boy eagerly. 
 
 "By Okame you're a wise youth," laughs the young 
 man ; then sighs sotto voce: " Perhaps wiser than your 
 master." 
 
 Still quite shortly Osuri strolls down to the Hong 
 Kong Club on the New Praya, where he takes his din- 
 ner among a very happy throng, though Mafeking's re- 
 lief is still but a rumor, displaying rather a military 
 appetite and philosophizing: "I'll not anticipate my 
 fate."
 
 44 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A NIGHT IN HONG KONG. 
 
 Some two hours after, arrayed in as faultless a dress 
 suit as ever graced a duchess's salon or a Fifth Ave- 
 nue ball-room, bearing over an immaculate shirt-front 
 just below his white cravat, the Japanese order of 
 merit, Captain Katsuma walks into the parlor of Mr. 
 Joel Luther Boardman at the Peak Hotel, and is re- 
 ceived with pleasant greeting by the father of his ad- 
 oration. 
 
 His words, could she hear them, would greatly re- 
 lieve the beating heart of a very beautiful young lady 
 who has from her apartment surreptitiously noted his 
 advent, and stands in her bedroom fluttering, arrayed 
 in a most enchanting ball dress. 
 
 Presenting to the American arms manufacturer, who 
 is in evening costume and apparently ready to escort 
 his daughter, a draft from the Japanese treasury, Osuri 
 remarks : " Your signature, my dear Mr. Boardman, 
 to this voucher. Here is your account made up by the 
 War Office and just forwarded to me, 687,625 yens, 
 47 sens and 8 rins." 
 
 " Hum, that's quite right," and Joel, opening his 
 desk, looking over his account book and taking the 
 draft, gives his official receipt for same in pleasant bus- 
 iness activity. Then gazing benignly over his specta- 
 cles at the agent of Japan, he remarks affably : " Hope 
 our goods are satisfactory enough to produce further 
 orders." 
 
 " Quite so. Your rapid-fires are deadly enough to 
 make many widows and a multitude of orphans," re- 
 turns the military man. 
 
 " Glad to hear that! " answers, the American in man- 
 ufacturer's triumph. Then he goes on more con-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 45 
 
 templatively a rather sad tone in his voice : " Please 
 keep your chair. I want your advice. This news from 
 South Africa indicates Old Kruger, one of my best 
 customers, is going to the wall," and sighs. " A peace- 
 ful world is the destruction of much honest industry," 
 then asks eagerly : " As a tactical expert, Captain 
 Katsuma, what do you think of the Boers' chances ? " 
 
 " A few weeks more of fruitless resistance, then 
 Pretoria must fall. But as guerillas, they may trouble 
 Roberts some time longer," answers the Japanese 
 tersely. 
 
 " Ah, that will put an end to a very profitable busi- 
 ness," grumbles Mr. Boardman. 
 
 " Why not exert yourself in arming your own coun- 
 try," suggests Osuri. " In this world that is becoming 
 crowded and contracted by means of our marvelous 
 modern transportation, to avoid war a nation must al- 
 ways be prepared for battle. Look at China ; rich and 
 helpless, though not quite as helpless as she was a few- 
 years ago ; the prey of bandit nations that come ten 
 thousand miles to despoil her of territory, to partition 
 her empire. Under the teachings of certain American 
 politicians who would make your country a China, the 
 fate of the United States might become as pitiable." 
 
 " Never ! " cries the Yankee savagely. " By Jehosa- 
 phat, just let one of your bandit nations send an army 
 to America and we'll use every mother's son of 'em 
 for fertilizers. I'll plant a few myself ! " And a look 
 comes into the old manufacturer's face like that of his 
 boyhood when he had carried a musket at Antietam 
 and Gettysburg. 
 
 " And I say 'never' also, when I think of West 
 Point ! " returns Katsuma fervidly. 
 
 " Bully ! You can't forget West Point, can you ? " 
 remarks the Yankee proudly. 
 
 " How can I forget a place where I received by the 
 hospitality of the American government a superb mil- 
 itary education; a place where I had the honor of the
 
 46 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 companionship of four hundred gallant youths, who 
 took me, a stranger, and made me their comrade," 
 answers the Japanese earnestly ; then his eyes lighting 
 up, he rises and bursts out: "Ah, when I in that long 
 gray cadet line, paraded for the last time under the red, 
 white and blue, how I prayed that the gods would 
 never permit a war between America and Japan ; that 
 I would never have to raise my arm against my class- 
 mates and brothers ; that some day both fighting for the 
 same cause, I might stand once more in line with my 
 old comrades, and every blow I struck for Japan would 
 be a blow for the starry banner I'd marched under for 
 four long years." To this he adds simply : " I tried 
 to volunteer for your Spanish war but my government 
 refused me permission." 
 
 " You bet, it is a grand old flag to fight for ! " cries 
 Luther. 
 
 " Yes, it is a grand old flag if you keep it flying ! A 
 furled banner never amounts to much," returns the 
 Japanese in sententious philosophy. Then a curious 
 anxiety dominating his tone, he continues : " In this 
 matter of bandit nations I have something to say to you, 
 something very important perhaps for the safety of not 
 only yourself, but of your daughter. Don't as you love 
 her take her with you to Peking ! " 
 
 "Great Scott, why not?" 
 
 " All the news from the Transvaal shows that very 
 shortly two hundred thousand English, made veterans 
 on the veldts of South Africa, may be released for 
 other service," returns Osuri ; adding these peculiarly 
 prophetic words : " This will probably produce an al- 
 most immediate outbreak of some kind in China." 
 
 " China is eight thousand miles away from the Cape 
 of Good Hope: you're crazy!" 
 
 '' Then why does Chieun, the Chinese commissioner, 
 hurry your shipments of arms to Peking by every 
 means in his power ? " 
 
 At this peculiar query, the American manufacturer
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 47 
 
 starts and looks astonished, as his visitor continues: 
 " No man who reads the history of countries contigu- 
 ous to Russia fails to find from the time of Catherine 
 the Great that Muscovite predatory seizures of addi- 
 tional territory are always preceded by internal com- 
 motions in the states to be despoiled. Acting under the 
 plea of public welfare, she marches her troops in and 
 pacifies the country by absorbing it. Look at the records 
 of Poland, of Turkey, of the Asian Khanates. When 
 Russia by the a;d of complacent Germany, who had as 
 much logical right to thrust herself into the Eastern 
 question as we would have had to prevent her seizing 
 Alsace and Lorraine from France, who also played the 
 role of the Czar's catspaw, made victorious Japan sur- 
 render Port Arthur, it was the first station on Russia's 
 way to Peking. Had England accepted our offer of 
 alliance, offensive and defensive, we would have held 
 Port Arthur till the China Sea froze over" the eyes of 
 the Japanese flame "and at this moment there would 
 have been but little fear of Chinese internal disturb- 
 ance. But British success in South Africa will cause 
 Russia to act very rapidly. Already, I doubt not, Mus- 
 covite emissaries are inflaming the Mongolian soul." 
 
 " You think China will fight ? " asks the American. 
 
 " Why not ? She has wrongs enough to make her 
 rise like a single man. Do you suppose your country 
 would endure having its ports taken from it, and its 
 territory seized on the most frivolous pretences by na- 
 tions ten thousand miles away." 
 
 " No sir, we'd fight ! " 
 
 " What country that loves itself wouldn't. That's 
 the position of China. Only add to this, barbarous su- 
 perstition, uncivilized methods of war, judicial cruelty, 
 and you have the country into which, far from pro- 
 tecting fleets, you will lead your daughter. Think of 
 that when you take your innocent with you to Peking." 
 
 The door is opened quietly, but the gentlemen are
 
 48 TANGLED FLA.GS. 
 
 too much interested to heed the light patter of heel- 
 less child's slippers. 
 
 " Fiddle-di-dee ! " jeers the American. " This threat- 
 ened outbreak has been predicted for the last thirty 
 years." 
 
 "So were our earthquakes, and they came at last and 
 found their victims," murmurs Osuri sadly. " Ponder 
 over the warning of a friend to you and and your 
 child," his voice trembles here, " one who knows the 
 East better than you ; one who has brought Western 
 methods of analysis upon the Manchu situation and 
 dread the Purple City." 
 
 But here he is interrupted by a muttered execration 
 from the American : " Damnation ! " cries Joel, "Flora's 
 little scoundrel has upset my ink bottle over my pa- 
 pers!" and he rescues just in time from obliterating 
 writing fluid the precious draft from the Japanese gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 " Hello, my little fellow ! " ejaculates Katsuma, after 
 replacing the overturned inkstand. He is gazing at a 
 bright-faced imp who has the stature of seven or eight 
 years, but whose sturdy bare legs, well mosquito bitten, 
 are clothed with the short pantalets and little socks of 
 babyhood. 
 
 The author of the mischief confronting him with 
 wary eyes ready to dodge, and a sturdy upraised fist 
 cries: "Arretez betel" 
 
 " Who are you, my little fighter? " laughs the Jap- 
 anese. 
 
 " I'm Harold ! " says his opponent stoutly, " and I 
 won't go to bed ! " 
 
 "Harold who?" 
 
 " Harold Forsyth Elton." 
 
 " Well come here and sit on my knee. Let me have 
 a look at you." 
 
 " Je ne suis pas une fille, and I won't ! " 
 
 " No, he ain't a girl," cuts in Joel savagely, "but he's 
 the worst boy within the four seas."
 
 49 
 
 " 1 didn't know Mrs. Elton had any children." 
 
 Just here Flora enters. From the pale blue gauzes 
 of a magnificent ball dress she raises a statuesque 
 white arm severely and proves her maternity by ejacu- 
 lating: "Harold come here! Do you suppose I'll be 
 kept from going out by your didos. To bed at once, 
 you naughty child." 
 
 " I won't. Ich bin nicht schdfrich." 
 
 " You won't Then I'll give you the best spanking 
 you ever had ! " And a pair of delicate finger-ringed 
 hands would be laid upon the rebel, did he not dodge 
 with the wary adroitness of constant practice. 
 
 "Grace! Ayes pitie de moil Non! Non! pas de 
 pantoufle!" he whimpers!" Let up, Auftrdren! I'll 
 be good ! " as he is clutched by the active Japanese and 
 lifted quite tenderly in his arms. 
 
 " Let me assist you, Mrs. Elton," remarks the young 
 officer quietly. " By reason I think I can persuade 
 this little gentleman to go to bed. Japan is a practical 
 refutation of the wisdom of Solomon. No child is ever 
 punished by blows. A boy of five, and yours looks 
 seven, is perfectly susceptible of argument if properly 
 applied." 
 
 " You don't whip kids in Japan ? " gasps Joel. 
 
 " Never ! and such a thing as disobedience to par- 
 ents is absolutely unknown." 
 
 " Well by the Lord Harry, I hope you'll make it 
 work! You have a lovely subject to try it on," jeers 
 the American. 
 
 With a muttered : " Thank you ! " Flora follows the 
 young officer carrying her offspring. Whereupon this 
 imp brings confusion upon both by saying: "I 
 like you Jap, because you're not like the rest of the 
 chaps about meinc uebe Mutter, dead spooney. You're 
 
 too dead gone on Osuri's soothing hand seems 
 
 to close on Harold's mouth, obliterating the rest of this 
 remark. 
 
 This is fortunate, for hearing the commotion, Miss
 
 50 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Boardman has stepped from her bedroom into the cor- 
 ridor. Watching Katsuma's kind methods to the urch- 
 in, she thinks reproachfully : " It is a noble heart to 
 whom I shall bring sorrow this evening," and comes 
 sadly but determinedly into her father's parlor. 
 
 A few minutes after, Osuri returns followed by 
 the widow, who is murmuring: "Isn't it wonderful! 
 You must have hypnotized my little treasure. He al- 
 way fights Lizette and kicks his ayah's shins when they 
 try to put him to bed." 
 
 Into this Miss Eira breaks, saying, with an archness 
 that is all too charming : " Won't you say good evening 
 to me, and let me thank you for your lovely flowers, 
 Captain Katsuma ? " 
 
 " Will not I ? " The young man turns to her, clasps 
 her proffered hand, and murmurs " Hime!" then 
 pauses, the beauty of his deity seeming to take away 
 his breath. 
 
 For Eira Boardman, robed for festival this tropic 
 night, looks to the Japanese almost too lovely to be one 
 of Earth's daughters. The white gauze of her corsage 
 is not as snowy as the perfectly moulded arms that 
 leave its laces. The satin of her girdle is not as glisten- 
 ing as the chiseled shoulders that gleam ivory-like from 
 the tissues that float about and drape yet scarce conceal 
 outlines of perfect grace yet exquisite development. To 
 the ardent eyes of the young officer she looks spirit- 
 like, save when under his inspection blushes give her 
 cheeks the rosy tints of embarrassed womanhood. 
 
 While the Japanese has been chatting with Miss 
 Boardman, her father has taken opportunity to say a 
 few confidential words to his pretty niece. " At Mrs. 
 Murray's I advise you, my dear Flora," whispers the 
 old business man, " not to permit such absolute monop- 
 oly as young Passmere seems to assume over you." 
 
 "Indeed! why not?" answers the widow icily, 
 though her face shows agitation. 
 
 " You see we know so little about the gentleman ex-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. $1 
 
 cept that he is called the " Honorable." Neither do 
 people of whom I have inquired casually in Hong 
 Kong." 
 
 " Of course, they don't," replies Mrs. Elton airily. 
 " But / do ! That's sufficient for me, my dear uncle. 
 Astute diplomatists don't go about carrying banners 
 bearing their missions." 
 
 " Crackey, the Honorable Arthur's a diplomatist, is 
 he?" 
 
 " He is! " returns Hora caustically. Then she sud- 
 denly asks : " You haven't heard anything to his dis- 
 credit, have you ? " 
 
 " No ; I've heard nothing." 
 
 " Well, if there's no gossip about a man in Hong 
 Kong, you can be sure that he's above reproach. Be- 
 sides," here she laughs a little, " you know, my dear 
 uncle, I always flirt." 
 
 " Hum, yes," returns Joel gazing at the beautiful 
 woman. " Only be careful you don't singe those but- 
 terfly wings." Then feeling the truth of Mrs. Elton's 
 last remarks both as regards herself and Colonial so- 
 ciety, her uncle adds briskly : " Come on girls ! Cap- 
 tain Katsuma, would you kindly give your arm to 
 Eira." And the gallant Japanese is delighted to have 
 the prettiest hand in Hong Kong placed upon the 
 sleeve of his dress coat. 
 
 Twenty minutes after, the four are at Mrs. Murray's 
 brilliantly lighted villa that sits embowered in gardens 
 on the Kennedy Road. Illuminated by various colored 
 lanterns, the tropical foliage of the grounds make it a 
 fairy-land. It is peopled by beautiful women exquis- 
 itely arrayed, and gallant men decked in the brilliant 
 uniforms of the officers of the Hong Kong garrison 
 and the vessels of war in the harbor both English and 
 foreign, the officers from one or two of Uncle Sam's 
 warships being well en evidence. But few black 
 coats leaven the martial assembly, most of them being 
 worn by the big guns of the Hong Kong banks and
 
 Eastern magnates of great commercial status. Among 
 these men of mufti, Katsuma's bearing is so languidly 
 martial that Cooke of the East Anglias remarks to 
 Plunket of the Garrison artillery : " By Goliath, that 
 Japanese captain looks as languidly aristocratic as if he 
 were a swell of the Household Brigade enduring a ball 
 in Belgravia. Too awfuly bored to live ! " 
 
 " Yer not a bit right, 'old man," returns Plunkett, " I 
 saw him looking at that American girl in white, the 
 one who has the bearing of a duchess. Then Katsuma 
 of the First Tokios had the face of a military poet, if 
 you understand that sort of thing." 
 
 Both garrison officers are probably correct, for Cap- 
 tain Katsuma with the exception of a dance pro forma 
 with Flora Elton, and the few words that politeness 
 compels him to render his hostess, does very little so- 
 cially this evening except gaze upon the American girl 
 in white. The throng in its general happiness, hilarity 
 and excitement over rumored British victory, seems 
 quite apart from the handsome young Japanese. Fine 
 ladies look at him in vain. Pretty ones who should at- 
 tract him, scarce get his notice. 
 
 Immediately after the party have greeted their hos- 
 tess, who is the wife of the Eastern representative of 
 one of the great Anglo-Chinese mercantile companies, 
 Mr. Boardman has strolled to the delights of whist; 
 and Mrs. Elton has been seized upon by Mr. Passmere. 
 
 This astute young gallant, as Flora in a half fright- 
 ened way expresses it to herself, " treats her as if he 
 thought her very soul was his own." Apparently this 
 is not displeasing to her, as she permits him to monopo- 
 lize her during a good deal of the evening to the dis- 
 gust of some commercial gentlemen and many admir- 
 ing military swains. 
 
 Then perhaps thinking she has given the Honorable 
 Arthur play enough, a certain innate coquettry fos- 
 tered by having been an old man's darling and entirely 
 her own mistress for several years on the Continent,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 53 
 
 enters the dashing widow and she enrages the admir- 
 ing adventurer by some quite pronounced flirtations 
 with Mr. Gaddin of the Oriental Bank and the stal- 
 wartly martial Major Tilford, a dashing officer of one 
 of the garrison regiments ; throwing in for good 
 
 weight, as it were, young Colchester of the First Pun- 
 jabs and Burrows of the Garrison Artillery. All these 
 gallants are very anxious for the lovely lady's favor, 
 for Mrs. 'Elton looks very prettily young and grace- 
 fully piquant in a most magnificent costume by Felix ; 
 and the wealth of the American widow is such that it 
 has been quite often mentioned at the Hong Kong and 
 Germania Clubs and in the mess-halls of the various 
 regiments of Her Majesty. So during a couple of co- 
 quettish hours, Flora has the pleasure of tormenting 
 this gentleman who has among other good qualities a 
 nasty jealousy in his disposition, by the bright glances 
 and whispered words she gives his rivals. 
 
 As Mr. Romeo Scalawag sits grimly looking on with 
 a mind not altogether above revenge he learns that to 
 be successful he must act quickly. The Chinese high 
 commissioner, Li Wong Chieun, in garments of state, 
 attended by his secretary and several interpreters and 
 underlings, passes through Mrs. Murray's brilliantly 
 lighted room. 
 
 As usual in Anglo-Saxon gatherings, these Chinese 
 officials seem the most retiring and modest of human- 
 ity. Their smile is deprecating ; their gestures affable, 
 even humble ; so is Li Wong Chieun's. 
 
 Inspecting him, a grimly quizzical look runs over the 
 young adventurer's countenance. Eira Boardman, 
 anxious probably to further her father's contracts, with 
 the unaffected demeanor of American young ladies, 
 which is so often misunderstood in foreign countries, 
 steps affably to this great man, and giving him a pretty 
 bow, says in her best pidgin English : " Goodie 
 evening." 
 
 As the Chinese official greets her ethereal loveliness,
 
 54 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 an expression flies over his sleepy Oriental features 
 like unto that Katsuma had caught this afternoon, and 
 Mr. Passmere is certain of a secret he had before sus- 
 pected. 
 
 A moment later he guesses that it may defeat his 
 meshing of a woman he had thought almost within his 
 net. 
 
 Li Wong Chieun's secretary is bowing before him 
 and whispering in Mandarin Chinese : " His Excel- 
 lency, the commissioner-high, would have a word with 
 you, chief of opium smugglers. His Greatness of the 
 yellow jacket and peacock feathers gives you the honor 
 of audience in the garden. Go on your knees to him." 
 
 " Go on my knees to him? Not by r. thousand josh- 
 sticks ! " jeers Mr. Passmere in the flowery dialect of 
 the East. " Present my humble abaisances to the 
 Chinese-commissioner-high and tell him that I don't 
 give a spit of the dragon for him, here in Hong Kong. 
 After you've told him that, I'll walk out to see him." 
 
 Eastern experience tells the Honorable Arthur that 
 probably the affair is serious, but furthermore it also 
 tells him the only way to meet it is by a show of abso- 
 lute indifference or arrogant defiance. Therefore 
 leaving the brilliant crowd in the ballroom, he steps 
 out into the more faintly illuminated gardens to indulge 
 in a game of Oriental bluff with the Chinese-commis- 
 sioner-high. 
 
 Approaching that official, the chevalier d' Industrie 
 is assured that the interview is important as he notes 
 the secretary and Chinese attendants strolling cau- 
 tiously through surrounding shrubberies to prevent all 
 danger of eavesdroppers though just at present there 
 is comparatively little chance of these as the entertain- 
 ment in the house is at its height. 
 
 Li Wong Chieun is seated under a bastard banyan 
 tree in a position which ( gives him a view of the ball- 
 room, all of whose windows are thrown open this sul- 
 try night. Dispensing with abaisance by an august
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 5$ 
 
 wave of the hand, the dignitary says in Chinese to Mr. 
 Passmere: "I commanded you to come to me so that 
 I might tell you that you were recognized." The pitch 
 of his voice is so low that the astute adventurer knows 
 Chieun does not care to make his status public just for 
 the present. 
 
 " I have been aware of that ever since your excel- 
 lency blinked twice at me this afternoon," answers the 
 young man coolly. 
 
 " Then you did not fear ? " 
 
 " Not you, commissioner of the war office high ! " 
 
 " I have but to whisper your rascalities in opium 
 which stunk the air at Wenchoo, and these English 
 will drive you out of their high society ranks as they 
 did at Chefoo." 
 
 " Pish, your excellency, every other man in Hong 
 Kong is an opium smuggler or the descendant of one," 
 jeers the youth. 
 
 " I have but to tell that you are the son of an un- 
 known father; that you were expelled from your mis- 
 sion house at Tung-chow as one too criminal for even 
 a Foreign Devil mission; that your name is not the 
 
 Honorable Arthur " He beckons his secretary to 
 
 him, and after consultation, murmurs : " Ah yes, the 
 
 Honorable Arthur Cochrane Passmere, but " he 
 
 looks at a note, "but To-mas Tra-cee, who once kept 
 a retail chow store at Ningpoo; and that beautiful 
 woman gazing at you from the ballroom, the one whose 
 arms are white as lily flowers, whose dress is blue and 
 feathery as peacocks' tails, whose favor you seem to 
 woo, will never ride in a red chair for you." 
 
 Under this speech the adventurer quivers. Hong 
 Kong society might overlook wholesale opium smug- 
 gling ; they wouldn't pardon a retail chow shop. Then 
 he simply counters it by quietly asking : " What devil- 
 try does your excellency want me to do for you ? " 
 
 " Nothing. What can such as you do for me? " 
 
 "As the husband of that woman in there, who is
 
 56 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Mr. Boardman's niece, I can do just what you want 
 most in the world ; and she'll be my wife within a few 
 days if your excellency withholds any expressions as 
 regards my previous career." 
 
 " Ah ; what is it I want you to do for me ? " mur- 
 murs the Chinaman, his sleepy eyes growing blank. 
 
 " You want the American arms manufacturer to go 
 to Peking. I'll send him there ! " 
 
 The Chinese high commissioner blinks his eyes 
 twice. The adventurer is whispering now. 
 
 " You want the million and odd taels which you 
 are going to pay Boardman for his contracts with the 
 Chinese government; but you must have the Ameri- 
 can's receipts and canceled drafts to show your war 
 board. Therefore he must go with you to Peking, 
 where after he gets his money you have hopes he will 
 be easy prey." 
 
 The Chinese high commissioner blinks three times. 
 
 " If I know the American, he will give up his cash 
 only with his life. But you want more than his money. 
 Let me show you what you long for as the best gift 
 of the Genii." 
 
 Passmere pauses a moment. The band is playing 
 Sousa's " Bride Elect March." Through the open 
 windows of the ballroom they can see the fair young 
 American girl passing on the arm of an English officer. 
 She stays her light steps under some electric lights, 
 and backed by the green of graceful palms, seems a 
 being too beautiful to be of this earth. 
 
 The eyes of the mandarin suddenly expand and be- 
 come iridescent coals of fire like those of night prowl- 
 ing serpents. He utters two quick, sharp, strident 
 monkey notes of passion. 
 
 "That's what you want, Mr. Chinese-commissioner- 
 high," sneers the adventurer. " Will your excellency 
 keep the tongue of silent wisdom. Shall I send Eira 
 Boardman with her father to Peking; or ?" 
 
 " My tongue is a wise tongue, my far-seeing young
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. , 57 
 
 man," mutters Li Wong Chieun, his voice thick with 
 some unholy ecstasy. 
 
 " Very well, your excellency, I'll tell you the further 
 
 price of " Mr. Passmere smiles and waves his 
 
 hand towards the American beauty. Then remember- 
 ing Miss Boardman's indignation this afternoon at the 
 Cantonese girl sold for two pigs, six hens, etc., he 
 bursts into a merry guffaw. 
 
 With this the Honorable Arthur coolly lights a cigar 
 and strolls off to see what has become of Mrs. Elton, 
 leaving the Chinese-commissioner-high in what is 
 known in the effete West as a brown study. 
 
 Perhaps some relics of a conscience destroyed in his 
 ancestors some time during the dark ages coming into 
 the adventurer of the East, Mr. Passmere as he steps 
 upon the broad veranda, looks back and mutters be- 
 tween his clenched teeth : " You're a bigger villain than 
 I thought you, you yellow-girdled satyr, and I'm a 
 meaner scoundrel than I thought myself, but 
 His eyes catch the exquisite loveliness of Mrs. Elton 
 " give up Flora when she's in my grasp? Not for the 
 tea crop ! " 
 
 Yet being a young scoundrel of great discernment as 
 to feminine foibles, the Honorable Mr. Passmere 
 doesn't pursue his flame. Therefore not going after 
 Mrs. Elton, that lady, after the manner of her sex, quite 
 shortly comes after him. 
 
 "Isn't this our dance, Mr. Passmere?" she whis- 
 pers as she passes on the arm of the florid-faced Til- 
 ford. 
 
 " Is it? Didn't know but you'd forgotten it," replies 
 the astute fellow, warily disguising his rage under 
 briskness. "So major, with your permission!" 
 
 As Tilford rather reluctantly surrenders the lady, 
 Arthur offers his arm. A moment after he astounds her 
 by whispering into the delicate ear that is very near 
 him now, for Mrs. Elton's fair head seems somehow 
 to incline towards his athletic shoulder. "Haven't I
 
 58 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 told you Flora I would permit you to flirt with no one 
 not even me, by Jove ! " 
 
 " Why, I was never spoken to so before in my life ! " 
 says the widow attempting hauteur. 
 
 " Well, you'll be spoken to so pretty often from now 
 on, for don't yer know you're going to marry me." 
 
 The lady droops her head, but the slight hand that 
 is resting upon her escort's black sleeve seems to cling 
 to it more tightly as the youth leads Mrs. Elton into the 
 gardens. 
 
 Here finding at last the seclusion of a retired nook 
 well away from the lights and under a wide-spreading 
 banyan tree, he says very quietly : " Sit down ; I'm go- 
 ing to make love to you for the rest of the evening ! " 
 
 Miss Boardman has also scarce turned from the gaze 
 of her Celestial admirer, when she is surrounded by na- 
 val officers in American blue, some of them old ac- 
 quaintances. These make their young country woman 
 their star of the evening and would monopolize her did 
 she not turn to Katsuma and whisper : " What dances 
 do you wish ? " Adding archly : " Are you not going to 
 exercise an escort's privilege ? " by present grace, try- 
 ing to soften future austerity. 
 
 " Then this waltz ! " says the captain, selecting one 
 towards the end of the programme when he thinks the 
 crowd will have diminished and he can better find op- 
 portunity of tcte-a-tctc. 
 
 So it comes to pass that the dancers are growing less 
 numerous when the Japanese officer puts his arm about 
 the tiny waist of his deity, and with his heart wildly 
 beating against hers, trips his first measure with Eira 
 Boardman. 
 
 To him in all his after life this dance seems like a 
 dream. The light step of the maid, who almost floats 
 in his arms, appears to vibrate with the melody. The 
 music of the military band is to him a love song; one 
 he hesitates to stop ; one that closes all too soon.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 5<J 
 
 As they finish, Eira exclaims : " Why, your step is 
 the regular West Point one." 
 
 " That is a curious guess for one who has never been 
 a West Point girl," he returns somewhat astonished. 
 " But you're quite right. I've led the german in the 
 mess-hall there several times." Gazing upon her deli- 
 cate beauty, it is to him ethereal as that of Sosanoo, 
 the moon goddess, he whispers : " Who could not 
 waltz with you? " then sighs : " Still it may be my last 
 dance." 
 
 " Now Captain Katsuma, I shan't let you talk in that 
 way ! " From very habit, Eira's voice has a coquettish 
 timbre, for which she half loathes herself. 
 
 " Come with me ! " His words have a strange com- 
 mand to which Miss Boardman quietly yields, though 
 her face is pale; for she has nerved herself to destroy 
 the hope in the handsome face, whose dark eyes at 
 times have entreaty, at others almost possession. No- 
 ticing the gracefully martial bearing of her escort as 
 he silently leads her from the dancers, she thinks any 
 woman might be proud of Katsuma of the First To- 
 kios. 
 
 They pass out into the gardens, which are cooler then 
 the heated ballroom, though this night every place is 
 hot. Many of the guests are lingering in Mrs. Mur- 
 ray's hospitable supper-room ; they are quite by them- 
 selves, though Eira notes abstractedly that her cousin 
 is enjoying a protracted tcte-a-tcte under the protec- 
 tion of some remote shrubbery with Mr. Passmere. 
 
 Then the manner of the Japanese drives all else from 
 the mind of Eira Boardman. The touch of his hand as 
 he leads her through the leafy paths awes her. The 
 poetry of an Oriental and the honesty of a Western 
 passion is in his eyes as he gazes on her, for this is 
 in the young man's mind : " Itagaki Katsuma, the old 
 daimio gives me his villa on the Inland Sea where she 
 and I may love like birds, in the morning, at noonday
 
 <5o TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 all the night. I shall say to her father: "Give your 
 daughter to me. She comes to me not as my slave 
 bride, but of her own free will, by her own love. Eira, 
 goddess of my sunshine, has made me a god ; to shine 
 by her side." 
 
 Therefore the fervid eyes of the Japanese abash and 
 confuse, the object of his love dream who has in her 
 bright Anglo-Saxon mind quite another poem of pas- 
 sion. 
 
 Selecting a nook to which some palms give retire- 
 ment, Osuri whispers : " We are alone," and would 
 break into a tale of passion did not the fair daughter of 
 Yankeeland paralyze the tongue of the Eastern lover. 
 
 She has a talisman upon her throbbing bosom just 
 under the laces that shade its marble beauties. She 
 uses it in time to stay a gallant heart, a devoted soul. 
 
 Katsuma is bending over her, so near that the ra- 
 diance of his eyes seems to burn her. These say : " I 
 can now speak my heart to you, for my father's bless- 
 ing upon my love has come." But before his lips can 
 form the sentence his eyes have already uttered, his 
 goddess speaks. 
 
 " I am glad we are alone," she says, " so I can tell 
 you my secret." 
 
 At this suggestion the face of Osuri grows troubled. 
 He knows any mystery in Eira Boardman's life must 
 pertain to some one else than he. " Your secret ! " he 
 falters. 
 
 " Yes," she murmurs. Then her cheeks grow red 
 with bashful modesty, but into her blue eyes flies a 
 light the Japanese had never seen before. The voice of 
 the American girl, though agitated and low, is fearless. 
 "As a West Pointer, you should recognize this. You 
 should guess what it means." From a bosom white 
 as sea-foam and throbbing as surf-waves, she draws a 
 heavy gold circlet embellished by a small red stone; 
 on one side of which is an American flag in dull metal,
 
 TANGLED FLAC& 6t 
 
 upon the other a sword hilt. " Look at it ! " She 
 presses the bauble into his astounded hands, and whis- 
 pers hoarsely : "Compare it with your own." 
 
 " The ring of of my West Point class ! " the Jap- 
 anese stammers bewildered. Then some inkling of the 
 truth coming to him, his lips grow pale as ashes; he 
 mutters : " No man of them would trust this to a 
 woman unless she had his heart of hearts ! " 
 
 " You're right ! " answers Miss Boardman, proudly. 
 " This tells my story ! " and stands affrighted, gazing 
 on a mighty anguish, a great reproach. 
 
 The blood leaves Katsuma's face; the love-fire dies 
 in the eyes that are gazing into hers. He turns away 
 his head, and in the subdued light this woman, whom 
 he has made his goddess and who has now become the 
 priestess who sacrifices him upon her own altar, can 
 see his sinewy hands twitch helplessly, yet nervously; 
 his strong limbs seem for a moment so palsied that they 
 can scarce support his slight, supple body. 
 
 By mighty effort he controls himself, " With your 
 great loveliness, you should have worn this openly. 
 You should have erected the beacon of danger," he 
 says, affecting, for a moment, lightness. Then, gazing 
 on the airy loveliness that seems floating from him, he 
 asks, an awful yearning wistf ulness in his tone : " Are 
 you this man's affianced or his wife?" 
 
 " His af affianced." 
 
 " Not his wife, by Diakokn, God of Fortune ! " A 
 hoarse triumph comes into his voice. The love-light 
 returns to his eyes more dominant and possessive than 
 before. The passion of a feudal race obliterates mod- 
 ern civilization, and Osuri Katsuma has the look of a 
 two-sworded samurai when love and death went hand 
 in hand in old Japan. 
 
 Gazing upon him, Eira Boardman's face loses its 
 blush and becomes pallid also. She realizes she has 
 kindled an Eastern fire she cannot quench, and that
 
 62 f ANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 this fire is dangerous, not to herself, but to another. 
 For though the Japanese's manner is as polished as 
 that of the old regime it is as deadly. His eyes seem 
 to say to her: " I yield you to no man only by my 
 death. It is hara-kiri for me or death to the man you 
 love." 
 
 At this, in a kind of desperate tact, the young lady 
 falters : " I have but one excuse for telling you this 
 secret I have kept from all men, even my father. He 
 regards with disfavor the man I love. I need your 
 aid. Our engagement is secret. Jim is poor." 
 
 "Jim! God of bad luck, of whom do you speak? 
 Quick ! Let me look upon that ring ! " whispers the 
 captain, despair again getting into his voice. 
 
 " James Burton Ingraham, whom you have called 
 to me your class chum, your friend of friends." 
 
 "No, no; Izanagi, not him!" gasps Katsuma. 
 Then his anguished eyes, catching the initials upon the 
 ring, he murmurs : " By Ema, you're right ! At West 
 Point I placed this upon the finger of the man I love 
 and and you love; and wished him joy and happi- 
 ness, as he did mine upon this hand, when we prom- 
 ised through all this life to be brothers." 
 
 " As such I speak to you. I wish you to send a 
 cable to Mr. Ingraham, in America, one I could not 
 despatch myself, telling him to what address he must 
 send further letters, as none have reached me, and I 
 dare not mention his name to my father." 
 
 Then to Eira Boardman comes some small portion 
 of this Islander's soul the greater part came after- 
 ward, at other and more awful place. 
 
 " Ah, goddess of my friend's life, I am glad you 
 have trusted me," he murmurs," generously. " I can 
 tell your father that Jim Ingraham has a heart worth 
 more than his money-bags though no one is worthy 
 of you." Then, bowing with military grace before 
 this woman who has given him despair, he adds, 
 simply : " Thank you, Miss Boardman, for having
 
 FLAC& 63 
 
 prevented me committing a crime against the man of 
 my heart, my brother in arms. That I pray he shall 
 be happy in your beauty, I shall tell him when I clasp 
 his hand to-morrow." 
 
 " To-morrow ! Impossible, the ocean lies between ! " 
 
 " To-morrow he comes by the City of Rio Janeiro/' 
 
 " Oh, heavens and earth ! " 
 
 "Do you not know? He is joining his new regi- 
 ment in the Philippines. Haven't you heard from 
 him?" 
 
 " Not for some months. His letters have gone 
 astray, or are following me from one port to another. 
 I feared to question my father." Then she cries in 
 happy yet astounded voice : " He is here to-morrow 
 to-morrow Jim ! My Jim ! " 
 
 The tender longing in her sweet voice, the passionate 
 rapture of her bright eyes seem to destroy the heart 
 of Osuri Katsuma. He mutters to himself: " At last 
 I see her soul but it is not for me! " Like every joy 
 of life, Eira Boardman is more beautiful now that he 
 has lost her. He turns away his head to conceal the 
 torture in his features. 
 
 " But you mustn't tell my father," she breaks out, 
 in frightened tones. 
 
 "I tail Do you; do him an injury! You have 
 seen my face, but do not know me," says the 
 Japanese, in simple pathos. " Jim Ingraham is the 
 noblest fellow since the age of Jimmu. You have won 
 him. He is blessed by the greatest gift the gods can 
 give him your love." The last word is a sigh that 
 faints away. The young officer adds, shortly : " To 
 aid your happiness shall be the honor of Osuri 
 Katsuma." 
 
 " God bless you ! " cries Eira, impulsively, and would 
 clasp his hand, but he staggers from her and mur- 
 murs, in his own tongue : " Sayonara! " 
 
 So, leaving her, he strides through the brilliantly 
 illuminated festal gardens, and the girl, gazing after
 
 64 f AttCLEE) PLAG3. 
 
 him, wipes a tear from her eye, as she notes that he 
 stumbles as if the lights had been darkened to him. 
 The distant band is playing a merry air. The easy 
 tones of light love-making come to her in Arthur Pass- 
 mere's rather triumphant voice. The whole place seems 
 a modern setting to medieval tragedy. " Thank God 
 I did not let him speak," sighs Eira Boardman, but in 
 her heart she knows Osuri Katsuma has loved her. 
 
 Then her exquisite face turns to the harbor, and be- 
 comes radiant with woman's grandest offering to man. 
 She murmurs: "Jim! My Jim! Here, to-morrow!" 
 and radiant passion for the coming lover replaces a 
 contrite sympathy for the departing officer of Dai- 
 Nippon. 
 
 Perchance it is some recollection of this divine glow 
 upon the face of his goddess that brings his anguish 
 so thoroughly home to Osuri. He stands upon the 
 terrace of the Kennedy Road, gazing at the lights of 
 the sleeping town below him and the placid harbor in 
 a dazed despair. To his senses this woman' he has lost 
 seems as tempting as if she were the fabled Tatara of 
 his mythology. He mutters : " God of Gods, I can- 
 not yield her up ! The spiritual loveliness of her mind 
 shall be for me ; the etheral beauties of her form shall 
 be my adoration and no other man's." Then he 
 sighs : " Oh, Isanagi, God of Gods ! Jim Ingraham 
 is the man she loves. Against any other I could fight 
 for her and die for her! Against the comrade of my 
 heart, in honor I am powerless. Fate has turned her 
 face forever from me. Had it been all the world but 
 this one man, my darling had been mine ! "
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 THE ORIENTAL ADVENTURER. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A CRAFTY WOOER. 
 
 In the tropics, day is at its best at earliest morning 
 before the all-conquering sun crushes humanity with 
 its resistless heat. High enough upon the hillsides to 
 catch the slight airs of summer, the Botanical Gar- 
 dens of Hong Kong look down upon the commercial 
 town and harbor, just springing into life quite early 
 on the morning after Mrs. Murray's fete. Flower- 
 ing orange trees, azalias, rhododendrons, magnolias, 
 early jasmine, likewise some magnificent roses, give 
 the perfume of Paradise to the air. 
 
 Into this Eden comes an Eve. The careful delicacy 
 of her toilette indicates she expects an Adam. For 
 Mrs. Elton has appointment with the Honorable Ar- 
 thur Cochrane Passmere. 
 
 " I wonder if the lazy creature will wake up in time," 
 she thinks, anxiously, as she gazes about the leafy 
 pathways and discovers not her swain. " Here is the 
 very spot he mentioned. Second terrace, fourth path 
 from old Kennedy's Statue." 
 
 Then she pouts : " Oh, mercy, if he shouldn't come ! " 
 and disappointment dims the brown eyes that look 
 fresh, though nervous, after late return from Mrs. 
 Murray's and three sleepless hours passed tossing upon 
 a couch, which, though dainty, luxurious and soft, is
 
 66 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 not that of slumber. For Flora's passion has been 
 combating with her love of liberty, and conquered it. 
 
 " Young men are so dictatorial," she half shudders ; 
 then sighs : " But I've had sway, and tired of it. Poor 
 old Roderick Elton never hesitated at doing my bid- 
 ding, and yet I grew very fatigued at his senile com- 
 plaisance." For her dead husband had been a man of 
 almost three times the age of the beautiful girl, whose 
 poverty he had changed to wealth. " Besides, Ar- 
 thur is so deliciously jealous! How cross he was last 
 night about that Mr. Gaddin, of the Oriental Bank, and 
 Major Tilford, of the West Middlesex. It was 
 beau ti ful ! The more savage he grew, the more 
 I I adored him ! " Then she gasps : " Good Heav- 
 ens, I've got to tell him about Harold. Won't he cut 
 up rough! Of course I didn't have my boy with me 
 at St. Ursula's; so his sister didn't know, and can't 
 have written to him." 
 
 Suddenly she springs up, with a little cry of joy; 
 then forcing herself to self-restraint drapes her jupe 
 just sufficiently to indicate that her feet are the small- 
 est European ones in China, and trips to meet her 
 swain, who, this morning, looks as fresh-faced and 
 well-tubbed a young dandy as any in the Orient. His 
 powerful and sinewy figure is arrayed in spotless white 
 flannels ; his gray eyes are calm, but brilliant. 
 
 Despite himself for Mr. Passmere's knowledge of 
 women tells him it is not judicious to be too eager 
 with the fair sex catching the beauty of the lady 
 awaiting him, the young man quickens his long strides. 
 In a moment he is beside her. Glancing about and 
 discovering that they are in retreat, without a word 
 he takes the delicate face between his strong hands, 
 look into it earnestly, and whispers : " By Jove, 
 Flora, I'm the winning horse, ain't I ? " 
 
 " Yes ! " And two lips as dewy as the flowers by 
 her side are held up to his and receive salute, the cold 
 steel of his eyes growing brighter with his caress.
 
 f ANGLED FLAGS. 67 
 
 A moment later he is seated beside the lovely widow 
 and whispering: "Isn't it awfully jolly, yer know. 
 We're so dead alone. We have only to consult our 
 two selves." 
 
 " Y e s," falters Mrs. Elton. She can't bring her- 
 self to immediate acknowledgment of maternity. 
 
 " Do you know," goes on Mr. Passmore breezily, 
 " with all your charm, with all your beauty, a widow's 
 encumbrance might have made me hesitate. I like to 
 begin things with a clean slate, don't yer see ! " 
 
 " Oh, Arthur ! " Flora hides a blushing face upon 
 his shoulder, and her swain indulges in another tender 
 salute. 
 
 But just in the middle of his rapture the scalawag 
 Romeo, with a slight cry of astonished pain, snarls : 
 " Good Lord, the little beggar's pegged me in the leg ! " 
 
 He turns hastily about and is confronted by a sturdy 
 urchin, in white skirts and pantalets, who has just dis- 
 charged a pebble, with deft accuracy, and is now re- 
 garding him with savage eyes. In childish ferosity 
 the imp cries: "Miserable! How dare you kiss 
 meine Mutter! Herr Gott im Himmel, I'll do you 
 up!" 
 
 He would, perchance, make additional assault upon 
 the astounded Arthur, did not Mrs. Elton, with a gasp 
 of dismay, fly at her offspring and shake him till his 
 teeth chatter, crying : " How dare you, you wretched 
 child! Harold, don't you know this gentleman is to 
 be your father? " 
 
 At this unexpected information the Honorable Ar- 
 thur, rubbing his leg, shudders to himself : " Jingo, 
 this is a rum go! By the Lord Harry, it's the poly- 
 glot!" 
 
 Anxious to stay an explanation that Flora thinks 
 should take place far from the open ears of her active 
 offspring, his mother would drag the defender of her 
 honor towards his French nurse and Indian ayah, who,
 
 68 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 though not in sight, are doubtless in rapid pursuit of 
 the escaped. 
 
 But the rebel hangs back, kicking, and screams: 
 " Restez tranquille! I want to see ineine neuer Vater. 
 You said the next one would be a lord, and six feet 
 high. That Major Tilford was too " 
 
 Forgetting the Japanese method, Flora checks this 
 revelation by a hurried smack, and L about to bear the 
 unconquered Harold to his attendants, who, she 
 guesses, must be somewhere in the gardens. 
 
 But during this Arthur has put his quick mind upon 
 the subject. For one moment he had muttered, in 
 gloomy contemplation : " I wonder if I can swallow 
 the brat." Appreciating not only the great wealth but 
 also the exquisite beauty of his affianced, for Flora, 
 with her face pale at times with agitation, at others 
 rosy with blushes, makes many charming pictures as 
 she struggles with her rebellious offspring, the accom- 
 plished scoundrel determines to swallow little Harold 
 Elton with a gulp. This act of metaphorical canna- 
 balism he accomplishes with wondrous sagacity ex- 
 acting from the mother a pretty long price for it. 
 
 Laying his hand firmly upon her rounded arm, he 
 says, quietly : " Don't take the beggar away. Let 
 Harold see his new papa. Supposing you find his nurses 
 while I make the little man's acquaintance !" 
 
 " Oh, thank you so much," answers the lady, grate- 
 fully, and kissing Harold rapturously, flies to find 
 nurse and ayah. 
 
 " Did meine Hebe Mutter kiss me because I pegged 
 you?" asks the child, astonished at receiving kisses 
 after smacks. 
 
 This is greeted by a hollow laugh from Arthur, who 
 mutters : " Shouldn't wonder ! You can never tell 
 about women, don't yer know, my little fellow." Then 
 he asks, a sudden suspicion in his voice : " You 
 haven't another stone in your other hand? For Har-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 69 
 
 old's missile had struck a funny bone, which is still 
 aching. 
 
 " Non, monsieur, c'est une lettre dc mainan. It was 
 to fill with earth to throw upon Lizette." 
 
 " A letter of mama," mutters Arthur, and catching 
 the address, snarls to himself : " To that devil Til- 
 ford! Impelled by an unscrupulous jealousy, he 
 hastily glances over what had apparently been the first 
 draft of an epistle to his rival accepting his escort to 
 a Saiwan picnic given by some military gallants this 
 afternoon. Then a savage but passionate smile flying 
 over his features, Mr.- Arthur Passmore quietly sug- 
 gests : " Give yer half a sovereign, my little man, for 
 this." 
 
 " Oh, candy money ! Merci beaucoup!" With this 
 the little Esau sells his mother into bondage for enough 
 bonbons to make him languid for a week. 
 
 And Arthur calling him a " sturdy chap," the two 
 are great friends when Mrs. Elton, flying back, breath- 
 lessly, ejaculates: "The nurse and ayah are in the 
 next walk. I'll take our little pet to them." 
 
 " But don't be away long." He puts a caress in his 
 voice. 
 
 " Oh, Arthur ! Of course not ! " 
 
 Picking up Harold, Flora makes graceful exit as 
 she bears him to his attendants. 
 
 But her offspring out of her hands, the miserable 
 contretemps strikes the mother pale. Tears fly into 
 her eyes ; she falters to herself : " Arthur will think 
 I'm deceitful, and and never give me any any rope 
 at all." With this in her mind she hurries back to 
 find she has guessed very accurately. 
 
 During Flora's absence the Eastern Machiavelli has 
 been contemplating the situation. " Dash it all, with 
 this kid, that Yankee uncle of Flora will, in his beastly 
 commercial way, be sure to insist on settlements and 
 all that selfish rot." Suddenly the frown changes to an 
 acute smile on his clear-cut, reflective features ; he mut-
 
 70 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 ters : " This letter ! By Jove, it gives me the whip 
 hand." 
 
 Gazing at the exquisite woman coming towards 
 him and, noting the agitation of her face with the 
 peculiar insight to feminine minds that has descended 
 to him from an ancestral procuress, he ejaculates to 
 himself: "I know you, my minx! Ardent audacity 
 and arrogant dominion are what you'll take to most 
 kindly." 
 
 Whereupon, divining that this woman, who loves 
 him has a mother's heart in her breast, the astute scal- 
 awag makes no reproaches nor complaints, for which 
 Flora flashes on him a grateful glance ; but breaks out 
 in adroit flattery of her offspring: " Harold's a sturdy 
 little beggar, don't yer know ! Plucky as the deuce, 
 can't yer see ! " 
 
 " Oh, very ! " assents Mrs. Elton, eagerly. " Harold 
 bit his ayah twice yesterday, and kicked poor Lizette's 
 ankles till they were black and blue." 
 
 This panegyric makes the coming step-father 
 chuckle, he chimes in breezily. " Yes ; hit me a 
 thundering rap on the shin, can't yer see ! He's very 
 bright, knowing and observing, I should think ! " 
 
 " So should I," laughs the delighted Flora. " Some 
 times it seems to me as if the little darling had eyes in 
 the very back of his head. But three days ago, when 
 
 Major" The widow stops herself, with a gasp, 
 
 grows red as a peony under Arthur's acutely severe 
 eyes, and stammers : " He's he's very observing." 
 
 " Quite so ! " assents her swain. " Harold and I 
 shall be great friends." 
 
 " God bless you ! " cries his fiancee. " You don't 
 know, dear Arthur, how happy you make me ! " 
 
 " You see, I rather like Harold, don't yer under- 
 stand ! " interjects the young man, a roguish smile ban- 
 ishing the frown produced by the lady's embarrass- 
 ment. " Seems to me, from his size and strength, the 
 little man ought to be in knickerbockers ! "
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 71 
 
 " Not at all," interrupts Mrs. Elton, flurriedly. 
 " Harold is only five. Haven't I told you that I am 
 not quite twenty-two. I I was married at sixteen. 
 Of course, at that time a girl hardly knows her mind. 
 She mistakes affection for love. It takes a slightly 
 greater maturity to make her understand what real pas- 
 sion is." 
 
 " Suppose you show me," says the Romeo adven- 
 turer, adding caustically, " remembering that I've 
 waived more for you than I would for any other 
 woman, my dear Flora." 
 
 With this commences a very easy love dream for 
 Arthur. For Mrs. Elton now feels she should surren- 
 der upon her generous suitor's terms. She murmurs : 
 " I thought it all over last night. I have concluded to 
 do everything that you ask me, darling ! " 
 
 " Quite right ; you're only twenty-one," observes 
 Arthur, to whom the sturdy Harold has given suspicion 
 of his mother's greater maturity, though Mrs. Elton, 
 as she sits beside him in her exquisite, yet magnificent 
 loveliness, looks scarce the age she has given to her- 
 self. Of this he takes crafty advantage. " You see, 
 I'm so much older than you," he remarks. " I'm 
 twenty-six, if I'm a minute, don't yer see ! There- 
 fore, much better fitted to guide you, Flora." 
 
 " Yes, dear." The widow doesn't dare to contradict 
 him on the age question. 
 
 " Then I'll tell yer ! " Under this crafty wooer's 
 words Mrs. Elton discovers that she is loved very jeal- 
 ously; yet, flattered by imagining that it is her pretty 
 self he is determined to keep very close watch and 
 ward upon and not her money Flora listens very 
 meekly to words which seem to enslave as well as 
 win her. 
 
 Looking at the radiant yet fluttering beauty of his 
 prize, he murmurs : " You're so precious, I feel almost 
 like keeping you under lock and key when men are 
 about."
 
 7 a TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " Oh, do you love me so much as that ! " cries his 
 affianced, radiantly, and gives her subtle swain a very 
 tender kiss. 
 
 Judging now that he has laid the foundation for an 
 exceedingly startling proposition, Mr. Passmere re- 
 marks, imposingly : " Now, listen to me ! " and his 
 affianced grows proud at the assumed diplomatic im- 
 portance of her coming spouse as he continues : " I've 
 got to go to Peking at once. Our minister, Sir Claude 
 Macdonald, wants me to help him bully the Dowager 
 Empress and keep the T sun g-li-Y amen in order, yer 
 understand ! Sir Claude telegraphs he needs me in- 
 stantly, and I wouldn't dare leave such as you behind." 
 
 " That's an awful insinuation," whispers the lady, 
 archly, though she droops her eyes. 
 
 " It's an insinuation, my dear girl, that you're the 
 most fetching thing this side of London," answers 
 young Machiavelli. 
 
 At this compliment the widow becomes as wax under 
 the flame as he makes arrangements for coming nup- 
 tials. " I had intended to give you two days to get 
 ready for our wedding," he says, reflectively. 
 
 "Two days!" ejaculates Mrs. Elton. "That's 
 that's awfully short, dear." 
 
 " But now " The passion in the gentleman's voice, 
 from being placid, becomes impetuous, fiery, reproach- 
 ful " but now you marry me within the hour ! " 
 
 " Within the hour ! Oh, what makes you so ardent? " 
 
 " My misery ! This letter ! " Arthur holds up, 
 gloomily, the condemning record. 
 
 " Oh, mercy, my note to the major ! " The accused's 
 face grows red as a peony. 
 
 " So you confess ! " 
 
 "Yes, I I wrote it," she whispers, in embarrassed 
 humiliation. 
 
 " And you were willing to indulge in a flirtation with 
 the man I warned you against after your promise to
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 73 
 
 me last night," says Arthur, in condemning voice. 
 " That you were secretive about your son was, perhaps, 
 natural, but this deceit indicates that it is for my best 
 happiness, for yours, that we be married at once. Then, 
 with a husband's authority, I can guide you, who are, 
 apparently too young, too innocent, to take proper care 
 of yourself." 
 
 " If you tell me to, I'll write and decline his invita- 
 tion at once ! " cries the widow ; her beautiful face is 
 penitent and imploring. 
 
 " What ! You want to write the beast another let- 
 ter!" 
 
 " Arthur, you shall believe me ; you must for- 
 give me ! " 
 
 " I'll do both when you prove you love me, as un- 
 selfishly as I do you, by going instantly with me to the 
 minister and promising to love, honor and obey me all 
 your life. Without this we part!" The jealous one 
 rising, looks as stern as Draco to his penitent fiancee. 
 
 " Instantly ! Oh, let me tell my friends ! " Flora's 
 bright eyes grow frightened, she begins to cry. 
 
 " And keep me in the jealous despair of the last few 
 minutes? Not for the Prince of Wales! I couldn't 
 bear that agony again ! " snarls Arthur savagely, who 
 knows to be successful he must, as he expresses it, 
 " rush things." To this he adds, in moody malevo- 
 lence : " I felt as if I could murder you murder 
 him ! " 
 
 " My Heaven, do you love me so passionately as 
 that?" 
 
 " Love you ! By the living jingo, you'll never know 
 how much I love you until I marry you. And that 
 must be now!" 
 
 " Now ! " Blushes burn up the lady's tears. 
 
 "Or NEVER!" 
 
 " Oh, Heaven ! At least let me tell my uncle." 
 " No, no ! You look on no other man's face until
 
 74 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 you're mine. You're too lovely and too coquettish to 
 trust out of my sight." The morose gloominess of his 
 devotion touches Mrs. Elton. 
 
 " How ardent you are ! Dear one, forgive me." She 
 tries to nestle to him. 
 
 " Now, if you love me, come with me ! " The 
 schemer takes her trembling arm in his grasp, raises 
 her from the seat and hurries her towards one of the 
 entrances of the garden. 
 
 " But I must tell Mr. Boardman. ' 
 
 " Tell him afterwards ! " 
 
 " I I haven't any trosseau ! " 
 
 " Get it afterwards ! " 
 
 These are hurried ejaculations and stern replies as 
 he half supports his affianced through the leafy walks 
 to the tram-way. Fortunately, at its terminus, he has 
 his Peking carriage in waiting. This now becomes a 
 bridal equipage. 
 
 " Give me a little time," Flora gasps, her eyes droop- 
 ing, her parasol trembling in her hands, as he hur- 
 riedly makes the vehicle a closed one. 
 
 " Not a moment until you prove that you love me ! " 
 
 Machiavelli fairly lifts her into the carriage. 
 " Wyndham Street, like a flash ! " he cries to the driver 
 and steps in beside his sweetheart and his victim, who 
 is hiding an agitated and abashed face in both of her 
 trembling hands. 
 
 " Please please pardon me," she pleads, " before 
 you marry me. I'll do anything you say; only kiss 
 me and forgive me." 
 
 Then this scoundrel Draco becomes half appeased. 
 He draws down the blinds and takes the flirtatious one 
 to his heart and kisses her rapturously. He cannot 
 help that, the loveliness of his petitioner is too great, the 
 rounded arms she throws about him too tender in their 
 embrace. But forcing himself to coolness, this domi- 
 nant villain and lover continues, sternly : " Remember,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 75 
 
 I'll never ivholly forgive you until I have put the wed- 
 ding ring upon your finger and you've placed bride's 
 kisses upon my lips." 
 
 " Then then marry me instantly ! " she whispers, 
 piteously. " Only please forgive me wholly now," 
 adding, in woman's pathos, " I couldn't bear, as I 
 promised you my faith, love and obedience, to think 
 that the man who was taking me to his heart had ought 
 but love in it for me." 
 
 Moved by her contrition and consent, Arthur whis- 
 pers cheerfully to the semi-abducted lady : " Now I'll 
 get you to the minister and make you mine, as sure 
 as tacks ! " 
 
 As in a daze Flora finds herself driven very rapidly 
 to Wyndham Street, but looks on in loving confidence 
 as Mr. Passmere gaining word with an acquaintance 
 in one of the big banks, brings out his friend and in- 
 troduces him as Mr. Colville; and the two make all 
 necessary preparations. 
 
 " Here's the engagement ring," whispers the rapid 
 wooer, and slips a diamond circlet upon her yielding 
 finger. The wedding ring I've got in my pocket." 
 
 " Oh, darling, how headlong you are ! " 
 
 " Who wouldn't be headlong when he looks at 
 you?" 
 
 With an indistinct notion that she ought to tell her 
 uncle, Mrs. Elton is led into the rectory of St. John's, 
 and the proper license being ready, becomes Mrs. Ar- 
 thur Passmere after the ritual of the Episcopal Church, 
 giving herself more completely to the dominion of 
 her husband than she imagines. 
 
 There has been a curious triumph, as well as pas- 
 sion, in the young man's face as the exquisite woman 
 has made her vows to him quite tremblingly and very 
 earnestly, for she means them with all her soul. " Mar- 
 ried without settlements ! " reflects the ardent but 
 selfish adventurer. " I'm master not only of her beauty
 
 76 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 but of her wealth. She'll have to get on her knees to 
 me every time she wants a new bonnet." 
 
 With this the Honorable Arthur's bearing is so proud 
 that his bride, mistaking its import, looks at him raptur- 
 ously as he places her in the carriage. Getting in after 
 her, he remarks : " I've made every arrangement, 
 Flora. I've a little villa over at Kau-lung, where we 
 can love like blazes. We'll leave little Harold under 
 the guardianship of Lizette and the ayah, and be alone 
 until I take you to Peking." 
 
 " Yes, dear." 
 
 " He's an awfully fine little fellow," remarks the 
 groom anxiously ; " but for a day or two my pet, we 
 must be all in all to each other." 
 
 " Oh, Arthur, how you enchant me," murmurs the 
 bride, and snuggles against his protecting shoulder. 
 
 Very shortly after, ushered by the bland and bowing 
 Lum Kee, Mr. Passmere brings Flora into Mr. Board- 
 man's parlor, at the Peak Hotel, and she very proudly, 
 yet very bashfully, presents her husband to the as- 
 tounded Yankee. 
 
 For a moment Joel cannot believe what he hears; 
 then, convinced by her wedding ring, he grumbles: 
 " Well, you're old enough Flora, to make your own 
 bed and lie in it, I suppose. Eira's down town doing 
 some shopping, I believe, so she can't add her congrat- 
 ulations at your sudden nuptials. Had you announced 
 this a little sooner, I should have had great pleasure in 
 sending you a handsome present, my dear. As it is, 
 my sincere hope is that you will be very, very happy. 
 Doubtless you will." He looks sharply at the bride- 
 groom and grins : " Though your husband isn't an 
 old man, he seems to be a gentleman who'll take mighty 
 good care that you don't make a fool of yourself with 
 anybody but him." 
 
 "You've hit me off exactly, Uncle Joel," says Ar- 
 thur, in unabashed ease, rather pleased at the sugges-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 77 
 
 tion, though the old gentleman gasps at his new title. 
 " We're going over to Kau-lung for a little wedding 
 loneliness, and I'll see you in a day or two, before I take 
 my bride up to our Peking legation." 
 
 As they turn to leave, the American business man 
 says sharply : " Mrs. Passmere ! " 
 
 Unheeding, the bride doesn't answer this. 
 
 " Mrs. Passmere, just a second ! " Arthur is already 
 outside the door. 
 
 " Oh, you mean me ! " gasps Flora. Returning to 
 her uncle, she laughs : " That is my name, isn't it ? 
 I'm married now, ain't I ? " 
 
 " Yes, you'll soon find you're married, I reckon," 
 mutters Boardman, grimly, and his voice grows very 
 serious : " In your widow's eagerness you've given 
 yourself to your youn^ man without settlements. Har- 
 old's estate is perfectly secure, but, as you very well 
 know, every stiver of your own personal fortune con- 
 sists of English securities and investments in the 
 British Consuls by your late husband, when he made 
 that pot of money over there by introducing the tele- 
 phone system into the United Kingdom ! " 
 
 " Y e s." The niece's voice indicates affright, her 
 uncle's tone is so impressive. 
 
 " Then I simply tell you that, under English law, 
 your entire fortune now comes absolutely under your 
 husband's control. Without Mr. Passmere's consent 
 you haven't a dollar of your own to buy a ribbon." 
 
 At this financial revelation, which, in Flora's hur- 
 ried nuptials had slipped her mind, the bride grows 
 suddenly pale; then straightens herself up and says, 
 quite proudly, like a good wife, as she intends to be: 
 " I have every confidence in Arthur." 
 
 " Quite right. It's best that you should have ; for 
 you must look to him for everything," returns her 
 uncle. Thinking of the passed away Elton, whom 
 Flora's harmless but careless coquetries had often tor- 
 mented, he continues, caustically : " You had an old
 
 7 8 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 husband last time, my dear. You'll find a young one 
 much more exigent ! " 
 
 " I prefer a young husband ! " answers the bride, 
 pertly, trying to show she has no fear, though in truth 
 her financial situation startles her. She thinks of the 
 handsome, authoritative fellow, whose voice sounds 
 impatiently through the door, and her eyes grow 
 bright, for he is saying : "Hurry up, my dear girl. I'm 
 longing for your face." 
 
 " Don't think me too very foolish," she whispers, 
 half apologetically. " Give this for me to Eira," and 
 kissing Joel very sweetly, runs away. 
 
 As her little feet patter distantly on the polished 
 floor, her uncle growls to himself : "Who would have 
 guessed Madam Sly-puss would have been so secretive 
 in her love affair. God be thanked, my daughter hasn't 
 a thought she doesn't share with her daddy. Even 
 
 that damned Lieutenant ! " Another oath chokes 
 
 the doting father. 
 
 " Now, since old Boardman is notified, we'll just 
 get a bite," says Arthur, cheerily, to his prize, as she 
 joins him in the hallway. 
 
 " It will be our first tete-a-tete meal," murmurs the 
 bride. Her voice is very tender. Despite her uncle's 
 revelation, there is a rapture in Flora's eyes. Then 
 she suddenly ejaculates: "Ah, how do you do, Cap- 
 tain ! " 
 
 The young Japanese officer is passing them, ushered 
 into Mr. Broadman's parlor by the kowtowing Lum 
 Kee. He returns Mrs. Passmere's bow with the defer- 
 ential politenesss peculiar to him, and passes on, a pre- 
 occupied melancholy in his face. 
 
 " Good Heavens, how badly Katsuma looks ! " whis- 
 pers Flora. For the appearance of Osuri startles her. 
 
 " Yes, frightfully dissipated, these Eastern chaps ! " 
 remarks Arthur. " Looks as if he had been out on a 
 bat all night." 
 
 " Poor Eira ; she should be warned. Do you know,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 79 
 
 I think she is interested in that depraved Japanese 
 captain," observes Flora anxiously. 
 
 " Yes, but trot along, I'm hungry," says the groom, 
 eagerly. " I rather imagine from your parlor windows 
 I can point out to you the white walls of my villa over 
 at Kau-lung, where I'm going to show you that you've 
 never been loved before." 
 
 "Oh, Arthur!" 
 
 Blushing tenderly and fluttering radiantly, the 
 bride follows him into her dainty parlor, where a 
 very handsome breakfast, already ordered, awaits 
 them, and where this lady of many flirtations is going 
 to receive the lesson of her life, which up to this time 
 has been generally carelessly frivolous, though at times 
 spasmodically, aesthetically religious. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE YELLOW PLACARD. 
 
 Osuri Katsuma does not deserve young Passmere's 
 shallow comment. 
 
 After staggering from Mrs. Murray's fete the night 
 before, though he had a draft for ten thousand yens 
 in his pocket, he had not tried to forget his misery by 
 high play, of which he could get plenty at the Hong 
 Kong Club. 
 
 Once oppressed by the fatalism of the East, he had 
 looked longingly at the waters of the harbor from the 
 sea wall of the Praya. Once he had muttered : " The 
 fortune-tellers always said my fate would be a sad one. 
 Why not call the mountebanks liars, by making it a 
 merry one? One woman should not be able to give 
 me more joy than half a dozen. I am an Oriental ; I 
 should have an Oriental's tastes. Even then I would be 
 less of a voluptuary than half the Europeans who teach
 
 So TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 us lessons in debauchery in every open port on the 
 China seas." But a higher spirit coming into him, he 
 had shuddered : " No, no ! Then, Eira would think I 
 had never been worthy of her. I'll show my lost god- 
 dess that this night 'twas a man whose eyes looked 
 love upon her." 
 
 Fortunately, no active young man of the modern 
 world has much time for despair. An incident that 
 surprises him now arouses him. 
 
 As if seeking to divorce himself from a Western 
 civilization that reminds him of the lost charms of his 
 American divinity, Osuri's aimless steps seem to lead 
 him towards the Chinese quarter, whose streets are 
 quite silent now, for Celestials are not greatly given to 
 going about at night, and active Sikh policemen in 
 Hong Kong are very apt, in case coolies do not give 
 very good reasons for nocturnal wanderings, to inflict 
 many pains upon the prowlers. 
 
 The door of an opium joint opens in this street of 
 silent hongs with gilt-lettered signs and closed up 
 chow shops. From it issues a Chinaman. With some 
 surprise Katsuma recognizes him as Boardman's ser- 
 vant, the kowtowing Lum Kee. 
 
 About this time the silence of the night is broken in 
 upon by hilarious Anglo-Saxon shouts. Little Sammy 
 Bandam and Johnny Cootes, of the Hong Kong Club, 
 returning from Mrs. Murray's fete, made happy by 
 generous wine, are indulging in a riksha race. They 
 have picked out this Tai-ping-shan street as being less 
 liable to police interruption. Coming rapidly along, 
 they urge their sweating coolies by promises of reward, 
 and half drunken threats, to greater speed. 
 
 Trying to escape them, Lum Kee, who is directly be- 
 fore the coming rikshas, stumbles, and slipping upon 
 some of the rubbish common to all Chinese streets, his 
 white padded shoes go up into the air and his well- 
 shaved head comes down upon the pavement. The 
 rikshas keep on their way, little Bandam, who is lead-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 8l 
 
 ing, calling : " Double my bet, Johnny, that I beat you 
 to the Jubilee statue ! " 
 
 At this moment a Sikh policeman, attracted by the 
 noise, picks up the Chinaman and is about to drag him 
 to the calaboose. But Lum Kee has only been partially 
 stunned ; and as he is picked up expostulates : " You 
 sabe! Me boy of Li Wong Chieun, the great. Him 
 Chinaman-commissioner-high. No samshoo, no opium 
 pipe ; riksha man no walkee slow, how can stop. You 
 sabe me, boy of Li Wong Chieun. Him Chinaman- 
 commissioner-high ! " 
 
 This assertion by Boardman's valet that he is the 
 servant of the Chinese high commissioner startles the 
 Japanese. For a moment he thinks Lum Kee is so 
 stunned he doesn't know what he is saying, or is under 
 the influence of samshoo or opium. 
 
 The next instant he is more startled to find what the 
 Chinese servant has said is true. The secretary 
 of Li Wong Chieun comes hurriedly out from 
 the opium joint from which Lum Kee had prev- 
 iously issued. Addressing the policeman in excellent 
 English, he endorses the prisoner's story, telling the 
 Sikh that the Chinaman is and has been a trusted 
 servant for many years of the great Chinese high com- 
 missioner. 
 
 Apparently anxious that the affair goes no further, 
 Chieun's underling promptly greases the wheels of jus- 
 tice. This is potent in the East as well as in the West. 
 Lum Kee hurriedly goes on his way ; and the Chinese 
 interpreter returns to the pleasure of the opium joint, 
 which is apparently made more interetsing by several 
 rouge-cheeked, red-robed Chinese ladies, who can be 
 seen through the half open door. 
 
 As he closes the portal of the house, a yellow paper 
 falls from the secretary's huge, hanging sleeve, which, 
 in his contention with the Sikh policeman has be- 
 come disarranged. It is habitual for Chinamen to 
 use as pockets this portion of their garments l which
 
 82 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 are much superior in dimensions and convenience 
 to the modern Western woman's hand satchel. Osuri 
 thinks but little of this, though prompted almost by an 
 instinct he picks up the paper. It is the usual yellow 
 placard common to native Chinese printing houses and 
 bears some notice for general distribution, " There- 
 fore it can't be very much of a secret," cogitates the 
 Japanese captain. 
 
 Though he is under the electric light, near the corner 
 of Wyndham Street; with his imperfect knowledge of 
 the Chinese language it will take him some time to de- 
 cipher this. He is about to toss the placard away when 
 some peculiar words catch his eye, and he hurriedly 
 goes to the Hong Kong Hotel and runs up the stairs 
 to his apartments. What he has discerned upon the 
 yellow paper has startled him. In his anxiety for 
 the safety of the being he has made his goddess, the 
 young man forgets for the moment he has no hope 
 of her. 
 
 He is greeted in the usual way by his faithful boy, 
 Saraki, who, rising from a mat, prostrates himself, and 
 says : " A cable message came at midnight for you, 
 my master" then getting a glance of Osuri's face he 
 muttered to himself : " God of 111 Luck, what misfor- 
 tune has stricken thy bright face ? " 
 
 " Very well, Saraki. Light the lamps upon my table 
 and bring me some cigars, and I think I'll take a glass 
 of sake," orders his master hastily. 
 
 Glancing over the cable, which is from his govern- 
 ment, Katsuma thinks : " I can do nothing about this 
 until business hours," and devotes himself to decipher- 
 ing the yellow placard. 
 
 As he finishes reading this there is great concern 
 upon his countenance. Catching five little written 
 characters upon its reverse side he cogitates : " Mil- 
 lions of these distributed in Northern China and 
 the Chinese high commissioner will not pay for his 
 government unless Boardman goes to Peking to get
 
 TANGLED FLAdS. 83 
 
 his money naturally taking with him his daughter. 
 Lum Kee, who is now Boardman's courier, is an old 
 and trusted servant of Li Wong Chieun, who looked 
 upon her loveliness with eyes that made me want to 
 drive them through the back of his head. By Riu Jin! 
 would he dare can he dream ! " The young man's 
 face grows horrified, then after an awful oath, he 
 sneers at himself: " Baka, that is as wild a thought 
 as any in a Tokio melodrama ! " 
 
 From the placard he turns gloomily to his telegram 
 on government business. This compels him to make 
 quite a number of calculations. Finishing these, as 
 day comes on, he murmurs : " These orders for arms 
 will give me additional opportunity to warn the Amer- 
 ican. Upon the Dusiness of our war office I can call 
 upon her father, and my goddess need not think I am 
 still in pursuit of the unattainable. And yet she some- 
 times looks kindly on me," he sighs. 
 
 Then the picture of the American lieutenant coming 
 under his eyes, his lips quiver, he moans : " By my 
 Gods and your God, were it any but you, man of my 
 heart ! " The ineffable despair of his situation strik- 
 ing him, he throws down his pen, utters a miserable 
 groan, and clasps with his hands his head, that is ach- 
 ing to bursting. 
 
 A moment later he exclaims, decidedly : " There is 
 no half way ! Honest to both or traitor even to truth ! " 
 and burns up, over a taper flame, the few paltry relics of 
 a passion he is fighting to destroy ; some flowers she 
 pinned in his buttonhole but the night before ; a frag- 
 ment of lace he had ravished from the floating skirt 
 of the robe that she had graced ; a rose she had 
 coquettishly thrown at him one evening, as he had left 
 her father's parlor; for Osuri Katsuma had not given 
 his heart without many pleasant though careless smiles 
 from the young American lady. Last of all is a little 
 white glove she had lost as he revived her after cobra- 
 fright as this shrivels in the flame his eyes gleam
 
 passionately and he mutters: "Goddess of Sunlight, 
 1 kissed thee once, I shall kiss thee again but it will 
 be my death kiss ! " 
 
 They are ashes. As with a sigh he turns away, to 
 him the ever watchful and devoted Saraki glides and 
 whispers : " Has a rival opposed thee with the beauti- 
 ful lady to whom, last night, I gave your orchids flam- 
 ing with love. If so, my master, tell me his name 
 that I may go to some tree dedicated to the Kami and 
 make a straw image of thy enemy. Then driving nails 
 into its trunk, persuade the gods it is thy rival who has 
 desecrated the sacred tree, and so bring down upon him 
 their vengeance." 
 
 " Pish, boy," says his master, with a hollow laugh, 
 " that is but an old superstition." 
 
 " Old superstition ! " shudders the lad. " Haven't 
 I seen a hundred sacred trees destroyed by nails? 
 Haven't I heard of girls dooming others to death in the 
 quiet of the night by what you call superstition? By 
 Ema, Osuri, son of daimios, you forget what you would 
 once have deemed sacred, as I do." 
 
 Then the boy, going sadly away, murmurs : " I'll 
 watch. I'll find the enemy he will not deliver to my 
 eyes, and when I do, if the gods don't strike him, I, 
 who once would have worn two swords, shall remem- 
 ber the traditions of my race. If a daimio is injured, 
 who should delight to fall for him but one of his 
 samurai." 
 
 But Saraki's interruption has been beneficial to his 
 master. Katsuma's meditation becomes action. He 
 reasons : " My order for additional arms would be 
 a warning to any one acquainted with the Chi- 
 nese situation. To it I'll add a more direct one! If 
 that fails, there's only her love for Jim Ingraham to 
 which to turn to keep Eira safe from what I fear in 
 Peking. God of despair, my action may give her to 
 another man within this day." A spasm of agony 
 ripples his face, but does not stay his resolve.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 85 
 
 Anxiety obliterating some of the sadness in his face, 
 after bath and careful toilette, though he eats no break- 
 fast, Osuri goes up to the Peak Hotel and, bowing to 
 Passmere and his bride, is shortly shown, by the 
 smiling Lum Kee, into the parlor of the American 
 manufacturer. Blessing God he does not meet the face 
 of Eira Boardman, which would have brought to him 
 too great a misery, Katsuma receives a very cordial 
 greeting of his host, who strives to conceal, under 
 affability, some happening which has distressed or 
 disconcerted him. 
 
 " Sorry you didn't stay to the last of it at Mrs. Mur- 
 ray's," remarks Joel. "A little play at the Hong Kong 
 Club, eh ? I can see a map of it in your eyes, my boy. 
 After you had gone, I vacated the whist table and had 
 a delightful old-fashioned Virginia Reel ; they call it 
 Sir Roger de Coverly here. I danced with Lady Inglis. 
 She's a very fine woman, sir, and as affable as she is 
 charming. If you came on business, I'm ready to talk 
 to you. If you are here for pleasure, I regret that my 
 daughter is downtown, shopping." 
 
 At this the Japanese winces ; he quite accurately 
 guesses the girl of his heart is awaiting her coming 
 lover on the San Francisco steamer. Fighting down 
 misery, he contrives to say, in official tones : " Mr. 
 Boardman, this is my motive for calling on you. I've 
 an additional order from my government. They want 
 twice as many of those rapid-fire guns, and desire them 
 immediately." 
 
 " Immediately ! By Jove, slaughter' is booming ! 
 I've just got another order from the The Ameri- 
 can checks himself and mumbles: " Then I'll have to 
 cable," asking, suspiciously : " What the devil are 
 you in such a hurry for the rapid-fires ? " 
 
 " That's the business of my government, not mine," 
 answers the officer. n However, I'm directed, in or- 
 der to expedite your delivery, to state that cash will 
 be paid for them immediately on their arrival at Tokio,
 
 86 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 after quick examination," adding, parenthetically: 
 " The tests upon the others were so satisfactory. Here 
 is what we want in detail." He places a memorandum 
 before the American. " Let me know the date you can 
 deliver, by to-morrow, if possible ; as I have to leave 
 Hong Kong almost immediately." 
 
 " All right, if cables '11 do it ! " answers Boardman, 
 writing a despatch, the discussion and wording of 
 which occupies some time. 
 
 As he rises to go, the Japanese rather nervously 
 asks : " You've been thinking over what I told you 
 about visiting Peking?" 
 
 " Yes, but I don't see how it can be avoided." 
 
 " But you will not take your daughter ? " 
 
 " Hum ! Any additional reasons to what you gave 
 me last night ? " 
 
 " Yes, this document no matter how I came by 
 it is being circulated by millions all through the prov- 
 inces of Northern China." Katsuma produces the 
 placard which had fallen from the sleeve of the com- 
 missioner's secretary and places it in the hands of the 
 manufacturer. 
 
 Gazing at it, the American says : " Who the dickens 
 can read that lingo ! " 
 
 " I can," replies Osuri. " Colloquial Chinese might 
 in certain instances be difficult to me, but this is in the 
 language of the Literati, many of its characters synony- 
 mous with those of Japan. This is what it says," and 
 he translates to the astounded American this peculiar 
 document : 
 
 " TO THOSE WHO HAVE BURNED PUNK STICKS 
 AT THE ALTARS OF GODS AND MADE SACRIFICE 
 FOR THE OUTCASTING OF FOREIGN DEVILS ! * 
 
 " God assists the Boxers, the patriotic, harmonious corps ! 
 " It is because the Foreign Devils disturb the Middle King- 
 dom urging the people to join their religion, to turn their 
 
 * This is practically one of the proclamations actually cir- 
 culated lately in China. <f.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 87 
 
 backs on Heaven, venerate not the Gods and forget the an- 
 cestors; men violate the human obligations; women commit 
 adultery. 
 
 " Foreign Devils are not produced by mankind. If you 
 doubt this, look at them carefully. The eyes of all Foreign 
 Devils are blueish. 
 
 " No rain falls ; the earth is getting dry. This is because 
 their churches stop the Heaven. 
 
 " The Gods are angry ; the Giants are out of their caves ; the 
 Genii are vexed. 
 
 " The Gods will come out of the grottoes. The Genii will 
 come down from the mountains and support human bodies to 
 practice. 
 
 " When all the military accomplishments or tactics are fully 
 learned, it will not be difficult to exterminate the Foreign 
 Devils. 
 
 " Push aside the railway tracks, ; pull out the telegraph 
 poles. 
 
 " Immediately after this destroy the steamers. 
 
 " Let the Foreign Devils all be killed. 
 
 " Let the whole glorious Empire cf the great Ching dynasty 
 be very prosperous." 
 
 " Good Lordy, and will any sane man listen to that 
 rot? " jeers the American, disdainfully. 
 
 " John Chinaman will ! This is as powerful an ap- 
 peal to him as if a Catholic were called upon to avenge 
 his Pope; a Turk to rise for his Sacred Standard; a 
 Christian to fight for his faith 1 " 
 
 " Look here, Katsuma, I've made inquiries," re- 
 turns Boardman. " You are the only fellow in all 
 Hong Kong who seems to fear a Chinese outbreak." 
 
 " Still, by my Gods and your God, be guided by one 
 who wishes well to you and yours. Don't go to 
 Peking." 
 
 " But I must. By gee-hosh, that Chieun is going to 
 pay me my money there ! " answers the Yankee, in 
 business decision. 
 
 " Then, don't take your daughter. Think of her 
 delicate loveliness, perchance, exposed to a barbaric 
 mob. You don't know what the Chinese are when 
 aroused by religious frenzy. In a land where evidence 
 is obtained from -witnesses under the rods of execu-
 
 88 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 tioners, what mercy would their rabble have to one 
 their priests proclaim accursed ! " 
 
 " Very well," answers the American, shortly, " Eira 
 doesn't go. When I run on, I'll leave her with Mrs. 
 
 Elton here " He cuts this short with an oath, and 
 
 continues, ruefully : " By Jove, that won't do, the fly- 
 away widow has within the hour married young Pass- 
 mere, who I now learn is attached to the British 
 Legation, and, of course, goes on with him almost im- 
 mediately to the Chinese capital." 
 
 " Ah, but under this showing that I make, perhaps 
 the lady will not accompany her husband." 
 
 "Won't she!" says Boardman, snapping his jaws. 
 " You don't know a newly married widow. Flora will 
 stick to Passmere as if she had never seen a man be- 
 fore. What do you think! The little fool married 
 him offhand, without saying a word to anybody. Now, 
 my daughter is of a different kind. She'd no more 
 dream of doing the marriage act without asking my 
 approval than she'd think of going to bed without 
 saying her prayers. She never had a secret from me, 
 sir, in her whole innocent life." 
 
 " Probably Mr. Passmere may not take his bride," 
 suggests Osuri, wincing, but sneering at Boardman's 
 parental confidence. 
 
 " Won't he ! You don't know how hard-headed 
 Johnny Bull is at times, and the Honorable Arthur's 
 a young Johnny Bull," remarks the Yankee. 
 
 " With a good many Eastern mannerisms and some 
 startling Americanisms," replies the Japanese officer. 
 " Still, I think I can place the matter before the young 
 man so that he will permit his wife to remain in Hong 
 Kong ! " Katsuma again arises. 
 
 " Where the devil are you going? " 
 
 " I am going to speak to Mr. Passmere." 
 
 " What, interrupt a tete-a-tete honeymoon break- 
 fast!"
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 89 
 
 " The safety of his wife should be sufficient excuse 
 for my intrusion." 
 
 " You'll hardly make the Honorable Arthur believe 
 that ! " smiles Boardman. " You see, Katsuma, nobody 
 but you in Hong Kong seems to think there is any 
 more danger in Peking than there is in Tokio, or, for 
 that matter, Washington." 
 
 " They will soon," murmurs the Japanese, prophet- 
 ically. " Anyway, by this yellow placard, you must 
 not let your daughter go to Peking ! " and he walks 
 off towards the erstwhile Mrs. Elton's apartments. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 "BLUNDERED THROUGH." 
 
 The morning is not yet over; in the tropics the day 
 begins at sunrise. In Flora's handsome parlor at the 
 Peak Hotel, that lady is enjoying a honeymoon break- 
 fast with the astute scamp, into whose power she has 
 given her exquisite self; while in a neighboring apart- 
 ment Mrs. Passmere's maid is packing her mistress's 
 trunks for her short wedding outing to Kau-lung. 
 
 Among the handsome furniture of the room is a very 
 beautiful lady's writing table. Decorated with mar- 
 quetry, it stands carelessly open, littered by the dainty 
 ( correspondence of the erstwhile Mrs. Elton. 
 
 Holding up the sugar tongs in her taper fingers, the 
 bride asks diffidently : " How many lumps in your cof- 
 fee, dear Arthur? " So posed, catching sight of her let- 
 ters, Flora's delicate face flushes and grows embar- 
 rassed. 
 
 " From your sweet hands, two will be plenty," whis- 
 pers the bridegroom uxoriously; the schemer's sharp 
 eyes following the lady's nervous glance. 
 
 " Desperately anxious to get her correspondence out
 
 90 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 of my sight, but doesn't quite dare," sneers her crafty 
 spouse. 
 
 At the close of the meal, Flora laughs: "Now run 
 off your usual smoke. Outside you can tell every- 
 body the news, Arthur." 
 
 '' Sooner be close to you, my pretty darling," he re- 
 marks gallantly, and tossing himself into a luxuriant 
 armchair, produces languidly his cigar-case. 
 
 Seeing he is immovable, Mrs. Passmere with wifely 
 hand lights her husband's Havana and whispers: 
 " Make yourself comfortable, dear, while I slip on my 
 going-away frock." Favoring him with a bashful buss, 
 she trips out of the room praying that her new lord's 
 weed will keep him so pleasantly employed as to make 
 him oblivious io her correspondence. " Not that there's 
 anything in those foolish letters, but Arthur's so touch- 
 ily jealous," she shivers. 
 
 Surrounded by wreaths of fragrant vapor, the 
 scoundrel benedict dreamily contemplates the lady 
 he has won. " Flora's affectionate as a new kitten," 
 he thinks complacently. " Though she's just the sort 
 of a woman if I came home boozy and abused her, 
 would loathe me as a bully and a brute, still Imogene 
 was right when she wrote me that Mrs. Elton was one 
 of the kind who'll be as meek as a mouse to marital 
 authority officially exercised, because the man was her 
 husband." He glances at an Episcopal prayer book, 
 emblazoned by golden cross and High Church decora- 
 tion, and laughs : " She is a regular little Puseyite 
 and believes divorce sinful, another pretty strong link 
 to the nuptial chains in which I'm going to imprison 
 her dainty limbs. How timidly her hand gripped mine 
 as she promised to obey me." A moment later he mut- 
 ters : " By Jove, I wonder what made my minx so 
 deucedly fidgety about her letters." 
 
 He strolls over to the escritoire, where among tinted 
 paper and perfumed envelopes lie a few notes care- 
 lessly, tossed about. Catching the handwriting of two
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 9! 
 
 
 
 or three of these, his face becomes livid with jealous 
 rage. Heedless that this correspondence took place 
 before this lady wedded him, he reads them all care- 
 fully. Replacing them as he found them, after a long 
 drawn oath, he snarls between his teeth : " The flirta- 
 tious baggage. The major wasn't the only one!" 
 
 Returning to his armchair, he mutters savagely: 
 " Hang it, I'm glad of these infernal letters. They 
 give me the warrant to take the right line with Flora 
 instantly. She's now absolutely dependent upon me. 
 Imogene who knows her sex from skin to skin writes, 
 that I must rule Miss Sly-puss as strictly and sharply 
 as if she were a naughty ten-year-old, that she is 
 aesthetically religious; and the more austerely in- 
 flexible my authority, the more she'll look up to me 
 and adore me." Then he chuckles : " I've picked up 
 enough of missionary parlance as teacher-boy at Tung- 
 Chow to place my. severity on high moral grounds. 
 Passionate love and rigorous discipline shall go hand 
 in hand to make Madam Coquette tremble at a right- 
 eous husband made tyrannical by ardent jealousy of 
 her sprightly graces. Then she'll cling to me through 
 thick and thin and if she hears offish reports about me, 
 will never believe I'm other than a saint. Nothing like 
 beginning right with a woman. I'll begin right with 
 Flora ! " This last is uttered between his set teeth with 
 crafty yet merciless resolution. 
 
 Just here the Honorable Arthur nearly drops his 
 cigar, starts up, and ejaculates, admiration in his eyes : 
 " By Jove ! " 
 
 For his bride is standing before him, robed in the 
 most delicate of white muslins adorned by great masses 
 of fluffy lace that give a floating effect to the light jupe, 
 which slightly held up by her fair hand, drapes a form 
 in the perfect development of Venus's earliest maturity. 
 The day being very warm and the wedding journey to 
 be by sedan-chair and boat, her little feet are in petite
 
 92 TANGLED FLAGS, 
 
 bronze high-heeled slippers spotless of dust, and silken 
 stockings of lightest texture and palest tint, immacu- 
 late. Through the sheer tissues of her corsage can be 
 seen exquisitely moulded shoulders of dazzling ivory, 
 just the suspicion of the contours of a bosom graceful 
 as Hebe's, and, in their entirety, superbly rounded arms 
 fair as virgin snow. Her figure, which is above the 
 medium height, shrinks slightly under his searching 
 look. Her face is flushed, her eyes sparkling with af- 
 fection, though diffident and perchance anxious as they 
 rest upon their lord. 
 
 The radiant beauty of his prize for a moment places 
 only admiration in her captor's eyes: then his glance 
 becomes more severe ; he cogitates austerely : " By 
 pig-tails, Madam Fast-and-loose seems so nervous she 
 rather guesses, that I've dropped upon her corre- 
 spondence." 
 
 For Flora as her maid has robed her, has had time 
 to appreciate how thoroughly and unprotectedly she 
 has given herself to this husband whom she scarcely 
 knows. She is aware that her entire fortune legally be- 
 longs to him, that she has rashly made herself abso- 
 lutely and entirely dependent upon his generosity. She 
 quite well knows that she will receive no outside as- 
 sistance; that her uncle meant his words when after 
 hearing of her hasty and secret marriage he had said 
 she had made her bed and must lie in it. A German 
 education and some years of European life have im- 
 pressed her with the power of Continental husbands. 
 
 In addition, something in her spouse's manner now 
 indicates displeasure. Therefore, this lady who had 
 yesterday been self-reliant, perhaps dictatorial in her 
 great loveliness and independent wealth, thinking of 
 the frivolous letters carelessly left open to his jealous 
 inspection, now droops bashfuly under her husband's 
 glance. 
 
 As she meditates, Mr. Passmere startles her by his 
 accurate divination ; for playfully pinching her delicate
 
 FLAGS. 0j 
 
 car, he remarks : " This stunning toilette was 
 Intended for tete-a-tete with that beast Tilford at his 
 Saiwan picnic, eh?" 
 
 " Oh, how did you guess ? " she gasps, amazed, con- 
 fused and mortified. 
 
 "You'll find I guess about everything that is in your 
 coquettish head, my darling," remarks the groom, who 
 has chanced to see through a half-open door Flora's 
 finery laid out in her bedroom as he passed in to 
 fereakfast. 
 
 Then suddenly the husband whom she had looked 
 upon as almost a boy, remembering his sister's advice, 
 seems to the astounded Flora to change into a man of 
 austere bearing, whose calm gray eyes fascinate yet 
 confound her. Mr. Passmere's six feet of height ap- 
 pears to grow gigantic, impressive, masterful, even 
 almost ecclesiastic; the Honorable Arthur has not en- 
 tirely forgotten his training, as a Mission boy. 
 
 He coolly seats himself in a large armchair, and re- 
 marks pointedly: "Now just a few plain words to 
 you before I take charge of your life's journey. Step 
 to me at, once, Flora, I shall seat you on my knee as 
 I talk to you ! " 
 
 His tone is such that she obeys him timidly. Placing 
 his strong arm about her slight waist, he craftily makes 
 this magnificent woman feel childish by lifting her 
 graceful yet superbly developed figure to his lap, where 
 she sits dangling her delicate feet in air. Confused and 
 bashful, for this is the first time she has occupied this 
 position, she hides her face upon his shoulder. 
 
 Despite himself, the propinquity of his beautiful sub- 
 ject mollifies her mentor slightly. He says signifi- 
 cantly but affably : " You made a slight mistake about 
 your age this morning, didn't you my pet? " for Flora 
 has not dared to lie to the register. " All the same 
 I'm not annoyed about it, don't yer know. Somehow 
 or other I feel as if you're all the more splendid woman
 
 94 tANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 to caress and love and rule." He gives her an astutely 
 ardent kiss. 
 
 " Oh Arthur, I'm so pleased ! I feared you might be 
 angry with me and say I deceived you again," mur- 
 murs the bride, snuggling a little hand into his big one. 
 Then both his manner and his words bringing Mr. 
 Boardman's financial remarks to her mind, she whis- 
 pers, in embarrassed helplessness : " Do you know, my 
 husband, I've got to ask you for an an allowance." 
 As she makes her petition, Flora looks down diffidently. 
 A little foot and graceful ankle poked from beneath 
 the laces of her jupe, are trembling nervously. It 
 seems almost like asking her lord for his, not her own 
 money. 
 
 " Indeed ? " Mr. Passmere's tone becomes coldly 
 critical. 
 
 " Yes, Arthur," she says desperately. " My 
 uncle tells me all my fortune is now absolutely and 
 legally yours; that I am utterly dependent upon your 
 bounty, having married you without a settlement." 
 
 " I was perfectly aware of it, my dear Flora, at the 
 time," answers this consummate rascal frankly. " I 
 wish completely to control your personal expenditures 
 so that I can the more firmly govern you who, I feel, 
 need both rigorous rule and severe discipline to make 
 you the wife I have ordained you to be one whose 
 whole life shall be for me, your husband." 
 
 A less able villain would have pretended surprise and 
 that the alienation of her fortune was not deliberate, 
 and perchance have been thought knave and trickster 
 by Flora who has a sprightly though not a profound 
 mind. But this wary gentleman calmy makes it not 
 only his marital right but his marital duty to confiscate 
 his bride's wealth in order to mould her into the wife 
 that his love demands. 
 
 Though his words half stun, their down-right 
 candor convince Flora that this man whose arm has 
 lover's clasp about her, is no hypocrite. In addition,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 95 
 
 the bride, aware that she is a flirt, feels contrite under 
 a reproof she thinks is produced by jealous passion. 
 
 " You you are still displeased with me about the 
 m?jor," she murmurs after a confused pause, her face 
 which had grown pale blushing vividly. 
 
 " No, I told you I forgave you that, Flora. But 
 there are other offences, besides radical faults of habit, 
 that for our wedded happiness I have determined to 
 eradicate." 
 
 " I I hardly understand you," she expostulates 
 faintly. 
 
 " No, you've gone your dainty yet merciless way so 
 long it seems to you natural to wish all men at your 
 feet." 
 
 " Oh, how can you speak so severely to me ! " she 
 half sobs ; then turning affrighted eyes on her mentor, 
 gasps : " Arthur, do you love me ? " 
 
 " I love you so mightily that having won you, I am 
 going to keep you as the most precious thing on earth." 
 An amorous kiss emphasizes his subtle words. 
 
 "Then, my husband, all is well ! " she whispers, and 
 nestling to him, tries to mollify this man who, she feels, 
 is now her autocrat. 
 
 " Therefore, so that my rule of you shall be abso- 
 lute and complete, every personal expense of yours 
 must come under my eye. Consequently I shall not 
 permit you an allowance." 
 
 " But but I must have some little pocket money !" 
 falters this lady who having had a magnificent income 
 two hours ago, finds it very hard to grow accustomed 
 to nothing in a minute. 
 
 " Not a farthing unless I think it wise ! " 
 
 " O oh ! " This is a faint gasp from the plun- 
 dered one. 
 
 " Why, I'll have to come to you whenever I I want 
 a new bonnet," she stammers. 
 
 "Yes, it will be awfully jolly, won't it? How 
 pleased you will look when I give you one, won't you ? "
 
 06 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " Yes, but if you don't?" Both little feet are trem- 
 bling nervously. 
 
 " Oh, in that case you must look pleasant also." 
 Then his tone becoming inflexible, her dictator says 
 shortly : " I might as well tell you at once, Flora, 
 should you make a request and I refuse it, you are not 
 to bother me by asking again. I shall not permit you 
 to tease, don't yer see ! " 
 
 But yesterday this magnificent woman would have 
 burst out indignantly; now her absolute dependence 
 upon this man overcoming Flora, her pleading eyes 
 sink before his fervid yet rigorous glance, she hangs 
 her head while this young Eastern Machiavelli patting 
 and soothing her sculptured shoulders as if she were 
 a spoilt child, calmly but inexorably lays out a domestic 
 programme that tells this lady, who but an hour ago 
 had been coquetry itself, that she has seen her last 
 flirtation until she encounters a second widowhood. 
 
 " You understand me now ? " he asks significantly. 
 Through the gossamer of her corsage, her shoulders 
 vibrate under his strong hand which thrills her with a 
 great love, yet seems to dominate her so inexorably. 
 
 Making a faint struggle for freedom, she pleads 
 nervously : " Oh, why do you think I need such sever- 
 ity?" 
 
 " These letters ! " He sternly indicates the documents 
 on her desk, and she gazing on them understands, and 
 covers with both slight hands a head bowed in in- 
 describable mortification and chagrin. 
 
 " You didn't think, madame," he continues in the 
 voice of Draconian virtue, " that when you left those 
 amorous notes carelessly about this morning, within an 
 hour they would come under your husband's eye." 
 
 " I didn't know I'd have a husband," she gasps, then 
 suddenly falters : " My Heaven, you don't think I 
 didn't mean my wedding vows, Arthur?" She slips 
 from his knee and turns agonized eyes upon him.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 97 
 
 " No," he answers in artful sincerity. " I know you 
 meant them as reverently and thoroughly as any 
 woman who ever faced a bishop." 
 
 " Thank God ! " 
 
 " That's the reason I value you and your love so 
 much that I'm going to take precious good care of you. 
 You have acquired the habit of flirtation, of which by 
 Heaven I'll break you, or you'll break my heart." 
 
 " Then I must make you have faith in me, for you 
 must believe ! " she says in sad desperation. " The 
 only thing I can do to force you to trust me further is 
 this!" and astonishes him by running from the room. 
 
 Within the moment she returns, and placing her 
 purse well filled with bank-notes in her tyrant's hand, 
 remarks simply : " Now I'm entirely helpless. I I 
 haven't a farthing in the world." 
 
 " Thank you, sweetheart," says Mr. Passmere 
 quietly, and being a crafty ruler, pockets it ; while this 
 lady astounds him by growing more charming in her 
 womanliness as she feels herself forced to give up every 
 atom of personal liberty. 
 
 To him she murmurs penitently : " I concede I have 
 certain frivolous faults that have probably grown upon 
 me in the few years I have been so completely my own 
 fcistress. These for your peace of mind, my husband, 
 you have determined to destroy. Were I rebellious, I 
 have deprived myself of all power. But don't think I 
 regret it, if it will enable you to make me a better 
 wife." 
 
 Conquered by helpless love, she falters, her 
 sweet voice docile but trembling : " Arthur I I beg 
 you to pardon my letting other men think I favored 
 them, while I had virtually accepted your hand. In 
 proof of my penitence I yield myself to your govern- 
 ment wholly, implicitly, unconditionally. Eradicate 
 my faults by what discipline you deem essential. I'd 
 sooner you punished me than lecture me so cruelly. 
 Only love me, and I will never complain."
 
 98 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " For that pretty speech I must give you half a dozen 
 kisses," says the conqueror radiantly. Made more ten- 
 der by the superb beauty of the suppliant, he draws her 
 closer to him ; and she feeling that she is his body and 
 soul beyond recall throws her arms about the neck of 
 this scoundrel she adores and sobs like an infant upon 
 his broad breast. " Now I'll say no more about these 
 beastly letters," he remarks as he fondles her, " Only 
 beware of your next offense." 
 
 Awed by the significance of his tone, she flutters: 
 " Yes, yes, dear ; I'll be very careful now ! " 
 
 Under her husband's caresses the tears shortly leave 
 the bride's eyes. Suddenly she astounds her autocrat 
 by asking : " Where did you get your knowledge of 
 women ? " 
 
 " Oh ah, from from my great love of you. For 
 the month I have known you, I have studied every 
 word, every look of my darling," he stammers uneasily. 
 
 To this truth, but also subtle flattery, the snared 
 one whispers : " Oh how devoted you were ! " 
 
 A moment after he suspiciously questions : " Why 
 did you ask ? " 
 
 " Why, your mastery of me has made me adore you 
 more; you you fascinate me by showing I am so 
 precious to you ! " And she delights the bridegroom 
 by returning his fervid embrace. 
 
 " Quite right ! " The Honorable Arthur has as- 
 sumed his usual nonchalant manner and got to his col- 
 loquialisms again. Now he craftily plays another 
 winning card. " Before we go, let's bid the kid good- 
 bye, don't yer know," he suggests cheerfully. 
 
 " Oh Arthur, you want to see our boy ! " cries the 
 mother. Springing from his knee she runs from the 
 room. 
 
 Gazing after her, he cogitates : " By Jove, after this 
 Madam Flirt '11 not dare make eyes at a duke." But 
 even the astute Passmere doesn't know the mighty 
 force of matured habit.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 99 
 
 Reappearing, Flora bears Harold in her arms. With 
 beaming eyes, she places the boy in the spot she had 
 occupied a moment before, and stands drooping shyly 
 under her autocrat's hand, who pats her head in com- 
 plaisant assurance. 
 
 " Je t'aime, my new papa ! " cries Harold playing 
 unavved with Passmere's mustache. He's a brick, ma 
 chere marnan. Er hat mir half a sov for candy gege- 
 ben." 
 
 " Well, here's a whole one to buy more, my sturdy 
 man ! " And Arthur caresses the little chap who has 
 sold his mother into bondage. 
 
 Just here he gets the very tenderest of wifely kisses, 
 and Flora whispers : " God bless you, my husband, 
 for your kindness to my child." 
 
 " Now I'll occupy my time by settling your bills and 
 playing with the little fellow, while you, sweetheart, 
 get your things in order for Kau-lung," says Arthur. 
 He gives the slight waist which is within his reach an 
 exceedingly ardent squeeze, and the bride trips from 
 the room, a very happy smile upon her face. 
 
 With this, Mr. Passmere, keeping Harold quiet by 
 putting the urchin on a mechanical rocking horse, his 
 face solemn with new-born domesticity, runs through 
 the hotel accounts of the erstwhile Mrs. Elton. These 
 consist of everything under the sun ; laundry and 
 riksha bills being mixed with items of money obtained 
 at the hotel office and accounts varying from lingerie 
 to bonbons sent up for the dashing widow by tradesmen 
 on Queen's Road. 
 
 Finding they sum up quite heavily, he sneers : " My 
 darling won't be quite so extravagant from now on." 
 And after some twenty-minutes' figuring gets these set- 
 tled. 
 
 Then growing impatient, he carelessly asks : " I 
 wonder where mama is, Harold? " as with his vigorous 
 foot he imparts more rapid motion to the hobby-horse.
 
 100 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 To this the imp returns contemplatively : "Es ist die 
 hour of mein Herr Lieutenant Burroughs ! " 
 
 " What, young Burroughs of the Artillery ! Has she 
 ANOTHER?" gasps Mr. Passrhere, giving the rocking 
 horse such a kick that Harold screams gleefully: 
 " Catch him ! Le. cheval is running away ! Er ist a 
 bucking broncho ! " 
 
 Coming in upon thh scene and finding Arthur and 
 Harold playing like boys together, Flora's face grows 
 radiant as the sun, and her mother's heart goes out to 
 this man who is so easily, so naturally, taking her child 
 unto him. She puts her arm about her husband, and 
 whispers : " Again God bless you ! Everything is 
 ready for me to leave, dear ! " then says : " My little 
 Harold's now got to go with nursey ! " 
 
 "I won't leave mein neuer Voter!" cries the child 
 rebelliously. 
 
 " You see, Arthur, he loves you already," she says 
 enthusiastically, and picks up the sturdy boy to carry 
 him from the room. 
 
 She has not taken two steps when Harold suddenly 
 ejaculates: " Why mama, your dress is all dusty." 
 
 At this observation, the perturbation that flies over 
 the expressive face of his bride, gives Mr. Passmere 
 acute jealous suspicion. But he controls himself and 
 carelessly remarks : " What made you so long in get- 
 ting ready, pet ? " 
 
 " I I had so many things to pack. My maid was 
 so stupid," she stammers. 
 
 " You didn't leave our apartments, I presume, 
 Flora ? " He has given her some directions on this 
 point. 
 
 " No, of course not ! " gasps the interrogated one 
 hastily. 
 
 " But as the words leave her lips, a blush red, flam- 
 ing, telltale, and easily apparent through the light tis- 
 sues of her corsage, flies over her shoulders to her bos- 
 om. Mr. Passmere knows Flora has been guilty of a fib.
 
 TANOLED FLAGS. IOI 
 
 " It's probably the pious hussy's first whopper," he 
 reasons cogently, " or Mrs. Ananias wouldn't be like a 
 house afire. Imogene wrote me that Flora's aesthetic 
 religious feeling would help me to her dominion. By 
 Madame's prayer book over there, now is the moment 
 to make this emotional culprit in shame and self-abase- 
 ment beg me to both pardon and punish her sin. She 
 shall think me her father confessor and yield to me 
 her soul." 
 
 With this, the unscrupulous adventurer's eyes glare 
 in sanctimonious severity upon this lady, who but yes- 
 terday in her airy, insouciant beauty had been so care- 
 less of comment, but who now feeling herself one of 
 the governed, stands dazed in realizing that for child- 
 ish fear of correction her lips told what -she considers 
 a despicable lie. 
 
 To cover her confusion Flora would hurry the boy 
 from the room, but her autocrat says quietly : " Call 
 the ayah. Let her take the boy." 
 
 In a broken voice she does his word, while Mr. Pass- 
 mere, patting Harold's curly head, meditates sarcasti- 
 cally : " By Jove, a bright-eyed little detective ! " 
 
 The nurse having taken the child and they being 
 alone, her judge commands: " Step this way, Flora." 
 
 To this the culprit answers nothing, but with her 
 graceful knees quivering under her, simply obeys him. 
 
 Near the center of the room there is a high chair. 
 Without a word he lifts her into it ; then stooping be- 
 fore her, directs : " Show me your feet ! " 
 
 " Why Arthur, what do you want ? " she flutters. 
 
 " Your feet please ! " 
 
 And she quite bashfully extending them to him, 
 draws modestly away the light jupe and muslin skirts 
 displaying under their frills and laces, ankles of most 
 exquisite grace and proportion and two little trembling 
 feet in tiny, high-heeled slippers, quite soiled now 
 with the dust of Hong Kong roads. 
 
 The delicate beauty of her trembling members
 
 102 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 pleads with him, but restraining his admiration, he 
 says sharply : " The dust on your feet shows that you 
 have been away from the hotel." 
 
 V Yes, I I " 
 
 " You've been taking a walk with young Burroughs 
 f the Artillery. It is his hour!" 
 
 At this acute arraignment, the lovely accused con- 
 victs herself by gasping: " Oh Arthur, forgive me! " 
 
 " Let me look at your right hand ! " Inspecting the 
 taper ringers, which ringed with jeweled baubles, 
 quiver under his eyes, he shudders : " By Heaven, 
 they have been pressed and squeezed ! " 
 
 " Arthur, for God's sake don't think I let him kiss 
 me ! " she half screams. " I I only wanted to tell him 
 I couldn't go walking with him. Besides, I feared it 
 would grieve George." 
 
 "George! You dare call him THAT!" 
 
 " Oh don't look at me so awfully ! I saw him com- 
 ing from my window. From very force of habit I ran 
 out to meet him. I I didn't talk to him three min- 
 utes ! " 
 
 " So you slipped from the hotel on your nuptial 
 morning to give Lieutenant Buroughs interview of 
 which you were too much ashamed to tell the truth! 
 When the hour of your wedding is known, were not 
 Mr. Burroughs a gentleman, the story in messroom 
 and barracks how the bride of two hours gave him pri- 
 vate meeting, would make me the laughter of Hong 
 Kong." Mr. Passmere craftily utters a kind of groan 
 and sinks into a chair. 
 
 He looks up to find his bride on her knees before 
 him crying : " Oh Arthur, I I didn't think of that. 
 I forgot that your name is mine." The superb beauty 
 of the penitent, her teary eyes, her fluttering hands, 
 would mollify any judge but this one. 
 
 " You give me a cruel alternative," says her execu- 
 tioner. " I have either to be harsh with you on our 
 wedding morning or pardon your flirtatious disobe-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 103 
 
 dience that some day will break my heart. Besides that 
 awful lie from a woman of your religious nature, of 
 which, thank God, I see you are now ashamed." 
 
 For at mention of a fault which she thinks despica- 
 ble, Flora's face, neck and shoulders crimson again 
 with humiliation. 
 
 " Yes ; yes ; you mustn't pardon my lie," she gasps 
 in hysterical beatitude. Then frightened by the sentence 
 she has pronounced against herself, the unfortunate 
 lady hides her face in his lap and falters : " Mercy ! 
 I am so accustomed to do just what I like." 
 
 He knows it is full surrender now; fehat while the 
 lovely culprit fears his discipline she has resigned her- 
 self to his rule. She is even giving to him her men- 
 tality. 
 
 The scoundrel's tone becomes clerical ; he shudders : 
 " Such a contemptible sin, a lie to the husband who 
 adores you " 
 
 " Yes, Arthur," she breaks in," 'twas ignominious. 
 " I have repented every moment since my lips uttered 
 it. Correct me for it, but don't make me writhe with 
 shame under your merciless words." 
 
 And in her abasement at what she considers an ig- 
 noble sin this religiously aesthetic emotional creature 
 hides her head to receive her condemnation. 
 
 " Flora," he says in solemn contemplation, " I must 
 put sufficient penance upon you to make you both re- 
 gret and remember your disobedience and deceit. " 
 
 " Yes I deserve that," she murmurs. 
 
 " Very well, then at Kau-lung you must not leave 
 the house without my permission or escort." 
 
 " Goodness how careful you're going to be of me ! " 
 cries Flora. Her brown eyes grow radiant. She looks 
 archly at her husband and whispers : " I shall not com- 
 plain as long as you love me ; and this proves you are 
 jealous as a Turk, Arthur." There is a kind of tri- 
 umph in her voice. Then she suddenly falters : " You 
 are going to lock me up ? "
 
 104 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " No ; your promise will be sufficient. But that I 
 must have ! " 
 
 " It is yours !" she says simply, and gives it to him 
 with a kiss. 
 
 " Thank you," he replies, and plays another most 
 wily card : " Now run away and put on another 
 frock ! " he commands. " I couldn't bear to see you 
 on your wedding day in a toilette you had arranged for 
 the eyes of one man and soiled by keeping an appoint- 
 ment with another and neither of them, I." 
 
 " Are you so sentimental as all that ? " 
 
 " About you I'm the most sentimental beggar on 
 earth ! " 
 
 " Oh Arthur ! " His culprit bride throws her arms 
 about the astute scoundrel's neck, and whispers: " I'm 
 so glad you've got me. I shall pray to-night for God 
 to make me worthy of so good a man as you," and so 
 runs away leaving her scalawag bridegroom victorious 
 but astounded. 
 
 " By Tophet !" he mutters. " Imogene is a deep one. 
 No gossip '11 make Flora think badly of me now ; I've 
 got my lady as tight as a drum. She'll surrender her 
 bank accounts as docilely as she has herself." To this 
 he adds after a little contemplation : " To-morrow I'll 
 interview that -illain Li Wong Chieun, but it won't be 
 without he comes down handsomely in advance that 
 I'll see that Uncle Boardy and Cousin Eira go to 
 Peking, don't yer know." And strolling to the side- 
 board, takes a long drink of brandy and feels quite 
 happy and contented even virtuous. 
 
 Upon these meditations a servant intrudes bearing a 
 card. 
 
 " Ah," says the bridegroom, " Captain Katsuma. 
 Show him in boy." 
 
 And the servitor having departed, he meditates sus- 
 piciously : " Hang the Jap ! What the deuce does he 
 want, breaking in upon a married man in the first two
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 10$ 
 
 hours of his honeymoon ! " but rises affably, to greet the 
 entering officer. 
 
 " You will excuse my intrusion upon a matter that 
 is very urgent and perhaps quite momentous to you, 
 Mr. Passmere," says the captain in courteous anxiety. 
 " Mr. Boardman tells me that you've just married his 
 niece under whose protection he had intended to leave 
 his daughter while he visited Peking." 
 
 " Yes, I did the trick like a flash this morning," 
 answers Arthur proudly. 
 
 " You're very fortunate," remarks the Japanese re- 
 membering the radiant and coquettish loveliness of the 
 erstwhile Mrs. Elton and thinking of her numerous 
 admirers the preceding evening. 
 
 " Yes, blundered through, old fellow, just like Rob- 
 erts, Baden-Powell and all our other heroes ; blundered 
 through right at the end ! " cries the adventurer 
 cheerfully. 
 
 " Blundered through ! " gasps the military man. 
 " Why, you are speaking of one of the greatest tacti- 
 cians of our age and a very stout hero who made a lone 
 bush-town in the desert into a citadel that could stand 
 a siege ; though the rumored relief of Mafeking is again 
 contradicted." 
 
 " Yes, but I flatter myself if they knew how deftly 
 I'd carried on my campaign, both Roberts and Baden- 
 Powell would be mightily complimented, don't yer see." 
 To this he adds easily : " But Mr. Boardman need 
 have no anxiety about his daughter. Cousin Eira can 
 accompany us. In a few days I take my wife and 
 child to Peking." 
 
 " To Peking ! " echoes the Japanese, a look of great 
 concern flashing upon his face. " That's what I came 
 to speak to you about. I implore you to let your wife 
 remain here; with Miss Boardman under her protec- 
 tion. Take my advice and keep away from the Celes- 
 tial capital." 
 
 " But I can't, my dear fellow. I've got to go on to
 
 106 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 help Sir Claude Macdonald. These blooming Boxers 
 are getting quite obnoxious, can't yer see." 
 
 " Then at least leave your bride behind you." 
 
 " Thank you, I'm much too fly for that, my dear 
 fellow, don't yer understand." 
 
 " But you don't understand. Even to-day not a 
 woman should be in the Peking legations." 
 
 These words, make Passmere fear that it may not 
 be easy to induce the American to take his daughter 
 to the Chinese capital. 
 
 " Oh you mean outbreak, massacre and all that kind 
 of thing," he remarks easily. " That's been chanted by 
 every missionary in China for the last thirty years and 
 now you commence to sing the same psalm too. We 
 English diplomats can separate the chaff from the 
 wheat, don't yer know." 
 
 " Did Sir Louis Cavagnari, the most astute East- 
 ern diplomat England ever had, discover Afghan 
 treachery in time to save himself and his hundred le- 
 gation attaches from massacre? Did your Indian 
 government believe in the Sepoy uprising until it was 
 too late? You English only see things after they have 
 happened." 
 
 " And you Eastern people are too timid," sneers the 
 no-nation rascal. 
 
 " If common sense means timidity, I am. But God 
 seems to watch over you," returns the Japanese. 
 ' You Saxons blunder and blunder through. You 
 are just blundering through again in the Trans- 
 vaal, which between ourselves has hastened the coming 
 of this Chinese crisis. You seem to be rather happy 
 about it because it shows your pluck ; because you can 
 lose a good deal more than is necessary and still keep 
 on and win. Therefore many gallant men go to death 
 who might live long and happily and die in the arms 
 of their kindred." 
 
 " Yes yes ; we generally hit it all right in the end,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 107 
 
 old fellow," says Passmere confidently. Then the as- 
 tute scoundrel becomes noble in his bearing. " Be- 
 sides I've got to go," he says determinedly. " A diplo- 
 mat's duty is to be at his post just as well as a soldier's, 
 land go I must ; just the same as you'd charge a battery 
 if you knew it meant death ! " 
 
 Here an agonized woman comes flying out to them. 
 Her excited eyes have in them wifely devotion. She 
 puts her arms about her husband's waist, and says: 
 " If there's any danger in the Chinese capital, I go with 
 you are all the more, my husband ! Captain Katsuma, 
 nothing can keep me from Arthur's side except his 
 positive and absolute command." 
 
 " By George, I think she has answered you ! " says 
 the schemer quietly. " The ladies have not been sent 
 away from the legations. Were I to leave my wife 
 behind, it might be a sign we feared these Boxers and 
 have a bad effect." 
 
 " Still, Mrs. Passmere," expostulates Osuri, " if you 
 don't remain Mr. Boardman has no one with whom to 
 leave his daughter." 
 
 Then leading the young husband aside, he whispers 
 to him: " You should think of your wife. By Izanagi, 
 man, remember Cawnpoor!" 
 
 " You should not try to frighten her," answers Ar- 
 thur sternly. 
 
 " He can't frighten me, with you by my side," cries 
 Flora who guesses the import of Osuri's whisper. 
 
 " Then in that case I have nothing more to say," re- 
 marks the Japanese sadly and bows himself out. 
 
 As the door closes, her child coming into her mind, 
 Flora queries anxiously : " You don't think there is 
 any real danger ? " 
 
 " Not a rap ! " answers Passmere. " I've had a 
 pretty long Oriental experience. The Jap simply went 
 off on a bat last night and this morning has lost his 
 nerve. Too much samshoo, sake, and all that sort of 
 thing, don't yer know. Hang it, the idea of trying to 
 frighten a man on his wedding day ! "
 
 Io8 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Mr. Passmere lazily lighting a cigar, sinks languidly 
 into a chair ; for at that time, no one in Hong Kong or 
 for that matter few in Peking itself, had much thought 
 of danger to the legations in the Chinese capital. 
 
 To him, his bride steps bashfully and placing a con- 
 fiding arm about his neck whispers nervously : " You 
 you must not think Arthur I went into heroics to avoid 
 your righteous correction ! " 
 
 " Not a bit ! " he replies, affably pinching her ear. 
 Then her exquisite beauty appealing to this scoundrel 
 he takes his victim in his arms and knows he has 
 "blundered through" very right with Flora. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HIS LITTLE MISSIONARY GIRL. 
 
 But the Japanese captain is not so placid about the 
 Peking situation as Mr. Passmere. He walks from the 
 bridegroom's apartments, the anxiety on his face for 
 the moment almost obliterating its melancholy. Sud- 
 denly the sharp boom of a steamer's gun brings his 
 passion and his despair home to him. 
 
 Gazing from the corridors of the Peak Hotel he sees 
 the City of Rio. Janeiro anchoring in the roads, and 
 shudders: ""By Heaven, Jim is here to take to his 
 bosom the flower of my life ! " 
 
 Then temptation comes upon him. A big white 
 steamer is also in the roads. The red and blue top to 
 her white smokestacks indicates that she is an Ameri- 
 can transport. 
 
 " The man of Eira Boardman's choice is first and last 
 a soldier. His orders probably read 'forthwith'. I 
 have only to tell Pills," thinks Osuri, " that he can 
 catch the Meade, and in his eagerness to obey orders, 
 he will take boat to her, and never putting foot ashore,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. log 
 
 unknowingly leave Eira Boardman as he journeys to 
 Luzon. There perchance in some swamp ambush a 
 Tagal bolo will leave my goddess free." But he fights 
 this down, shuddering: " Traitor to her, traitor to my 
 comrade ; no, no ! Yet by every god Eira shall not go 
 to Peking. Jim Ingraham is the only man who can 
 prevent it ! " next sighs : " Oh, goddess of my unkind 
 fate, I am putting you in his arms." 
 
 As if fearing himself, he hurriedly takes the tram- 
 car down the hill, and riksha from the Glenealy Ravine 
 to the Hong Kong Hotel. A moment after, accompa- 
 nied by his boy Saraki, to assist in handling Ingra- 
 ham's hand baggage, he steps down to Pedder's Wharf. 
 Here near the waiting crowd he sees the face that is to 
 him the fairest upon earth, made radiant by the sun- 
 shine of a coming lover. Miss Boardman is seated in a 
 riksha, somewhat out of the general concourse. 
 
 On seeing the Japanese, for a moment a shade of 
 sadness tempers the joy upon her expressive features. 
 Then with a pleasant smile that has in it a touch of em- 
 barrassed apology to make it more deliciously piquant, 
 she beckons in easy young lady American manners to 
 the man whose passionate declaration she had so deftly 
 stayed, so absolutely barred but a few hours before, 
 and says in charming voice : " Good morning Captain 
 Katsuma, I've an errand for you." Unintention- 
 ally she is more fascinating than ever to this gentle- 
 man to whom every charm, every beauty is now a tor- 
 ture because he has lost them. 
 
 For a moment Katsuma looks embarrassed ; then 
 remembering that a young lady's very modesty forbids 
 her to recognize an unspoken love; and that conse- 
 quently their intercourse may still remain upon the 
 usual lines, he steps up to her and half guessing what 
 the errand is, takes off his hat and replies: "Good 
 morning, Miss Boardman." 
 
 Standing besides her riksha, he knows the exquisite 
 costume from fairy foot-gear to big white parasol has
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 been meant to make her beautiful for her lover's eyes. 
 Catching sight of some orange flowers she is wearing 
 in her bosom, he murmurs : " You remember Jim's 
 favorite ones." 
 
 " Don't I ! " And Eira Boardman's eyes have again 
 the expression that racked her Japanese adorer the 
 night before. 
 
 " How nice ! You're down to meet him," she whis- 
 pers, holding out a tiny gloved hand, and in the care- 
 lessness of youth and joy of coming lover, adds: 
 " You're going on board the City of Rio Janeiro. If 
 etiquette would only let me go also ! But you will bear 
 him my message. Tell Jim I am here waiting for him. 
 Ask him to come quick!" 
 
 " You have my promise," mutters the Japanese. 
 Glad to get away from her torturing loveliness, he 
 hastily takes boat to the City of Rio Janeiro. As the 
 steam launch dashes through the water recollections of 
 West Point comradeship, of how this man had stood by 
 him when he was a stranger in an unknown land and 
 became his friend of friends, covers the face of Osuri 
 Katsuma with a generous devotion, a sad self-sacrifice. 
 
 This, perchance, is heightened as, leaving Saraki in 
 the waiting boat, he climbs the side-ladder of the big 
 steamer and is greeted by a cherry voice that takes him 
 back to his cadet days on the Hudson. He hears: 
 "Hello, Boom-de-rah; I've been looking for you! 
 They told me in Yokohama you were here." 
 
 " By Jove, you're just the same old Pills ! " cries the 
 Japanese, as a stalwart form, clad in United States 
 Army blue, with two or three athletic strides meets him 
 and clasps him to his heart midway between the 
 steamer's deck and the water. 
 
 " I've got to take the first transport to Manila," 
 whispers the American. " There's one with steam up 
 now, so that we shall not have more than half an hour 
 together, old fellow." 
 
 Again the fiend is at Katsuma's elbow. He has but
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. Ill 
 
 to hold his tongue and Eira Boardman and her af- 
 fianced are separated and he is spared an agony. 
 
 " I feared that," replies Osuri, returning the young 
 man's grip with eager clasp. " Show me your state- 
 room, I've some curious news." 
 
 On deck, the American, who is half a head taller than 
 his Japanese friend and of more stalwart build, whis- 
 pers, as if almost ashamed of the intensity of his 
 affection : " Dear old Boom-de-rah ! " and again puts 
 his arm around the waist of the wiry Osuri, as they 
 march off together, with West Point stride, to his cabin. 
 
 Here the two men gaze into each other's faces, their 
 eyes aglow with the rejuvenated friendship of their 
 cadet days, and give each other another hug. Then 
 the Japanese says, slowly : " Pills, I've some curious 
 news for you." 
 
 Something in his voice makes Ingraham start. " It 
 is not bad news ? " he asks. " You got no cable about 
 my father, the general ? " 
 
 "Oh, no," answers the other. " You will call it good 
 news. Miss Miss Boardman is in Hong Kong." 
 
 " Eira here ! Bless God ! " cries the young man. 
 Osuri can see his strong fingers tremble as they grip 
 the bunk railing. Then, in agitated yet eager voice, he 
 continues : " I knew Boom-de-rah she was some- 
 where in this Eastern world. Sometimes I hoped her 
 father might take her to Manila. He has contracts 
 I with the American government, and he is always hunt- 
 1 ing for more dollars, the avaricious old beggar." Sud- 
 denly his glance becomes questioning. He asks: 
 " How did you know Eira Boardman was the girl I 
 wrote I'd tell you about ? " 
 
 " From her own lips," replies Katsuma, firmly. " She 
 generously told me, to- to put me on my guard." 
 
 " So Eira has been playing with Japanese fire," 
 smiles her affianced. " I'll have my lady up at punish- 
 ment parade." 
 
 " For God's sake, don't say an unkind word to her ! "
 
 112 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " Unkind word to her, when I haven't kissed her for 
 seven months ! " cries Jim, his eyes big with love. 
 
 Despite himself the Japanese winces. 
 
 " Unkind word, when she has stood by me through 
 thick and thin against her father? Unkind word to the 
 girl please God I'm going to marry ? " bursts out 
 the American. " Where's she stopping ? You held 
 your shoreboat ? " he queries eagerly. 
 
 " Yes," answers Osuri. " She's at the Peak Hotel. 
 But you will find her quite near the landing place, if 
 her eyes meant anything ten minutes ago." 
 
 Hoopee! Let's get on the shore quick!" The 
 American would spring from his cabin, but the Japan- 
 ese places hand on his arm, and whispers : " Not till 
 I tell you something, so that you may act with a man's 
 judgment in a matter that affects Mrs Boardman's 
 safety." 
 
 "Safety! She's not ill ?" 
 
 " Thank God, no ! " 
 
 " Then what danger can come to her? " 
 
 " This ! " The tone of the Japanese is very solemn. 
 " Her father thinks of taking her to Peking." 
 
 " That city is healthy enough, isn't it ? " 
 
 " It is now. But it will soon be more unsafe than 
 if Eastern cholera or the plague was ravaging it," an- 
 swers the Japanese solemnly. With this he hurriedly 
 explains the dangers which he fears may come to all 
 Europeans in the Chinese capital, ending his explana- 
 tion by these curious words : " You are the only man, 
 I think, can prevent your betrothed going there." 
 
 " I ? Pish ! I'd be the very last person on the whole 
 earth whose advice her father would take. In fact, 
 on our final meeting the cantankerous old brute rather 
 hinted he hoped it was the last he'd see of me," mut- 
 tered the young man, ruefully. " You see, he's so 
 very rich ; while I'm as infamously poor as any officer 
 in the service."
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 113 
 
 " Still, you're the only man who can prevent Eira 
 Boardman going to Peking." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " By by marrying her." The words seem to choke 
 the Japanese. 
 
 " Great Scott ! " mutters Ingraham, his eyes begin- 
 ning to blaze; then the red "flush of unexpected happi- 
 ness coming over his face, he gasps : " By Heaven, 
 do you think Eira '11 do it without her father's 
 consent? " 
 
 " That I will not counsel. The obedience of a child 
 to a father is too sacred a thing to be broken for any 
 lover," says the Shintoist, reverently. 
 
 " Still it is very frequently done in Yankeeland," 
 suggests the American, excitedly. 
 
 " Yes, you're an impious race," answers Katsuma. 
 " Sometimes I wonder the gods do not punish the ha- 
 bitual disobedience of children to their parents. But 
 perhaps under certain circumstances the consent of 
 Mr. Boardman might be obtained." 
 
 " God bless you for saying so. You're a greater 
 tactician than I am, if you can produce it." 
 
 " I'll try," answers the Japanese, shortly. " Some 
 words that Miss Boardman spoke to me yesterday 
 hinted that this was in her mind as the only thing that 
 might prevent her from going to Peking. I wouldn't 
 have her take the chances of a fate that would be too 
 horrible to think of," shudders the young man. 
 
 Something in his tone makes Ingraham look at him 
 sharply ; he says, tenderly : " Boom-de-rah, I fear my 
 darling has wounded a very noble heart. Trust me, 
 she didn't do it knowingly. She's not that kind of a 
 girl." 
 
 " No, Miss Boardman has been to me all considera- 
 tion, all kindness," answers Osuri, slowly. " You must 
 not blame the sun for shining, Jim." Looking out of 
 the window, he remarks : " The Philippine transport
 
 114 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 is now under way. You couldn't catch the Meade if 
 you tried." 
 
 " My orders are not imperative. I wouldn't try to 
 catch her now," answers the lieutenant, his eyes flam- 
 ing with lover's expectancy. Running up the com- 
 panion way to the deck, he cries : " Come on ! " and 
 gazes at a brilliant sight, the deck of a great liner put- 
 ting off its passengers in Hong Kong Roads. The 
 ladies dressed in light, tropical, going-ashore toilettes, 
 the gentlemen in white flannels, ducks, nanquins, pith- 
 helmets, havelocks and other tropical devices give a 
 light vivacity and delicate color to the scene. From 
 the crowds of shore boats, sampans and steam-launches 
 gathered about the big side ladder, soliciting " make- 
 a-suitie-sixey-dollar" tailors, the advance agents of 
 ambitious shirt makers and beseeching three tael por- 
 trait painters furnish the noise. 
 
 In this conglomerate, as Osuri and his friend are 
 approaching the ship's side, a petitely dainty young 
 lady lays detaining hand upon the lieutenant, and in a 
 helpless voice, bell-like yet pleading, murmurs : 
 " Jim I mean Mr. Ingraham, don't forget your 
 promise to look after my baggage !" ? 
 
 " Oh, ah, yes ; of course, Miss Imogene ! " and 
 seeming slightly embarrassed, the handsome American 
 officer is compelled to stay his steps. 
 
 This will delay Ingraham's meeting with Miss 
 Boardman. For a moment the swaying crowd about 
 the gangway separates them from the lady. Taking 
 advantage of this, the Japanese promptly whispers in 
 the American's ear : " Introduce me ; I'll take care 
 of her. Jump down into a shore boat. You'll find Eira 
 in one of the rikshas on the Praya, to the left. Take 
 her up to the Botanical Gardens. I'll join you there 
 afterwards." 
 
 " Yes, but don't follow me too soon," laughs the 
 lieutenant, putting an arrow into his comrade's heart. 
 
 "A moment later, elbowing his way through the
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 3 
 
 throng, Ingraham says: " Miss Passmere, let me pre- 
 sent my old West Point chum, Captain Katsuma, of 
 the Japanese Army. He understands Hong Kong, 
 and will look after your luggage much better than I 
 can. By the bye, Osuri, Miss Imogene is called on 
 board our little missionary girl." 
 
 Katsuma doesn't quite catch the name, but finds 
 himself gazing at a petite face of at times a weirdly 
 pathetic beauty, which is, perhaps, increased by the 
 fragile figure that supports it. For the lady, who is 
 somewhat under the medium height, seems very daint- 
 ily developed; though every line in her figure is a 
 beauty curve. 
 
 A young Chinese amah, or maid, dressed after the 
 European style in a light blue calico, and whom she 
 addresses as Lie-lie holds a big white parasol over her 
 mistress's head and watches eagerly for any command 
 from Miss Imogene, who is now seated languidly on a 
 campstool, yet using her fan vivaciously. 
 
 Judging from the lady's manner that she is not going 
 to allow Ingraham to escape very easily, the Japanese 
 suddenly suggests : " But you'd better hurry on shore, 
 Pills, and answer that important business cable at 
 once." 
 
 At this hint, before he can be stayed, Jim disappears 
 like a flash down the side ladder. 
 
 " Oh, mercy, what a fib, Captain Katsuma," pouts 
 the missionary maiden, giving him an elfin glance. 
 Pleased at her own shrewdness, she giggles : " An 
 ' important business cable and Jim?" Into her bluish 
 gray eyes fly two sparks of subtle passion; her thin 
 lips tremble, then angrily compressed together, be- 
 come two red, threatening lines. She asks, almost 
 pathetically : " Does an important business cable mean 
 a lady?" 
 
 As he looks on her, Katsuma knows his handsome 
 chum is the favorite with at least two ladies in Hong 
 Kong, and that this one brought by the Rio Janeiro
 
 Il6 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 considers she has a very pertinent claim upon the dash- 
 ing lieutenant, probably born of moonlight walks upon 
 the promenade deck, tete-a-tetes in retired nooks, be- 
 hind wind sails, ventilating funnels or deck houses, in- 
 creased, perhaps, by a Yokohama excursion along the 
 Tokiado and a riksha ride in Nagasaki. 
 
 Therefore the captain judges it wise to parry the 
 query by jeering: " For a missionary girl, you seem 
 
 to know too much of mundane affairs, Miss " He 
 
 has not caught the name, though something in the 
 lady's appearance seems familiar to him. So much so 
 that he is trying to recollect where he met her. 
 
 " Oh, you must not pay any attention to Jim's non- 
 sense," she half laughs. " I'm no more a missionary 
 girl than he is. I only think I may like to be a mis- 
 sionary maid under certain circumstances. I have 
 tried so many walks in life, painting, sculpture, music, 
 etc. Once I nearly put my little foot upon the stage." 
 She exhibits the tip of a minute bottine and rolls a pair 
 of large, pathetic, languishing yet searching eyes upon 
 the Japanese. 
 
 Glancing at her, the Japanese knows she is arrayed 
 as no missionary girl was ever robed before. The 
 affair which drapes her figure is simple, light, fluffy, 
 and white as snow, with just two patches of color in 
 it at neck and waist and is a marvel from Felix. 
 Osuri does not appreciate this in its entirety, but he has 
 had enough experience to be aware that the young 
 lady's decking would make too big a hole in pious con- 
 tribution boxes for a missionary maiden to sport such 
 a frock. 
 
 Having become tired of this world, I even tried the 
 excitement of being a recluse in Europe," she sighs. 
 " But fasting fatiguing me, I thought I might test 
 whether mission life had in it the balm of forgetful- 
 ness." Though her speech is vivacious and her ges- 
 tures sprightly and agile, most of the time her gaze
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 117 
 
 seems to be followig the steam launch that is taking 
 Ingraham to the shore. 
 
 " I suppose there are no heathens to convert in your 
 own country ? " sneers Katsuma, attempting to divert 
 her thoughts from the lieutenant. 
 
 " Yes, but not interesting ones like you, for in- 
 stance. " I'm an American ; there's no romance in an 
 East-side New York rough or a Salvation Army hobo. 
 But in the storied Orient, among pagodas and incense, 
 and, perhaps" her eyes enlarge with emotional ex- 
 citement, her hands wave dramatically " perhaps hu- 
 man sacrifice, I might probably find a nepenthe, a 
 vocation. Who knows but that I might perhaps convert 
 even YOU, she laughs. " You're a Shintoist, Buddhist 
 or some other kind of heathen, ain't you, Captain Kat- 
 suma? Jim said you were. He told me all about you 
 when he tried to look you up at Yokohama." 
 
 This is interpersed at various times by pleasant 
 adieux to departing passengers, the little lady seeming 
 to be very popular on board the Rio de Janeiro; and 
 varied by pert, parenthetic cries to the ship-boys, who 
 seem to adore her : " Yes Khy, that's my trunk ! " 
 " And Sam, those two large boxes and that umbrella ! " 
 ' Thank you, Lee, that's my valise and bonnet boxes." 
 " Here, you stupid Yeck, leave my Bible case open ; I 
 might like to give one to Captain Katsuma." This 
 last is uttered with a roguish laugh. 
 
 Placing a dainty hand upon the Japanese officer's 
 arm, she suggests : " You're not going to tell me why 
 Jim has left me in the lurch? I see military faith, I 
 presume so I shall find that out myself." Then, dis- 
 appointment rippling her fayish features, she mur- 
 murs to the skipper of the boat, who is offering her 
 some sea-dog attention : " It's strange my brother 
 isn't here to meet me ! " 
 
 As she speaks, the Japanese who has missed her 
 name in hurried introduction, and has been trying to 
 remember where he has seen her, now suddenly wakes
 
 Il8 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 up, and inquires : " You're Mr. Passmere's sister, are 
 you not ? " 
 
 " Why, yes ; that lazy Arthur should be down to 
 meet me. I cabled him from Nagasaki." 
 | " Then I have some startling news for you." 
 I " Not bad news ? " she gasps. Imogene's eyes have 
 terror in them. Though her sins are many, she loves 
 this scoundrel brother as only two scalawags, with the 
 world against them ; can love each other. 
 
 " No ! Judging by his radiant happiness but half an 
 hour ago, your brother thinks it's the best news in the 
 world. This morning, quite suddenly, he married a 
 Mrs. Elton." 
 
 " O o o h ! " This is a little purr, perhaps of 
 astonishment, perhaps of delight. " Married Flora ! " 
 
 " You seem to know her ? " 
 
 " Yes, I I met her in Europe. I understood from 
 her she was coming to the East with her uncle, the 
 great arms manufacturer and his daughter. No won- 
 der Arthur isn't here to meet me. I suppose he has 
 taken his bride over to his villa, at Kau-lung. I I 
 shall have to hunt him up there.'* 
 
 " Very well, I'll put you on board a steam-launch and 
 make all the arrangements for you," says the Japanese. 
 
 " Do that for me, and I'm perfectly able to take 
 care of myself. I I know China very well." The 
 lady pauses and bites her lip. 
 
 " Yes, I've noticed that you spoke to two or three of 
 the ship's boys a few words of Mandarin. Besides, your 
 amah." 
 
 " Yes, I visited my brother in Central China for sev- 
 eral years. That's where I picked up Lie-lie. You 
 know Arthur is a a diplomat," replies Miss Pass- 
 mere. That's one thing that made me think of becom- 
 ing a Chinese missionary. 
 
 " Now, Lie-lie, look out sharp for my hand-bag- 
 gage ! " Her tone is harsh ; and her maid answers
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 119 
 
 abjectly and nervously: "Yes, missie, me belly care- 
 ful ! " 
 
 Then the young lady's voice becomes soft, suave and 
 affable. " Thank you, that's very nice," she remarks, 
 as Captain Katsuma assists 'her down the side ladder 
 and puts her into a boat. 
 
 Sitting in its stern-sheets, she looks at Osuri quiz- 
 zically, and again asks : " You you won't tell me the 
 lady's name ? " 
 
 "What lady?" 
 
 " The one that Jim left my side so hurriedly to see, 
 the one that in your cipher code is designated as a busi- 
 ness cable ! Trust the little missionary girl for know- 
 ing something." This is said half laughingly, though 
 her bright eyes are troubled as she waves a piquant 
 parasol towards Katsuma as the boat darts towards 
 Kan-lung. 
 
 Gazing after her, the Japanese officer has a per- 
 plexed look upon his face. He does not like her severe 
 tone as she addressed her Chinese girl, or the abject 
 attitude of her maid. Incidentally he thinks it curious 
 that this young lady who calls herself an American is 
 the sister of a man who purports to be a British diplo- 
 mat. But this is dwarfed by the consideration that 
 Eira Boardman's affianced has another young lady 
 string to his bow. " By Heaven, if he has been un-' 
 true if Eira should have ground to discard him? " A 
 mighty hope flies up in him ! Then he throws it away 
 with : " Jim is not that kind." 
 
 Suddenly the soft Nihonese voice of Saraki whispers 
 in his ear : " Have a care, I pray you daimio of my 
 heart that woman ! " . 
 
 " What woman ? " mutters Osuri, turning sharply on 
 his faithful attendant, who has just come down the 
 side ladder, laden with Ingraham's hand baggage. 
 
 " The lady in white, who is in the steam-launch and 
 seems being blown away by the soft breezes. She 
 looks like the lovesick, despairing girls who sneak out
 
 120 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 when darkness comes upon the earth and by the ushi 
 toki mairi, done unto the sacred rice-wreathed trees 
 bring the kami to destroy their recreant lovers." 
 
 " Pish, her recreant lover is neither you nor I, Sar- 
 aki ! " jeers his master, savagely. 
 
 " Isn't it? As I thought the thought, she waved her 
 fan towards us both." 
 
 " Djodann bakari! You are as full of the supersti- 
 tions of old Japan as a bombshell is of powder," sneers 
 Osuri. " Look out and get the valises into the boat ! " 
 
 " All the same, dear master, this is one of my 
 yaku-doshi or evil years, and a ghost whispered to 
 me, as I gazed upon the white-robed woman, that she 
 would do my life from me, or I hers from her or 
 she yours from you or you ' 
 
 " Gods and devils, Saraki ! " snarls his master, " get 
 into that boat or I'll throw you and your superstitions 
 into the sea ! " 
 
 " To hear is to obey." And the faithful Nihonese 
 boy is in the boat, his body prostrate, his head pressed 
 down upon the thwart. 
 
 Landing at Kau-lung, Miss Passmere apparently 
 thinking her visit to her brother will be a short one, 
 holds the steam-launch, leaving her maid in charge of 
 her impedimenta. Once on her way towards Arthur's 
 hill-side villa, Miss Imogene utters a fairy laugh, and 
 twice gazing across the blue water towards Victoria, 
 her lips quiver, her big gray eyes grow agonized and 
 teary. 
 
 The day though hot is balmy in this suburb of Vic- 
 toria. The soft southwest monsoon plays with acacias, 
 palms, fig trees, and bastard banyans in the garden of 
 Mr. Passmere's white-walled villa. After dangling 
 with the awnings over its wide verandas, the breeze 
 floats in through the open windows, delicious with the 
 smell of myriad flowers. 
 
 Upon this veranda Arthur quite shortly meets and
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 121 
 
 welcomes his sister, who gives him, a pretty kiss and 
 whispers : " Delighted to hear you've caught her." 
 
 The bridegroom knows what she means, and grins 
 triumphantly as he returns, sotto voce : " Yes, Flora's 
 upstairs. I married her five hours ago and with- 
 out settlements!" 
 
 " Oh, you astute darling," purrs the young lady. 
 " So you've captured her to the last penny." 
 
 " Absolutely ! I've her purse in my pocket now," 
 laughs Arthur. " She surrendered it in a fit of peni- 
 tence." And the two hold cautious converse together. 
 
 " You were perfectly right in your suggestion as to 
 the proper means of governing her," remarks the bride- 
 groom, and amuses his sister by a quick and racy 
 account of Flora's flirtations, lie and penitent 
 atonement. 
 
 " Ah, glad to see you're beginning so well with 
 her," giggles his sister. Then her tone becomes se- 
 rious, she adds : "A word to you Arthur, the sharper 
 you are with Flora the more pliable you'll find her. 
 She should be permitted no pocket money whatever, 
 and be compelled to come to you for every little want. 
 Any indulgence should be granted to her not as a 
 right but as a favor. With funds in her possession, 
 should she ever doubt your love, you might find her 
 decidedly too independent." 
 
 " You don't seem to like her," remarks the bride- 
 groom. 
 
 " Oh, I have no like nor dislike now with regard to 
 Flora. Yesterday I perhaps envied Mrs. Elton as a 
 magnificently handsome, and very rich woman. 
 Now I simply regard Flora as your personal property, 
 my brother, and as such to be used for your benefit 
 and incidentally for mine. The reason of my advice 
 is simply that Flora may be so governed that she will 
 be of the least trouble and the greatest value to you." 
 
 " But still," smiles Arthur, sarcastically, " I think
 
 122 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 by some means, in Europe, Mrs. Elton must have of- 
 fended my little sister." 
 
 Then a slight suggestion of the character of Miss 
 Imogene Tracey Passmere comes into view. Two lit- 
 tle red flames flicker over the lilies of her elfin cheeks ; 
 she whispers : " Since you are so astute, Arthur, I'll 
 own that Mrs. Elton once did me an injury, perhaps 
 unwittingly. But you know I never forgive." 
 
 " By Heavens, were you rivals for the affections 
 of the Reverend Vestry Stole?" frowns Arthur. 
 
 " Never you mind what it was," replies the fairy 
 airily, " but I can tell you this much : Flora can no 
 more help flirting than she can breathing. She'd had 
 a great affair with Baron somebody or other, and that 
 was the reason for her penitential retreat." Imogene 
 smiles as she notes her brother's eyes flame savagely, 
 and knows she has thrown a few brambles into the 
 very narrow penitential path the unfortunate bride will 
 have to tread. " I only hint this to you so that you 
 will know how to deal with her," she remarks, quietly. 
 " After a little I'll come back and help you take care of 
 her. I don't suppose you'll want me here for a few 
 days. Besides, I have an errand in Victoria, so I'll run 
 over to the Peak Hotel and take charge of Harold. 
 Flora will consider it a favor. Mercy, how secretive 
 the minx was. As a widow she never hinted to me 
 once she had a child. If you don't mind bringing your 
 prize down, I'll give her a sister's kiss and go my 
 way. By-the-bye, can't you have tea served out on the 
 veranda here. You know Young Hyson is my favorite 
 afternoon tipple," she laughs. 
 
 " Certainly, my dear," replies her brother. " You'll 
 want some money ? " 
 
 " Well, yes, a little on account. You say you've no- 
 tified Flora's Hong Kong bankers. You can draw a 
 check. 
 
 " Yes, but I've enough here," and Arthur, produc- 
 ing the purse of the former Mrs. Elton, passes over to
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 123 
 
 his sister, who had aided him in her capture, a goodly 
 portion of Flora's surrendered bank notes. For these 
 two are altogether too far-sighted to squabble over 
 their plunder a thing that brings more villains to 
 grief than almost any other defect in villains' char- 
 acters. 
 
 So Passmere leaves the young lady counting her 
 money and meditating upon some problem. Finally 
 she murmurs to her crafty self: "Lieutenant Fast- 
 and-loose, except when he fought in Cuba, has never 
 bee,n out of the United States. My rival, most prob- 
 ably, is an American girl. These should be few in 
 Hong Kong. Flora, through Miss Boardman, should 
 know them all. I'll question her." 
 
 A few minutes afterwards Miss Passmere is sip- 
 ping, lazily, a cup of Young Hyson, which is served 
 her by an attentive Chinese boy, when her brother 
 brings his bride to her, and the radiant gratitude of 
 her victim would shock Imogene's conscience if she 
 had any. For Flora, throwing her arms around her, 
 kisses her and says : " I thank you, dear sister, for 
 your letter that brought to my side the husband of 
 my heart." 
 
 " Yes, your love for Arthur seems to have improved 
 you, dear," whispers Imogene, returning the buss. 
 Then she laughs : " Though you look as demure as a 
 novice after fasting and prayer." 
 
 " Well, I'm a very happy novice, anyway," mur- 
 murs Flora, turning trusting eyes upon her husband, 
 though she blushes slightly and droops a little under 
 his suave yet admiring and possessive glance. 
 
 After a few minutes' conversation and another cup 
 of tea, Imogene takes up her parasol preparatory to 
 rising while Flora breaks out : " Oh, thank you for 
 sacrificing yourself to take care of Harold. Arthur has 
 been goodness to my boy, and now you seem to be 
 equally benign." 
 
 "Oh, yes, the husband's old maid sister," laughs
 
 124 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 the wicked little fairy. Then an idea seeming to flit 
 through her brain, she says, lightly : " But as I am to 
 stop at Hong Kong, supposing you tell me something 
 about the people I am likely to meet over there. Sev- 
 eral American girls at the Peak Hotel, of course ? " 
 
 " No, there's only one in Hong Kong whom I know," 
 replies the bride. " Two or three young army officers' 
 wives went to the Philippines a week ago, but I think 
 Eira Boardman is the only unmarried American lady 
 just at present in Victoria society." 
 
 " Oh ah ! As I am going over to take charge of 
 Harold, and shall doubtless meet them, supposing you 
 tell me something about your relatives." 
 
 " Why, certainly ! " And Flora, proud of her con- 
 nections, chats to Imogene about her uncle and his 
 daughter, remarking upon the enormous wealth of the 
 great arms manufacturer, adding, lightly : " Eira has 
 quite an admirer in that Japanese, Captain Katsuma." 
 
 " And no others ? " The fairy opens her gray eyes. 
 " You say Miss Boardman is as beautiful as a spirit- 
 ual Venus. She's an American she's twenty she 
 must have had flirtations ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, I forgot one big one," babbles Mrs. 
 Passmere. "Eira's father practically brought her to 
 China with him to take her away from a poor young 
 lieutenant, who was making very desperate love to her. 
 Even after my cousin arrived in Europe young In- 
 graham's letters used to pursue her. Heavens, how 
 her father used to curse him." 
 
 " Oh, thank you. I was sure she'd had one! " laughs 
 Miss Imogene, triumphantly, but miserably. Then, 
 perhaps, thinking of some moonlight nights upon the 
 decks of the Rio Janeiro, her eyes grow pathetic, 
 though her thin lips are now very straight, very cruel 
 lines. " You had better give me a letter of introduc- 
 tion to Miss Boardman or her father," she says, in a 
 choked voice. Her hand trembles so the tea spills 
 from her cup.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 125 
 
 ' Why, certainly, dear one ! " cries Flora, and eager 
 to please her new sister, trips to the door. Here she 
 suddenly pauses, and asks, timidly : " You have no 
 objection to my writing to to Mr. Boardman, 
 Arthur?" 
 
 " Not a bit, if you give me a kiss," chuckles the 
 bridegroom, and, seeming quite proud of his magnifi- 
 cent captive, he beckons her to him caresses her 
 and tells her to run along and do as she is bid. 
 
 As his bride flits like a white-robed novice from the 
 room the dictator strolls over to his sister, and between 
 puffs of his cheroot, whispers : " How's that for Mad- 
 ame Meekness, after five-hours' training?" Then he 
 suddenly starts and mutters : "'My God, Genie, your 
 face is like that awful night up the country, at Twuy- 
 Chow, when, far away from foreign aid and consuls, 
 you told me the old compradore was betraying us to 
 Li Wong Chieun ! " 
 
 Then he is even more astounded. 
 
 For at the mention of the mandarin's name Imo- 
 gene's countenance, which had been as palely vengeful 
 as a Medusa's, flushes red as that of a nymph stolen by 
 a satyr. She utters a sobbing sigh, shudders from head 
 to foot, sinks into a chair, and falters with trem- 
 bling lips : " For God's sake in mercy, don't speak 
 of him don't speak of him!" 
 
 " What the deuce is the matter with you, Genie," 
 says her brother, soothingly. " It's years ago. I was 
 only in Li's mud yamen two days and got off quite 
 lightly, with a fine, and you were only in his custody as 
 witness for a few hours. We escaped from Chinese 
 justice easily enough. 
 
 " Yes, easily enough," sighs the woman. Then, after 
 a little, apparently recovering herself by an awful 
 effort, she sneers : " Pish, don't think of old times ; 
 we're honest people now. My face only means that 
 I'll teach young Lieutenant Fast-and-loose not to for- 
 get his little missionary girl," and the fairy trying to
 
 126 t ANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 iaugh, wipes from her big pathetic eyes a couple of 
 very bitter tears. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 "l HAVE MET HIS EXCELLENCY BEFORE." 
 
 Miss Imogene Tracey Passmere makes her journey 
 to Hong Kong in a very unpleasant mood. Getting 
 up to the Peak Hotel, she presents a note from her 
 brother to its boniface, and under his auspices takes up 
 her quarters in the apartments that this morning had 
 been occupied by Mrs. Elton. Here she deftly assumes 
 authority over Flora's nurse and ayah, incidentally 
 making the acquaintance, and in her pleasant way, be- 
 coming the friend of Master Harold. 
 
 But after laughing at and tiring of the urchin's 
 polyglot in half an hour, his new governante sends him 
 off for a walk with his attendants, as it is now quite 
 late in the afternoon and children's playtime in the 
 Botanical Gardens. 
 
 Sitting in the beautiful parlor which, during the 
 morning had been the scene of Flora's embarrassment, 
 atonement and conquest by her brother, the little fairy 
 complacently gazes at her plump pocketbook, filled with 
 the money transfered from the plundered bride's 
 purse, and this reminding her of the revelation that 
 had come to her from that lady, brings first tears into 
 her elfin eyes, and then the Medusa look that had 
 shocked even her brother. She murmurs hoarsely to 
 herself: "Now for the woman!" 
 
 She claps her hands for her maid, and under Lie- 
 lie's attentions makes a careful toilette. Then sum- 
 moning a hotel boy, she sends her card and Flora's let- 
 ter of introduction in to Mr. Boardman. 
 
 A few minutes after Miss Passmere is ushered into
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 12? 
 
 the American's parlor by die chin-chinning Lum Kee, 
 receiving even as she enters a shock. 
 
 Fortunately, she is slightly prepared for it. The 
 Chinese servant's face has a peculiar grin on it that 
 seems unpleasantly familiar to her, for Imogene is 
 sufficiently accustomed to Celestial countenances to in- 
 dividualize them; almond eyes and Mongolian 
 features not having to her sharp glance the general 
 monotony with which casual sojourners in the East 
 credit them. 
 
 But notwithstanding this, Imogene practically un- 
 warned, drapes her skirts gracefully about her figure 
 that, in its perfect proportions seems slight, sweeps into 
 Mr. Boardman's drawing-room and greets its proprie- 
 tor with a dainty bow. , 
 
 Here she is pleasantly received by Joel, who holds 
 Flora's letter of introduction in his hand. To her the 
 great American manufacturer says: " I am delighted 
 to meet you, Miss Passmere. I see by my niece's note 
 that you have been in China before." 
 
 " Yes. I've returned full of my project. You know 
 I've half an idea of entering the missionary ranks," re- 
 plies the girl, giving her eyes a devotional twinge. 
 
 As she speaks her host moves a step aside. " Mis- 
 sionary " dies on Imogene's gasping lips. Li Wong 
 Chieun, in his official robes, attended by his interpreter, 
 is rising from a nearby table, where, apparently, he had 
 been holding some business conference with the arms' 
 manufacturer. 
 
 The American says, politely : " Then here's a Celes- 
 tial potentate who can, perhaps, aid your endeavor. I 
 take pleasure in presenting to you Miss Passmere, his 
 Excellency, Li Wong Chieun, one of the great Chinese 
 authorities." 
 
 As the Mongolian steps forward their eyes meet. 
 The Chinese-commissioner-high gazes at the young 
 lady, at first with the same blinking glance with which 
 he had greeted her brother. Then some pleasant mem-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 ory coming to him, his look grows reflective ; his face 
 flushes; his thick lips compress themselves. With a 
 sleepy, yet sensuous smile, he says, in pidgin English : 
 " All light ! Me knowee Missee Passmere up Twuy- 
 Chow side." 
 
 To this Imogene, with that marvelous command of 
 nerves given to some women, replies : " Yes, I have 
 met his excellency before." The words drop like 
 icicles from her trembling lips. Her face is ash colored, 
 save two flickering hectic spots on either cheek, but the 
 eyes sparkle in an agony of shame. 
 
 " So good lucky ! Me sabe bellie well, Missee Pass- 
 mere ! " chuckles the Chinese-commissioner-high, 
 affably. 
 
 In the subdued light of the room, for it is growing 
 towards the evening, the American, fortunately, does 
 not catch the girl's face, which is deadly as a Thug's. 
 He says, politely : " If you will excuse a very few 
 words with Li Wong Chieun, Miss Passmere, I will 
 give you my entire attention," and escorts the official 
 to the door. 
 
 " Certainly," whispers the young lady, whose face 
 has now become red as the fire of Hades. Turning to- 
 wards a window, she sinks into a chair and gazes out, 
 but sees naught of Hong Kong though it lies before 
 her. 
 
 Into her memory has flown a scene of horror un- 
 utterable, vivid, distinct, crushing. The bright sunset 
 of a summer day is gilding theTwuy-Chow hills. Im- 
 prisoning her are the plain mud walls of the judgment 
 hall of a Chinese satrap. In the adjoining question 
 chamber the yamen executioners are taking down the 
 lithe rattans of justice. Before them a girl is standing 
 helpless, with aid afar, facing a dread despair. The 
 grinning mandarin is saying, in suave deliberation: 
 " To gain my clemency, there is but one bribe from 
 you!" She is screaming as the torturers bare her 
 cringing body for the rods. She is breaking from
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 129 
 
 them and throwing herself at her judge's feet and 
 crying: "Spare me at thy own infamous price!" 
 Then the sun goes down behind the Twuy-Chow hills, 
 leaving behind only a weird horror and a woman'? 
 sickening shame. 
 
 For a few faltering moments Imogene places a trem- 
 bling hand upon the arm of a chair to steady her 
 quivering limbs, as the Chinese-commissioner after 
 some high-flown sentences of farewell,' translated by 
 his secretary into flowery English, is bowed out by the 
 American and passes to his sedan chair. 
 
 She is perfectly aware Chieun recognized her, but 
 full of a strange self-command, now puts her ey*s 
 straight before her and replies, tremulously yet intel- 
 ligibly, to Mr. Boardman, who, coming to her, thinks 
 it is maiden bashfulness which overcomes the young 
 lady and again remarks, reassuringly, that he is de- 
 lighted to meet Miss Passmere. 
 
 This is quite true. In the first place, Joel is glad to 
 know his niece's husband has a sister, a man with lady 
 relatives always seeming more settled in a social way 
 in the far East than an unattached bachelor. Besides, 
 the wily arms' manufacturer thinks he can discover 
 from his sister more of Mr. Passmere's antecedents 
 than he had ever learned from that gentleman himself. 
 In addition the young lady, who, having steadied her- 
 self and is now bowing so prettily to him and holding 
 out a delicate hand in seeming diffidence, appears to 
 his old senses an exceedingly attractive girl. " It is 
 very nice of you," he says, " to come over here and 
 take charge of little Harold. I was afraid he would be 
 lonely during his mother's temporary absence. Flora's 
 note says you have just arrived by the Rio Janeiro, 
 Miss Passmere?" 
 
 " Yes, I thought I would make my bachelor brother 
 a visit," she laughs, as she accepts the easy chair 
 offered by her host. " I had spent two years with 
 Arthur when he was on diplomatic business in North-
 
 I3<> TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 ern China. On my arrival here, however, I found him 
 a bachelor no longer. He didn't need a sister to 
 take care of his establishment; so I thought I'd do 
 both him and the bride a good turn by keeping an eye 
 upon little Harold. In a few days, after the first 
 honeymoon, I am to visit my brother and sister, over 
 in Kau-lung." 
 
 " Why, I thought Arthur," observes Joel, who thinks 
 he might as well give the gentleman who has called 
 him " Uncle Boardman " a more familiar title, " was 
 going to Peking almost immediately ? " 
 
 " To Peking ? " says the young lady, opening her 
 eyes; then, perhaps, some thought of the Chinese offi- 
 cial who had just left, flying through her alert mind, 
 for a moment her face grows anxious, perhaps even 
 troubled. 
 
 " Yes, I believe that is his intention. Mr. Passmere 
 spoke of visiting Peking. I understand he has been 
 summoned there by Sir Claude .vlacdonald," remarks 
 Boardman. 
 
 At this, guessing that Peking is merely a ruse of her 
 brother to give, himself diplomatic and social impor- 
 tance in the eyes of his bride's uncle, Imogene appears 
 relieved, and murmurs : " Well, diplomats are not 
 their own masters, you know, any more than soldiers 
 or sailors." 
 
 " Quite so," replies the American. " Perhaps Eira 
 and I will go to Peking about the same time. I am 
 sorry my daughter is not here for me to present her to 
 you at once. I don't know what detains her. She 
 went down the hill quite early in the day. Then he 
 suddenly ejaculates : " Great Scott ! I wonder if she's 
 changed her mind and gone to Major Tilford's Saiwan 
 picnic? " 
 
 " Perhaps she did. I heard quite a number of ladies 
 were going. Flora, I believe, had accepted, but pre- 
 ferred matrimony to a champagne lunch," smiles Miss 
 Passmere. Though her voice is insouciant, almost
 
 laughing, her thin lips drawn for a moment into their 
 cruel lines indicate the fairy has another guess in re- 
 gard to Eira Boardman's absence from the Peak Hotel. 
 
 " Yes, my niece did make a hurried match of it," re- 
 plies Mr. Boardrnan, sharply. " Though you are her 
 husband's sister, I do not hesitate to say that Flora was 
 so secretive about her love affair that it annoyed me 
 greatly." 
 
 " Though I am Arthur's sister," returns Imogene, in 
 high-minded frankness, " I think you were perfectly 
 right in being angered. I told Arthur myself that even 
 his jealous love for his bride did not warrant him hur- 
 rying her into matrimony without notifying you. 
 But you see Flora had I say this because I presume 
 you must have noticed it 'been flirting with several of 
 the garrison officers and had driven Arthur nearly 
 wild with jealousy." 
 
 " Flirting ! Great Gehosh, I should think so ! " 
 ejaculates Boardman, then goes on, doggedly: "I 
 told Flora that I washed my hands of the affair after 
 that. You see I am not accustomed to these clandestine 
 loves. My daughter has never had in her whole ex- 
 istence a secret from me, so I don't understand a 
 woman's permitting a suitor without consulting her 
 relatives. 
 
 To this Miss Passmere listens very pleasantly. She 
 sees that Flora, as far as her uncle is concerned, will be 
 now left entirely in Mr. Passmere's hands which also 
 means her's. Then Joel's words suggesting how effec- 
 tive it will be, she is desperately anxious to plant her 
 arrow in Eira Boardman's love affair with the military 
 suitor, whose handsome person and pleasant gallantry 
 have been too potent on moonlit steamer decks to Im- 
 ogene's passionate heart. Thinking of the dashing 
 lieutenant, Miss Passmere's face becomes sad, and she 
 turns Madonna-like eyes towards Heaven though not 
 praying to God. 
 
 Catching her glance, Boardman says, in parental
 
 53 2 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 pride : " You're looking at my daughter's picture. It 
 was painted in Paris, and catches the attention of 
 every one. Even Li Wong Chieun, who knows as 
 much about French art as a monkey, I imagine, can't 
 keep his optics away from it." 
 
 Imogene finds that she is facing the portrait of her 
 rival. It is nearly a full-sized presentment of a girl 
 whose beauty makes the inspector gasp and tremble. 
 
 Masterfully tinted by some French artist, it gives 
 but one of the many varying expressions of Eira 
 Boardman's face but that is too lovely. The blue 
 eyes, instinct with life and feeling, have a brunette's 
 vivacity and passion. They are gazing intently, as if 
 Miss Passmere shudders for his coming. The 
 pose of the graceful figure shows the exquisite out- 
 lines of a girl and yet a woman. Soft laces drape 
 arms, shoulders and bosom of ivory, chiseled into the 
 fairest contours of early nubility. An ostrich fan 
 waved by a perfectly proportioned hand adds coquetry 
 to what might be a too austere virginity. 
 
 Taking stock of all this beauty, Miss Passmere re- 
 gretting her graceful yet petite figure, bites her lip till 
 it bleeds and meditates savagely : " What, am I to do 
 battle with you, my ethereal Venus. Jim never told 
 me that he loved me ; but he has surely told you ! That 
 makes me hate you ! " 
 
 " If you will wait, you will very shortly see the orig- 
 inal. Eira must come in soon," suggests Boardman in 
 kindly tone. 
 
 So the two sit down together and have a pleasant 
 little chat, chiefly relating to the young lady's voyage ; 
 twice, however, Joel showing his impatience by ring- 
 ing the bell and telling Lum Kee to find out if his 
 daughter has yet returned and is in her room, and 
 once sending for Miss Boardman's maid, a pleasant- 
 faced French girl, and questioning her as to what she 
 knew about her mistress's intentions for the day. 
 
 Noting this with a grim smile, the fairy thinks^
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 133 
 
 wickedly: " I'll give the trusting old duffer a hint," and 
 rises to go. 
 
 " Better luck next time," remarks Joel. " Run in 
 upon us this evening, then you'll be sure to see my 
 darling." 
 
 " Thank you so much," answers Miss Passmere. 
 
 She is almost at the door when Boardman, who has 
 been bowing her out, as tribute to the fairy-like delicacy 
 of his guests, suggests : " I suppose you had a good 
 many beaux on the City of Rio Janeiro?" 
 
 " That's not so complimentary," pouts Imogene 
 archly, " when the ship's list showed six cavaliers to 
 every lady ; a good many of the gallants, young officers 
 bound for the Philippines." 
 
 " Oh, shoulder straps and brass buttons are gener- 
 ally dashing wooers," grins the capitalist. 
 
 " Yes, there was Captain Robertson, Major Gran- 
 nis, and an awfully handsome lieutenant, James Bur- 
 ton Ingraham." 
 
 " James Burton Damnation, what did you say his 
 
 name was ? " mutters the arms' manufacturer. 
 
 " Lieutenant James Burton Ingraham of the Ninth 
 Infantry." Gazing at the father's face that is con- 
 torted by rage, Imogene knows she has struck the 
 daughter, and goes merrily on : " I don't think I'll 
 ever forgive the wretch. He was to attend to my lug- 
 gage, and immediately the boat arrived got some mes- 
 sage or other, and suddenly disappeared on the plea 
 of a business cable." 
 
 Miss Passmere trips from the room, but as she 
 doses the door listens and inwardly laughs, for she 
 hears a volley of American expletives and imprecations 
 rising to high Heaven, indicative that the old arms' 
 manufacturer has guessed that it is no Saiwan picnic 
 which has kept from his sight his beautiful daughter 
 all this long day. 
 
 " I think I have given Eira a pleasant interview," 
 cogitates Imogene. " Funny I should hate a girl I
 
 134 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 have never seen ; but, oh, how I hate her ! " I'll ac- 
 cept Mr. Boardman's invitation and run in this even- 
 ing to see a happy family. 
 
 ***** 
 
 As for the hated one, far down towards the Lyce- 
 moon Pass, in the cabin of a sampan, shaded by Chi- 
 nese awnings, she is passing the happiest afternoon of 
 her life by the side of the man she loves. 
 
 Perhaps no one has been welcomed more eagerly or 
 more tenderly near Pedder's Wharf than Lieutenant 
 Ingraham, and there have been many strange meetings, 
 many rapturous embraces upon that landing place 
 of Hong Kong, from which there are steam lines 
 to the four quarters of the Pacific; to the Horn and 
 to the Cape, to Kamchatka and to Alaska, to Califor- 
 nia and Far Cathay, Australia and the Islands of the 
 Inde. , 
 
 Sitting in her riksha, Eira Boardman has searched 
 with straining eyes and illumined face the passing 
 crowd for the man for whom she longs. To her has 
 come the cavalier of her heart and muttered : " Thank 
 God ; at last ! " and forgetful of all else, but that his 
 sweetheart is before him, has bent down to make her 
 sweet lips his own. But she, in the the midst of this 
 hurrying crowd and surging tide of travel, stays him 
 sternly, yet murmurs that great harbinger of hope 
 from woman to man : " Not here Jim, not HERE ! " 
 
 " Hang it, I must get you to some kissing place ! " 
 pleads Mars so ardently that Venus can't help look- 
 ing pleased. Burning with the idea put into his heart 
 by the unsuccessful lover, the successful one queries : 
 " Eira, dear one, were I your husband, would you kiss 
 me openly in the crowd ? " 
 
 " Wouldn't I, Jim ? Before all the world ; before 
 even my father. Try me and see ! " 
 
 " Then I shall fix it so the next time I return to you 
 we kiss in public."
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 135 
 
 This is answered only by drooping yet rapturous 
 eyes, and burning yet happy blushes. 
 
 Then looking about and seeing an almost complete 
 absence of vehicles, Mr. Ingraham mutters : " I 
 thought I could make love in anything on wheels, even 
 a Boston herdic, but hang me if these man-carts for one 
 wouldn't bother old Ovid himself." 
 
 " Oh, Jim, haven't you ever seen a riksha before? " 
 
 At this the lieutenant, remembering Nagasaki and a 
 certain fairy-like little lady, who is still on board the 
 Rio Janeiro, strokes his mustache slowly, and blushing 
 slightly under his tan, remarks : " How about the 
 Botanical Gardens ? " 
 
 " Oh, papa walks there so often in the afternoon." 
 
 "What do you say to a Chinese boat and a 
 cruise down towards Lycemoon Pass," whispers 
 the gentleman. "I'll take a sampan, with big awn- 
 ings and shaded cabin, and the breezes will be very 
 pleasant. Let's have a picnic by ourselves. I'm sure 
 I can pick up lunch somewhere." 
 
 "Yes, Jim, you were always great at lunch, weren't 
 you. Well, as this is my first sight of you for so 
 long, I'll not ask my father's permission," she whis- 
 pers, archly. 
 
 Half an hour afterwards the two, hand in hand, 
 drift away over the sunlit water, into a lover's paradise. 
 
 But the pleasantest things seem the shortest, and 
 Jim Ingraham, knowing the love dream of this after- 
 noon will end all too soon, tries to persuade the flut- 
 tering girl who accepts his caresses so tenderly yet 
 so maidenly to make it lifelong. " Give me the right 
 to call you wife, and who shall stand between us ! " 
 he pleads, with the eloquence of a man fighting for 
 his happiness; and with ardent yet subtle caresses en- 
 forces a suit that is generally a winning one where 
 the lady loves as Eira Boardman does. 
 
 She has so suffered in his absence, she judges her 
 swain must have suffered likewise. She cannot be
 
 136 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 very cruel to the big, whole-souled lover, who, at the 
 best within a few short days, must sail away the 
 question is, shall she sail with him. 
 
 Under his impassioned words, Luzon seems as 
 beautiful to the young lady, floating over the blue 
 waters of Hong Kong strait, as the palace by the 
 Lake of Como appeared to the love-sick Pauline when 
 described by Claude Melnotte's poetic tongue. 
 
 As the helm is put up and they sail towards the big 
 town that runs up the steep hillsides, so earnest and yet 
 so tender has been his suit that, conquered by the 
 thought of parting with him, his inamorata grows 
 more pliant than she had ever been before. Em- 
 boldened by the support of his arm, and made pli- 
 able by his caresses, Eira Boardman thinks she will 
 defy her trusting father, yet weeps at the thought. 
 
 Tears don't please gentlemen. The lieutenant mut- 
 ters : " So you feel sad at thought of marrying me ? " 
 
 " No, but at deceiving my father ! " 
 
 " Hang it, don't reproach me for being eager ! " 
 whispers the gentleman, glumly. " Haven't I had the 
 patience of Job? Haven't I endured your father's 
 cold looks and short sentences for nigh onto a year 
 that has seemed like twenty? When I look upon your 
 beauty, your loveliness, who'd blame a fellow for be- 
 ing impatient?" 
 
 " I don't Jim," sighs the girl, pleased at the com- 
 pliment, for Eira Boardman, though lovely, is mor- 
 tal ; and even angels like a tender word and admiring 
 glance and probably smile when their golden wings 
 are called the prettiest in Heaven. 
 
 " Then let us end it," says the young man, who, 
 like a profound tactician, having weakened the enemy 
 by a flank attack, now charges with all his force. "If 
 you love me as I love you, when the next transport, 
 sails for the Philippines there's a bride on board." 
 
 "Oh, Jim!"
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 137 
 
 " Fancy Manila with you by my side. Afternoon 
 drives on the Luneta, you looking into my eyes." 
 
 " Please please don't tempt me ! " 
 
 " A whole extra honeymoon around the romantic 
 shores of the Laguna de Bayo for just you and me! " 
 
 " In pity your're making me disobedient to my 
 father ! " 
 
 " Oh, the old boy will come around when he finds 
 he can't help himself. He has only one daughter; 
 he's got to love you; just as I've got one sweetheart 
 and I've got to marry you." 
 
 " God forgive me, you're making me a very bad 
 daughter." 
 
 " Yes, but an awful good wife. Now I've called 
 you wife I'll never give you any other title. When 
 shall it be to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Oh, Jim, I I can't look you in the face !" 
 
 Some few minutes after, stepping out together 
 from the sampan at Pedder's Wharf, the two go up 
 the hill to make a last farewell for the afternoon in 
 the Botanical Gardens, taking chances of papa's con- 
 stitutional. 
 
 Near the fountain an unchin, gazed at by a sad-eyed 
 Japanese officer, is babbling to nurse and ayah: 
 " Aujourd' hui, un nouvel papa et eine neue Tante! 
 How is that for high ! " 
 
 This gentleman immediately joins Miss Boardman 
 and her escort. 
 
 Careless in his happiness, after hasty greeting, as 
 soon as they have passed out of the throng into a 
 shaded alley Ingraham whispers, hoarsely, to him: 
 " Make the arrangements, Boom-de-rah, I marry her 
 to-morrow ! " 
 
 At this two slight sounds issue from the lips of In- 
 graham's auditors. One is the ejaculation of a girl 
 frightened at her own happiness ; the other the sigh of 
 a broken yet resolute heart. 
 
 " Very well, since you have told your father, Miss
 
 138 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Boardman," mutters Osuri, forcing himself to a 
 dogged yet noble calmness, "there's naught for me 
 to do but to give you my best offices, Jim." He grips 
 his comrade's hand. 
 
 " Told my father ! " gasps the lady. " Heavens and 
 earth, I dare not ! " 
 
 "Told old Boardman?" ejaculates Jim ruefully. 
 " Of course, not till after the ceremony." 
 
 " Then no blessing will come upon your wedding," 
 shudders the Shintoist, filled with the respect for par- 
 ents implanted not only by the precepts of his religion 
 but by the heredity of ancestors who had never diso- 
 beyed a father during a. hundred generations. " By the 
 gods, think what you are doing," he implores. " No 
 children will come to bless your love. If they do they 
 will break your hearts as you will break the old man's 
 who begat you, Miss Boardman." 
 
 " But you said that this was the only way to prevent 
 her father taking her to Peking," dissents Ingraham, 
 half angrily. 
 
 " That I think is true ; but I also believe for that 
 very reason I can so place the matter before Mr. 
 Boardman that you wed under a father's blessing." 
 Then he asks earnestly : " Pills, does your own father 
 know?" 
 
 " What, the old general ? Oh yes, he told me to hitch 
 on as soon as I found a girl who would have me ; that's 
 his motto." 
 
 " I'm very glad of that," Osuri says solemnly, " for 
 this young lady must not visit Peking. I must go up 
 the hill and see your father and induce him to give 
 his blessing." 
 
 " By the Lord, if you can do it, you're a better tac- 
 tician that I am," mutters Ingraham dissentingly. 
 
 But Eira who has tears in her eyes at the Japanese 
 officer's arraignment of her want of filial affection, 
 whispers : " Yes, dear Captain Katsuma, go up and tell 
 my father. Get his blessing. And then if he refuses
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 139 
 
 you, I'll take Jim into him. If he refuses me it is the 
 first time he has ever been proof against my tears." 
 
 " Then after the manner of Japan I make myself, 
 though not in regular form, your nakoda, man of my 
 heart, and in doing it, I prove my love to you, Jim 
 Ingraham." And the Japanese with one wistful glance 
 at the beautiful being who for one blessed month he had 
 made his guiding star, turns sadly to do the errand that 
 will destroy his fondest hope in life. 
 
 Gazing after Katsuma's retreating form, which 
 seems, now that he is leading a forlorn hope, more 
 erect and military than ever, some divination flies into 
 Jim Ingraham's mind. He looks for a moment quite 
 sternly upon the fluttering Venus who has so devotedly 
 proved her love for him, by tendering him her hand. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 BOOM-DE-RAH'S SHINTO ADVICE. 
 
 With the sweat of agony on his forehead, Osuri at 
 the Peak Hotel sends in his card to the father of the 
 woman he loves, and sadly prepares to do his best to 
 place her in a comrade's arms. He enters Mr. Board- 
 man's parlor to find a father made more than obdurate 
 by the apparently innocent yet extremely crafty rev- 
 elation of a jealous woman. 
 
 For Joel has just despatched Lum Kee down the 
 hill with this 'pidgin' American direction : " Botanical 
 Gardens like hellee ! You telle missee come up topside 
 quickee ! Git ! " 
 
 Even now he is holding in his hand a feminine note 
 which has produced his order. It reads: 
 
 " DEAR MR. BOARDMAN : 
 
 " Knowing your anxiety about your daughter, I 
 take the liberty of writing that my little nephew Har-
 
 140 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 old, who has just been brought up by his ayah from the 
 Botanical Gardens, says that he saw Miss Eira there 
 but a few moments ago. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 IMOGENE T. PASSMERE." 
 
 Thinking of his daughter's reticence, if not deceit, in 
 regard to the coming of a man whose suit he has prac- 
 tically forbidden, the old arms' manufacturer's man- 
 ner is pre-occupied, though after greeting his visitor, 
 forcing himself to business affability, he remarks : " I 
 got the cable off, Captain Katsuma, for those rapid- 
 fires. Your government must be in a rush." 
 
 " I don't hesitate to tell you the Japanese war office 
 is in a great hurry, and the same reason that makes 
 them want speed induces me to again call upon you in 
 regard to your visit to Peking." 
 
 " Ah, you have spoken to Mr. Passmere. What did 
 the bridegroom say when you invaded the sanctity of 
 his honeymoon breakfast? "jeers the Yankee in rather 
 gruff tone. 
 
 " What I feared he would," answers Osuri. "Mr. 
 Passmere, like a brave man, is determined to go to his 
 legation post at Peking.' 
 
 " But his bride ? " asks Joel, a tinge of anxiety in 
 his voice. 
 
 " Catching some hint of danger, Mrs. Passmere flew 
 out to us with agonized face and declared like a true 
 woman the greater her husband's peril, the more she 
 insisted upon being by his side." 
 
 " So, Flora goes to Peking too," mutters Boardman 
 glumly. Though he hasn't much faith in the Japanese's 
 apprehensions, he has deemed it wise if possible to 
 leave his ewe lamb in Hong Kong, or at least in some 
 treaty port within the protection of foreign war ves- 
 sels; as for himself, with American business instinct, 
 he will follow his own dollars into the very jaws of 
 death.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 14? 
 
 " Undoubtedly ! If ever bride spoke love and de' 
 votion, Mrs. Passmere did. She will surely journey 
 with her husband," replies Osuri. 
 
 " By Jehosh, that makes it a little difficult for me to 
 make the proper arrangements about Eira's remain- 
 ing behind me when I leave for Peking. For just you 
 understand me, Katsuma, I've had another interview 
 with Li Wong Chieun. He tells me my money is ready 
 for me in the Chinese capital, and if you soldiers follow 
 bullets, we American business men follow dollars. J 
 am going there ! " 
 
 " It is in that regard I wish to see you. I think the 
 matter of your daughter's remaining here may be very 
 easily and even pleasantly arranged." 
 
 " Oh, you have found some well-known woman oi 
 social position here who is willing to take the respon- 
 sibility of my child during my absence. For between 
 ourselves," the American snaps his jaws together, 
 "something has happened to-day to make me feel that 
 I daren't leave Eira here with anything less formida- 
 ble than an old abbess or a first class principal of a 
 girls' boarding school." 
 
 " I have found some one who is willing to take the 
 responsibility of your daughter, and with whom I 
 think she will be very happy to remain," murmurs the 
 Japanese suavely. 
 
 "The lady's name?" 
 
 " Not a lady ; a gentleman ! "' 
 
 " A man ! Hell and damnation, what do you 
 mean?" 
 
 " I mean a husband." 
 
 " By Heaven ! Well I'm damned ! You're you're 
 speaking for yourself," stammers the American, as- 
 tounded at Japanese coolness. 
 
 " No, for another ; my friend, my comrade in arms, 
 my cadet chum, Lieutenant James Burton Ingraham of 
 the Ninth Infantry, who has just arrived from San 
 Francisco en route for the Philippines ! '* The last of
 
 142 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 this speech is drowned in a torrent of explosive, ejac- 
 ulative profanity from the American father. 
 
 " You you don't seem to like my proposition," 
 murmurs Osuri sadly. 
 
 " Like it ? I hate it ! " cries Joel ; then bursts out 
 savagely : " By the Eternal, why does Eira want to 
 marry him ? Ingraham's poor as government embalmed 
 beef." 
 
 "Yes, but still a very noble fellow; one any man 
 might be proud to call son. As his room-mate for 
 four years at West Point ; permit me to say you are 
 honored in this man's suit." 
 
 " Shucks ! His income wouldn't pay my daughter's 
 millinery bills." 
 
 " No; Jim's father spent his life fighting Indians on 
 the plains, for his country, not a very lucrative occu- 
 pation; the son is going to the Philippines to do the 
 same thing for his country there." ' 
 
 " Hang it ; he's got no social position to speak of." 
 
 " Of course not," remarks the Japanese. " Among 
 your Newport set very few of the navy or the army 
 have social standing. It is gold-buttons not brass-but- 
 tions there. I seldom notice the names of any American 
 officers in your multi-millionaire entertainments. Un- 
 like the higher ranks of every other civilized country, 
 American plutocrats avoid giving social recog- 
 nition to the men who make their millions safe, the 
 men who lay down their lives to protect the govern- 
 ment without which their property would be worthless, 
 against riot and anarchy at home; to defend their 
 homes against foreign invasion ; to uphold its 
 commerce and prestige abroad. Not that the middle 
 classes of your republic do not give all honor to the 
 men who battle for their country ; it is those who are 
 most indebted to the life-blood which is shed to protect 
 their weakh who do not recognize the young officers 
 who wear the uniform of the United States. Besides, 
 you are worth many millions of dollars; you have
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 143 
 
 enough to support half a hundred lieutenants in luxury. 
 Every time one of your automatic rapid-fires explodes 
 is money in your pocket. There have been a good 
 many volleys fired in Cuba, the Philippines and the 
 Transvaal lately, and there's more going to be fired in 
 China. Give your daughter to the man of her heart 
 that he may take her to Manila where she will be safe." 
 
 "Safe? Pish, there's danger in the Philippines!" 
 
 " Chiefly from American politicians at home," sneers 
 the Japanese. " We had a similar rebellion in 
 Formosa, ceded to us after the Chinese war. Do 
 you think any native of Dai Nippon dared say : ' Keep 
 killing my countrymen till I am minister and I will 
 evacuate the island?' Bah! You Yankees permit treason 
 to stalk under the name of politics. But whether Ma- 
 nila is safe or not, I can tell you this your daughter 
 with her whole soul loves the man to whom you refuse 
 her. If it had not been for me holding up the horrors 
 of filial disobedience, Miss Boardman would ere now 
 probably have been the wife of my friend." 
 
 " Then by Heaven, she wouldn't have been my 
 daughter ! " screams the American. And growing 
 petulant he blurts out : " Who are you to come med- 
 dling in my family affairs trying to induce me to give 
 my child to a pauper and bind herself down to a life 
 of beggary ; to stand upon your high Shinto horse and 
 tell my daughter she must obey a father she has loved 
 all her dear life and would still love, did not you shoul- 
 der-strap fellows get about her and turn her childish 
 head with brass buttons and silk sashes and sword 
 knots." 
 
 By this time rage has made him frantic. He 
 moans : " Deceived me to-day for the first time ; my 
 God, my daughter! " and overcome by the thought of 
 the lovely girl he has threatened to disown, Joel Luther 
 Boardman gasps : " Heaven forgive her ! " and sinks 
 overcome with rage and misery into a chair. 
 
 His last gasping cry has caught the ears of a beauti-
 
 144 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 ful girl, who is just entering. She flies in, turns ag- 
 onized eyes upon the Japanese, and with feminine in- 
 justice cries: "You have done this!" then throws 
 herself at her father's feet and contradicts herself by 
 pleading : " Pardon me, father, pardon me ! I will do 
 anything you wish, only don't die ; for my sake, don't 
 die!" 
 
 Under his daughter's soothing hands, and calmed 
 by her penitent caresses, the aged millionaire recovers 
 so rapidly from his fit of spleen that Ingraham, who 
 has come in behind Eira and is grimly looking on, 
 mutters : " The cunning old scoundrel ; playing sick to 
 tear her from me ! " 
 
 For Eira has turned to him and is fluttering : " For- 
 give me Jim, forgive me ! Even if we must part, for- 
 give me ! " 
 
 But now Katsuma having naught to hope for, is the 
 most collected of them all. He says : " Mr. Boardman, 
 your daughter is proving her devotion to you. Be no- 
 ble enough not to crush an affection which is given to 
 the man she would call husband. She did not wish 
 to wed secretly. It was only her love " 
 
 " And that long-mustached fellow's importunities, 
 who stands scowling at me there ! " growls her father ; 
 then suddenly ejaculates : " I know what started it ; 
 Flora's runaway match this morning! By the Lord 
 Harry, this cursed matrimonial disease is infectious ! " 
 
 " It is, with such loveliness about ! " says Jim, who 
 has got his arm about the girl's waist and is pleading 
 with her : " Don't make me despair ! You promised 
 to be mine. Your eyes looked true; don't make me 
 think them false ! " 
 
 And she with anguish in her beautiful orbs, is turn- 
 ing first to father, then to lover ; and sobbing and beg- 
 ging : " Don't both of you break my heart ! Father, 
 have mercy! Jim, have justice! " 
 
 " There is only one way to have justice in this mat- 
 ter, Mr. Boardman," says Katsuma, nobly. " By Isan-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 145 
 
 a gi> be generous! Your daughter has given you the 
 first twenty years of her beautiful life. She is now of 
 the age that demands another love." 
 
 " I will," mutters the old man, who can't look upon 
 his half swooning child with complacency. 
 
 '' Thank God ! " both Jim and Eira cry together. 
 
 " I will I'll give her to a man ! " 
 
 " And by Heavens, what arfi I ? " snarls the lieuten- 
 ant savagely. 
 
 " Prove it ! I will give Eira to you when you show 
 you're able to make a record for yourself. Bring me 
 a captain's commission and I'll place her hand in 
 yours," assents the wily old man hoarsely, recollec- 
 tions of gray-bearded lieutenants and bald-headed cap- 
 tains in the United States Army arising in his astute 
 mind. 
 
 To his astonishment, his proposition is accepted. In- 
 graham steps towards him and says : " Before the 
 Spanish war, I should not have taken your offer. It 
 would have meant that your daughter wedded a gray- 
 headed man. But when a nation battles, her sons have 
 glory. In the Philippines, where death is quick, pro- 
 motion is also rapid. Funston won a brigadier-gener- 
 alship in a year. If risking my life will make me a 
 captain, I'll have her in six months ! " 
 
 " Where death is quick ! You are going to risk your 
 life for me! Father, you are condemning Jim to die 
 because he loves me!" cries the girl hysterically. 
 . " Not at all. I know my star, I'll have a wife in my 
 arms within six months," answers the lieutenant in the 
 stout buoyancy of youth. " I accept your offer, Mr. 
 Boardman. Eira, put upon your hand my ring that 
 you have worn secretly. Flash it in your father's face 
 to prove to him that I'll come back to you." 
 
 " Oh you will," says Boardman, forced to affability. 
 " Well, since the matter is settled, give me your hand, 
 my boy. Eira, run away and dress for dinner. Will 
 you dine with me, Mr. Ingraham ? "
 
 146 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " Call him Jim, father ! " commands his daughter, 
 delight in her beaming eyes. 
 
 " Then Jim, have a family bite ! " 
 
 " With pleasure, father!" 
 
 " Oh my Lord, what a rapid fellow you are ! And 
 you, Captain Katsuma ? I I regret if in an old man's 
 anger I said anything that might be discourteous." 
 
 But the Japanese, seeing the woman he loves in an- 
 other's arms, turns sadly away and mutters : " I have 
 urgent business down town. Please excuse me." 
 
 He opens the door to be confronted by a fairy-like 
 creature in evening dress, who having heard cries out- 
 side, remarks pleasantly : " May I come in Mr. Board- 
 man ? I've accepted your invitation and run across the 
 hall to see a happy family." 
 
 " Yes, come along and see a happy family," grins 
 Boardman, wincing. 
 
 Something in the manner of the Japanese puts con- 
 cern in the face of Imogene Passmere. She follows his 
 sad glance and gives a start ; her knees tremble ; her 
 countenance twitches ; the man her passionate heart has 
 claimed, has another woman in his arms; and she is 
 Eira Boardman, more beautiful even than her picture, 
 for in the radiant eyes is the divine luster of a happy 
 love. 
 
 Notwithstanding her torture, the fairy's quick senses 
 note as Katsuma passes out, that his expressive Orien- 
 tal features bear a misery greater than her own. 
 
 " Congratulate me, Miss Imogene," says the lieuten- 
 ant bluffly ; in his hearty way ridding himself of an em- 
 barrassment by meeting it in offhand boldness : " I 
 have just gained the promise from the father of the 
 girl whom I have loved for many months." 
 
 "Oh, ah, you are going to marry her, at once?" 
 murmurs Miss Passmere, her eyes gleaming for a mo- 
 ment with occult fire at this blow to her pride. His 
 bluff carelessness shows that Ingraham has never con- 
 sidered her as having claim upon him.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. M7 
 
 " Not for six months !" utters Jim ruefully. 
 
 " No, not till he has gone to the Philippines and be- 
 comes a captain," answers Boardman. 
 
 " A ah ! " This is a sigh of apparent relief from the 
 fair Imogene. " Six months is a long time in that land 
 of swamp-ambushes and bolomen," she observes 
 slowly, contemplation disguising malice. 
 
 " Oh don't talk of it," cries Eira. " Whoever you 
 are, don't talk of it." 
 
 At this, Jim laughingly introducing Miss Board- 
 man ; the fairy prattles archly : "Oho, she is the young 
 lady whom Captain Katsuma called ' a business 
 cable.' " 
 
 And this bringing something into Boardman's mind, 
 he asks sternly : '' Eira, where were you all this after- 
 noon?" 
 
 " In a sampan, sailing over blue waters in the arms 
 of the man I love," answers his daughter proudly. 
 Whereupon truth destroying anger, the old gentleman 
 rises, chucks the bethrothed under the chin, and 
 chuckles : " What did you intend to tell me an hour 
 ago when returning on that sampan?" 
 
 " She expected to tell you she was my wife ; as she 
 would have been, had it not been for Boom-de-rah's 
 Shinto advice," sighs Ingraham, a longing in his 
 Saxon eyes. 
 
 " Hang it, so if I hadn't given my consent, you 
 would have been as flighty as Flora, eh ? " queries the 
 old man, playfully pinching his daughter's ear. 
 
 And this leading to explanations, they all sit down 
 and discuss Mrs. Passmere's hurried nuptials. 
 
 " I think I'll have to give some little entertainment 
 for Flora," remarks the millionaire pleasantly, making 
 the best of what he considers a bad bargain, " just to 
 show I have forgiven my niece." 
 
 " Yes, papa; you must ! " asserts his daughter. 
 
 " Oh, that would be delightful," cries Imogene clap- 
 ping her hands. " You know it would please my
 
 148 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 brother so. He has got shortly to go to was it to 
 Peking you said, Mr. Boardman ? You are going also, 
 are you not? Some words you spoke to the Chinese 
 commissioner made me guess that. You take Miss 
 Eira with you ?" 
 
 " Not if I can find the proper person to leave her 
 with. The Japanese captain thinks there may be 
 trouble there," remarks Boardman. 
 
 " Trouble in Peking?" laughs Miss Passmere, utter- 
 ing the usual Eastern formula. " Oh you do not know 
 China very well. They always say there is going to be 
 trouble in Peking. But no one has ever seen it." 
 
 " Well, I'll invite your brother and his bride and we 
 will discuss the affair over a dinner; not to-morrow, 
 but the day after," answers the manufacturer. 
 
 " Yes the day after," remarks Miss Boardman, but 
 no later; for, O Jim, a Philippine transport sails on 
 Friday." 
 
 " Well, don't cry about it. Run away and slip on 
 your dinner frock," says Boardman cheerily. " You 
 are already robed for the evening, I perceive, Miss 
 Passmere. By the bye, you're alone in the hotel; in- 
 stead of dining in your rooms as etiquette rather re- 
 quires single ladies to do here, give me the pleasure of 
 your company at my dinner table, for I know to-night 
 my daughter will have only eyes and tongue for an- 
 other gentleman." 
 
 This is said in such sad pathos, that his daughter 
 goes up tc the old millionaire, puts tender arms about 
 him, drops two tears upon his wrinkled cheeks, and 
 gives him a very loving kiss. 
 
 " Very well, I'll take pity on pater familias! " laughs 
 Imogene and accepts the invitation. 
 
 But a dinner spent watching the bethrothed brings 
 too great a misery ; and quite early in the evening Miss 
 Passmere excuses herself. 
 
 Getting to her own apartments, with the peculiar, 
 unreasoning, selfish passion in which some women in-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 149 
 
 dulge, she sighs : " Jim in his whole life never kissed 
 me and yet one moonlight night behind that deck 
 house I think he would, had it not been for that ac- 
 cursed meddling Chinese steward. But this evening I 
 saw him fondle that Cleopatra behind the curtains of 
 the bay window. Oh, how I hate her ! " Then a spark 
 of her horrible heredity tinging her reflective face, she 
 mutters : " Six months ! " Her eyes grow bright with 
 some uncanny hope as she continues : " His chum, the 
 Japanese loves Eira Boardman also. She will marry 
 the man of my heart within six months! Will she? 
 Not if Imogene Passmere is as wicked a little girl as 
 she thinks herself." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE DINNER AT THE PEAK HOTEL. 
 
 Two evenings after, Mr. Boardman's dinner party at 
 the Peak Hotel, is quite a social success. The company 
 is numerous for a gastronomic entertainment, several 
 colonial magnates, both military and civil, with their 
 wives, lend their dignity to the fete, and two or three 
 bachelor dandies from Her Majesty's forces give it 
 martial romance. These with Mr. and Mrs. Murray, 
 pretty Laura Inglis, Lady Inglis' niece, and clashing 
 Charlotte Coventry, the daughter of a colonel of one of 
 its regiments and belle of the garrison, make up the 
 company for dinner. Though for the little dance to 
 take place later in the evening, quite a number of social 
 lights have promised appearance: among these 
 are an East Indian Maharaja and his Excellency, the 
 Chinese Commissioner, the old arms manufacturer be- 
 ing very solicitous as to the Indian prince, hoping to 
 get another order from Dujeb-Sing for rapid-fires to 
 equip that potentate's native contingent.
 
 150 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 The dinner passes off very pleasantly, Mrs. Pass- 
 mere, in whose honor the entertainment is practically 
 given, appearing extremely beautiful and very proudly 
 happy as she enters on her youthful but stalwart hus- 
 band's arm to be affectionately greeted by her cousin 
 and her uncle. Behind her trips Miss Passmere, in 
 fairy tulle and gauze, looking very pretty, for though 
 of slight appearance, Imogene is a plump little wretch, 
 with very white and gracefully rounded shoulders, 
 which she displays with a prodigality unusual in one 
 who pretends to missionary longings. 
 
 Though she knows she looks her best; the girl 
 is not happy, being conscious she is eclipsed by the 
 ethereal though Venus-like beauty of the woman 
 she hates. Besides Flora, who by her husband's di- 
 rection is magnificently robed, as bride receives so 
 much attention that Miss Passmere feels over- 
 shadowed and is ignobly but placidly envious of a 
 woman whom she now regards as simply part of her 
 brother's personal estate ; a puppet, to be used for his 
 pleasure and benefit and incidentally for her own. 
 
 So it is not -in a particularly benign frame of mind 
 that the young lady who claims missionary aspirations 
 partakes of a Lucullus-like meal seated at the side of 
 Major Tilford of the East Anglias and listens to that 
 warrior's commonplace gallantries with such affected 
 interest and modestly down-cast looks interspersed 
 with sufficient maiden blushes to inspire that conceited 
 officer with the thought that he has made another con- 
 quest. 
 
 The fact, that after a few necessary courtesies to the 
 ladies near him at the table, the handsome Saxon-faced 
 American lieutenant devotes all his attention to his 
 betrothed, who sits happily at his side, though Miss 
 Passmere herself is almost immediately opposite him, 
 does not increase Imogene's amiability. Soon after 
 this a conversation between Mr. Boardman and her
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 151 
 
 brother makes this young lady prick up her sharp little 
 ears. 
 
 " My niece accompanies you to Peking, Passmere? " 
 inquires Flora's uncle. 
 
 " Yes, we start within the week ! " replies Arthur. 
 
 " You think it perfectly safe to take your bride 
 there ? " There is a tinge of anxiety in Boardman's 
 tone. 
 
 "Safe? How do you mean? There's no epidemic 
 there ! " 
 
 " No, I referred to uprising, riot, revolt." 
 
 " Pish ! " answers the bridegroom easily. " Peking 
 is as safe as any capital under the sun. Of course, 
 there are accidents everywhere. A Chih-li pony cart 
 may run away with you. Still the Purple City is a good 
 deal safer than Luzon where you're going, Mr. In- 
 graham," continues Arthur who has been introduced 
 to the lieutenant. " Aside from Filipino bullets, they 
 have earthquakes in Manila, awful ones; and there's 
 no record of seismic disturbance in Peking. I believe 
 it is even safer than Tokio, where Captain Katsuma, 
 who probably has been talking to you as well as me of 
 the danger of the Mongolian capital, comes from. They 
 have hurricanes in Tokio, and Pekin is too far inland 
 for typhoons." Here the bridegroom pauses to gaze in 
 uneasy jealousy at his bride who, seated across the 
 table and at some distance from him, has apparently 
 gone to her old tricks with Mr. Burroughs of the Ar- 
 tillery on one side and young Gaddin of the Oriental 
 Bank on the other. 
 
 " I'm mighty glad that is your opinion," remarks 
 Joel. " You have had a good deal of experience in 
 China too, haven't you, Passmere?" 
 
 " Yes, lots in Northern and Central China, but very 
 little about here." 
 
 Whereupon several other gentlemen who are old 
 Eastern residents go to poohpoohing the idea of any 
 serious danger to legations or missionaries in the
 
 I $2 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Chinese capital ; General Inglis observing : " My dear 
 Boardman, Sir Claude Macdonald keeps his family 
 there, and that should be proof enough. Besides Hart, 
 the general inspector of Chinese customs, remains there 
 with his wife and he knows the Empire from Chih-li 
 to Yunnan." 
 
 To this Boardman replies : " I am delighted that 
 those are your opinions, as I am going there myself and 
 would like to take my daughter with me." 
 
 " Well I tell you she'll be as safe there as here," re- 
 marks Inglis. " Not a single legation lady has left the 
 capital or has prepared to go. I'll give you a letter of 
 introduction to Sir Claude and he and Lady Macdon- 
 ald will cause you to think legation life a dream Miss 
 Eira." 
 
 " That makes my mind easy," returns her father. 
 " I've got a pretty tidy sum of taels due me from the 
 Chinese government, awaiting me in the Chinese cap- 
 ital ; and Li Wong Chieun suggests my accompanying 
 him up there to get them ! " 
 
 " I wish I had to run up that way myself to get a 
 lot of taels," laughs Gaddin. " May be I wouldn't 
 take the Shanghai steamer in a hurry ! " 
 
 For at this time the cloud hovering over the Celestial 
 capital seemed to most Anglo-Chinese men of affairs 
 no bigger than a baby's hand ; and " wolf " had been 
 shrieked so often by missionary shepherds all over the 
 Celestial Empire that people had ceased to pay any 
 attention to their cries. 
 
 " Just postpone your Peking trip for a week or two 
 Mr. Passmere and I and my daughter'll help make a 
 family party of it," says the American, his mind re- 
 lieved. 
 
 With this, the conversation turning to other sub- 
 jects, Miss Imogene gets to wondering why Li Wong 
 Chieun wants Mr. Boardman to visit Peking, though 
 her conversation runs along something after this man- 
 ner:
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 153 
 
 " Oh, Major Tilford," she glances coquettishly at 
 the warrior over her fan, " how dare you say such 
 naughty things to me. You know I'm thinking of be- 
 ing a missionary and not accustomed to sit beside you 
 awful military men. You must stop. 'You'll really 
 take my thoughts from Heaven ! " 
 
 To this the warrior utters an astounding yet admir- 
 ing " By Jove ! " and goes to eating broiled chicken and 
 Peking mushrooms ; while the girl noting that the Jap- 
 anese captain isn't present, meditates : " Katsuma re- 
 fused to stay the other night; he has not accepted 
 Mr. Boardman's invitation this evening. Can it be 
 possible this military fellow hasn't as strong a nerve 
 as I, to look upon a rival's happiness? " Suddenly she 
 pats her little hands admiringly together beneath the 
 table cloth, and smiles ripple her face as she reflects : 
 " Oh how sharp Japey is. Had it not been for his per- 
 suasive eloquence as to reverence for parents and all 
 that Shinto rubbish, instead of Miss Hated Blue-eyes 
 being his betrothed, Jim Ingraham would be calling 
 her his wife. Japey is a corker! Smoother than the 
 lacquered floors of his own temples." Then she won- 
 ders : " Could not I make stupid Jim quarrel with his 
 chum of chums who has blocked his marriage. That 
 would take from the game the only man I fear, the 
 captain of the First Tokios with his mathematical brain 
 and searching eyes." 
 
 But here catching her brother'o look of suave disap- 
 proval directed at his bride over the floral decorations 
 of the table, Imogene grins " What a fool Flora is ! 
 At her old tricks. But she couldn't help coquetting 
 with her confessor in devotional Bruges so we should 
 not expect too much of her with a dashing officer whis- 
 pering into her ear. If I know Arthur, there will be 
 penance for Madame Flirt to-morrow." 
 
 In this she does Mrs. Passmere an injustice. The 
 truth is Flora is not flirting merely tremendously 
 embarrassed. Her uncle having been compelled by et-
 
 154 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 iquette to take in Lady Inglis, the bride has fallen by 
 ill luck to the escort of reckless Mr. Burroughs of the 
 Artillery. 
 
 And this gentleman, proud of a beautiful woman's 
 surreptitious interview with him on her wedding day, 
 is perhaps ungenerously taking advantage of it. He 
 is whispering: " I didn't guess how awfully kind you 
 were to me, Mrs. Passmere, when last we met. If you 
 had told me a husband of an hour was awaiting you in- 
 side the Peak Hotel, it would have added a good deal 
 of piquant romance to the interview, wouldn't it ? " 
 
 Noting from across the table the blushes that fly 
 over his wife's face, the Honorable Arthur remember- 
 ing the interview also, gives his wife full credit for 
 reviving her prenuptual flirtation with handsome Bur- 
 roughs of the Artillery, and grows very savagely jeal- 
 ous. 
 
 Soon after as the ladies pass from the table, Imogene, 
 finding herself beside Ingraham, who has gallantly 
 risen, whispers : " Captain Katsuma is too much over- 
 come by the general happiness to be here this evening, 
 eh?" 
 
 "Oh, I think Boom-de-rah will be along a little later 
 to the dance," mutters Jim. 
 
 " Mr. Boardman must have invited him," suggests 
 the fairy in pointed archness, " he owes him so much." 
 
 " Owes him so much? How ; for arms' contracts? " 
 
 " No ! Had it not been for Katsuma's astute advice, 
 Mr. Boardman would have lost his daughter ; and your 
 bride would have been passing out of that door now." 
 With these crafty words, she trips out after Eira 
 Boardman, leaving that young lady's betrothed with a 
 very nasty thought in his mind about his West Point 
 comrade. 
 
 Among the guests for the dance, as Ingraham has 
 predicted, strolls in Captain Katsuma. 
 
 Still Miss Passmere's innuendo fails of its effect; 
 simply because for four years as cadets these men had
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 155 
 
 walked hand in hand, and knew and loved and trusted. 
 
 The music of a military band floats through the 
 flower-decked ballroom. Mr. Boardman is welcoming 
 His Highness Dujeb-Sing, who enters a blaze of diam- 
 onds, rubies and other precious stones. 
 
 The American arms manufacturer is saying: " Mah- 
 araja, I'm opposed to talking business when there are 
 so many pretty girls about, but I can't keep quiet about 
 our new rapid-fires, i want you to let me take you 
 over to the rifle range at Kau-lung, and show you one 
 of my new patents. It is just as good as a whole regi- 
 ment of infantry. I always carry two or three of them 
 packed up about with me and ammunition enough to 
 fight a battle." 
 
 " I would like to see one," returns His Highness 
 pleasantly. " I have sometimes thought it might be 
 interesting to use one of the automatic rapid-fires tiger 
 shooting." 
 
 " That would be an idea ! " returns the American en- 
 thusiastically. " Eira, come and welcome His High- 
 ness, who is going to shoot tigers in his Nepal jungle 
 with a Boardman and Colburn 30 calibre automatic. I 
 have no doubt he will give you a skin ; though after 
 one of my rapid-fires has got through with the king of 
 the jungle, his pelt will be as full of holes as a col- 
 lender." 
 
 Rather laughing at this, Jim Ingraham strolls with 
 Osuri Katsuma out of one of the windows thrown open 
 to permit the air to circulate during this torrid evening. 
 From the balcony they look silently down upon Hong 
 Kong which lies dimly beautiful beneath them in the 
 soft darkness of the tropic night ; its harbor lights 
 flickering below them like fallen stars. The two are 
 together to say some words of soldiers' farewell, for 
 the American leaves on the morrow for the Philippines, 
 and the Japanese, having concluded his arms contracts 
 returns to the General Staff at Tokio. The band is 
 playing an old West Point air, one that they had lis-
 
 156 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 tened to together often upon the green parade ground 
 above the Hudson. A comrade feeling is in their 
 hearts. 
 
 A moment after Ingraham says reflectively : " You 
 have an enemy in the ballroom, Osuri." 
 
 "Indeed; who?" 
 
 " Little Miss Passmere by her words tried to make 
 trouble between us. Duels have been fought for less 
 than she insinuated." 
 
 " But not between you and me," whispers Katsuma, 
 gripping his comrade's hand. " What was it she 
 said ? " And the lieutenant making answer, the Japa- 
 nese remarks simply : " I do not think she hates me, 
 but is jealous of you." 
 
 " Jealous of me ; what do you mean ? " 
 
 " Well I think Miss Passmere, for vanity or some 
 other woman's reason, regards the ordinary gallantries 
 she received at your hands on the long tropic voyage 
 from San Francisco as indicative of something more 
 than you meant by them. You didn't give her cause 
 to, I hope. You couldn't when you had Eira Board- 
 man's love." 
 
 " I did not. Perhaps I might have, for the girl has 
 a kind of mystic fascination," replies the American, 
 " but thank God, I thought in time." 
 
 " Thank God also ! " 
 
 " You, I imagine, Osuri, had you been as blessed as 
 I, would never look at another woman." 
 
 " Never look at another woman if Eira o-h God of 
 Gods, Jim ' The strong man bends over the bal- 
 cony and looks down into the distant town so that his 
 comrade blessed by the woman who but four days ago 
 had been Osuri's hope in life can't see the agony of his 
 face. 
 
 " I feared as much, old fellow," mutters Ingraham 
 quietly. " By Heaven, no one should guess how much 
 you lose better than I. But you know I saw the sun 
 before you did,"
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 157 
 
 " Yes ! " murmurs the Japanese sadly. " Therefore 
 the war which I see is coming is is welcome to me. 
 I pray for forgetfulness in the excitement of battle." 
 Then his face becomes almost inspired, his eyes flame, 
 he continues enthusiastically : " If it comes as I expect, 
 the banners of the civilized world will meet and tangle 
 on the soil of China. There we hope to show Europe 
 that Dai-Nippon is not merely the nation of paper- 
 screens, geisha girls, jugglers, fireworks and Sat- 
 suma vases that it now thinks us ; but a nation of men 
 who are as brave for their Mikado as the Old Guard 
 was for Napoleon Bonaparte and in addition has such 
 modern science and military skill that it must now be 
 reckoned one of the great powers of the earth. That 
 when the Japanese bugles sound, there is an army 
 who man for man and gun for gun can stand against 
 the world." 
 
 " And in that matter I want to speak to you as man 
 to man, as comrade to comrade," remarks Jim Ingra- 
 ham earnestly. "My duty calls me to the Philippines. 
 For some reason you seem to fear there may be danger 
 to the woman of my heart in Peking." 
 
 " I do, thoroughly ! " 
 
 " No one else does," replies the lieutenant, " for I 
 have made inquiry. People smile and say it is the old 
 missionary wail. Still you will be near her, and I far 
 away. To show how 1 trust you, I say, Osuri, should 
 danger come, do for the woman who has given herself 
 to my love as you would, had she given herself to your 
 love ; look to her safety as if she were to be your wife, 
 not mine ! " 
 
 " I will with my heart's blood, by Izanagi! " mutters 
 the other. Conquering an awful longing conjured up 
 by Ingraham's potent suggestion, the Japanese quietly 
 holds out his hand in Anglo-Saxon fashion and the 
 American grips it with a mute trust that is the stronger 
 for its silence. 
 
 As for the fairy who would have produced strife
 
 15$ TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 between this Jonathan and David who love each other, 
 in the ballroom she is discovering what has been until 
 now a dark page to her brilliant yet uncanny mind. She 
 is divining why Li Wong Chieun wants Mr. Boardman 
 and his daughter to visit Peking. 
 
 Into the throng of beautiful women and gallant men 
 strides the Chinese-high-commissioner to be welcomed 
 cordially by his host. Covered with a shame that makes 
 her half crazy at the sight of this Chinese potentate, 
 Imogene Passmere has covered and shrunk away into a 
 nook filled with growing palms and potted flowing 
 plants. Quivering and trembling in every limb, like a 
 bird fascinated by a snake, she can't keep her eyes off 
 the Chinese mandarin. 
 
 Just then the fair young hostess looking like a sylph, 
 her eyes pure as the blue heavens, yet sparkling in 
 happy radiance like the sun, stands before Li Wong 
 Chieun extending her delicate hand. The beautiful 
 American girl is saying words of welcome to the man- 
 darin who is decked with peacock feathers and wear- 
 ing his yellow girdle of imperial, descent ; his red coral 
 button showing his rank is second only to a viceroy. 
 
 He is bowing before Eira Boardman. As he gazes 
 upon her ethereal yet womanly loveliness, into the 
 Mongolian's sleepy eyes flies a look that Imogene shud- 
 dering and growing cold as ice and deathly sick, re- 
 members ! 
 
 The brilliant ballroom becomes to her red as blood 
 with shame. She stands again in the judgment hall in 
 the mud-walled yamen. Within those yellow, fishy, 
 almond-shaped eyes is the same monkey look Li Wong 
 Chieun had cast upon her, as she, shrinking from her 
 executioners, to escape the torture, had yielded her 
 fair self to the shuddering ignominy and sickening 
 abasement of his uncanny Mongolian passion. 
 
 Suddenly Li Wong Chieun's cruel yamen changes 
 to Mr. Boardman's brilliant ballroom again, with its 
 dashing men, bright uniformed officers and chatting
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 159 
 
 and laughing women robed in the latest Parisian 
 modes ; Arthur Passmere is strolling with pretty Laura 
 Inglis on his arm, past his Chinese Excellency. 
 
 For one instant their glances meet; then as if by 
 mutual consent their looks follow their young hostess, 
 who has turned away to dance with some beseeching 
 cavalier. 
 
 As her brother's and the Chinese magnate's eyes 
 again meet, the fairy utters a weird, horrible, mocking, 
 devilish little giggle ; she mutters in rasping cruel voice 
 this awful sentiment : "Jim Ingraham, I could only 
 offer you tainted arms; why should hers be purer?" 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 KILLING THREE BIRDS WITH ONE STONE. 
 
 But malice for the woman does not destroy passion 
 for the man, and there is an unhappy little fairy at 
 Pedder's Wharf the next morning waiting among 
 other friends and well-wishers to bid Jim Ingraham 
 bon voyage for the Philippines. 
 
 The big transport in the roads has its steam up ; the 
 launches are ready to take out its passengers ; into the 
 circle about the Saxon-faced, curly-haired lieutenant, 
 Miss Passmere robed in white like a modest lily of the 
 valley, squeezes herself. Perchance she has a forlorn 
 hope that her beau of the Pacific voyage may remember 
 the moonlit deck of the Rio Janiero; for never did girl 
 favor cavalier with a more alluringly sad smile. But 
 even in this moment of parting, the cavalier's free, off- 
 hand manner makes, from its very carelessness, her 
 fast-beating little heart very heavy. 
 
 To a faint squeeze of his strong hand by petitioning 
 fingers, and a half-whispered pleading: " Don't forget 
 me, Jim ! " he says in easy affability : " I'm mighty
 
 l6o tANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 glad you came down to see me off, Miss Imogene ",. 
 then lifting his hat, turns hastily away ; for Eira Board- 
 man, whose eyes are now becoming wild, has just 
 stepped upon the landing stage accompanied by her 
 father. They are going in the steam-launch with him 
 to the transport, and Katsuma is already arranging the 
 cushions in its stern sheets for a graceful form and see- 
 ing that its awning will, keep the sun fully out of an ex- 
 quisite face that is growing agonized. 
 
 Suddenly with a start, Miss Passmere wonders what 
 they mean. Ingraham says hoarsely : "Remember ! 
 Osuri, remember ! " 
 
 " With my life ! " replies Katsuma, and the two give 
 each other that silent Anglo-Saxon grip which seems 
 to mean more than any other salutation between men. 
 
 So Ingraham aiding the women of his love into the 
 boat, leaves behind him a pale-faced girl, with two hec- 
 tic spots of passion on her cheeks, whose gray eyes roll 
 themselves in an uncany way towards her successful 
 rival. Perchance had Jim been more tender at this time 
 Imogene had in the future been more merciful. 
 
 Twenty minutes after, on the deck of the Tsim-tsa- 
 Tsui ferry boat on its way to the Kau-lung peninsula, 
 Miss Passmere, stepping aside from little Harold, his 
 attendant and her maid, gazes longingly upon the 
 American transport already under headway for Luzon. 
 To herself she mutters bitterly: "He looked only 
 at her. It is not always wise, my soldier boy, to 
 scorn those who love as I do." Intensifying her 
 passion till it is morbid, she wrings her slight hands 
 and sighs : " Jim ! My Jim ! Accursed be this blue- 
 eyed witch who has come between us!" 
 
 Then the Occidental and Oriental boat with steam 
 up attracts her attention, and knowing that the 
 Japanese captain sails for Tokio upon her, she 
 thinks: "He is well out of the way. The 
 strangest thing is that Katsuma loves his rival! 
 Pish, impossible! All men who worship one
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. l6l 
 
 woman hate each other ; only Captain Chrysanthemum 
 is smarter than a Parsee. Oh these Orientals, these 
 Orientals ! " she half giggles ; next starts as she thinks : 
 " Arthur's eyes said something to that accursed man- 
 darin as he glanced on Eira Boardman. What? I'll 
 know that very shortly for in it perhaps is my re- 
 venge ! " 
 
 In a by no means benign yet strangely inquisitive 
 mood Imogene makes her appearance at the Honora- 
 ble Arthur's Kau-lung bungalow. With her are Mas- 
 ter Harold, his ayah and general impedimenta; the 
 French nurse, who has an active tongue, having been 
 deftly shipped at Miss Passmere's suggestion to Ton- 
 kin, where Lizette has a lover among the Gallic gar- 
 rison. 
 
 Immediately upon arrival, such is her discontent, 
 Miss Passmere promptly and ignobly envies Flora's 
 radiant face, as the bride hearing her child's voice, flies 
 out on the veranda to give Harold a mother's kiss. 
 
 "Madre mia," lisps the polyglot, who has picked up 
 a little Spanish from some Filipino brats he has played 
 with in the Hong Kong gardens. "Kiss meine neue 
 Tante. She was bully to me ! " 
 
 This Flora does with hearty good will, exclaim- 
 ing : " Imogene, God bless you for being so kind to my 
 little one ! " And both ladies petting Harold, run 
 down the steps with the boy and have a girlish romp 
 with the urchin in the beautiful garden of Mr. Pass- 
 mere's villa. 
 
 Upon this frolic, Arthur, strolling out cheroot in 
 mouth, looks down complacently. " Working the 
 mother by the child," he grins. " Flora will be like 
 putty in Genie's claws. Smart little girl, my sister. 
 She'll take a lot of care off my shoulders." 
 
 Whereupon he steps into the garden and pats the 
 urchin's head. For this caress he gets a grateful kiss 
 ifrom Flora, and a few minutes after leaving Mrs.
 
 1 62 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Passmere fondling her boy, the brother and sister walk 
 off to private interview in Arthur's study. 
 
 This is a very pleasant room upon the second floor 
 of the house, two big windows giving view of the 
 Hong Kong strait and furnishing access for monsoon 
 breezes. Near its center stands the writing table of 
 the lord and master of the bungalow ; upon it his pa- 
 pers and account books. These have lately been 
 greatly increased by a number of bank books from 
 which the name of Flora E. Elton has been erased and 
 replaced by that of Arthur T. Passmere. 
 
 Upon these Imogene turns gloating eyes and whis- 
 pers : " Is everything in your name ? " 
 
 " To a cash ! " answers Arthur cheerfully, " My 
 wife very dutifully wrote all the letters I desired to 
 her bankers." 
 
 " Ah, and she required no coercion? " 
 
 " Not a bit," laughs the bridegroom. " For a kiss 1 
 could have Flora's head. But," he continues, " though 
 I admire my bride's beauty like the deuce and am gen- 
 erally fond of her, don't yer know, I'm tired of being 
 her dry nurse, don't yer see. Had to do some shopping 
 over in Hong Kong with her yesterday. It was beastly 
 tedious, can't yer understand," he shudders. " So as I 
 have some very important, business to attend to, I wish 
 you would take Flora under your charge, Genie. Last 
 night proved to me the minx will flirt on every oppor- 
 tunity." 
 
 " Manage your own troubles and bear your own mar- 
 ital burdens ! " laughs his sister. " Though I ran give 
 you one point. You had better discharge Flora's 
 European lady's maid. Mademoiselle Nanette will no- 
 tice her mistress's continuous absence of pocket money 
 and may go to prattling." 
 
 " Already done ! " answers her brother promptly. 
 " Nanette is to be spliced to a German sailor over at the 
 Whampoa Dock, and doesn't wish to go with me to Pe- 
 king."
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 163 
 
 "With you to Peking?" giggles Miss Passmere. 
 Then a peculiar interest comes into her bell-like voice 
 as she ejaculates artfully: " In American slang, what 
 kind of a bluff are you giving me? The Honorable 
 Arthur Passmere might remain unrecognized in Hong 
 Kong for a month or two more, and people might im- 
 agine he was doing some quiet political business for 
 Sir Claude Macdonald. But on Legation Street, Pe- 
 king," she sneers, " my fraudulent diplomat, you would 
 be exposed and laughed at within an hour of your ar- 
 rival. I supposed," continues the fay archly, "that this 
 sudden Peking trip had been assumed as a ruse to 
 hurry your nuptials with the lady of those bank books." 
 
 " Yes, that was my idea at first," observes Passmere. 
 Then he comes to what Miss Imogene is anxious to 
 hear. " But that infernal Mongolian mandarin 
 chanced to recognize me and threatened to reveal my 
 former station to Hong Kong society. If he had opened 
 his mouth, I wouldn't have had these bank books in my 
 name now, don't yer know. So I had to agree to help 
 him in a matter, upon which he is so set that the old 
 scoundrel has promised me a handsome commission. 
 Li Wong Chieun is very anxious that Boardman and 
 his daughter go to Peking." 
 
 " Ah ! For what reason ? " The fairy's voice is low ; 
 her eyes glittering. 
 
 " Well between ourselves, I think the Chinese-com- 
 missioner-high after he has the American's receipt to 
 his government for a million and odd taels wants to 
 rob him of them." 
 
 " Precisely but why does the mandarin wish Miss 
 Boardman to visit North China ? " Imogene is so eager, 
 she is trembling. 
 
 "Oh awh!" stammers Passmere confused for a 
 moment by the horrible thing he is about to suggest. 
 " As for the American's beautiful daughter, I have 
 seen Chinese eyes before. I think His Excellency 
 wants "
 
 1 64 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " What? " His sister's voice is hoarse and expectant. 
 
 Villain that he is, Passmere looks ashamed. " Yer 
 really want to know ? " 
 
 " I must! To aid you I must !" There is a savage 
 ring to the girl's excited command. 
 
 Her brother strolls over to the young lady, and bend- 
 ing down, whispers doggedly : " Ever read of the ab- 
 duction of the Sabine virgins, eh? Well I think Li 
 Wong Chieun wants to play the Roman in an act of 
 that kind, don't yer know. Though he has half a 
 dozen Chinese wives, Chieun has the reputation of 
 having a very high appreciation of American beauty, 
 can't yer see." 
 
 " Yes I see," sighs Imogene ; recollection making 
 her hungry for an awful vengeance upon the Mongo- 
 lian satrap. She has never dared to make revelation to 
 her brother, who loose, careless, wicked as he is would 
 resent his sister's wrongs even to murder. That 
 doesn't suit her now. Dearly as she wants Chieun's 
 death she wants him to exist until in his brutality he 
 has given her revenge upon another she hates even 
 more than that almond-eyed savage. A moment after 
 she says earnestly : " His dollars will take the commer- 
 cial Yankee to Peking certainly enough; but not nec- 
 essarily his daughter." 
 
 " Yes, but if I go with my bride, Boardman will 
 think it perfectly safe to take Eira with him ; even 
 though there are the usual sporadic rumors of Boxers' 
 outrages that come from missionary panic." 
 
 " Ah !" The girl's voice sounds like a bell. 
 
 "Yes, yer see Li Wong Chieun is so anxious in this 
 affair that he's already paid me two thousand taels in 
 advance, and I've nailed him so that I'm sure of the 
 balance. I've only to induce my Uncle Boardy and 
 his daughter to visit Peking. Boardman at the 
 American Legation should be as safe as he is here, 
 don't yer see. No harm can come to such an innocent 
 affair, don't yer know," mutters Passmere in muffled
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 165 
 
 half-apologetic tones. " Supposing Uncle Joel wan- 
 dering about the suburbs of Peking should be waylaid 
 and his daughter abducted by Blackflags, Boxers or any 
 other anti-foreign Celestials, what would I have to do 
 about it except to set up a shriek of awful horror, don't 
 yer understand." 
 
 " Yes ; but you dare not go to Peking. Remember 
 that!" 
 
 " No, Tien Tsin will be far enough for the Hon- 
 orable Arthur Passmere. I don't wander very far 
 from a warship's guns. I've not enough trust in my 
 pal Chieun for that. I've arranged that his secretary 
 pays me my commission it's a thumper too the mo- 
 ment we arrive in Tien Tsin. Chieun '11 do it safe 
 enough. Li Wong knows I've. only to give one hint to 
 the American and his game is blocked," jeers the subtle 
 schemer as Imogene shivers at the mandarin's 
 name. " The eighty miles of railway Uncle 
 Boardy can take himself. But my visiting North 
 China will announce very clearly that I with my great 
 Oriental experience fear no outbreak in the Chih-li 
 province," adds the gentleman craftily. 
 
 At any other time Miss Passmere would have coun- 
 seled : " Don't go ! Have nothing to do with the af- 
 fair. Surely Flora's fortune is enough ; at least for the 
 present." But now, after pacing the floor nervously 
 a moment, she enters very fervidly into the matter, 
 suggesting : " Yes, a good slice of those million taels 
 would round up our Eastern business very well." 
 Growing exceedingly eager, she urges : " Get along 
 with the business, Arthur." Gazing out of the window 
 upon the beautiful woman playing'with her child in the 
 garden, Imogene continues with far-seeing judgment: 
 " It's lucky you have your bride so under your hand. 
 Otherwise at some supreme moment Flora might by 
 a wayward action or careless impulse balk the whole 
 matter. Flora must go with you. She must be the
 
 1 66 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 lure ! Leave his niece behind you, and Mr. Boardman 
 will leave his daughter also." 
 
 " By Jove you're dead right" ; assents Passmere ; 
 then chuckles : " Flora is as facile to me as a child." 
 
 " So long as she thinks you a high-minded British 
 diplomat," asserts his sister. Then the little psycholog- 
 ical witch laughs : " Use her brat to keep Madame 
 ^Esthetic in the seclusion of domesticity. Give her but 
 one man to worship and she'll worship only you! Then 
 unembarrassed by her whims and emotions, I can run 
 affairs with her uncle and her cousin." 
 
 As if she thinks the matter is settled, Imogene goes 
 to discussing its details, remarking: "For Flora's 
 maid upon the trip, you had better buy a Chinese girl 
 like my attendant."* " Until that time Lie-lie and I will 
 take care of Mrs. Passmere." With this Imogene 
 gives her brother some very sage suggestions as to his 
 bride, whispering as he strolls away to his wife these 
 astute words: "Understand me, you must base my 
 charge of Flora upon the plea of your great love and 
 care for her. Placed on any other grounds your friv- 
 olous yet emotional bride would resent my authority.'"' 
 
 " Oh, I understand, Flora, don't yer know," laughs 
 the husband easily. " I'll do the business straight as 
 nails." 
 
 Gazing after him, Imogene voices this startling prop- 
 osition : "You don't guess my careless brother what a 
 grand and far-reaching triumph both of revenge and 
 finance you have opened to me. Joel Luther Board- 
 man's an American multi-millionaire. Some day I 
 may offer fortune as well as love to Jim Ingraham" 
 and the little witch's eyes bulge with joy. 
 
 Evidences of Arthur's tact soon come to Imogene. 
 
 *" Domestic slavery exists to a very large extent. There is scarcely 
 a family of good means in Hong Kong, Canton, or Macao but what possesses 
 one or often several slave girls. . . . Theoretically of course there are no slaves 
 in Hong Kong, but practically there are thovisands of them. All the young 
 maid servants that follow their mistresses' sedan chairs belong to this class. ' 
 " Things Chinese," by J. Dyer Ball, Civil Service, Hong Kong. ED.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 167 
 
 As they meet for tiffin, Flora floats in f rocked in pure 
 white muslin, almost undecked by trimming. Apar- 
 ently made younger by love, the magnificent woman 1 
 looks quite like a saintly girl in a simple dress whose 
 draping skirt cut unfashionably scant, permits an al- 
 most childish effect of white silk stockings and plain 
 slippers with elastics tightly crossed in misses' fash- 
 ion over high insteps. 
 
 Noting an inquiry in Imogene's glance she says 
 quietly : " My husband thinks I can attend to Harold 
 better in a plain and girlish house frock. I'm to have 
 charge of my child every morning now Lizette has 
 been sent away." 
 
 And Arthur joining them, the bride's eyes follow her 
 husband beaming in a happy ecstasy which indicates 
 that full surrender has increased rather than dimin- 
 ished Flora Passmere's passion. Even as she talks to 
 Miss Passmere, the emotional lady once or twice con- 
 trives to surreptitiously fondle her new lord's hand. 
 
 So the three sit down to a pleasant meal, where they 
 discuss Mr. Boardman's fete of the evening before 
 At its close Arthur delights his wife by saying: "Genie, 
 I want you to run over with Flora to Hong Kong and 
 select for her some pretty light summer toilettes for 
 Pekin Legation mornings. It's going to be warm up 
 in that inland capital. For my own pride as well as 
 love I desire my bride's adornment to be worthy of her 
 beauty." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, my husband ! " cries Flora raptur- 
 ously ; and adds: " I'm so glad Imogene will help me 
 in the matter. I didn't know what I should do, now that 
 my maid has left me. You see Arthur has petted me 
 till I am such a baby," she laughs, "I've got to be 
 taken care of even to selecting costumes." 
 
 " Oh, from now on I am to do that for you," re- 
 marks Imogene, and so places the first touch of her 
 authority upon this aesthetic lady whom she now 
 deems it essential to control. "But we had better be.
 
 1 68 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 moving on Victoria modistes," and Arthur having 
 strolled out on the veranda for a quiet smoke, she rings 
 the bell. Lie-lie coming in to her, she suggests : "Mrs. 
 Passmere wishes to be ready for Hong Kong shopping 
 in half an hour." 
 
 As Flora rises to follow the maid, she turns nerv- 
 ously and whispers in an embarrassed voice : " You 
 know, m/ sister, that Arthur is so angrily jealous of 
 me at what happened last night at the dinner party 
 that he he won't give me an allowance so you're 
 to to carry the purse to-day." 
 
 " Mercy, what c. confession ! " Imogene laughs. 
 
 " Your husband must have guessed what a flirt you 
 were in the old days, to think you need a governante." 
 
 " Y-e-s, a a little ; " stammers the bride. 
 
 " Has he ever heard any stories of the Reverend 
 Vestry Stole ? " Miss Passmere's tone is significantly 
 suggestive. 
 
 " Oh, good heavens, no ! " gasps Flora, her face 
 growing extremely pallid. " And please, please don't 
 tell him. Arthur was so angry about young Bur- 
 roughs again last night!" pleads the bride in disin- 
 genuous timidity. 
 
 "Ah, then I shall be your duenna to-day if that ar- 
 tillery lieutenant puts in an appearance," smiles Imo- 
 gene. " So I warn you my dear not a suspicion of a 
 flirtation !" And the fairy artfully kissing the mag- 
 nificent woman who looks disconcertedly at her slip- 
 pers, suggests suavely : " Please don't keep me wait- 
 ing! Hurry to Lie-lie to be f rocked for your shop- 
 ping?" 
 
 Though her costume is a very pretty one, all 
 through her visit to Hong Kong modistes and millin- 
 ers Mrs. Passmere can't help feeling like a great girl 
 taking an outing with her governess. This is increased 
 by the abject helplessness produced by that most 
 crushing of all humilities an absolutely empty pocket- 
 book, likewise Imogene's manner, who though gener-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 169 
 
 ally acceding to Flora's taste and selection of goods 
 and styles, once says : " I'm sure Arthur would not per- 
 mit you to wear that rather loud gown, dear! You 
 know his taste is almost Puritanical about you ! " 
 
 " Anyway my husband's jealous care is a proof of 
 his love for me," whispers Flora proudly, though she 
 can't help pouting as she puts away the robe. 
 
 So Flora is astutely and gradually brought more and 
 more under a dominion, that on one occasion Imogene 
 discovers to be almost vital to the success of her pro- 
 ject. 
 
 During the next week, in furtherance of the scheme 
 in her devilish little head, spending much time at the 
 Peak Hotel, Imogene contrives to become very inti- 
 mate with the Boardmans, father and daughter; so 
 much so, that it is arranged that they all make a fam- 
 ily party for their visit to Northern China. For Joel 
 finds Miss Passmere a pleasantly entertaining young 
 lady, and Eira is anxious for any companionship that 
 >will make the time seem shorter during the absence of 
 her affianced in the Philippines. 
 
 One afternoon, though Imogene has contrived that 
 Mrs. Passmere does not visit her relatives too often, 
 all three ladies chance to sit, making a pretty picture in 
 Boardman's parlor. 
 
 The bowing Lum Kee, his yellow face wreathed in 
 smiles, is passing tea and biscuits about. Flora robed 
 in a very pretty, light street costume is laughing and 
 chatting with her cousin. Miss Passmere in a kind of 
 day dream is trying to remember where she has seen 
 the Chinese servant's smile before. 
 
 Suddenly some trick of gesture as he passes makes 
 her quiver and grow cold as ice from head to heel. She 
 remembers now! This Celestial, blue-robed, white- 
 shoed, silent moving creature was one of Li Wong 
 Chieun's harem servants on the awful day in the man- 
 darin's Twuy-Chow yamen. 
 
 She turns away her head and appears to
 
 1 70 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 look over a book of photographs to hide the crimson 
 fire that chases the pallor from her face. But as the 
 cartes de visile swim before her gaze her eyes have in 
 them a horrible longing hope. Lum-Kee, the trusted 
 servant of Chieun is Boardman's confidential attend- 
 ant. Surely the satrap's web is being woven about her 
 rival. 
 
 And now Imogene's hatred is increased by Miss 
 Boardman's happy face. For Eira, exquisitely dressed, 
 is radiant with her Jim's first cable from the Philip- 
 pines, which she is carrying in her hand. A moment 
 later she bursts out laughing, for Mrs. Passmere has 
 said in reference to some project : "I don't think my 
 husband will permit me." 
 
 " Gracious, what a change ! " cries Miss Young 
 America in merry arrogance. " It used to be ' I don't 
 think I will permit my adorers to do thus and so.' ' 
 
 " Ah, but at that time I had not known Arthur's 
 love," says Flora, her face lighting up with reverent 
 passion for her scoundrel husband. 
 
 " Apropos, was not that letter I saw the clerk in the 
 office give you to-day from a late mail addressed to 
 Mrs. Elton, from one of your ex-European admirers ? " 
 jeers Eira playfully. 
 
 At this, Flora flushes slightly, and cries : " Oh 
 what nonsense ! " But Imogene waking up, notices 
 Mrs. Passmere's hand goes in a timid way towards her 
 pocket, and a little foot perfectly booted that projects 
 from beneath her mouseline de soie jupe begins to tap 
 the floor nervously. 
 
 Just here, Boardman coming in with rather a per- 
 turbed manner makes a diversion. To Eira's inquiry as 
 to what io the matter, he growls : " Hang it, I don't 
 like the news in the Hong Kong Daily Press this morn- 
 ing, from North China." 
 
 For it is now early in May, and the cloud above the 
 Purple City has grown both larger and blacker to even 
 the general eye.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 171 
 
 " Li Wong Chieun is already en route to Shanghai," 
 he goes on, uneasily. "I can't communicate with him, 
 and I've got to go to Peking for my ducats. But I 
 think somehow or other, Eira, I must contrive to leave 
 you here. I'll speak to Passmere, Flora. Supposing all 
 you ladies remain in Hong Kong together." 
 
 For a moment Imogene pales with disappointment ; 
 then is delighted. With woman's devotion, Flora 
 promptly says : " My husband has to go to Peking, 
 and I go with him. Do you think Arthur would take 
 me to a place where there is any danger ? No legation 
 lady has left Peking. Don't you suppose their hus- 
 bands would send them away on the first real sugges- 
 tion of an outbreak?" 
 
 " Humph, that's so !" remarks Boardman. "I guess 
 it's all the tarnation rubbish of some frightened mis- 
 sionaries." 
 
 " I hope it is Hong Kong is very dreary now," 
 sighs Eira. 
 
 " I'm sure it is ! " interjects Imogene. " I lived in 
 China three quiet years, and heard the same outcry 
 every day." 
 
 " Well, that being the case, the sooner we go the 
 sooner we'll get through with the matter," says Joel. 
 " Eira, pack your trunks ! " Then he asks, very ten- 
 derly and earnestly : " You want to go, my child, don't 
 you ? " 
 
 " Oh, very much," says the young lady. " Hong 
 Kong is a desert now. Anything to pass the time till 
 you take me to Manila. You know you've promised 
 that, papa. By-the-by, I have a letter written to send 
 to Tokio." 
 
 " To Katsuma? Two strings to the bow yet? " jeers 
 her father. 
 
 " I have never had but one," laughs his daughter, 
 " and this is proof of it : Jim wishes Captain Osuri to 
 take such awful good care of me that I promised my 
 betrothed to let his chum know if I visited Peking. Do
 
 I7 2 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 you mind posting it for me, my cousin ? " She holds 
 out the epistle to Flora. "If you put it in the central 
 office when you go down-town, it will catch this after- 
 noon's boat. As it is important, please post it with 
 your own hand." 
 
 " With pleasure," remarks Flora, and takes the let- 
 ter, which Miss Passmere has gazed upon unpleasantly. 
 Into her mind has flown : " The Japanese may still be 
 a factor in the matter. This may add another compli- 
 cation to my plan." Then for a moment noting the 
 airy beauty and exquisite loveliness of the young 
 American girl, the little wretch half repents. Perhaps 
 she would wholly, had sh not heard of the visit to 
 Manila and did not she see the telegram from Jim In- 
 graham in her rival's hands and the rapture with which 
 Eira Boardman looks upon it. 
 
 A few moments after the Kau-lung ladies have taken 
 their leave. As they ride down the hill in the tram-car, 
 Imogene says to Flora : " Supposing we take a little 
 walk in the gardens. I have something to say to you." 
 
 These "somethings to say to you " have not 
 always been pleasant to Mrs. Passmere ; she suggests : 
 " Supposing you say it at Kau-lung. If we don't hurry 
 down-town I shall hardly get Eira's letter into the 
 post." 
 
 But Eira's letter is really Miss Passmere's objective 
 point. She says, earnestly : " It won't take more than 
 a few moments, and I don't wish to be near my brother 
 when I speak to you," adding, pharisaically : " I 
 sometimes feel, as I look on your errors, Flora, that 
 I am not doing my duty thoroughly by Arthur." 
 
 " In what way ? " 
 
 " Don't fear that I shall not tell you ! " Her duenna's 
 tone is so alarming that Passmere's frightened bride 
 silently obeys her instructions.- 
 
 The ladies stop at the Kennedy Road and step into 
 the Gardens. Here, getting a chance of private con- 
 verse in one of its leafy paths, Miss Passmere says, in
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 173 
 
 hurried sternness : " Flora, give me that letter you 
 got from Europe." 
 
 " What letter ? " Mrs. Passmere's face is agitated. 
 
 " You know ; the one that you received at the Peak 
 Hotel." 
 
 " I shan't ! You have no right to read it," dissents 
 her subject in a half-hearted way. 
 
 " But my poor brother has. I act for him ! " 
 
 Imogene's agile hand is already in Flora's pocket, 
 Mrs. Passmere making but a faint resistance. 
 
 " Oho, I've got two !" she jeers. No, this is the one 
 to Katsuma; "I'll post that! This other one, Flora, 
 for my brother's peace of mind, for your duty to him 
 
 as wife, I " She hastily glances over and shudder- 
 
 ingly places in her pocket the European epistle, ad- 
 dressed to Mrs. Elton, then says : " Now, come along, 
 quick ! I'll post Osuri's letter ! " 
 
 With this Imogene strides out of the Gardens clutch- 
 ing the epistle that would warn the Japanese of Eira's 
 visit to the Chinese capital, but keeping Flora's mind 
 from it by saying, in horrified tones : "I think I should 
 tell Arthur of your love-letter from that awful 
 Baron ! Really, I think I should. But still, if you're 
 very penitent, perhaps I won't. I don't want to break 
 my poor brother's heart." 
 
 A moment later they are on another car. When 
 they reach the Central Post-Office, upon the Queen's 
 Road, Miss Passmere suggests : " Wait a moment, 
 while I drop Eira's letter in the box ! " and runs into 
 the general post-office under that curious arch in- 
 scribed, " As cold water is to the thirsty soul, so is 
 good news from a far country." 
 
 Standing outside, Flora, in her fright about the very 
 ardent letter from the German baron thinks very little 
 of the epistle to the Japanese. 
 
 Her panic is deftly increased by her self-appointed 
 governante, who shortly comes out, having the letter
 
 174 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 for Katsuma stowed carefully away in her pocket. 
 Thinking it wise to erase it from her emotional charge's 
 mind, Miss Passmere adroitly harps on the European 
 one. 
 
 After they have crossed upon the Tsim-tsa-Tsui 
 ferryboat and entered the garden of their villa Imo- 
 gene suddenly whispers : " I can't exactly understand 
 the drift of that German's letter" ; then gasps : " Great 
 Heavens, did the baron really kiss you, that evening at 
 Marienbad, Flora ? " next breaks out in Puritanical 
 horror : " You needn't speak ; your face answers me. 
 Oh, Arthur, poor deceived Arthur ! " 
 
 " How could I deceive him until I knew him," flut- 
 ters Mrs. Passmere, desperately. 
 
 " Oh, since you are impenitent, I must tell my 
 brother ! " 
 
 " For God's sake, don't don't kill his love for me ! 
 You're always bringing up my ante-nuptial errors," 
 sobs her victim. " You will increase Arthur's awful 
 jealousy!" and perturbation and misery completely 
 wipe from Flora's agitated mind Miss Boardman's let- 
 ter to the man who had sworn to guard her. 
 
 Having produced her effect, Imogene turns in crafty 
 triumph from the affair to be dismayed by her brother 
 coming home with a frightened face. Taking her aside, 
 he whispers : " I won't go to North China." 
 
 " Why not ? " she asks, her face quivering with dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 " Because I chanced to meet old Watson over at the 
 Whampoa Dock you remember him the tattooed 
 fellow, who was my right bower in that Twuy Chow 
 opium affair, the one for which Li Wong Chieun 
 grabbed me, and, for that matter, you, my little, shiver- 
 ing sister," mutters Arthur, noting Aliss Passmere 
 shudder. " You know old Watson they call him 
 ' Old Treaty Port,' the beggar has been in the East 
 so long. From what he told me, I'm fly enough to be
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 175 
 
 dead sure there will be such an outbreak that the world 
 has scarcely seen the like, over all Northern China. 
 No little missionary massacre ; a regular Mongolian 
 typhoon of fanatic rage, barbarous outrage, torture, 
 murder, fire, for all Foreign Devils. Between our- 
 selves, I think they intend to butcher in Peking the 
 legations of the civilized world." Arthur's voice is 
 low, impressed and awe-stricken. 
 
 " Pish, you're trying to frighten me, you fool ! " cries 
 his sister, angrily. " Besides, we go no further than 
 Tien-Tsin. That's under the guns of the foreign war- 
 ships. There you are safe as here. In addition, think 
 what you'll gain." Her tone grows very guarded ; she 
 is whispering now. 
 
 " Oh, a beggarly few thousand taels from Li Wong 
 Chieun, of which he'll cheat me, if he can ; and for 
 which, if he gets the chance, he'll butcher me." 
 
 The time has come for Miss Passmere to play her 
 grand card. The scheme that has slowly grown in her 
 crafty brain is not ready in all its avariciously daring 
 details. 
 
 " Idiot ! " she says, impressively, coolly, sneering- 
 ly, " the very magnitude of this outbreak insures two 
 deaths that will make you a prince." 
 
 "What the deuce are yer driving at?" 
 
 " Your Uncle Boardy is an American multi-million- 
 aire a man with an income greater than some of the 
 crowned heads of Europe. Your wife is his only niece. 
 He has no near relations but Flora. Think what that 
 means if he dies, and, if in addition his daughter, in 
 despair and misery, passes from the earth." 
 
 " By Jove, you are a corker ! " 
 
 " Think think THINK ! No heir but your wife, 
 who is as melted wax within your hands. Be un- 
 daunted for a month or two and the little beggar boy 
 of Tung-Chow Mission becomes richer and more pow- 
 erful than many princes of this earth ! " 
 
 " Great Scott, I never thought of that ! What an
 
 176 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 astute devil you are, Genie ! " mutters Arthur, his eyes 
 growing big at thought of Joel's many millions. 
 
 Fired by her words, he continues, stoutly: "All 
 right, as far as Tien-Tsin !" then adds : "Egad, 
 you're a brave one to go, Genie," and strides off hast- 
 ily but resolutely to reserve staterooms on the Jardine, 
 Matheson & Co.'s steamer. 
 
 " A brave one," murmurs Miss Passmere, gazing 
 after him. " A desperate one ! If Li Wong Chieun 
 murders the American, the big arms manufacturer is 
 important enough for the Yankee government to de- 
 mand and get the accursed head of the brutal Chinese 
 mandarin whose monkey-love made me ashamed to 
 look my kind in the face." Her glazed eyes grow full 
 of a kind of crazy horror, but that doesn't make her 
 merciful. Two hectic spots of passion flame on either 
 delicate cheek. She jeers: "The same degradation 
 for the proud beauty who came betwixt me and his 
 love. Should Chieun's Chinese lust sully the American 
 lily, the girl, in high-minded sentiment will either kill 
 herself or make confession that she is not fit mate to 
 honest man. When spots have sullied Jim Ingraham's 
 sun, perchance he may turn to me, the silent victim. 
 His looks were ardent upon the steamer's deck. Can 
 
 I " her eyes are tendd, with a longing yet radiant 
 
 with a hope " Can I from my rival's degradation gain 
 his love? Oh, merciful Heaven, am I killing three 
 birds with one astute, diabolic, yet tremendous stone ! " 
 
 And the crafty little fairy runs gleefully to the win- 
 dow; for Master Harold is shouting to her: "Venes 
 id! Meine Mutter is too lazy to play, aujourd' hui!" 
 
 She looks upon Mrs. Passmere, who is seated 
 languidly by her child, and smiles. She feels Eira's 
 letter, to the Japanese, safely in her pocket, mixed 
 with some of the plundered lady's bank notes, and 
 thinks : " Flora is an aid to my plan, not a detriment. 
 She's weak as wax!"
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 177 
 
 But airy Miss Passmere forgets that Flora is mother- 
 hood that danger to the curly-headed boy she is ca- 
 ressing will arouse a mother's love that dares all 
 things; that endures all things; that makes maternity, 
 in its unselfish devotion, divine in power !
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 BLUE BEARD'S CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE WHITE PAGODA. 
 
 A few days after this, Mr. Passrnere, his bride and 
 sister accompanying Mr. and Miss Boardman take one 
 of Jardine, Matheson & Co.'s steamers for Shanghai 
 and Tien Tsin. 
 
 The journey to North China though warm is pleas- 
 ant, Flora probably enjoying the honeymoon voyage 
 more than any excursion in her life, her handsome 
 husband being very attentive to his lovely bride, and 
 Imogene's government not greatly en evidence. 
 
 When not with her spouse Mrs. Passrnere is happy 
 with her boy, whose sharp eyes and sprightly polyglot 
 tongue apparently keep gentlemen admirers at a safe 
 distance from his beautiful mama. 
 
 Sea air seems to make Boardman and Arthur quite 
 chummy, the American beginning to have a better 
 opinion of his niece's husband than he had before ac- 
 corded him; consequently the gentlemen drink to- 
 gether quite often, and frequent the smoking-room a 
 good deal. To this Joel is perhaps driven by the far- 
 away look that is gradually coming into his daughter's
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. I'jg 
 
 sapphire eyes, as she reads and re-reads the first let- 
 ter from her betrothed in the Philippines. 
 
 Over this look Miss Passmere gloats. It is the one 
 happiness of her life. It kills her conscience if she 
 ever had any, and makes her long for North China 
 and catastrophe to this exquisite being who has what 
 she hungers for Jim Ingraham's love. 
 
 As they approach Shanghai, however, Eira's face 
 grows brighter with the anticipation of new scenes, 
 and the brilliant life of the Peking legations. The 
 beautiful girl has a merry if not a happy spirit, and 
 several times laughs at her cousin as that once 
 haughty and aesthetic lady makes some remark which 
 indicates that her husband is now her lord supreme. 
 Once Miss Young America glances rather curiously 
 at little Harold as the urchin prattles : " Meine neue 
 Tante likes me to tell her what der chaps whisper to 
 ma chcre woman quand nous faisons noire promenade 
 tons les matins." 
 
 But Flora, ashamed to confess that the sprightly 
 Miss Passmere has assumed arbitrary rule over her, 
 turns this off by laughing: " Of course Imogene wants 
 to hear if Captain Roberts, of the Newchang Coal Co. 
 and little Ariste Belguard, of the French Consul's of- 
 fice at Shanghai, use the same compliments to other 
 ladies that they whisper in her ear." 
 
 Notwithstanding this, Miss Autocrat notes that the 
 once dashing Flora is extraordinarily demure each 
 morning in her demeanor to gentlemen, and keeps her 
 bright brown eyes very straight in front of her as she 
 leads her little Harold up and down the white deck. 
 Communing with herself Imogene thinks determin- 
 edly : " When the time comes, if necessary, I shall 
 have the whip hand of Flora." Then lounging in her 
 steamer-chair the fairy turns evil eyes upon the beau- 
 tiful American, as Miss Boardman takes her morning 
 constitutional, attended on one side by old Colonel 
 Jaggers, of the Shanghai Volunteers, and on the other
 
 FLACJS. 
 
 by little Cummings, who is just out from England to 
 take a post in the Peking branch of the H. and S. Bank. 
 
 So they approach Shanghai; where the Honorable 
 Arthur, fearing to meet people who may remember 
 him, hides in his stateroom during the time the 
 steamer is off that port, an attention which gives his 
 unsuspecting bride another rapture. 
 
 The next evening the two gentlemen are smoking 
 their after-dinner cigars as the Middle Kingdom leaves 
 behind the lightships below Woo-sung, the Honora- 
 Arthur having emerged from the seclusion of his cabin. 
 
 " I'm mighty glad, Passmere," remarks the Yankee, 
 " that you are so crack, cock sure these Boxer fellers 
 won't make an outbreak near Peking this season. Most 
 commercial people in that town behind us don't think 
 much about it, but I ran across a missionary there, 
 who hailed from Pao-ting-fu, who thinks differently." 
 
 " Yes, I can quite guess what he said," remarks the 
 Eastern adventurer laughing, " the usual missionary 
 babble about being burned alive and slaughtered by a 
 thousand slices. It always comes at this time of the 
 year, to increase the contributions in American and 
 European churches to the martyrs' fund, don't yer 
 know. But at the club did they say anything about 
 Sir Claude sending Lady Macdonald away from the 
 Peking legation, or Conger dispatching his family to 
 the sea, or that German, Von Ketteler ordering his 
 pretty, young American wife to leave him and go 
 down to the warships at Tien Tsin for fear of the 
 / Ho Chuan, Righteous-Harmony-Fists, that patriotic 
 society for the protection of .China against Foreign 
 Devils, which the Eastern world has christened Box- 
 ers. By Jove ! even the missionaries are holding their 
 posts, don't yer understand. My dear Uncle Boardy, 
 we will probably have the quietest summer that has 
 ever taken place in Northern China since the mission- 
 aries got there to disturb it." 
 
 As the scoundrel puffs this placidly between his thin
 
 .TANGLED FLAGS. l8l 
 
 lips, a peculiar grin is shrouded by the floating vapor. 
 Mr. Passmere is thinking of some information that 
 has lately reached him from Li Wong Chieun. 
 
 A few minutes after, in the seclusion of his state- 
 room he calls his bride to him, puts his arms about her, 
 and giving her a honeymoon kiss wonders if this lady, 
 whose personal beauty is surrendered so docilely to 
 him, whose very mentality seems so absolutely his, 
 whose ample fortune he has already confiscated, is 
 ultimately going to bring to him the multi-millions of 
 her uncle, the great American arms manufacturer and 
 make him a prince upon this earth. 
 
 As he thinks of the means by which this wealth may 
 come to 'him, despite himself the scoundrel shudders ; 
 Eira Boardman is laughing and knocking at the state- 
 room door. 
 
 "Flora!" cries that young lady: "what is your 
 talisman ? You have the 'spooniest' husband in all the 
 East. If you cannot leave him, get him to come with 
 you. We are bound for an impromptu entertainment 
 in the cabin. Young Spriggins is about to sing his 
 coon song which made him celebrated at Singapore; 
 and Thompson's three clerks from Iloilo I forget 
 their names are going to do their Filipino band act, 
 with Spanish ditties and Manila street cries." 
 
 As she mentions the land where her far-away lover 
 is fighting bolo-men, tears dim the betrothed's bright 
 eyes. Noting this, Miss Imogene, who has just strolled 
 up, gives her sufferi .g yet successful rival a fairy but 
 a Judas kiss, as the party adjourn to the main salon. 
 
 Three days after, the Middle Kingdom anchors off 
 the Taku bar. Here Passmere claps Boardman on the 
 shoulder, and jeers : " Does this look like trouble ? 
 Only a couple of Japanese gunboats and a little Eng- 
 lish torpedo-catcher in sight. If there were going to 
 be a row, the fleets of Christendom would be about 
 us." 
 
 But this was only the fifteenth of May, and every-
 
 1 82 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 thing was very quiet off the Taku bar until nearly the 
 end of the month. 
 
 Passing the forts, which look like great, truncated 
 pyramids, the party land at Tungku a couple of miles 
 up the Pei-Ho. Here taking train for Tien Tsin they 
 find themselves in the European concessions of that 
 treaty port late in the afternoon. Further up the river 
 an almost continuous string of coolie villages connect 
 these with the native town whose stout mud walls and 
 high pagoda fort loom up over the surrounding level 
 towards the northeast. 
 
 Almost upon his arrival Boardman is greeted by the 
 near-sighted secretary of Li Wong Chieun, who with 
 many bows states that His Excellency, having been 
 compelled to proceed to Peking, has ordered him to re- 
 main and welcome his American friend ; that in case 
 the great Mr. Boardman does not wish to immediately 
 proceed by railway, he is to offer him the hospitality of 
 one of his master's country palaces, situated a little 
 north of Peit Sang, but a few miles away, where every 
 preparation has been made to do the American honor, 
 and w r here Miss Boardman will be cooler in its 
 orchards and gardens, seated by its playing fountains, 
 than in the hot bund of the British concession. 
 
 " Yes, I have got to stay here a few days," remarks 
 Boardman, "my trunks have been stowed in the 
 steamer's hold, and they will not be up by 
 railway from Tungku for some little time." 
 With this he steps into the Astor House, and striding 
 up to his apartment, consults with Mr. Passmere, 
 who fearing recognition iwm familiar eyes who have 
 known him in his North China career, has again be- 
 come retiring. 
 
 " You had better go on at once to Peking," sug- 
 gests the Honorable Arthur. 
 
 " Not until I get my sample rapid-fires. I may in- 
 duce some of the ministers in the Purple City to buy 
 them up there if they get frightened enough. Besides
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 183 
 
 I want Von Ketteler's approval. Our firm are work- 
 ing to get an order from the German government ; Col- 
 burn's over in Berlin now. However, I will have them 
 up from Tungku on the train in a few days. Now 
 don't you think we had better accept Chieun's hospi- 
 tality? It may be cooler in the country than it is 
 here." 
 
 " His Excellency is not at his country-place ? " 
 queries Passmere, anxiously. 
 
 " No. Chieun's now at Peking." 
 
 A moment later the scoundrel gives a little start, 
 grows sick at the stomach and turns quite pale. After 
 a little he asks with a slight quiver in his voice : " The 
 money the Chinese government owes you is not to be 
 paid at Li Wong Chieun's country place, Mr. Board- 
 man?" 
 
 " Certainly not ! I wish it were, but I have got to 
 receipt for and get the money from the Chinese central 
 treasury at the capital." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I understand," replies Arthur relieved. 
 
 The moment the million taels are paid the Ameri- 
 can he believes the tragedy will be imminent and even 
 he has not the heart to be witness of the portion of it 
 that will pertain to Eira Boardrnan. 
 
 "Just let me think the matter over half a second," 
 continues Passmere ; and ponders deeply. 
 
 He knows that the money from Chieun won't be paid 
 him till Boardrnan and his daughter take the train for 
 Peking. But this is secondary in his mind. If he turns 
 back now Joel may grow timid, any way may leave his 
 daughter behind him with Flora. Actuated by the 
 millions that, if things turn out as he hopes, will come 
 to him through his wife, Arthur determines to venture 
 a little farther. 
 
 So he very shortly says : "All right ! Supposing we 
 go to Chieun's country place." 
 
 " Done ! " returns Boardrnan. " It can't be hotter 
 than this hole," and goes off to tell Chieun's secretary. 
 
 Pondering on this, the adventurer, though nervous,
 
 1 84 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 is not altogether displeased. Afraid of being rec- 
 ognized in Tien Tsin, he thinks the pleasure 
 gardens of the great Chinese mandarin pref- 
 erable, even to a seat by the fountain in the 
 hot English bund. It also appeals to his luxurious 
 disposition. He remembers that Chieun in his younger 
 days had once been the tao-tai or district governor of 
 Tien Tsin, and is reported to have a big, luxurious pal- 
 ace a few miles away, north of the little railroad village 
 of Peit Sang. 
 
 " Whatever may happen at Peking," cogitates Mr. 
 Passmere, " in the vicinity of Tien Tsin, so near the 
 guns of foreign warships, everything will be quiet, 
 pleasant and peaceable, as it always is when one man 
 has got another down and beaten him insensible." 
 
 In this the astute Eastern scoundrel deceives him- 
 self. Had Arthur dared to go out in the streets of the 
 European concessions, or better still into the great 
 native, mud- walled city just a mile or two up the 
 river, he had probably heard enough Chinese talk to 
 warn him that the district is mined with most touchy 
 patriotic, dragon, political gunpowder, and is just now 
 being made ready for the match by the viceroy, the 
 salt commissioner and Generals Mah and Nieh; who 
 are ready to bring down their troops from Shanhai- 
 kuan and surrounding places. 
 
 But knowing nothing of this, he both reasons and 
 acts upon his false premises. So, the next morning, 
 though Miss Passmere, guided by some woman's in- 
 stinct, would dissent, were she not filled with a lust 
 for vengeance upon her rival that makes her nigh des- 
 perate, the whole party make a merry kind of 
 picnic excursion, as Miss Eira expresses it. 
 They take the railroad for the few miles up 
 the river to Peit Sang. Being met there by Li 
 Wong Chieun's Chinese secretary and interpreter, with 
 a procession of pony carts for themselves, and donkey 
 carts for their luggage, they indulge in a laughingly
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 185 
 
 jolting journey over a high mud causeway, running 
 through a country flat as a billiard table, and covered 
 with high growing broom-corn, interspersed with 
 many green gardens of vegetable truck, and a few 
 orchards, mostly bearing the famed Tien Tsin pears. 
 
 An hour of this and the massive walls peculiar to 
 the residences of most Chinese grandees loom up before 
 them. Within the spacious courtyards can be 
 seen the green trees of its orchards and pleas- 
 ure gardens. One or two sprays of water show 
 high-throwing fountains, and the ripple of little 
 streams, running under graceful bamboo bridges 
 and by the side of pretty kiosks, tell them that 
 they are entering the palace of a prince, who lives 
 upon the taxation of the Chinese peasantry ; the mag- 
 nificence of its buildings being in great contrast to the 
 rather squalid villages they have passed. 
 
 Dominating all these is a three-tiered marble pa- 
 goda, which rises graceful as a white swan among the 
 foliage of flowering peony-trees, feathery bamboos and 
 the evergreen larches of Northern China. The sun 
 lighting its symmetrical roof and curving balconies 
 gives it an almost enchanted beauty. 
 
 " Goodness, this is like the 'Arabian Nights' !" 
 ejaculates Eira, clapping her hands, as the pony carts 
 rumble in under the heavy entrance arclrway. 
 
 Even the Yankee speculator is impressed and re- 
 marks : " Looks kinder like the 'Black Crook.' " 
 
 But little Harold, seated in his mother's lap, cries 
 excitedly : "Ma mainan, it is Ic chateau de Barbe Bleue 
 in the story book." 
 
 " Bluebeard's castle ! Mercy ! what an awful mind 
 you have child ! " giggles Flora. 
 
 But Miss Passmere, entering the walls of the satrap 
 has grown morbid ; she thinks tremblingly : " Is it an 
 omen?" and gazes helplessly and half- repentantly at 
 the great lacquered buildings and exquisite pleasure 
 grounds of the mandarin whose ruthless passion, even
 
 1 86 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 as a distant memory, makes her loathe herself. 
 
 As they ride from garden to garden, the spacious- 
 ness of the place as a dwelling is bewildering to West- 
 ern minds, the grounds being divided by many high 
 and strong walls, into a number of separate com- 
 pounds, each beautiful and having its own particular 
 buildings. 
 
 Into one of these, situated in an angle of the outside 
 walls where the breezes come most strongly, for the 
 Chih-li days are already growing very hot, though the 
 nights are still cool, the American and his party are 
 conducted, with affable state and punctillious cere- 
 mony. 
 
 Two magnificent pavilions, built of brick, yet or- 
 namented by porcelain and even jade, give spacious 
 shelter to the guests of Li Wong Chieun ; and a garden, 
 where a trickling stream running under high-arched 
 bridges to a gold-fish pond full of flowering lotus and 
 lovely as that of the enchanted Persian Princess is set 
 apart for the ladies' plaisance. From a corner of this 
 compound near the outer walls rises the three tiered- 
 pagoda, stately and massive in the lower story, light, 
 graceful, almost floating in its upper galleries and 
 curving roof of tiles ; from foundation to pinnacle of 
 gleaming white marble. 
 
 The whole compound is cut off from the rest of 
 the grounds of the mandarin's palace by a solid mud- 
 brick wall ,some ten feet high and four feet thick. On 
 the other side of this can be seen some large abutting 
 buildings and a gorgeous kiosk. Apparently the pa- 
 vilion in their compound, abutting upon the same wall, 
 has been set apart for the ladies, as Eira and Miss Pass- 
 mere, followed by Flora, her boy and ayah, as well 
 as their maids, are immediately ushered into it by sev- 
 eral obsequious attendant women. The gentlemen find 
 both spacious and pleasant quarters in another. 
 
 As the bowing Lum Kee brushes the dust of travel 
 from his master, he questions, with peculiar eagerness
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 187 
 
 for a Chinaman : " Sahib Melican ; everything all 
 lightee for the glate maker of arms and gliver of 
 death?" 
 
 " No; but it will be when you get tiffin on the ta- 
 ble," laughs Joel. 
 
 Shortly after this, the ladies, coming from their 
 rooms in fresh white dresses, look like nymphs in the 
 picturesque garden. Here, being joined by Passmere 
 and Boardman in immaculate duck, they all sit down in 
 a little kiosk to a Celestial variation of an English 
 meal, which seems very pleasant to the travelers ; for 
 Chinese hospitality is always unbounded; French 
 wines and champagnes being served to the gentlemen 
 with Eastern prodigality before their coffee; though 
 the ladies sipping mandarin tea from rare blue porce- 
 lain cups of Tai ware, pronounce it of the most divine 
 flavor and .delicate aroma that has ever greeted their 
 fair lips and pretty nostrils. 
 
 " If this is a Boxer uprising in North China, give 
 me a little more Boxer, eh Passmere ? " laughs Joel, 
 between the whiffs of an exquisite cigar. 
 
 " Yes ; wasn't Captain Katsuma foolish about it ? " 
 prattles Eira, playing with some sugared limes. " His 
 Japanese chum almost frightened poor Jim to death 
 about me." 
 
 " Yes ! came on our wedding day and begged Ar- 
 thur not to bring me!" cries Flora, feasting her eyes 
 upon her handsome spouse. " As if I could be driven 
 by any danger from my husband's side." She sneaks 
 a little white hand into the cold palm of the suave 
 villain, whose fingers despite himself, perspire a little 
 at the monstrous infamy he is aiding, though knowing 
 the value of his bride, in case the fate he has lured 
 Boardman and his daughter comes upon them, he will 
 guard her very carefully from Chinese massacre. 
 
 A few moments after, the gentlemen stroll off with 
 their cigars and climbing the massive stairway inside 
 the white pagoda, seat themselves on its breezy top
 
 1 88 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 balcony; as the ladies go to chatting together quite 
 pleasantly over their tea; the luxurious ending to her 
 journey making, for the moment, the fairy-like Miss 
 Passmere's spirits buoyant. 
 
 " I have something to tell you, girls," whispers 
 Flora, whose eyes are big with an exciting secret, 
 "What do you think? It is quite romantic. Your 
 maid, Imogene, Lie-lie, who speaks the North China 
 Pekingese dialect, whispers to me that the pa- 
 vilions in the adjoining compound are, when Li Wong 
 Chieun comes here, the harem of the great mandarin. 
 He he has left some inmates behind and I have been 
 trying to get a peek bvef the wall at the remnant of 
 his wives, concubines and myriad lady loves." 
 
 For a moment Miss Passmere's face is contorted by 
 a sudden agony, then she whispers sharply : " Flora, 
 I am surprised that you should mention such things 
 to your young cousin. I know Arthur would not ap- 
 prove." 
 
 To the rebuke of her self-appointed mentor, her 
 charge is already too well-trained to make reply. Em- 
 barrassed Flora remains silent though her eyes grow 
 haughty and her lip quivers. 
 
 But Eira cries : " What a little prig you are, Ge- 
 nie ! " then laughs : " But I forgot ; Jim said on the 
 City of Rio Janeiro they always called you the little 
 missionary maid because you pretended to be so good !" 
 and so makes her enemy hate her a little more. 
 
 So all this day of luxurious rest after the toils of 
 their long journey every one seems happy save Imo- 
 gene. She had shrank from this visit to the mandarin's 
 palace. She had refused to leave Tien Tsin till Ar- 
 thur had said : " If you seem to fear the hospitality 
 of Chieun, don't expect Boardman to have too much 
 faith in it ! Come along or you'll frighten our prey 
 as they stand at the very entrance of the trap." 
 
 So driven by hatred she has accompanied her vic- 
 tim to the satrap's palace. Here, long after nightfall,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 189 
 
 Miss Passmere paces the. lacquered floor of her cham- 
 ber, and remembering Li Wong Chieun, shudders: 
 " That imp, Harold, said Blue Beard's castle ! Next to 
 me are his wives and concubines of which I am oh, 
 unmerciful Heaven, should he return too soon !" 
 
 And the lovely songs of the Chinese night- 
 ingales that come to her from neighboring 
 thickets of feathery bamboo and sweet-smelling 
 magnolias which wave over clumps of tuberoses whose 
 midnight perfume makes the air heavy, do not soothe 
 her devilish yet perturbed spirit. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE COMING OF THE MANDARIN. 
 
 From this fairyland, a few days after, Boardman 
 lured by the million taels that are waiting for him in 
 Peking, and notified that all his baggage is on the 
 railway for transportation to the Chinese capital de- 
 parts, taking his daughter ; though to his astonishment 
 he leaves Passmere with his wife and sister and little 
 Harold behind him. 
 
 This is brought about by the following conversation : 
 " Arthur, you had better get your wife's boxes for- 
 warded to the railway station," Joel has remarked 
 laughingly, as the two, after a luxurious meal are en- 
 joying their evening cigars in the cool breeze of the 
 highest balcony of the pagoda; "Flora, I think, has 
 more trunks than my daughter, and that is saying a 
 good deal." 
 
 Here the Honorable Arthur, knocking the ashes 
 from his cigar over the marble balustrade, has aston- 
 ished his uncle by marriage. He has said. " I will fol- 
 low you to Peking in a few days, Uncle Boardy." 
 
 " You, Flora and Miss Passmere are not going with
 
 108 ?AtfGLt FLAdS. 
 
 my daughter and me ? " queries the wondering finan- 
 cier. 
 
 " No ! While in Tien Tsin I received a special mes- 
 sage from Sir Claude, charging me to do some very 
 private business for him during the next few days 
 with the British consul there. It's mighty ticklish and 
 secret. You noticed that I did not leave my apartments 
 at the hotel when in that place; the English minister 
 wishes me to keep it very quiet, can't yer see?" 
 
 " How long do you think Macdonald's affair will de- 
 lay you ? " 
 
 " Only a few days. I will jog down to Tien Tsin 
 to-morrow, its only seven or eight miles ; I shall see you 
 on Legation Street, Peking, in a week or two at the 
 latest. You will not want to return from the capital 
 for some time, I am sure. You will never be able to 
 get Eira away from the legations during the summer, 
 don't yer know." Using the privilege of being mar- 
 ried to her cousin the scoundrel has got to calling his 
 victim by her first name. 
 
 " It is the most beautiful place on earth," he con- 
 tinues, " that Pa-ta-chu, the Hill of the Eight Big 
 Temples ; streams foaming down mountain gorges and 
 flooding marble fish-ponds filled with lotus flowers and 
 goldfish, can't yer see." 
 
 " Well, I have got to go on at once," says the Amer- 
 ican, shortly. " My money is waiting me at Peking ; 
 and a million taels is worth looking after." 
 
 Whereupon, though somewhat disgruntled by the 
 desertion of the Passmere party, Joel very early the 
 next morning, attended by Lum Kee, takes his daugh- 
 ter, and getting over the two or three miles to the 
 Peking railway by pony-cart boards the train at the 
 Peit Sang station ; and that evening finds himself in the 
 Chinese capital. 
 
 Here his business is unaccountably delayed by 
 what he curses as Chinese bureaucratic methods, but 
 which are really the astute work of Li Wong Chieunj
 
 FLAGS. 101 
 
 who is watching the Dowager Empress to see which 
 way the Chinese dragon will jump: foreign or anti- 
 foreign ; a mistake on this vital point being dangerous 
 to his head. 
 
 During this time, Miss Eira, accepting the hospitality 
 of the wife of the American minister and Lady Mac- 
 donald, passes a few delightful days up at the " Hills," 
 that summer Mecca of the European legations in China 
 amid amorous attaches and ardent diplomats, who 
 bow not only to her great wealth but also to her radiant 
 beauty which has become more spirituelle than ever ; 
 for another letter has reached the young lady from 
 the lieutenant of the Ninth Infantry in the Philippines, 
 to put additional soul in the depths of her blue eyes. 
 
 All the while, with his bride and sister, Arthur 
 lingers luxuriously in the mandarin's palace, and at- 
 tended by Flora, who flits by his side through the 
 lovely gardens and lights his cigars and brings his 
 B and S's to him, waiting for news of a catastrophe 
 from North China which comes not. Too confident; 
 the scoundrel keeps within Li Wong Chieun's country 
 palace, which is several miles distant from the Peking 
 railway; otherwise he would notice the passage of the 
 foreign marines from Tien Tsin to protect their lega- 
 tions in the capital, or certainly would receive some 
 hint to betake himself at least as far as the European 
 concessions by the Pei-Ho River bank. 
 
 Twice his sister, who waiting, has grown very ner- 
 vous, tells him it is best to go, whispering: "I have seen 
 parties of men bearing those peculiar three-cornered 
 Boxer banners passing on the near-by roads ; but these, 
 noting the flag of the mandarin floating over his pal- 
 ace, have not come near. Besides, to-day, I thought I 
 heard the sound of distant musketry towards the south- 
 east." 
 
 " If we fled from here suddenly, and word of it got 
 by any chance to Boardman, it might frighten him 
 away from Peking before out object is accomplished,"
 
 102 TANGLED FLAGS, 
 
 observes Arthur in mathematical suaveness. "Be- 
 sides, Genie, if there is trouble about Tien 
 Tsin, here, under the Chinese war commis- 
 sioner's flag, is the safest place for us, likewise 
 Flora, whom we must guard very carefully, for 
 through her will come to us the multi-millions of her 
 uncle, after Li Wong Chieun has done him up for the 
 
 million taels, and " Scoundrel as he is Passmere 
 
 cannot frame the sentence. 
 
 " And made his daughter dies with shame," inter- 
 jects Imogene, hoarsely. Yes, I am waiting to hear 
 that. That's what induces me to take the danger of 
 lingering here. I want to know that Miss Immacu- 
 late has been thrown to the earth and sullied as I " 
 
 Her teeth, piercing 'her lip, check her words. 
 
 At this her brother, misunderstanding the peculiar 
 import of her speech, gives a low whistle, and laughs : 
 "Oho, I always thought it was jealously or something 
 feminine and fiendish that made my little sister so 
 vindicative. It wasn't the money, it was revenge. My 
 Genie was thwarted in some love affair t>y the beauti- 
 ful Miss Boardman. Was it the Japanese captain or 
 the young American lieutenant ? Both have given their 
 hearts " 
 
 " Yes, both have given their hearts to Miss Ethereal," 
 snarls his sister, " but I want only one. I'll have him, 
 too! Tell me as soon as you hear that Li Wong Chieun 
 has done his work." 
 
 And the little wretch strides off to her dressing- 
 room from which the squeals of her two Chinese slave 
 maids who are being soundly caned soon proclaim that 
 Miss Passmere has grown irritable under the strain of 
 a hideous and uncertain waiting. 
 
 Suddenly the bamboo in Imogene's hand is arrested, 
 and the shrinking Lie-lie looks ur> and sees she has a 
 protector. Mrs. Passmere running in, is grasping 
 nervously the wrist of the stern mistress and expos-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 '93 
 
 tulating : " Don't be so cruel, Genie ! Don't beat the 
 poor girl so ! " 
 
 " Take your hand from my arm, Flora ! " says Miss 
 Passmere icily. " You know it is the only way to get 
 along with Chinese slaves. Would you 'destroy my 
 authority over one who has known my rule and 
 loves me for'it, ever since I bought her in Wenchow, 
 years ago? " 
 
 But Flora's fingers still clutching her wrist, Imogene 
 whispers : " You, yourself, forget ! Your hand from 
 my arm instantly! Remember that letter from that 
 Baron, which I have not yet shown to your husband." 
 
 Shrinking from her, Flora bows her head and runs 
 from the room, and Miss Passmere proceeds unrelent- 
 ingly with her correction. 
 
 Flora's interference has saved the unfortunate Chin- 
 ese girl not one blow, but it has gained for her a faith- 
 ful Chinese heart that some day may repay the copper- 
 cash of sympathy with the golden shekels of a mighty 
 gratitude. 
 
 Imogene never alludes to the incident, but Flora's 
 shrinking manner proclaims that her talisman of the 
 Baron's letter is still potent over the aesthetic Mrs. 
 Passmere. 
 
 The movement of troops of which his sister has in- 
 formed him makes Arthur uneasy. He seeks Chieun's 
 secretary, but finds he has disappeared. Speaking the 
 language he goes to pumping the Chinese attendants, 
 who meander through their domestic duties with an 
 Oriental placidity that almost deceives the Eastern ad- 
 venturer. From them, however, he at last picks up that 
 there is fighting down Tungku way between some Rus- 
 sians and the I-Ho-Chuan. Pondering over this Pass- 
 mere grows agitated, and says to his sister : :< To- 
 morrow we will get out of here and go to Tien Tsin, 
 yer understand." 
 
 They have already made their arrangements, when 
 that evening they receive a shock.
 
 194 TANGLED FLAQS. 
 
 Late at night, there comes to them, conducted by the 
 ever-smiling Lum Kee and the near-sighted interpreter 
 of Li Wong Chieun, an excited, travel-stained, almost 
 wild-eyed Yankee, bringing with him a worn-out 
 young lady, whose white dress shows the stains of 
 Pei-Ho valley dust ; whose dainty boots are almost torn 
 off her little feet from struggling through muddy 
 causeways. It is the American manufacturer and his 
 daughter. 
 
 To Arthur's astonished questions Boardman gasps : 
 " Something to revive my child ; and cut this cussed 
 Chih-li dust out of my burning throat." 
 
 And Passmere with rather a shaking hand giving 
 him wine, he pours part of it between his daughter's 
 parched lips, and quaffing the rest startles the party 
 by saying hoarsely : "By Goliah, I reckon I am about 
 the last Foreign Devil out of Peking!" 
 
 " Good Heavens ! " This is a scream from Flora ; 
 for both she and Imogene have run out. 
 
 " Yes, they tore up the railway just as we got to 
 Peit Sang. That cut me off; but Lum Kee recognized 
 the station, and somehow that near-sighted secretary 
 of Li Wong Chieun happened to be about, and so we 
 got through, he chattering to surrounding coolies and 
 threatening Boxers about my being the mandarin's 
 friend." 
 
 " Oh, gracious ! Your French maid ? Have they 
 killed her ? " gasps Flora. 
 
 " Shucks, the girl was too frightened to travel, and 
 we left her at the French legation," answers Board- 
 man. 
 
 " Then why didn't you also leave your daughter be- 
 hind you ? " queries Passmere, uneasily. 
 
 " Because I thought I could get her through O. K., 
 and by the blessing of God I have done it," answers her 
 father. " Four hundred foreign marines got into Pe- 
 king before I left, and the legations may hold out but
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 195 
 
 I guess Sir Claude and Conger and the rest of them 
 will have to stand a siege." 
 
 " Besides," asserts Eira, who is regaining her vivac- 
 ity, " I wouldn't let him leave me behind ; I wouldn't 
 be cut off from the outside world. To remain in Pe- 
 king would have meant imprisonment, and I will be 
 in touch with the man I love." 
 
 " Bravo ! " cries Imogene ; and her face, which had 
 been for a moment almost sympathetic, now becomes 
 set as marble. " You had better come in, Eira," she 
 goes on quietly. " Fortunately you left some of your 
 trunks behind you, so you have fresh dresses." And 
 Miss Judas assists the girl she is bent on betraying to 
 worse than death, into the pavilion. 
 
 Flora, whose face is pale, and who has twice whis- 
 pered to herself: "My boy!" and once clasped her 
 hands nervously together and shuddered : " Danger to 
 my little Harold ! " would follow them. This lady's 
 hysterical nature is a menace to her plans that Miss 
 Passmere has feared. Flora's love for her boy may 
 make her break out in some moment when they must 
 control her. Imogene had advised her brother to leave 
 the urchin behind at Hong Kong, but the child was 
 too young for school, and had to be brought if his 
 mother came, and Flora's presence was vital to induce 
 Boardman to bring his daughter. Therefore as Eira 
 passes into her room Imogene stops Flora in the hall- 
 way and whispers: "Don't come with your cousin, 
 you are hysterical already." 
 
 " But I must hear the news from Peking ; I want 
 to know if there is any danger to my child here." 
 
 " There is none ; were there danger to him, there 
 would be danger to all of us," answers Miss Pass- 
 mere, sharply. " Your emotional nature is overcoming 
 you, Flora. Yon will distress your cousin, who has 
 suffered too. much anxiety and fatigue this day." 
 
 But Flora almost pressing past her, her self-ap- 
 pointed governante's voice suddenly becomes very
 
 196 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 stern though very low. She commands : " Go to your 
 boy at once. I hear Harold crying. The careless ayah 
 neglects him; it is already his bedtime. Why don't 
 you attend to your child ? " 
 
 At this ingenious but unjust reflection, indignant 
 tears fly into the beautiful eyes of the accused. " My 
 Heavens, Genie, how can you reproach me with that ? I 
 love my husband and you hold a past flirtation over my 
 head ; I adore my boy and you suggest that I neglect 
 him," falters Flora, and goes droooingly but rapidly 
 away to do her monitress's bidding. 
 
 Left with Passmere, Joel, who American like, by this 
 time has got some whiskey near him, takes another 
 drink, and pointing to five mule carts, each one loaded 
 with a great box, that are making their way into the 
 court-yard, chuckles : " By hockey, here comes my 
 baggage ! " and orders the packing cases put into his 
 bedroom, which he says is big enough for a storehouse. 
 
 " Is that the silver ? " asks Passmere, then suddenly 
 whispers : " No ! a million taels is about fifty tons ; it 
 would take at lea^. seventy-five pony-carts." 
 
 " The silver? Not much! " grins Boardman, "Those 
 are my automatic rapid-fires and ammunition. They 
 are not worth much so I brought them along with me." 
 
 " But the silver ? Didn't you get it from the Chin- 
 ese government ? " again queries Arthur, who knows 
 part of Li Wong Chieun's plot depends upon Board- 
 man's receipt of the metal. 
 
 " You bet I did. What did I go to Peking for? " 
 grins the man of business. 
 
 " Then what have you done with it? " 
 
 " Well, I don't mind telling you," chuckles the Yan- 
 kee. And, lowering his voice, he nearly knocks Mr. 
 Passmere off his feet by whispering : " I had it all 
 buried under one of the British legation buildings in 
 Peking. Four hundred assorted marines, and Sir 
 Claude's under secretary are taking care of it for me. It 
 was too bulky and heavy for running the Boxer block-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 197 
 
 ade ; as you say, it would have taken seventy-five carts 
 to bring it up from the Peit Sang station." Here the 
 American starts, looks astounded, and mutters : "And, 
 by Jingo, that's funny ! Hang me if Li Wong Chieun's 
 secretary whom we picked up at the station by good 
 luck after our train was headed off, didn't have just 
 about seventy-five donkey and pony carts with him, 
 and seemed rather astonished that I only wanted five. 
 But, by Mother Goose, I am hungry." And Joel calls 
 in his pidgin American : " Hi Lumky, gettee din- 
 ner quick as hellee! Reckon my daughter can pick a 
 bit as well as I," and goes in to wash the dust of travel, 
 and mud of the Pei-Ho valley from him. 
 
 Thinking over all this late that night, Passmere mut- 
 ters to himself: " Seventy-five carts were at the Piet 
 Sang station. Li Wong Chieun expected the Ameri- 
 can to bring his silver with him here. The railroad 
 torn up! Have I played this game too thin? By the 
 Lord Harry, I, myself, am in Li Wong Chieun's hands 
 when he comes here to complete his crime if " he 
 slaps his clammy hands nervously together "if we 
 are really cut off from Tien Tsin." 
 
 THE NEXT DAY HE KNOWS THEY ARE! 
 
 Machine-guns and cannon are heard to the south- 
 east. Troops are seen passing in large bodies. It is 
 the army of General Mah. 
 
 " What are we going to do ? " whispers Boardman ; 
 whose face has grown very serious. He is thinking of 
 his daughter. 
 
 " The only thing at present," remarks the man of 
 Eastern experiences, " is to remain here. This is the 
 safest place in the whole province of Chih-li. The flag 
 of the great mandarin floats over it." 
 
 " Yes ! but hang it, Chieun's got no soldiers ! I see 
 only servants." 
 
 " That is our safety. Were soldiers about I should 
 fear. As it is, we can, I imagine, live quietly and 
 luxuriously in this delightful spot until the railroad is
 
 198 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 forced again by the Allies, and we travel safely into 
 the Treaty Port. Absolute inaction appears to be our 
 best safety." 
 
 " Well ! darn me if it don't look that way ! " sighs 
 the Yankee, " but I wish my daughter and your wife 
 and sister were not here." 
 
 From this, Mr. Passmere goes off to interview 
 Chieun's secretary. To him, this official says, his near- 
 sighted eyes twinkling : " All right, by and by ! " 
 
 Which assurance is .he most definite Arthur can get 
 out of him. 
 
 So a few more days are spent anxiously listening to 
 the rumble of the fighting as Admiral Seymour's' relief 
 marine division forces its way up the railroad, too few 
 in numbers to expand and reach them, and its return 
 battles on the river, where for its own salvation it 
 desperately captures and occupies the big Hsi-Ku arse- 
 nal above the native town of Tien Tsin. 
 
 Then follow more wearing weeks, during which the 
 unceasing roll of distant artillery tells of the fearful 
 bombardment of the European Concessions, till grad- 
 ually the arriving troops of all nations force the fight 
 and slaughter from the English and foreign settle- 
 ments and the battle rolls about the huge native Chi- 
 nese city. 
 
 Of these events Mr. Boardman's party have no exact 
 conception ; they only guess that desperate combat is 
 going on to the southeast of them ; even Passmere, 
 though he exhausts his Chinese dialects and diplo- 
 matic methods upon Li Wong Chieun's secretary, who 
 seems to act as major-domo of the vast establishment, 
 fails to discover more than that a Foreign Devil's life 
 would scarce last longer than a few hundred breaths, 
 did he venture outside the palace walls of the power- 
 ful Chinese satrap who is high in the Empress Dow- 
 ager's favor, and whose voice is listened to by the 
 Manchu leaders, the bloodthirsty Prince Tuan, the
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 199 
 
 tigerish General Tung-Fu-Hsiang and the snake-like 
 astute Kang-Yi. 
 
 During this time Passmere makes a wild effort to 
 reach Tien Tsin ; urged by his sister, who whispers in 
 despairing voice to him : "If Chieun comes if the 
 tragedy is here ! To make sure the American govern- 
 ment never knows we, his accomplices, will pass 
 away with his victims." 
 
 From this attempt almost within the hour he returns 
 and falters to Imogene : '* I'm lucky to get back alive. 
 The country is ablaze. Our only chance is to remain 
 under the flag of the mandarin, and trust that Chieun 
 cannot or will not come." 
 
 Suddenly towards evening on that day when the 
 roar of battle from distant Tien Tsin rises most per- 
 sistently and savagely on the air, the Eastern adven- 
 turer wishes himself anywhere in the Universe than 
 where he is. He now fears for the safety of his 
 own vile carcass; though his unsuspecting victims are 
 happy. 
 
 For Boardman has run up to the balcony of the big 
 pagoda and is crying in relieved and cheery voice : " By 
 George Washington, my friend Chieun at last! Now 
 all will be well ! " And Eira, flying to her father's 
 side, is laughing : " Chieun's here ! The great man- 
 darin will now conduct us to some treaty port." And 
 Flora with tears in her eyes is holding up Harold over 
 the white marble balustrade to see His Excellency, the 
 War-Commissioner-High, and whispering to her boy: 
 " He'll save my darling from the naughty Boxers ;" 
 that urchin replying in his polygot: " Mein Himmel! 
 ma maman, it's the old blear-eyed Chinaman who used 
 to make Herr Captain Japanese look so savage when he 
 blinked at Cousin Eira. Eh, voila! but haven't they 
 flags enough to go around ? " 
 
 So all these poor, beleaguered ones save Passmere 
 and his sister go to waving their handkerchiefs and 
 cheering to a curious procession of nigh a thousand
 
 200 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Viceroy's soldiers and Boxer coolies with scarlet spots 
 on their clothes and red cord woven in their pigtails, 
 each having over his heart a yellow-josh to make him 
 bullet-proof, mixed with a few long-garbed, smooth- 
 pated Buddhist bruzes. 
 
 These, headed by the War-Commissioner-High in 
 his gorgeous mandarin robes of office, and wear- 
 ing his yellow girdle, and borne in a sedan chair 
 of state by eight running coolies, enter the massive 
 gates of his palace and close them upon the outer 
 world, shutting in a man and two women who are 
 merry with joy of life renewed, a giggling child, and a 
 man and woman who are ghastly with fear of imminent 
 death; while seven miles away over the budding 
 broom-corn is still the hoarse thumping rumbling that 
 tells of seemingly unending battle, down Tien Tsin 
 way. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE FEAST OF BELSHAZZAR. 
 
 From the sight of waving banners and Boxer sol- 
 diers Passmere walks shudderingly to find his sister 
 seated in the seclusion of a bamboo thicket, white as 
 death and trembling in every limb. 
 
 Knowing Chinese methods they very well guess 
 that if the mandarin perpetrates his crime against 
 Boardman and his daughter, he will doubtless do away 
 with any inconvenient foreign witnesses he may have 
 within his grasp, all the more that they have decoyed 
 his prey into his clutches; therefore their whispered 
 consultation is well nigh despairing. 
 
 " Our best hope is that the Empress Dowager, 
 frightened by gathering warships and coming armies, 
 has changed her woman's mind and jumped foreign;
 
 TAXGLED FLAGS. 2OI 
 
 disgraced Tuan and issued an edict against the I-Ho- 
 Chuan," mutters Arthur gloomily. 
 
 " You you should never have brought me here, you 
 fool ! " shudders Imogene. " Wasn't Flora's fortune 
 enough for us ? " 
 
 " Hanged if I didn't want to give up the affair, only 
 you in your insane envy of your successful rival forced 
 this accursed business on me," snarls her brother, as 
 he tries with uncertain ringers to roll a cigarette. 
 
 A merry party are descending from the white pa- 
 goda. 
 
 " God grant that finding Boardman's million taels 
 out of his clutches," mutters Passmere, " Chieun will 
 forego the other part of his design, judging it, from 
 Forbidden-City-politics, too dangerous to his wicked 
 old head. The Empress Dowager, don't yer see, 
 thinks no more of decapitating a prince than a coolie. 
 The wary old fox has been in the capital watching how 
 the Chinese dragon will jump. If the cry is: 'Down 
 with Foreign Devils ! ' after the mandarin has seized 
 that sylph-like goddess who is pratting so merrily over 
 there by the fountain, and to do this I can tell you 
 he'll have to slay her Yankee father, both you and me 
 my little Genie, will be goners," sighs the adventurer. 
 " Ex-opium smugglers can scarcely escape when 
 American multi-millionaires are sacrificed, don't yer 
 know?" 
 
 To this gloomy prognostication Imogene answers 
 nothing, though vengeful even in her despair ; the little 
 wretch thinks savagely: "Anyway, Miss Immaculate, 
 soiled, crushed, made to loathe herself as I do, goes 
 also ! " 
 
 For Eira is prattling joyously : " Soon I shall 
 join the man I love, Flora. If we escape I made 
 Papa promise that I might wed Jim when I choose. 
 All will be bright and happy from now on for- 
 evermore." And the young fiancee makts an ex-
 
 202 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 quisite picture as she kisses and thanks her father, 
 whose stern old eyes are now dim with tears. 
 
 Looking on her rival's confident hope, Miss Pass- 
 mere smiles an uncanny smile, then suddenly shivers 
 as if stricken by the ague. Li Wong Chieun's near- 
 sighted Han-lin Literati secretary bowing before 
 them, is announcing in careful yet accurate English: 
 " My master, the great mandarin, in joy of his arrival, 
 begs that his guest, the august American an'd his party, 
 will honor him by accepting the evening meal at his 
 hands and in his presence, at his kiosk on the white 
 lotus lake in his private gardens. His Excellency spe- 
 cially invites the ladies ! " The Chinese secretary rolls 
 his languid eyes toward Imogene. " The collation will 
 be served under lantern-lights at dusk, amid the songs 
 of Mongolian larks and Canton thrushes. August Mr. 
 Boardman, will you do my master honor? " 
 
 " You bet ! " answers the American, cheerfully. " I 
 want to shake my friend Chieun by the hand for taking 
 all this trouble for our safety." 
 
 " Come? Of course we will! and put on our pretti- 
 est frocks, eh Flora ? to thank the mandarin for reliev- 
 ing our anxiety. We have hardly time to get ready," 
 laughs Eira. Radiant with hope, she trips lightly over 
 the green to her room, her arm about Mrs. Passmere's 
 slight waist, who with a mother's unselfish love seems 
 to think but of the safety of her little urchin she car- 
 ries in her arms. 
 
 As Miss Passmere turns silently to follow them, her 
 brother places his hand upon her arm and whispers : 
 " Now that we are in Chieun's hands by evil fortune, 
 our only hope, Genie, is to do the satrap's will. I 
 might bluff him in an English colony like Hong Kong, 
 or even a treaty port, but here we are in his power." 
 
 With these words of deeper import in her ear than 
 even her advisor thinks, Imogene strides half- 
 stumbling away, to make her toilet for the banquet of 
 the War-Commissioner-High; while Passmere, hi$
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 203 
 
 hand shaking slightly though he has by this time con- 
 trived to light his cigarette, forcing himself to pla- 
 cidity languidly strolls to Boardman and suggests: 
 " Best let Li Wong Chieun know that your million taels 
 in silver are up at the British legation, Peking way." 
 
 " Why so ? " asks the American ; looking astonished. 
 
 " Oh ! everything's money in China ; and service like 
 the mandarin proposes to give you will cost a good 
 deal if he happens to think the cash is in front of him." 
 
 " I don't believe Chieun wants a cent for saving me 
 and my daughter," says the Yankee heartily. " We 
 came up to Peking at his invitation, he gave me the 
 million taels himself and got my receipt for the Chinese 
 government. At the capital, Eira seemed to make a 
 great impression on him. I have a better opinion 
 of His Excellency than you, Passmere, though I 
 presume you are so hand and glove with the English 
 legation that you think you know everything po- 
 litical. That business for the British Minister, which 
 kept you down here, must have been mighty pri- 
 vate and circumspect," chuckles Joel, '' When I men- 
 tioned your name to Sir Claude hang me if that wary 
 diplomat didn't affect to have never heard of you ; and 
 as for Sir Robert Hart, when I suggested you, he 
 looked the unutterable." 
 
 " Yes, we diplomatists are pretty deep, yer know. 
 Still waters and all that sort of thing," murmurs Ar- 
 thur, and wanders off to make his preparations for the 
 mandarin's banquet, with a heavy heart. 
 
 This is not made lighter by the festival, some hours 
 later, which seems to the adventurer as he inspects it 
 with anxious eye, like a banquet of death though it is 
 a feast of fairyland. 
 
 In faultless evening dress, Arthur stands at the foot 
 of the lacquered steps that lead to an exquisite kiosk in 
 the mandarin's private garden ; and, after gallantly 
 assisting the ladies, silently watches the party headed
 
 204 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 by Boardman enter between kowtowing servants, to 
 be welcomed by the Chinese potentate. 
 
 At renewed lease of life, all are merry save Miss 
 Passmere and her brother, the ladies in their -light 
 evening robes looking like sylphs; Imogene, with her 
 slight but exquisitely moulded figure, appearing per- 
 haps the most fairy-like of them all ; though as Ar- 
 thur stands below her he notices his sister's tiny feet 
 in high-heeled white satin slippers and delicate, gleam- 
 ing hosiery, tremble and falter as she approaches the 
 presence of Li Wong Chieun. 
 
 To himself he cogitates gloomily : " Poor little 
 Genie is more frightened than I am of that Chinese 
 devil," then mutters : " What, in Heaven's name, has 
 been going on at the native city ? " 
 
 For, as it has done all this day, the dull thud of dis- 
 tant battle down Tien Tsin way vibrates in the air 
 and now it forms a low, sad bass to some serpent-fid- 
 dles, high-keyed, discordant clarionettes, cymbals, 
 gongs and bells, which give forth an exasperating, 
 weird, Chinese musical welcome. 
 
 Heaving a sigh, Arthur strides in after his sister, to 
 gaze upon a table which, majestic in its art treasures 
 of porcelain, antique bronzes and cloisonne-enamel, 
 and covered with flowers gorgeous beyond imagina- 
 tion, is set for festival, in the graceful yet spacious 
 kiosk. 
 
 Through the wide-open arches of the Eastern sum- 
 mer-house, he sees a surrounding islet whose arti- 
 ficial rocks are covered with enormous ferns and flow- 
 ering tree-peonies ; and whose grassy slopes are made 
 fragrant by the sad and heavy odor of banks of white 
 tuberoses. The serial bamboo bridges leading to it 
 spring in graceful, illuminated curves over the little 
 lake, whose placid surface is covered with white lotus 
 flowers, though here and there, these are splotched by 
 great masses of the red variety. 
 
 Flickering under a thousand Chinese lanterns sport
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 2O$ 
 
 iridescent schools of goldfish, dashing through the 
 crystal water and playing about the green-stemmed 
 blossoms. The surrounding shores are clothed with 
 feather-like woods of bamboo and thickets of flowering 
 magnolias, from which the songs of Mongolian 
 larks and myriads of Canton thrushes, mingle with the 
 sweet notes of the rarer nightingales, and the soft goo- 
 ing of strolling peacocks with expanded gorgeous tails. 
 
 At the table and doing the honors as its host, is His 
 Excellency, Li Wong Chieun, in full mandarin robes ; 
 blazing with jewels and grand with peacock feathers. 
 Around 'his burly waist is bound the yellow zone indi- 
 cating imperial descent. His secretary, standing be- 
 hind his chair of state, is interpreting for him. 
 
 The soft, sleepy, Oriental eyes of the satrap have 
 the calm of a battle already won as he gazes at Board- 
 man, who is thanking him for the safety that his pres- 
 ence brings his daughter; and his thick, sensual red- 
 betel-stained lips have the quiet confidence of appetite 
 about to be appeased as he looks upon Eira, whose 
 beauty this evening seems of the air and not of the 
 earth, whose bright eyes shine more brilliantly with 
 hope than his blue diamonds. Girlish yet womanly, 
 her radiant mien makes her a very goddess of joy as 
 she extends a grateful hand to the Chinese dignitary 
 and says : " God bless your Excellency for journeying 
 all this long way to give me hope of life." 
 
 For even now the noise of battle down Tien Tsin way 
 rises higher on the quiet evening air. 
 
 " So gladdee Missee Eira," murmurs the mandarin, 
 in pidgin English. " So gladdee gladdee heap 
 gladdee ! " And entirely outside Chinese etiquette, the 
 host kisses the delicate outstretched hand. With a 
 rosebud flush Eira draws her fair fingers timidly away, 
 a slightly amazed look coming on her face ; the Orien- 
 tal's lips seem burning. 
 
 Looking carefully on for his very life, Passmere ob- 
 serves the same curious, semi-torpid- snake-like glance
 
 206 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 in the mandarin's eyes that had made Osuri Katsuma's 
 blood boil in far-away Hong Kong; and the heart of 
 this man, who knows Eastern character, sinks. 
 
 A moment later the Chinese Commissioner-High 
 welcoming Mrs. Passmere gives her a favoring glance ; 
 for that lady, in ecstasy at her Harold's safety, is su- 
 perbly gowned in one of her imported Parisian robes, 
 her sculptured shoulders and rounded arms gleaming 
 in snowy magnificence. 
 
 As Flora passes to a seat indicated by a chin-chining 
 servitor, His Excellency first notes Imogene, who has 
 stood just behind her sister-in-law. Fairy-like yet al- 
 most ghost-like, the girl's dimpled cheeks are color- 
 less save for two hectic spots, as her gray eyes sink 
 before the mandarin's placid yet admiring gaze. 
 
 Not daring to differ as to costume from the other 
 ladies, the ex-opium-smuggling-girl is in a light frock 
 of floating tulle and silver lace and spangles, which 
 after the fashion of the day, permits more than a 
 glimpse of delicate shoulders and exquisitely propor- 
 tioned arms of polished ivory. 
 
 " So gladdee, Missee Passmere ! " murmurs the 
 mandarin in reflective welcome. 
 
 To this, Imogene, after attempting speech which 
 fails in 'her chokinj throat, responds by a shrinking 
 courtesy, and with still downcast though fiery eyes 
 passes to her chair and sinks with a sigh upon it. 
 
 After a few words of welcome in mandarin Chinese, 
 and even a lower bow to Passmere than the rest, 
 which is responded to in kind by the Oriental 
 adventurer, His Excellency again murmurs : " So 
 gladdee ; everybody here all lightee ! " and his tor- 
 pid serpent eyes linger upon his three lady guests 
 as if Providence had been more bountiful to him 
 than he -expected; for in truth this Manchu noble of 
 broad Eastern ideas had only expected one sun and 
 finds here in his grasp his sun and two exquisite 
 moons.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 2O7 
 
 Clapping his hands, Chieun signals that the banquet 
 proceed. 
 
 It is a feast of an Oriental Lucullus. 
 
 The greatest delicacies of Chinese cuisine birds' 
 nest soup, shark fins and Peking mushrooms are con- 
 trasted with dishes of more European flavor and de- 
 sign, roast chicken and turkey a I Anglaise and larded 
 quails ; while fruits unlimited, make the table fragrant 
 with the odors of pineapples, carambolas and Eastern 
 plums. 
 
 The rice and orange wines of the country mingle 
 with Chateau Y quern of rare vintage, and Lafitte of 
 1854. Sparkling Burgundy and foaming champagne 
 follow them. 
 
 The feast goes rather hurriedly and yet quietly on. 
 For with a host who says little and that little has to 
 be interpreted, conversation cannot be very general. 
 
 And all the time the rumble of distant battle now 
 faint, now louder, adds anxiety to the faces of 
 his guests though Chieun's Manchu countenance is 
 still calm and strangely content. In fact, till the 
 coffee is on the table and cigars are lighted, His Ex- 
 cellency, puffing like the other gentlemen a fine Ha- 
 vana, little except friendly nods pass between him and 
 Boardman. 
 
 About this time Arthur notes with still further sink- 
 ing of the heart, that receiving a few whispered words 
 from Chieun, his secretary interprets : " Honorable 
 Mr. Boardman, my master wishes to ask you if your 
 money as well as your majestic self has been trans- 
 ported safely here. Hearing of five large cases 
 brought by pony-cart with you, he hopes in Peking 
 you may have changed the bulky silver into equally 
 valuable yet less weighty gold, and so conveyed your 
 treasure safely with you." 
 
 " Not at all," chuckles Boardman. " Tell His Ex- 
 cellency that the money is dead safe. I planted the 
 one million silver taels in the British legation,
 
 2o8 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 and now they are guarded by the marines who went 
 into the capital just before I left it." 
 
 As this is explained to the mandarin, his brows con- 
 tract slightly, a disappointed look despite his suave- 
 ness contorts his fat face. 
 
 " By Jove ! " meditates Arthur, " Chieun expected 
 the money here as well as the girl. Perhaps he will 
 not act now ; and there may yet be hope." Then catch- 
 ing in Li Wong's eyes, that same torpid, yet fiery 
 glance, Mr. Passmere shudders : " The American's sil- 
 ver is out of his grasp but he still means to seize the 
 American's daughter." 
 
 With this the scoundrel meditates hurriedly : " If I 
 could escape with my wife and sister, this would be all 
 the better for me. It would add to the fortune coming 
 to Flora after her uncle and his offspring have passed 
 away. As her husband, I could get that silver from 
 the English legation unless the embassy is also wiped 
 out." 
 
 Turning his face away, and seating himself in a 
 little corner of the great pagoda, gazing abstractedly 
 upon the flashing goldfishes as they dash through the 
 water under the light of Chinese lanterns, he goes to 
 wracking his devilish brains how he can escape with 
 Flora and Imogene. But finally, noticing that 
 gingal men are posted as sentinels about the gardens, 
 and remembering the thousand Chinese soldiers and 
 half-barbarous Boxers who are in this very palace with 
 them, he with a moaning, despairing sigh, goes to pray- 
 ing to God to save his abject body for his soul he 
 knows there is no hope. 
 
 That his glance is not upon the others per- 
 haps saves him a pang. Had Arthur looked a little 
 longer the astute adventurer might have guessed a 
 little more and been more horrified. 
 
 The feast, which according to Chinese custom is a 
 short one, is drawing to a close. Most of the servitors 
 obeying their prince's signal, have retired kowtowing
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 209 
 
 to the very floor. Flora and Eira, radiant in their re- 
 lief and happiness, are laughing together. The Amer- 
 ican girl has picked up a big bunch of flowering lilies 
 lying in front of her, and giving them to the 
 Chinese mandarin has suggested : " Flora, do the same 
 to our host, who is going to lead us to life and liberty." 
 For Li Wong Chieun's promises of protection to 
 Boardman have been profuse. 
 
 Actuated by gratitude, Mrs. Passmere trips to the 
 mandarin and decks him with a handful of white jas- 
 amine. " Now, Imogene ! " cry both the ladies, " Your 
 turn next ! " 
 
 On this, Miss Passmere, who has eaten but little all 
 this night, forcing her limbs to rise, picks up haphaz- 
 ard a bunch of bright red lotus flowers ; courtesies 
 falteringly before the satrap and proffers him the blos- 
 soms. 
 
 Then, feeling that whatever comes to the oth- 
 ers she is helpless in his hands, the ex-opium-smug- 
 gler-girl raises for one moment appealing eyes to the 
 master of her fate. Startled by the satrap's glance 
 Imogene's knees shake under her, and her face which 
 has been pallid as a death mask, grows crimson as 
 the flowers she drops in the lap of the Chinese potenate 
 that she loathes. 
 
 For into Li Wong Chieun's crafty, Oriental mind 
 has flown : " Till I know which way the Empress 
 Dowager decrees the policy of China, which will come 
 to me by runners soon, I dare not raise my hand against 
 the family of this great American ; the beauty I thirst 
 for is until that time beyond my grasp ; but this shrink- 
 ing snowy-shouldered, graceful-limbed criminal crea- 
 ture is here. For one day she was a slave of my 
 harem. She can be recalled at my will." 
 
 This has been the word of his eyes to Imogene's 
 quick occult mind. As she sinks back in her chair, the 
 fairy kiosk with its myriad flowers and festal decora- 
 tiuas, seems as crimson to her fevered eyes as did that
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 torture room in the yamen of the Twuy-Chow hills, 
 where she had cried : " Take me and spare me ! " And 
 the low hum of the distant battle, mingled with the 
 near-by screaming of the Chinese riddles and some goo- 
 ing of peacocks, seem to make Imogene Passmere 
 crazy, her shame and despair are so unutterable. 
 
 In her abasement, she scarce notes that now a half- 
 naked Chinese runner covered with the dust of the 
 roads, and reeking with the perspiration of terri-ble and 
 sustained speed this hot and sultry night, is brought in 
 by some officers. On his knees the coolie presents to 
 the High- War-Commissioner a yellow scroll. Reading 
 this, Chieun's face grows triumphant. 
 
 He whispers some words to his secretary and this 
 official interprets: "The great mandarin has business 
 of much moment, so he begs to excuse himself." Ris- 
 ing, the mandarin, aparently affable from the news 
 that has been brought him, receives his guests salutes 
 and with many suave smiles withdraws; either from 
 carelessness or design permitting the yellow message 
 to flutter down upon the lacquered floor almost at 
 Passmere's feet. 
 
 "Arthur, you can decipher Chinese. What the devil 
 does that document say ? " whispers Joel, eagerly ; and 
 he, Eira and Flora gather anxiously about the young 
 man, who, picking up and examining the document, 
 has now a perturbed face. 
 
 " It is simply this : " answers Passmere, " and if true 
 places us more at the mercy of the mandarin than ever. 
 I'll put the Chinese metaphor into commonplace Eng- 
 lish for you. It is dated this day, the I3th of July, and 
 is from General Mah, commanding in the native city 
 of Tien Tsin. It says : 'By the blessings of our ances- 
 tors, though attacked to-day by all the outside barbar- 
 ians, Russians, Japanese, French, English, Germans, 
 Americans ' " 
 
 " Americans ! Good Lord ! " gasps Boardman. 
 
 " We have defeated the foreign devils and their
 
 TANGLED 
 
 bodies lie strewed along the canal in front of our 
 walls," continues Arthur. "The troops making the 
 attack are the British-Indian regiments and marines ; 
 two or three Japanese brigades under Fukushina, two 
 columns of Russians, a few hundred devil-Germans, 
 a lot of East Indian Sikhs and an American regiment, 
 that landed yesterday our spies tell us, from Manila. 
 The Japanese and the Americans suffered most heav- 
 ily, thousands of them having been destroyed by- our 
 gingal men, the American devils by their foolish bra- 
 vado being caught in front of the canal and slaughtered 
 prodigiously. Their battle-flag went down under fire 
 many times. Spies say their general was slain. I send 
 you one of their signs, picked up on many floating bod- 
 ies in the canal." Here Passmere cries : " What's that 
 on the table? Something came with the dispatch!" 
 He picks up an embroidered military collar It bears 
 "9th U. S. INFANTRY." 
 
 " The Ninth Infantry ! Jim's regiment ! " screams 
 Eira. Then the girl's eyes grow large and scintil- 
 late with horror. She moans : " Jim ! my Jim is 
 over there fighting to save me ; perhaps dying to save 
 me ! My Heaven, shall I be his widow before I am his 
 wife." 
 
 There is a kind of reproach in her voice that 
 makes her father's lips twitch. He says, huskily: 
 " Don't let your mind get morbid, daughter ; your 
 daddy stood at Antietam and Gettysburg, and encoun- 
 tered the best soldiers of Lee and Jackson and he still 
 lives. Jim '11 come up smiling." 
 
 But here there is a louder explosion from the distant 
 city, and Eira, who is sobbing now, falters: 
 
 " Only eight miles away my Jim perhaps is dying ! " 
 
 Of course this ends festivity, Boardman sadly takes 
 his daughter from the kiosk to their own compound, 
 Flora as they follow, pressing a clinging hand in lov- 
 ing confidence on her husband's arm. 
 
 Some few paces in the rear Miss Passmere walks in
 
 212 TANGLED 
 
 a dazed melancholy. She has scarce noted the reading 
 of the yellow scroll ; all she knows is that, if it is true, 
 she is still more abjectly in Chieun's power. 
 
 They near the gate of their compound. Beside 
 it the Chinese secretary is bowing them out with 
 genuflexions that reach the very ground. Mr. and 
 Miss Boardman, and Passmere and his wife pass 
 through the portals, and go upon their way. 
 
 Barring Imogene's exit, the interpreter stands. Slow- 
 ly he lets fall a handful of bright red rose leaves at her 
 feet in his hand he extends a crimson silken veil-like 
 kimona. Knowing the dread significance of the token,* 
 Imogene starts back, her face ashen and unearthly, 
 though her hand does not refuse the symbol. 
 
 " Be ready, harem slave," commands the official, in 
 low, but coercive voice, " when in ten minutes I tap 
 upon your door to conduct you to the feet of your 
 master, who does you honor." 
 
 To this she answers nothing, but her head droops in 
 sickening humiliation. 
 
 " Step upon the rose leaves to show that you knock 
 your head upon the floor in obedience to the great and 
 august mandarin of the red button, Li Wong Ohieun," 
 whispers the secretary authoritatively. 
 
 Without a word Miss Passmere slowly gathers her 
 skirts in her hand, raising them slightly to make evi- 
 dent her obedience. Then her white high-heeled Pa- 
 risian slippers crush the red flowers that stain their 
 satin as she staggers through the portal. 
 
 In a benumbed, dazed way she gazes about. To her- 
 self she sobs : " Jim- my Jim ! " 
 
 Passmere and Boardman have gone to the latter's 
 room in the gentlemen's pavilion, where they are prob- 
 ably discussing eagerly at length the strange news that 
 
 * Quite generally throughout the East, especially in some 
 parts of China, red is the color designating ladies of pleasure. 
 Though in Japan by curious contrast it is the sign of mar- 
 riage. Ed.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 213 
 
 has come to them from the outside world. The sound 
 of Flora's and Eira's voices are heard in Miss Board- 
 man's chamber. 
 
 The long corridor of the ladies' pavilion is lighted 
 by a single lamp. Calling Lie-lie from her chamber 
 Imogene commands the maid in sternly 'husky 
 tones to give her attention to the other ladies and not 
 to come near her till the morning. Miss Passmere's 
 room is nearest to the end of the passage which abuts 
 upon the wall that divides their compound from that 
 of their Chinese host. 
 
 In this wall, at the end of the hall, is a small but 
 massive teak door which has to this time always been 
 locked and barred. 
 
 Ten minutes after, this quietly opens from the outer 
 side and the Chinese secretary glides along the passage 
 with noiseless step to Imogene's portal upon which his 
 fingers tap remorselessly but almost noiselessly. 
 
 At his summons a shrinking girl, whose light yet 
 perfect form is scarce veiled by a clinging red kimona, 
 confronts him. He silently places his strong grasp 
 upon a bare rounded arm that quivers in his clutch, 
 and leads her tottering through the massive portal 
 which divides the compounds. 
 
 As he closes and bolts the door behind him, the 
 wretched one stricken with the vile fate she meant for 
 another and purer spirit, moans to herself: "This is 
 my vengeance." 
 
 Then the coercive clasp is on her white arm again ; 
 and following the guiding of a relentless hand, Imo- 
 gene staggers along a short dark passage till she stands 
 before a purple-curtained arch, through which escaping 
 rays of light show that within is a brilliantly lighted 
 apartment. 
 
 " You are in the harem of your master. You know 
 its rule." 
 
 " God of despair, I do ! " is the shuddering whisper. 
 
 " Then go in ! " orders the secretary, shortly.
 
 214 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 With a low, gasping sigh Imogene Passmere fronts 
 the draperies of the arch and parts them; the veil-like 
 kimona sinks away from her shining shoulders, which 
 for one moment gleam white as ivory, then glow red as 
 deep-sea coral in unutterable shame as she falters in- 
 ward; and the purple curtains fall fold on fold behind 
 her. 
 
 Perhaps an hour after this, it being but little after 
 ten o'clock, Mrs. Passmere coming from Eira's cham- 
 ber, wishing to consult her dictatorial sister-in-law 
 about something connected with Harold's menage, 
 carelessly raps upon Imogene's portal. Not finding her 
 knock answered, Flora, the chamber being empty, 
 passes on to the little dressing-room which opens im- 
 mediately from it. She knows her husband will be 
 engaged for some time drinking whiskey and soda with 
 the American, and discussing the message which has 
 come this night. So she tosses her pretty self upon a 
 lounge, and stretching out her little feet, reclines, wait- 
 ing for Imogene. 
 
 Having been put in a neglige by Lie-lie, Flora is 
 very comfortable ; the night being hot and languid ; 
 and the banquet having been ample, Mr. Passmere's 
 bride floats away into a wife's last happy slumber. 
 
 From this she is awakened by a big yet distant ex- 
 plosion. It is that of a magazine near the pagoda-fort 
 at far-away Tien Tsin. , Tremblingly listening for fur- 
 ther noise of war, at first Mrs. Passmere thinks she is 
 in an awful dream, and then begins to shiver and to 
 believe she is in hell. 
 
 From Miss Passmere's bedroom, which is still dark, 
 she hears her husband speaking hoarsely and savagely : 
 " You cursed Chinese wanton ! You red-coated Man- 
 chu-jade ! " Then some low, sobbing Chinese words 
 from Imogene, and next Arthur's command : " Speak 
 English, you damned immodest Jezebel. Would you 
 have some wandering Mongolian servant hear your 
 monstrous shame; that you are one of the women of
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 215 
 
 Chieun's harem ? That is where you came from. Bad 
 as I am ; you, my sister, are more debased than I." 
 
 To this in answer, Imogene's voice comes, anguished 
 and pleading: "Arthur! it was to save your life as 
 well as mine. What mattered another pang I had 
 been the satrap's sacrifice before ! " 
 
 " Before ! God's mercy ; what do you mean ? " shud- 
 ders Passmere. Villain as he is his voice is thick with 
 horror. 
 
 "Don't you gness?" sneers his sister, "What got 
 us off so lightly from that Chinese devil at Twuy- 
 Chow ? " 
 
 " Oh, my Heaven ! " 
 
 " Did you think it was your paltry fine released us 
 opium smugglers? " jeers the girl. Then to her brother 
 whom her revealing has petrified, Imogene goes on 
 desperately : " Would you have the Chinese monster 
 kill us too? Know that this is our salvation. Did we 
 die," she sneers, " of what use would be the fortune of 
 the slain American and his accursed daughter, who 
 degraded as I am shall perish of shame and despair to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " To-morrow ? Are you sure ? " 
 
 " Yes ! in Chieun'a harem I have learned coolie run- 
 ners have just arrived from Peking that govern- 
 ment troops now assist in the attack upon all the 
 legations of the outside world. The Empress has gone 
 anti-foreign devil : Think what it means to us to es- 
 cape! In Europe, away from here, for our plotting 
 will come the Yankee's many millions, through your 
 wife, his niece, whose fortune we have confiscated ; 
 the pretty Flora, whose doting love has made her your 
 slave and mine also." 
 
 " Much good that will do us now," sighs Arthur 
 doggedly. 
 
 " Why not ? Flora is as wax ! Didn't I in Hong 
 Kong force her to surrender Eira's letter to the Jap- 
 anese, that might have saved the woman I hate ? "
 
 2l6 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Till this moment Flora Passmere has believed she is 
 in a nightmare, or insane. Now the recollection of 
 Katstima's letter makes her know she is hearing sick- 
 ening truth, and facts awful beyond belief. Suddenly 
 a wife's horror leaves her for a mother's despair. 
 
 "Yes, if we escape Chieun's massacre?" jeers Ar- 
 thur. " But don't guess the Chinese monster means 
 any of us to escape. With all your fawning on the 
 Mongol satrap you will die as I do. Dead men tell no 
 tales; dead women also! I feel the breath of mas- 
 sacre upon me now." To this the wretch in a kind of 
 posthumous repentance mutters : " Poor Flora and her 
 little boy." 
 
 " Of course Flora's life is necessary to us ; but if the 
 Boxers gobble up the brat, Harold, 'twill be for our 
 benefit should we live," snarls his sister; then suddenly 
 cries: " Didn't you hear a noise? " 
 
 " No, it is your conscience, if you have any," sneers 
 the man. 
 
 And the two in their despair begin to quarrel, Imo- 
 gene reviling her brother for having for the sake of 
 mighty fortune contemplated the murder of the Amer- 
 ican and the destruction of his daughter; and Arthur 
 cursing his sister because by her vengeful nature she 
 would not let him forego the plan from which he had 
 been well-nigh frightened. 
 
 In this discussion they give details that make the 
 frantic Flora know she has taken in a wife's loving 
 arms a devil for a husband. 
 
 Finally the two begin to bemoan each other's sad 
 fate. 
 
 The distant thump of combat has risen louder than 
 before; a faint glow enters the room to show a few 
 miles away the destruction of a blazing and looted 
 city. 
 
 " By the God of battles, if the foreign troops break 
 through we may yet be saved ! " exclaims Arthur
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 217 
 
 hoarsely. And the two run out into the garden leav- 
 ing a half- fainting woman shuddering: 
 
 " My God ! the 'husband that I loved worse than 
 a murderer! " 
 
 Then she half screams : " Harold ! " and Flora 
 Passmere is no more the shrinking thing that had once 
 drooped her eyes before Imogene's frown. She says 
 desperately: "My child! Chieun will massacre all! 
 Save Harold I must ! But how ? how? HOW ? " 
 
 Beating her head with her frenzied hand she hurries 
 along the passageway. The low distant noise and the 
 faint glow of far away conflagration tell her frantic 
 brain that an army of brave men are battling with bar- 
 barians but seven miles away ; she mutters, " How to 
 get Harold to them ? " Her face becomes inspired with 
 a mother's love. She runs into her chamber and finds 
 Lie-lie watchful and alert. 
 
 " Too much noise to sleep ! " mutters the Chinese 
 girl in a frightened way, as Mrs. Passmere begs: 
 " Help me Lie. I was good to you ; aid me to save my 
 boy; assist me to get " 
 
 "To the foreign devils' army?" asks the Mongo- 
 lian maid ; adding sententiously : ' This place no 
 good, me hear servants whisper. Li Wong Chieun 
 bad man." 
 
 " Yes ! Yes ! Let me take my boy ! " 
 
 "No do that, Missee; only go yourself. Boy's voice 
 too loud. In night Boxer men hear him." 
 
 " Leave Harold behind me ! " shudders the mother. 
 
 "Yes! if no want him throat cut. You get for- 
 eign devil soldier here. Come early in morning 
 time enough ! " whispers the Chinese girl. As she 
 speaks she is hurriedly throwing out some native gar- 
 ments. 
 
 Looking at her, Flora exclaims: "You mean to 
 make me like a China woman ? " 
 
 " Yes ! only chance ! Me know Tien Tsin road. No 
 live get through without likee China girl. You sabe
 
 2l8 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 little door in compound wall. Right through the 
 white pagoda ! Come ! " 
 
 So, Flora, hurriedly made to look like a Mongol by 
 the amah's deft arts and Indian ink, disguised in 
 Lie-lie's garments, sneaks with her guide through 
 the shrubbery of the garden and passes out of a little 
 unused gate of the palace wall. This in places is 
 manned by Chinese soldiers who are jabbering over 
 some news brought in by runners and gazing at the 
 weird glow down Tien Tsin way. 
 
 As she emerges from the opening a hand is laid 
 upon her shoulder. Flora utters a low, gasping cry. 
 Looking up she recognizes the ever-smiling Lum Kee, 
 and cowering from him moans : " Lost ! " 
 
 But the Chinese servant whispers : " Come quiet ! " 
 adding: " Me go get Melicans to catchee-Missee Eira. 
 Her father no good kick too much too heavy foot; 
 but Melican girl's hand light as poppy leaves. Lum 
 Kee save her." 
 
 " So, into the gloom of night, accompanied by a 
 trembling Chinese girl, and led by a grinning coolie 
 whom she fears, this delicate woman who had trembled 
 at the fear of a jealous husband goes out to dare bar- 
 barous death and Chinese outrage ; not to fly from bat- 
 tle, but to seek it by the light of a distant blazing city 
 surrounded by struggling armies : to endure the hid- 
 eous dangers of murderous coolies and blood-inspired 
 Boxers actuated by the noblest instinct of the human 
 mind, a mother's love ! 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE WOMAN AT THE JAPANESE OUTPOST. 
 
 The world is thundering at the Tien Tsin gate ! The 
 tangled battle-flags of the great nations of this earth 
 are drooping before the Chinese wall.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 219 
 
 "Jim!" 
 
 "Osuri!" 
 
 The two grip hands as Ingraham whispers what has 
 been their cadet prayer : " In the same line of battle, 
 thank God!" 
 
 " And a tough line of battle, too ! " laughs the Jap- 
 anese, grimly ; his voice drowned by the rumble of big 
 guns, the rattle of rifles and the sharp impact of rapid- 
 fire and gingal bullets. 
 
 Before them is the Chinese native city, surrounded 
 by a smooth stone wall thirty feet high and impervious 
 to aught save the heaviest siege artillery. Some hun- 
 dred yards in its front is a canal, deep, sluggish yet 
 impassable; though this is still shrouded from their 
 eyes by ancestral tombs and by native houses. 
 
 Before it, in strange jumble are gathered the soldiers 
 and sailors of many lands ; each, from Tommy Atkins 
 to Cossack of the Don, from Punjab Sikh to little Jap- 
 anese infantry soldier, from British bluejacket and 
 American marine to German Kaiser's man, anxious to 
 prove his country the bravest, its stamina for blood the 
 strongest, its fighting power the greatest. Yet every 
 European eye is on the little yellow soldiers of Dai- 
 Nippon, to note their devoir on a battle-field civilized 
 by more murderous death than barbarism can invent. 
 
 Therefore, before this town are being done deeds of 
 " deering-do " worthy of crusading knights and Pala- 
 dins, or Caesar's own Tenth Legion, to show that modern 
 Japanese chivalry is as undaunted, its lust for blood as 
 fine as that of heroes of ancient legend or mystic fable. 
 
 Faraway, on the east and north fourteen companies 
 of Russian infantry, two batteries and a sotina of Cos- 
 sacks, supported by two hundred and fifty of Kaiser 
 Wilhelm's men, are attacking the Marine Barracks and 
 the Pagoda Fort, and blocked by the deep river making 
 very bad work of it, though Cossack of the Don and 
 Cossack of the Ukrane, attempting to swim the stream 
 under the Chinese fire, drown in the bloody water.
 
 220 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Towards the south and west two thousand stout 
 Japanese infantry under Fukushina, seven or eight 
 hundred English bluejackets and fusileers, together 
 with turbaned Sikhs and flanked by the French and 
 American marines and two battalions of the Ninth U. 
 S. Infantry just from the Philippines are about to at- 
 tempt the impossible. 
 
 They have already rushed the Hai-Kaiang arsenal 
 and its mud wall, and lined it with English naval guns 
 from the Terrible and Centurion. 
 
 From this a narrow causeway leads straight over 
 swampy ground to the main gate of the native city one 
 long mile away. 
 
 With hoarse shouts, the gallant Japanese in column 
 formation have flashed along this narrow bullet 
 scourged road, careless of dead and dying men, and 
 now hold some clumps of houses nearest the embattled 
 gate. 
 
 To their right are the Welsh fusileers and English 
 marines. Flanking them is the American regiment who 
 having struggled through the rice swamps under con- 
 tinuous fire, now lie behind a long mud dyke awaiting 
 the signal for the last mad rush. 
 
 Beside its colors stands their grim old colonel who 
 had fought in the war of the Great Rebellion and land- 
 ed last night on Chinese soil, to die this day before the 
 Chinese dragoon ; near him is a Minnesota boy who 
 lies gasping out " Mother " with each sighing bloody 
 breath. 
 
 Careless of the Chinese artillery fire which comes 
 from the walls of the main town and pattering ma- 
 chine slugs from the houses just in front of them, the 
 men are making their final preparations. 
 
 To them has journeyed, under a pitiless hail 
 of bullets, the Japanese staff captain bearing to the 
 American commander word from Fukushina. His 
 uniform, that this morning had been as is the custom 
 in the Mikado's service, neat, almost immaculate, is
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 22 1 
 
 stained by the mud and water of the intervening rice 
 swamps. 
 
 Lying behind the dyke beside them, is a grizzled ser- 
 geant who as a boy has fought on Virginia battle-fields 
 and as a man has encountered Apaches on the plains. 
 
 Inspecting the long stone wall of the native city, im- 
 possible to escalade; and the as yet unseen canal, he 
 mutters: " If I can't smell water ahead of us, McCor- 
 mick of the Ninth hasn't got the nose of a government 
 mule. Begob, we'll have to be ducks as well as aigles, 
 boys, to catch John Chinaman to-day." 
 
 '' Do you think we wont be able to get at them? " 
 asks Ingraham savagely. 
 
 " Keep down ! " cautions the Japanese, " Don't 
 throw your life away. Though the English shells are 
 making that wall a shambles, the Chinese fire is 
 mighty well sustained and accurate. By old Riu-Jin, 
 they are using some of old Boardman's rapid-fires ! I 
 recognize their peculiar snap." 
 
 " For God's sake don't mention him ! " 
 
 Something in his chum's haggard eyes makes Kat- 
 suma start. He asks shortly: "Jim! what is in your 
 face?" 
 
 " Death and vengeance ! I have naught to live for 
 now." 
 
 " Naught to live for ? It is / who should seek death. 
 What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Eira Boardman ! Don't you know she is in in 
 Peking, dead with the massacred legations ? " Then 
 the strong man half sobs : " You loved her also ; help 
 me to avenge her." 
 
 At these dread words Osuri Katsuma, turning away, 
 is the only Japanese who trembles this day before the 
 Tien Tsin wall. An ineffable' kind of anguish wells up in 
 his dark eyes. He shudders : " Itai, that hurts ! " 
 then bursts forth: " Izanagi! God of our gods! Why 
 did not she let me know? " 
 
 " Yes ! why didn't you warn and save her ? " sighs
 
 222 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 the American, an awful reproach in his voice. " It was 
 your promise: I was fighting in the Luzon swamps." 
 
 " She never wrote me." 
 
 " Impossible ! My darling's letter, now on my heart, 
 said she had informed you at Tokio." 
 
 " Then it was never delivered," falters Osuri. 
 " There is something deeper in this affair than either 
 of us know," and as if he cannot believe, gasps : " Oh, 
 Jim, can it be that the bright goddess has passed from 
 earth?" 
 
 " Yes ! only vengeance now ! " mutters the Ameri- 
 can. " Look on the men's eyes. There are others that 
 hunger like me for Chinese blood." 
 
 " For some newspaper fiend in Shanghai has in- 
 vented the story that the men and children of the em- 
 bassies of the oatside world have been done to death 
 in Peking, and with them have passed away in cruel 
 torture and unspeakable degradation the delicate la- 
 dies of Legation Street. 'Tis but a newspaper lie, but 
 jt has brought despair into many faces this burning 
 day, and put such deviltry into soldiers' hearts that un- 
 fortunate Chinese holding up hands for the mercy of 
 combat, receive no quarter from Christian troops." 
 
 Under a dropping fire from houses that flank and 
 enfilade them the men are growing desperate. A sigh of 
 relief runs through the dogged reclining ranks as 
 their colonel springs up. 
 
 In the diverging plans of numerous commanders, 
 the allied force having no generalissimo, this ground 
 has not been properly reconnoitered, the Chinese hav- 
 ing occupied it until the quick rush by the gray light of 
 the morning had given the allies the Hai-Kaiang ar- 
 senal. 
 
 " There is water in front of us, I fear, Colonel ! " 
 remarks the senior major, saluting. 
 
 " Yes ! " replies his commander, tersely. " But we 
 must go on. The fire from those houses must be 
 quelled."
 
 FLAGS. 223 
 
 Hardly waiting for the word, Jim Ingraham has 
 sprung to the top of the mud dyke, this being the only 
 path to the clustering houses that scarce a hundred 
 yards away are spitting death into them. But Osuri 
 is just behind him and he is no quicker than the 
 regiment; as the Ninth makes that fatal rush which 
 takes them up not to their objective, but to a 
 deep, impassable, fordless canal. Upon its other side 
 each unassaultable dwelling is a fortress; from some 
 sandbag batteries across its waters, Boardman's ma- 
 chine guns, manufactured in Connecticut, are striking 
 down American troops. The shrapnel from the walls 
 of the city comes tearing through them ; gingal balls 
 and rapid-fire slugs fill the hot sultry air with slaugh- 
 ter. 
 
 The flag that had waved on Virginia battle-fields 
 drops to the earth over a dying color-sergeant. The 
 colonel seizes it, holds it up and cries hal f -laughingly : 
 " I am all right ! " and falls mortally wounded upon his 
 colors. But other hands seize them from the veteran's 
 fainting grasp. No American flag must go down in 
 sight of the battling nations of the world. So dropping 
 behind the dyke, the old Ninth Infantry line the side of 
 the impassable canal and hold it ; but can go no further. 
 
 " I told you we'd have to be ducks as well as aigles," 
 mutters Sergeant McCormick. " Shoot straight, boys ! 
 we've got to stay here and die here as we cannot go 
 anywhere else to die in safety." 
 
 The sergeant is right ! They stay there, they shoot 
 there, they die there all this burning day. They cannot 
 go forward, they wont go back. 
 
 But now ammunition is growing short. Young 
 Lawton, staggering through a hail of bullets has got 
 message to the English commander. Three Sikhs with 
 three mules attempt to take it to them down the cause- 
 way scourged by the Chinese fire. First a mule drops, 
 but the tall, gaunt-featured, turbanecl panthans stride 
 on. Then a turban goes down; then another turban;
 
 224 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 and the third turban imperturbably taking the bridle of 
 the other mule leads the two forward down Death's 
 causeway until he dies; and then the mules are dead 
 and God's mercy, no ammunition ! 
 
 Next a bull-headed Britisher from the south of Eng- 
 land, a non-commissioned officer of the Wei-hai-wei 
 regiment, swings through the Taku gate of the Hai- 
 Kaiang arsenal and comes out upon the road leading 
 an ammunition mule. He is followed by a private 
 leading another mule. The last man's legs go out 
 from under him, and the Englishman seeing speed is 
 his only chance, jumps on his ammunition laden ani- 
 mal and dashes along the causeway amid the roar of 
 shell and bullets. 
 
 Some cheer him, but most of the Ninth shoot 
 close and straight to quell by their fire the 
 Chinese volleys. Twice the gallant fellow is hit, 
 yet still he contrives to get ahead ; then he falls, but 
 the mule only some few paces from the firing-line stag- 
 gers and drops his ammunition almost into the hands 
 of the men behind the dyke but this is by no means 
 cartridges enough to save the regiment. 
 
 All this day Jim Ingraham has fought stubbornly, 
 but only for vengeance. What can victory give 
 to him? To the men beside him honor may come 
 with achievement, he with a blank life before 
 him wants nothing save the blood of the race 
 who have bereft him. In the red sky of battle above 
 the Chinese fortifications his anguished eye sees the 
 blazing Peking legations and the sweetheart that he 
 loves, dying in torture and despair. 
 
 He crawls hastily to the commanding officer and, 
 saluting says : " I volunteer for ammunition, sir ! " 
 Receiving permission for fatal service, he starts dog- 
 gedly across the bullet-scourged swamp, taking no 
 cover of dykes or fringing tombs. After him the Jap- 
 anese, who being unattached is a free agent, springs. 
 Osuri is not ten feet behind Jim Ingraham, as the lat-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 22$ 
 
 ter reels and falls. A second later the American is 
 borne back under the sheltering dyke by the warrior 
 from Dai-Nippon. 
 
 " It is but a bullet through the arm," remarks the at- 
 tendant surgeon, as he uses a first-aid bandage. " No 
 bone is broken." 
 
 " No ! but his heart is," sighs the Japanese. 
 
 Then the man of science comments : " This weird 
 delirium is mighty curious. It must be the infernal 
 heat." For the wounded lieutenant is raving of mas- 
 sacre more awful even than that which is around them, 
 and horrors more sickening than any battle of men. 
 
 The water in the canteens has run low, but enough 
 drops are gathered to moisten the sufferer's lips. Un- 
 der this blazing sun a man so stricken will scarce last 
 out this burning day. Already the flies, scenting their 
 prey, have lighted upon the crimson splash which 
 stains the khaki brown. 
 
 " With your permission," Osuri says to the lieuten- 
 ant-colonel, " I will try and take Ingraham out of the 
 fight." 
 
 " It is his only chance ! " shouts the doctor to the 
 commanding officer's inquiring glance, for the noise 
 is greater than before. The British artillery are by the 
 quickest kind of an unceasing fire trying to relieve the 
 stricken infantry that can get no further than the canal. 
 Unable to retreat from it, these hold the dyke beside it 
 in the grim despair of men who have the bitter end of 
 a life and death struggle. 
 
 At the colonel's nod Osuri, bending down his lithe, 
 wiry frame, lifts the big lieutenant, now helpless as a 
 child, from the muddy ground. 
 
 " Tare an' ages ! ye'll both be drowned in the 
 swamp if ye aint shot to death," growls McCormick; 
 and stepping to the lieutenant-colonel, he salutes and 
 says : " I volunteer, yer honor, to bring back ammu- 
 nition, av I get there alive! Incidentally I'll help me 
 lieutenant to the rear."
 
 226 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " You'll never get through," comments the command- 
 ant, " but if you want to take the risk, do so." 
 
 So the two, seeking as warriors of common sense 
 the best protection of the dykes, pass slowly over that 
 mile of death swamp by a miracle unharmed, till they 
 reach the arsenal, and behind its mud wall deliver to 
 the field hospital the raving American, who has once 
 or twice struggled from them. 
 
 Then, it drawing towards evening, in the dusk Mc- 
 Cormick gets back with ammunition ; and after night- 
 fall has fallen deep upon the earth to give them safety 
 the line falls slowly back from the Tien Tsin wall. For 
 never had Moguls held out so defianty or put up so 
 stout a battle as did the trained bands of the Salt-Com- 
 missioner, the armies of Nieh and Mah, and the 
 hordes of red-bedaubed Boxers, bearing their triangu- 
 lar mystic banners and their yellow josses to make 
 them invulnerable to foreign devil bullets. 
 
 So the world drops back from that dread canal 
 defeated; all save the Japanese, who hang on to the 
 houses on the causeway ; their general Fukushina hav- 
 ing fought the Chinese before, knowing that persist- 
 ency is the one way to Mongolian vitals. 
 
 Whereupon, late this night, darkness making the fire 
 not so deadly but that some men live to get through it, 
 the warriors of Dai-Nippon rush the last two hundred 
 yards of the causeway straight to the main gate of the 
 city. Heading the line goes a stout little corporal of 
 engineers, followed by six men carrying handfuls of 
 gun cotton. Three die, but they blow open with a 
 low roar, the great outer iron gate. 
 
 In fly the Japanese with a cry of triumph, to find 
 themselves in an awful cul-de-sac. Another wall con- 
 fronts them, a second ruthless iron gate. 
 
 Pelted by gingal-fire and machine guns they still 
 hang on. Word is shouted back for more gun cotton. 
 
 THEY DO NEED IT! 
 
 An exploit that D'Artagnan had scarce done in
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 227 
 
 wildest Dumas frenzy saves the trapped heroes of the 
 Mikado. Six sturdy fishermen-soldiers, who have 
 barefooted clambered up the storm-washed rocks of 
 Cape Soya, swarm hand over hand, assisting 
 each other, up the slippery wall, while a hundred Tar- 
 tars fire upon them from the top. 
 
 Confronted by such extravagant courage the Chinese 
 confusedly fall back. The bullets seem to turn from 
 these brave men, who dropping on the other side, spring 
 to the big iron gate and throw it open. In rush the 
 Japanese. The warriors of Dai-Nippon have done 
 the impossible without siege artillery they have 
 stormed the Tien Tsin wall. 
 
 From this combat, Osuri returns bearing a dispatch 
 from his victorious general to the allied commanders, 
 whose troops, hearing the battle, rushing to the support 
 of the soldiers of the Red Sun, are now pouring along 
 the causeway into the doomed town. He has just deliv- 
 ered it near the Hai-Kaiang arsenal, when a cavalry 
 patrol, to the west of headquarters, give out a spattering 
 fire. 
 
 A moment later a Japanese officer riding up asks: 
 " Who speaks English here? A woman is sobbing in 
 that language. By mistake we fired upon two Chinese 
 women and a man ; the man is dying but the women 
 are unharmed." Then recognizing Osuri, he cries : 
 " Captain Katsuma, you are the very man. Please 
 come with us and hear what our prisoners say." 
 
 Carelessly the young officer mounts a headquarter's 
 pony. For all this stifling day, though he has fought 
 with dogged mathematical precision ; there has seemed 
 to be no luminary in the burning heavens to Osuri 
 Katsuma, and ever and anon amid the pattering bul- 
 lets he has moaned : " My Sun-goddess is no more ! " 
 
 A few moments later he is at the Japanese outpost. 
 Here, under a little shelter-tent lies a man whom he 
 knows at once. Bending down, he whispers in hoarse 
 astonishment : " Lum Kee ! Devil ! Tell me of your
 
 228 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 master whom you have betrayed, and your sweet mis- 
 tress, who is dead in the Peking legation." 
 
 " No dead ! " sighs the Chinaman in gasping voice. 
 " Heap mistake damn fool shootee poor Chinaman 
 who clum to sabe." 
 
 " Save the dead ? Impossible ! " 
 
 " No dead ; Misser Boardman and him daughter 
 seven mile off in Chieun's palace. Libe when me leave ! 
 You gettee there on time ! " Then the faithful and 
 misunderstood Chinese gasps : " Water lillie water ! 
 Poor Chinaman die for Melican man's daughter. You 
 sabe Missee Eira gettee to Chieun's white pagoda 
 heap quickee ! " 
 
 To this the Japanese does not answer, though the 
 corporal at his signal pours water into the parched lips 
 of the faithful, dying coolie. For into Osuri's mind 
 has sprung hope, aye, even happiness. Though He 
 saves her for another, his goddess is yet alive ! The 
 heavens are so bright to him, the burning town adds 
 not to their radiance ; for as the allies pour in, fires are 
 springing up in old Tien Tsin; and the outlying vil- 
 lages are tasting their baptism of Cossack kerosene. 
 
 Then they toss out of the tent a dead Chinese body, 
 and he commands nervously : " The women ! " for a 
 wild and curious hope is in his heart. 
 
 Two women are in a nearby native hut; the light 
 of a sickly lamp scarce illuminates it. A Chinese girl 
 is before him sobbing in English : " Mercy, Captain 
 Japanese ; you know Lie-lie ? On steamer deck, you 
 'member. Missee Passmere amah." 
 
 " The other one ! " he whispers hoarsely. " Eira," he 
 cries ; and steps toward a crouching woman who pull- 
 ing off veils and disguise looks upon him with ghastly 
 face and whispers : " Captain Katsuma, you scarce 
 can recognize me. To escape the Boxers, Lie made me 
 a Chinese face. I am Flora Passmere, a mother im- 
 ploring for her child. For God's sake get some men 
 and save my little boy before Chieun murders him
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 229 
 
 my darling Harold. You'll save him I see it in your 
 eye you'll die to save him because his little life is 
 linked to that of the being you worship Eira Board- 
 man. Hurry or she will kill herself in shame and 
 outrage some time this coming day." 
 
 Sighing this forth, she faints away, but water being 
 poured down her throat, and finally strong sake-brandy, 
 Flora revives and begins again to speak, telling the 
 Japanese such horrors that at first he will not believe. 
 But finally she proves her words by the tale of the in- 
 tercepted Hong Kong letter that had it been delivered 
 might have gained his aid. 
 
 As Passmere's and his sister's plot for the defilement 
 of his goddess strikes the young daimio, a hara-kiri 
 expression comes upon his face but it is not his hara- 
 kiri. Seeing this she cries " You'll be there ! " 
 
 " By Isanagi, yes ! " answers Katsuma ; then his 
 voice grows rasping as he says : " You know Mrs. 
 Passmere, you are condemning your husband to 
 death ! " 
 
 " My husband ! My fiend ! " shivers the woman ; 
 then screams in weird agony : " God of heaven, I bear 
 to him a child within my breast, who will be a fiend 
 also ! " and delirious with a monstrous horror the 
 fainting creature is sent away in a riksha com- 
 mandeered for the purpose, to the Sisters' Hospital in 
 the European concessions. 
 
 But the miserable wife leaves behind her a Japanese 
 who has become as medievally relentless as that 
 Yoshitsume who spared not! 
 
 Examining his revolvers carefully; he knows he 
 has before him, after the exhaustion of a day's 
 battle and a night's attack, an exploit wett-nigh im- 
 possible. No men will be detailed to assist him. 
 There are too few now to patrol the looted city; 
 the Pagoda Fort is not yet captured and the Ma- 
 rine Arsenal still holds out. Certainly no detachment 
 large enough to fight its way through the Chinese
 
 230 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 lines outside of the city can be spared. Therefore, he 
 must go forth alone. 
 
 Mounting, Osuri rides hastily to the American field 
 hospital. To the doctor he tells in quick sharp words 
 the story which would be better to Jim Ingraham than 
 all the surgical skill on earth. 
 
 " In his present delirious state, could he understand 
 you, the revelation that his affianced still lives might 
 kill him with excitement," remarks the sawbones. 
 " Write a letter Captain Katsuma, and at the first mo- 
 ment it is medically possible I will deliver it to the 
 lieutenant. A little bullet through the arm, though to it 
 is added an awful mental despair, will hardly disable 
 for any length of time a strong young man Ingraham 
 should be about very soon." 
 
 Whereupon Katsuma writes a short, pertinent note, 
 and going to the cot where his friend lies raving of his 
 destroyed idol, he places his lips reverently upon the 
 fevered forehead and whispers : " Pills ! I bring her 
 back to you." 
 
 Coming from this, for he has need of speed, he rides 
 his pony desperately along the causeway to the cap- 
 tured city, into which with him are pressing the allied 
 forces English, American, French. 
 
 The battle is still going on along the walls, the Rus- 
 sians and Germans upon the north not having made 
 entry, and the Marine Barracks and the Pagoda Fort 
 holding out stoutly. Already the looting is beginning; 
 already the burning is going on ; the flames from in- 
 cendiary torches lapping the bodies of dead and 
 wounded Chinese, combatants and non-combatants, 
 even sometimes women and children. 
 
 Into this pandemonium Katsuma, forcing his way, 
 reaches the headquarters of his chief. To his request, 
 Fukushina, being very busy, listens hurriedly. Osuri, 
 being a staff officer and unattached, after a little 
 obtains leave but no soldiers. 
 
 " I have not enough for the work ahead of me now,"
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 23! 
 
 dissents the general of Dai-Xippon. " You will have 
 to go alone." 
 
 He hurries to the American headquarters, and rind- 
 ing the lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth there, but also 
 very busy, tells him of the strait of Americans but a 
 few miles away. 
 
 To him the lieutenant-colonel says shortly : " I have 
 only eight hundred effectives, though the Third Battal- 
 ion has now arrived. The whole American column 
 would scarce be enough to force their way through the 
 Chinese retreating army. You noticed how those 
 trained imperial troops fought. But, at the first 
 opportunity a detachment will be sent out. Of that 
 I pledge my word Captain Katsuma." 
 
 " If I could obtain a few men ! " pleads Osuri, 
 who has been shown in by the sergeant of the guard. 
 This is the burly McCormick, who is still standing be- 
 hind at attention. " I could not ask you to order them, 
 it is too desperate a service, but let me have a vol- 
 unteer or two! " 
 
 " With yer honor's permission, here's one volun- 
 teer ! " comes from behind him in the Irish voice ; "Be- 
 dad ! I'd loike to go with this Japanese gent who I've 
 sane shoulder a musket at West Point like an Ameri- 
 can officer, and fight this blessed day like an Eastern 
 deamon." 
 
 " We're here to save Americans," answers the com- 
 manding officer of the Ninth. " You'd get the whole 
 regiment to rescue Jim Ingraham's sweetheart, but I 
 can only let you have this one. McCormick! you're 
 always trying to get killed. Go, if you wish." 
 
 " Sure it's a soldier's first duty to git kilt under 
 his officer's orders, yer honor," remarks the Irishman, 
 as the lieutenant-colonel turns from them and speaks 
 hastily to an officer who has just entered: " Captain 
 Duncan, take two companies of the Third Battalion, 
 they're the freshest, to patrol eastward from the main 
 gate. Keep down the fires; shoot any incendiaries; 
 arrest all looters ! "
 
 232 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Twenty minuses after, Osuri and McCormick, eacli 
 on a little pony laden with ammunition, and followed 
 by Saraki, Katsuma's faithful boy, taking with them 
 Lie-lie to guide them, set out on a kind of knight-er- 
 rant journey; circling wide round the Chinese lines, 
 stumbling through the muddy ruts of the rice swamps 
 and sneaking along the byways of the broom-corn 
 fields towards the palace of the Chinese Commissioner- 
 High. 
 
 As he journeys, the Japanese whispers confidently to 
 himself: "Sun-goddess! it is not possible the gods 
 will let thy bright wings be soiled by a Chinese mon- 
 ster," then voices a hope that makes him curse himself 
 as traitor to his chum of chums : " Perchance if I die 
 for her ; in her sweet soul will come for a dead man a 
 living love." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " GAL DARN IT, PLUGGED WITH MY OWN BULLET ! " 
 
 The earliest tints of the Eastern morning are enter- 
 ing the big chamber of the American arms manufac- 
 turer in the compound of the Chinese palace set apart 
 for Boardman and his friends ; the voices of morning 
 birds from the gardens and the soft splash of the run- 
 ning brook and fountain soothe the Yankee. The 
 rumble of battle down Tien Tsin way has died into a 
 grumble. 
 
 Lying on his pallet, aroused from the heavy slumber 
 of confident security and Chieun's luxurious banquet, 
 Joel Boardman yawns sleepily : " Hang it, don't wake 
 me up so early, Lumky ! " then grumbles savagely : 
 " You Chinese rapscallion, give me another nap while 
 you get my bath ready." 
 
 Suddenly, half rising in bed, his eyes startled and 
 unbelieving, the American ejaculates : " Great Scott, 
 Katsuma! How the devil did you come here? Have
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 233 
 
 the Allies fought their way through? Was Chieun's 
 despatch of Chinese victory last night a lie ? " 
 
 Here the Japanese, covered with the mud and dust 
 of his desperate journey, astonishes the American by 
 placing his finger to his lips and whispering: "Get 
 up ; I am here to save you ! " 
 
 " Save me? Why I am as safe as a clam at high 
 water, under my friend Chieun's protection. The man- 
 darin has a thousand troops and Boxers here. He 
 promises my daughter and our party safe conduct to a 
 treaty port. It is you, Osuri, who have blundered 
 into danger ! " 
 
 " Rise up, man, if you would save your daughter 
 from outrage worse than a thousand deaths ! " 
 
 " Good God, you are crazy ! " 
 
 " No, but you will be ! Put on your clothes quick 
 and listen to me for your daughter's life and honor! " 
 
 The tone of the Japanese is so impressive that after 
 staring at him a moment the American hastily calls: 
 " Here, Lumky ! " 
 
 "Lum Kee is dead!" 
 
 " Holy poker ! " Boardman struggles out of bed. 
 
 " The poor wretch died trying to get into our lines 
 to save your daughter. For your child's sake hurry; 
 and listen to me." 
 
 Then, as the manufacturer slips on, with hands that 
 are uncertain from agitation, the light garments of 
 the East, Osuri tells the astounded American a tale 
 of weird treachery and cruel malice which at first 
 makes his listener rip out awful Yankee oaths, and 
 then gasp in almost unbelieving horror : " My pure 
 angel to be tossed for desecration into the arms of that 
 Chinese savage. My God, it can't be! Chieun's ban- 
 ner has protected us so far. You implore me to give 
 up the safety the great mandarin has promised us, to 
 take our chances with you and your two followers in a 
 fight to the finish with all these thousands of surround- 
 ing Boxers. Think what you ask, Katsuma. The
 
 234 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Chinese potentate's power is surely sufficient to pro- 
 tect me and my child. His attentions to Eira 
 have been almost princely " The American pauses 
 sharply, some idea of Chieun's interest in his lovely 
 daughter now for the first time coming into his busi- 
 ness mind. Then he goes on again dissentingly : " By 
 the Lord, you also expect me to believe that Passmere 
 and his sister, for my dollars, plotted with Chieun my 
 death and my daughter's outrage. Your words are 
 monstrous. Flora accuse the husband that she loves of 
 such a fiendish crime ? Coming motherhood has made 
 my poor niece crazy." 
 
 " I will prove it ! " asserts Osuri desperately. " For 
 you must act ; and to act, you must believe." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 The Japanese captain thinks deeply for a moment ; 
 then says tersely : " By Imogene Passmere's own lips. 
 She has the craft of a witch but a woman's nerves, a 
 woman's emotions." 
 
 Stepping out of the chamber he whispers some hur- 
 ried orders to Lie-lie who, having guided the party to 
 Chieun's palace, is now tremblingly waiting in the 
 outer hall of the pavilion. 
 
 As the light patter of the amah's white-soled shoes 
 dies away upon the hard wood floor, Osuri, turning to 
 Boardman, says sharply : " To save time, I'll explain 
 matters," and gives his astonished listener, as addi- 
 tional proof of Passmere's and his sister's perfidy, 
 Flora's story of the purloined letter in Hong Kong. 
 
 " By the eternal, I saw .Eira give it with her own 
 hands to his wife ! " mutters the half-convinced Amer- 
 ican. 
 
 To this Katsuma adds a hasty sketch of the military 
 arrangements he has made. " In case I die, get your 
 daughter to the white pagoda !" he says hurriedly. 
 " There McCormick, the Irish sergeant of the Ninth 
 Regiment is guarding our ponies loaded with ammuni- 
 tion and our rifles. My faithful Nihonese boy, Saraki,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 235 
 
 is just outside this door/' Next whispers : " By Ema, 
 she is coming. Now let us have a little light on this 
 treacherous woman's face." 
 
 As Osuri throws open the casements, the sun, just 
 rising, enters the big, bare, vacant chamber and makes 
 it bright; the sweet songs of awaking larks and finches 
 enter, mingled with the soft noise of rippling water 
 and the odors of countless flowers. 
 
 A moment after a light rap is heard upon the por- 
 tal, and in ans\ver to Boardman's hasty, " Come in, 
 Genie ! " Miss Passmere enters. 
 
 The horrors of the night have told upon her. 
 Fear of death has kept sleep from her eyes. Though 
 the girl is frocked in dainty white, there is a nervous 
 abasement in her appearance, the shrinking shame 
 which had covered her as she passed out from the 
 harem of the Chinese mandarin has not yet left her. 
 She says hurriedly: " Is not Flora here? I thought she 
 wanted to see me about little Harold, who is calling for 
 his mother." Then noting the Japanese, a wild ecstatic 
 joy flies through her; she cries in astounded relief: 
 " Captain Katsuma, thank God you are here ! You 
 have come to save us." 
 
 " My dear young lady," remarks the Japanese with 
 Eastern craft and extreme affability. " you are in no 
 danger here. My friend Boardman tells me of the 
 generous protection Chieun has given, and of the great 
 mandarin's promised escort to a treaty port. Of course 
 I could send out and bring in a few companies of our 
 infantry ; but our troops seem absolutely unnecessary." 
 
 At this assurance of safety Imogene trembles and 
 says frantically : " My God, you don't know ! Chieun 
 means to murder us all." 
 
 " You you are dreaming! " cries Osuri. 
 
 " Shucks, nonsense ! " exclaims Boardman, who now 
 perceives the subtle stratagem of Osuri. 
 
 " You must get your companies of infantry here 
 quick ! " goes on the girl impressively : " Otherwise
 
 236 TANGL2D FLAGS. 
 
 you doom us all to death, and Eira Boardman to the 
 pollution of that Chinese monster ! " 
 
 " Miss Boardman to the " the Japanese cuts off 
 
 the words in his mouth and says, gazing at her as if 
 she were insane : " You must be crazy ; anxiety has 
 made you hysterical, my poor girl. The mandarin has 
 shown Eira great honor, her father tells me." 
 
 " Yes, don't let us hear any more such nonsense ! " 
 interjects Boardman, imperatively. " Imogene, take 
 some laudanum for your nerves." 
 
 " Some laudanum ! It is you who are crazy, who 
 will not understand ! " gasps Miss Passmere frenziedly. 
 
 For now Katsmua is saying lightly : " Since the 
 mandarin has given you such a supper, I wonder if he 
 would not do equally well at breakfast? Don't you 
 think you had better suggest it to his Chinese secre- 
 tary, Boardman? I am hungry." 
 
 " Not a bad idea," assents the Yankee quickly, " I 
 am hungry, too." 
 
 At this the fear of death runs away with Imogene 
 Passmere. For her own life, she must make them be- 
 lieve. She cries desperately: "Are you mad? Talk- 
 ing of breakfast when he means to slay you ! Didn't 
 he last night entertain me, and yet within the hour 
 My heavens, can't you guess? To seize upon her love- 
 liness is the reason Chieun plotted to lure your 
 daughter here, Mr. Boardman. That is why he used 
 my brother and I " 
 
 She pauses. The awful look of the Japanese tells 
 her in her terror she has said too much. Gazing upon 
 his face, Imogene's fair features become in an instant 
 white as the dress she wears. She convicts herself by 
 gasping : " God's pity ! You know all. Who has be- 
 trayed us ? " 
 
 " Flora Passmere ! " whispers Katsuma, " who came 
 to our outpost, risking all a woman holds dear, actu- 
 ated by a mother's love, and begged me to save her 
 little boy. But her story was too atrocious to be be-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 237 
 
 lieved, had not your infernal fears given us the proof, 
 you little she devil ! " The Japanese's hand seeks his 
 pistol. 
 
 " Mercy, don't kill me ! " half shrieks Imogene, and 
 would fly to the door but Saraki bars the way. 
 
 " Unfortunately I was educated as an American of- 
 ficer and find it hard to kill a woman," says Osuri 
 shortly; though Boardman's hand is upon his arm 
 half-pleadingly. " Were I an old time Japanese, my 
 dagger would have been in your black heart ere now." 
 He calls sharply : " Saraki ! " 
 
 " Master ! " and the Nihonese boy advances slowly 
 into the room, Imogene Passmere, step by step, re- 
 treating shuddering before him. 
 
 " Bind this woman ! Secure her in the white pa- 
 goda!" 
 
 Suddenly Saraki's dark eyes roll in superstitious 
 horror. He looks upon the fairy-like face now full of 
 hideous despair and diabolic passion and whispers, 
 " Diakoku, my master, the woman, who at the steamer 
 in Hong Kong looked like a girl at the Sacred Tree 
 doing the Ushi-toki-mairi. Thy fate and mine is upon 
 us." 
 
 " Hold thy superstitions and obey me," orders 
 Katsuma tersely. 
 
 With a piece of strong cord from his belt, and the 
 deft art peculiar to the Japanese, Saraki, despite faint 
 struggles and whispered pleadings, seizes in his lithe 
 arms the fluttering culprit and ties her into an inert 
 bundle. A peculiar mediaeval expression on the 
 Japanese captain's face makes Imogene's eyes dim 
 with tears ; her lips writhe out faintly : " My brother 
 my lost brother ! " 
 
 Then a piece of cotton forced hastily between her 
 white teeth by Saraki chokes a sister's anguish. He 
 carries Imogene Passmere away, coolie-fashion, as if 
 she were a bale of hemp or a bag of rice. 
 
 " You believe now ? "
 
 238 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 I 
 
 " Of course I do ! " answers Boardman. 
 
 " Now for her brother." Osuri's voice is harsh in 
 determination. " No time for a court martial, only 
 for execution. Besides this fiend's crime would con- 
 demn him even in the quiet time of peace." 
 
 Revolver in hand the Japanese officer steps out of 
 the door. Boardman watching him, gives a shudder. 
 
 Two minutes after Katsmua returns. 
 | : " Did you finish the skunk ? " mutters the Yankee. 
 
 " No, the snake escaped me. This astute devil must 
 have seen something that made him suspect. He is 
 probably concealed in the shrubbery of the garden ; 
 for, mark me, Arthur Passmere is doubtless now more 
 frightened of Chieun than he is of us. But this 
 makes it necessary we act like lightning." Despite the 
 hurry of his words, the Japanese is military coolness 
 personified. 
 
 Saraki is reporting : " I have secured the witch in 
 the white pagoda. From its balcony McCormick re- 
 ports he sees big quantities of armed people. Boxers 
 and Chinese troops retreating this way from the burn- 
 ing city." 
 
 " Tell McCormick to unpack the ponies and store 
 the arms and ammunition in the first gallery of the 
 white pagoda," orders Katsuma. The boy going 
 away, he turns to Boardman and remarks : " You see 
 flight is impossible. We can but defend your daughter 
 till we die." 
 
 " That being the case," returns the Yankee coolly. 
 " I've been a bit of a fighter once in a way myself ! " 
 The old Gettysburg look, with which as a young man 
 he had faced Lee's veterans in the Peach Orchard and 
 on Little Round Top, comes into the clean-cut busi- 
 ness face, and Joel Boardman is once more a warrior. 
 
 " How shall we stand these fellows off, Katsuma ? " 
 he says sharply. " You have modern military train- 
 ing; I can only pull a trigger. You take command." 
 
 " The white pagoda is a fortress that could stand
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 239 
 
 against anything lighter than field artillery, if we only 
 had a few of your rapid-fire guns, Mr. Boardman," 
 replies the Japanese musingly. " As it is, we must 
 do our best with the arms McCormick and I have 
 brought with us." 
 
 " Rapid-fire guns ? " mutters the American ; then he 
 suddenly cries : " By gum, we've got 'em ! " 
 
 " Impossible ! " 
 
 Joel points to the five big packing cases in the corner 
 of his long room. 
 
 The eyes of the West Pointer flash. " By the God 
 of Fortune, your sample guns ! " 
 
 " Yes, and of course better than any others we turn 
 out ; and ammunition each cartridge warranted 
 enough to fight a battle ! One lightning-fire tripod one- 
 pound shell gun, and two quick movable, 3O-calibre 
 automatics with steel shields, running upon wheels." 
 
 " Then send Lie-lie for your daughter and little 
 Harold, and before Chieun guesses we will have the 
 guns mounted on the stone verandas of the white pa- 
 goda." The Japanese flies after McCormick and 
 Saraki. 
 
 Two minutes after, seeing Boardman tearing off the 
 cases from the rapid-fires, the Irish sergeant's eyes 
 twinkle. " By Limerick, thase'll surprise Jack China- 
 man when he opens his slaapy eyes," he grimly mut- 
 ters. And the four men get to work for their lives, 
 ] unpacking and carrying piece by piece the guns and 
 I case by case the ammunition to the white pagoda. 
 
 Into this scene of military activity, glides Eira 
 Boardman, white-robed and lovely as a Goddess of the 
 Morning, though there is a pathos in her blue eyes, 
 borne of anxiety for her lover on the battle-field. 
 
 Seeing Osuri, she extends a cordial hand to him and 
 whispers gratefully : " God bless you for coming, 
 though it is only additional safety ; Chieun has prom- 
 ised us all protection ' 
 
 Something in Katsuma's bearing stays her sweet
 
 240 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 voice. " Yes, I am here to save you," he says simply. 
 " Your father will tell you all it is necessary that you 
 know." 
 
 The horror in Boardman's eyes impresses her. 
 He leads his daughter apart. Looking like the Roman 
 father, when upon the ancient Forum he spoke to Vir- 
 ginia, claimed as Tarquin's slave, the American makes 
 awful whispered revelation to his child. 
 
 To this at first the girl listens in amazed unbelief. 
 Then as her father's words bring conviction to her she 
 remembers her intercepted letter in Hong Kong, and 
 stricken not only by the treachery of those she had 
 deemed almost relatives, but more by the cold, cruel, 
 debasing outrage they had plotted for her in the arms 
 of a Chinese satyr, she shrinks and droops and quiv- 
 ers. But after one tremendous, torturing, cowering 
 blush of weird and bashful horror, Eira Boardman 
 raises her maiden eyes resolute as the Roman virgin's. 
 
 As Joel's closing words come to her, sharp as the 
 rattle of one of his own rapid-fires : "Mark you child ; 
 before Chieun's hand is laid upon you, I kill you! 
 Therefore, have no fear, except of death ! " her spirit- 
 uelle face lights up with vestal fire. 
 
 The young American maid says in proud determina- 
 tion : " My father, you shall not take that horror. At 
 the last, I kill myself ! This little thing has been with 
 me ever since we left Peking ! " A tiny revolver 
 gleams in her hand. 
 
 This Katsuma interrupts. He says hastily : " Board- 
 man, tell the women to get all the pillow-cases, sheets 
 and blankets and make them into bags ; let them fill 
 them with dirt or sand immediately outside the white 
 pagoda." 
 
 " That shall be my care," cries Eira. " I struggle 
 to save my life." And she gathers together 
 Lie-lie and the Indian ayah, who has brought little 
 Harold, and gets them all to work. Even the urchin 
 thinking it is play, helps to fill the bags, as they
 
 FLAGS. 241 
 
 make them, with a toy shovel ; for never for a moment 
 does Osuri permit pause in his military preparations 
 
 The rapid-fires and ammunition are in the white 
 pagoda. He is ordering the food that can be gleaned 
 up without alarming the Chinese, who must be 
 waking now, taken into the improvised fortress. As 
 for water, a fountain plays in the lower story of the 
 pagoda. Fearing the pipes to this might be cut off, 
 the thoughtful officer directs that all their vessels and 
 bath-tubs be filled and carried to the upper balconies. 
 
 These preparations, little Harold, wielding his toy 
 spade, watches merrily. As the polyglot infant sees 
 the provisions, wines and liquors of Chinese hos- 
 pitality carried to the upper stories of the pa- 
 goda, he prattles: " Mein Himmel, line fete cham- 
 petre to old Chieun dans la pagoda blanche. Ma 
 maman dit le Mandarin Chinois fait un grand banquet, 
 letzte nacht. Oh this will be a high old spree ! " and 
 his childish shovel points to the white balconies that 
 rise pyramid-like above him. 
 
 To this McCormick laughs : " Bedad, me little all- 
 nation bantam, we're going to give the Chinese a hell 
 of a fate wid lead." Then he suddenly asks : " Cap- 
 tain, 'ave yes thought of the baccy if it's going to be 
 a long sage." 
 
 " Five boxes of cigars and ten bottles of whiskey 
 xip above ! " cries Boardman cheerily. 
 
 " Then thank God, wa've the crature comforts ! " 
 The grizzled sergeant is mounting the heaviest of 
 Boardman's rapid-fires. 
 
 These guns are now put into position with great 
 rapidity; the Yankee manufacturer understands his 
 own mechanisms to a nicety; the Japanese officer has 
 proved many of these deadly engines on the Tokio 
 firing grounds. The one-pound shell machine is quick- 
 ly ready, its ammunition placed beside it, and the two 
 movable 3O-calibre are already upon their wheels 
 to move about as needed. All three are placed
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 upon the balcony surrounding the first tier of the pa- 
 goda, the big tripod mounted at an angle in the walls, 
 so it commands two sides of the building. 
 
 Slapping one of his weapons proudly upon the 
 breech-block, the pride of a mechanic in his eyes, 
 Boardman says : " Now I'll see these little fellows of 
 mine work on real flesh and blood." 
 
 A long stairway of whrte stone leads from the 
 lower story to the first tier of the edifice. It is not 
 straight and therefore cannot be raked in its entirety 
 the first portion, some ten feet in extent, reaches a 
 landing place from this at right angles the balance 
 of the stairs ascends to the floor above. This landing 
 place, under Osuri's instructions, is hurriedly mined 
 with a couple of pounds of gun cotton and connected 
 by a quick-burning fuse, led up in a groove of the 
 balustrade to the first tier. " This, at the very last ! " 
 mutters Katsuma grimly. Along the balustrade he 
 places sand bags as far down as the landing place, to 
 protect it from a flanking fire ; for this stone platform 
 must be their first point of resistance in case an attempt 
 is made to rush the stairway. 
 
 Then the Japanese officer makes hasty inspection 
 and, finding the pagoda is fit as his means and time 
 can make it, descends to the lower story, just outside 
 of which Eira, the women and boy are filling and sew- 
 ing up the last of the sand bags ; a careful eye being 
 kept by the prowling Saraki that no enemies approach. 
 
 To these helpless ones, Katsuma addresses himself. 
 At his word Harold laughingly runs up the twenty feet 
 of stone steps to the balcony of the graceful edi- 
 fice, followed by the trembling Lie-lie and the Indian 
 nurse. 
 
 Bending before Miss Boardman, he murmurs : 
 " Sun Goddess ! " and offers his arm in the same cere- 
 monious gallantry he did at Mrs. Murray's dance upon 
 the far-away peaceful Kennedy Road.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 243 
 
 As Eira places a graceful hand upon his sleeve 
 the fountain, which has been playing merrily near 
 them, suddenly ceases its flow and grows silent. " Al- 
 ready they suspect," remarks the Japanese. " Cutting 
 off our water is the first act of war. Hurry ! " 
 
 A moment after this the light steps of youth take 
 them to tfie first tier of the pagoda. Of oblong shape, 
 its interior is one large severely beautiful room, whose 
 white marble walls are strong enough to resist any- 
 thing lighter than field artillery. Surrounding this 
 is a balustraded balcony some ten feet wide of the 
 same dazzling stone. Passing through the room in 
 which are stored their provisions and water they step 
 out on the balcony. Above them rises in the mists of 
 the morning, sepulcnral, pyramid-like, the two upper 
 stories of the white pagoda. Below on three sides 
 are the perfumed flower gardens of the Chinese palace. 
 
 From these places now is heard the buzz of rapidly 
 awakening people; in several courtyards bodies of 
 irregular troops are gathering hurriedly in the slip- 
 shod way peculiar to Mongolian military crudity. 
 
 Upon the other side, ten feet below them, is the 
 outer wall of the palace, but carelessly guarded at the 
 distant gate by half-sleeping sentries. Beyond this the 
 low broom-corn fields and greener garden patches lead 
 away towards Tien Tsin, now faintly indicated by a 
 dim overhanging cloud of smoke. 
 
 Boardman on the opposite side of the balcony is 
 busy over one of his rapid-fires. McCormick is stand- 
 ing sentinel upon a small projecting turret in an angle 
 of the balustrade. Little Harold is playing tag with 
 his ayah and the Chinese girl in the main room, calling 
 " Catch me, Vite! Fange michl" Saraki is toiling up 
 the long stone steps from the lower story, bearing a 
 heavily-corded bundle, which may be merchandise, but 
 from an occasional writhing, quivering, trembling un- 
 easiness in its graceful outline may be a living thing.
 
 244 f ANGLES FLA<3S. 
 
 For the first time since they parted in Hong Kong 
 Osuri Katsuma has private word with Eira Board- 
 man. 
 
 To him the girl again turns grateful eyes and mur- 
 murs : " Thank you once more for coming to try and 
 save me." 
 
 " I do not think you need have any immediate appre- 
 hension. These will make reasonable military safety " 
 Osuri says reassuringly and points to the rapid-fire 
 guns " in case the Allied column is sent out from 
 Tien Tsin in time. They know your danger there." 
 
 " You are sure ? " queries Eira ; thinking of the 
 awful fate Passmere's treachery has planned for her 
 a curious anxiety ripples her mobile features, her 
 graceful limbs begin to tremble. 
 
 " I told all to the commanding officer of the Ninth 
 Infantry as I left. That sergeant is a volunteer from 
 the regiment." 
 
 " Jim's regiment ! " A ghastly pallor tinges Miss 
 Boardman's contorted face ; she asks, with quivering 
 lips: " Then why is Jim not here to save me? " next 
 cries : " You don't answer ! " and fair fingers grip his 
 arm. " Jim must have stood in line of battle with you 
 yesterday. My Jim is dead and you dare not tell me ! '' 
 The wild agony of her eyes becomes Osuri's agony. It 
 shows him how much she loves the other man. 
 
 " No, only wounded," he answers, his voice low and 
 trembling. Then generosity conquering anguish, he 
 goes on earnestly : " He will live for you and 
 you shall live for him. You promised your father at 
 the last to kill yourself. That shall never be. I will 
 save you for Jim Ingraham ! 'Tis the oath of a 
 daimio ! " 
 
 " My heaven, how noble you are," whispers the girl, 
 
 " when you " her per.rly teeth come together and 
 
 shut off the dangerous words. 
 
 But Osuri, checking his temptation sharply, cries
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 245 
 
 to Mr. Boardman : " You see that big column of Box- 
 ers retreating from Tien Tsin ? " 
 
 " Yes, but it looks as if we had nearer work before 
 us," answers the American, grimly. 
 
 Some of the Chinese servitors have apparently given 
 report to the Chinese mandarin of what is going on 
 among his guests. His Excellency's secretary open- 
 ing a wicket comes into the compound, and finding no 
 one in the pavilions, steps hurriedly towards the pa- 
 goda. Seeing the military preparations astonished 
 fear ripples his Mongolian features. Chin-chinning 
 to the earth, he calls out suavely : " Great American ! 
 My master, the grand Li Wong Chieun, mandarin of 
 the second class, sends word of greeting to you, asking 
 you and your party to partake of his hospitality at 
 breakfast in the kiosk in the lotus lake." 
 
 Even as the man speaks a number of red-blotched 
 Boxers, with arms and waving banners, crowd the 
 walls overlooking the compound. 
 
 " Every woman into the central room ! Ayah, hold 
 that boy below the balustrade for your life ! " com- 
 mands Osuri hoarsely. " Miss Boardman, for God's 
 sake ! " 
 
 But the young American girl accustomed to her own 
 fair will says : " Pshaw, I am not afraid. I'll stand by 
 my father and see you fight." 
 
 As she speaks the young officer's hand is on her arm. 
 " I command here," he says sternly. " I am responsi- 
 ble for your life. Go in and lie down behind those 
 sand bags." 
 
 " Placed for my 'especial safety ! " gasps the girl. 
 " You always think of me ! " 
 
 " Obey me ; go ! " 
 
 Noting the same look on his face as when he saved 
 her from the cobra, Eira Boardman passes in. As the 
 Japanese turns hurriedly away she gives him a look so 
 grateful that the heart of Osuri Katsuma bounds in his 
 body.
 
 246 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 He turns to Boardman, who is questioning : " What 
 answer shall I give? That cuss'd Chinese secretary 
 is calling out again ! " 
 
 " This ! " commands the Japanese officer. " The 
 first blow against an undisciplined horde is half the 
 battle." He gives some hurried directions. 
 
 At his word, the three rapid-fires, one managed by 
 McCormick, the other by Boardman and the third by 
 himself, give out a volley that brings astonishment, 
 devastation and death upon the Boxers crowding the 
 walls. 
 
 " By Plymouth Rock ! " cries the Yankee excitedly ; 
 " my automatics are lovely slaughterers ! " 
 
 " God forgive ye for making the murderous divils," 
 grins the Irish sergeant. 
 
 But Katsuma has touched the spring that looses the 
 Inferno! 
 
 For every Mongol tumbled from his pinnacle 
 a dozen fly up to take his place. If Chieun 
 had a thousand men the night before he has 
 five thousand now. One-pound gingal balls begin to 
 chip off the strong stone masonry of the white pagoda ; 
 the rattle of Mauser bullets is like a sudden hail storm ; 
 and now comes the peculiar rat-a-tat-tat of machine 
 guns. 
 
 Noting this Osuri knows the business will be des- 
 perate; that he has more than a mere undisciplined 
 rabble upon his hands, and remarks : " By Isanagi, 
 some of these are Chinese regular troops driven from 
 Tien Tsin ! " 
 
 " Gol darn it ! Don't I know it ! " answers the Amer- 
 ican savagely. " Curse their Chinese eyes ! Ain't they 
 shooting at me with my own machine guns ! Don't I 
 know the whiz of my own slugs? By the Eternal, 
 hanged if I ever again sell arms to bloody barbarians ! " 
 
 " HE NEVER DOES ! " 
 
 Even as he speaks, Joel Luther Boardman, smitten 
 with one of his own bullets, manufactured at Meriden,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 24 / 
 
 Connecticut, snarls, as if astounded : " Gee whiz, 
 plugged by one of my own rapid-fires!" then gasps: 
 " Good God ! Osuri, save my daughter ! " and falls 
 fainting upon the marble balustrade. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BY LAW OF WAR. 
 
 Suddenly the Japanese cries imperatively : " Go 
 back ! " 
 
 Unheeding the impact of gingal-balls and the rattle 
 of machine slugs, a white-robed figure is on the bal- 
 cony. With a moan, she lifts her father's head upon 
 her tender lap. 
 
 " For the love of the gods ! " Seeing the girl will 
 not leave her father, he takes Boardman carefully out 
 of her clinging arms and carries him into the central 
 room. At this, flying after her patient, Eira gives her- 
 self shelter again behind the heavy stone walls. 
 
 " Nurse him here ; don't again risk yourself upon 
 that balcony." He calls to the Indian ayah and Chi- 
 nese girl : " Help her ! " 
 
 They lay the arms manufacturer upon some rice 
 sacks; they moisten his lips with water; they pour 
 brandy down the throat of the fainting man. 
 , Looking upon this with the big eyes of childhood, 
 little Harold, who has followed his ayah, prattles 
 philosophically : " Mein Gott, mon oncle Boardy bleeds 
 like a piggy-wiggy. Wwiderlich! Did his machine 
 fusil do him up? " 
 
 But they are too busy to notice his babble, which 
 is now broken in upon by the Irish sergeant shouting: 
 " Captain, begot), the bloody Boxers are charging into 
 the compound ! " 
 
 The Japanese officer stepping to the outer balcony 
 calls Saraki, who has been handling a rifle, and in-
 
 348 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 structs the quick Japanese in the use of the rapid- 
 fires. This is quite easy to the lad, who has often ac- 
 companied his master to the Tokio testing grounds. 
 
 Under a hail of bullets from these deadly weapons, 
 the Boxers are cleared from the compound, though a 
 few of the regular troops, acting as sharpshooters, con- 
 cealed in its leafy coverts keep up an annoying and 
 distracting fire, forcing the little garrison to the great- 
 est circumspection. Though no one save Boardman, as 
 yet is touched, it is a rifle-bolt here and a gingal-ball 
 there; and sometime one will find its mark. 
 
 So the fight goes on all this long burning day, every 
 now and again the Chinese hordes streaming into the 
 compound and charging the white pagoda, and each 
 time being driven back with awful loss by the deadly 
 machine fire. 
 
 Towards evening they are reinforced by a column of 
 regular troops, retreating from Tien Tsin ; and now 
 make the most desperate assault of the day. 
 
 By sheer impact of numbers, though mowed down 
 like grain by the scythe, they force their way into the 
 lower story of the pagoda and begin to swarm up the 
 stone steps. 
 
 In another moment they will be upon the balcony it 
 will be man to man machine guns will be as naught 
 a thousand spears will flash once her three defenders 
 will die; and she will be at Chieun's mercy. Eira 
 springs up from her father's side, her face pallid as an 
 ancient Druid sacrifice upon the fatal stone. She has 
 cocked the little revolver she is raising the weapon. 
 
 " Not yet ! " commands Osuri : " Not till you see me 
 fall and they are about you ! " 
 
 He has wheeled the movable 3O-calibre which shoots 
 six hundred shots a minute, to the stairway's head. 
 " McCormick ! " he shouts, " bring the second auto- 
 matic to the head of the stairs in case they overwhelm 
 me!" 
 
 " Aye, aye ! " and the Irish sergeant obeys him.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 2 49 
 
 Then protected by the sand bags upon the upper 
 steps, Osuri's little machine gun travels noiselessly 
 down to the stone platform. 
 
 With hoarse, monkey chatter of victory, the Mon- 
 golian horde, led by a crowd of savage Kansu men, 
 charge up the steps, the single-barrel of the little gun 
 wheeling round the corner of the platform meets them. 
 
 Then comes the clatter of the automatic as 
 it hurls forth lead raking the stone steps till they drip 
 with blood and none but dead men are upon them. 
 
 Upon the cool young warrior, who seems now part 
 of the unerring mechanism, Mausers are fired and the 
 loud booming in the confined space of the lower story 
 shows that two-men gingal guns are being used ; but 
 protected by the automatic's steel shield in his front, 
 the sand bags on the steps and a flanking fire the 
 veteran Irish sergeant brings to bear from the first 
 tier of the pagoda upon the mass of struggling men 
 huddled in the lower story, Osuri calmly arranges a 
 second belt of cartridges in the breech-block and for- 
 tunately is ready for the second rush. 
 
 For now, some waving battle-flags and all bearing 
 on their red-stained garments the josses of the I-Ho- 
 Chaun, cheered by half a dozen Buddhist bruzes, 
 who shriek from behind that they are invulnerable, 
 twice the Mongols swarm up the stairway. 
 
 Twice the machine gun tells them that their priests 
 lie, piling them up in slaughtered heaps from which 
 the blood runs down as rivulets over rock mounds, till 
 they give back. 
 
 A Chinese retreat is generally a panic. The lower 
 story of the great pagoda becomes silent save for the 
 moaning of the wounded. Even the gardens only give 
 forth an occasional shot. 
 
 Evening is coming on ; but there are no birds' songs 
 now, the larks and finshes having fled affrighted from 
 the noise and slaughter. 
 
 Just about this time, either in the rapid handling of
 
 250 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 the gun, or through the overheating of the breech- 
 block a portion of the accurate yet delicate mechanism 
 of his 3o-calibre becomes disarranged. 
 
 Hurriedly Osuri steps to the Yankee manufacturer, 
 who is sighing out his life in his daughter's arms. To 
 him he whispers : " How can your 3o-calibre be re- 
 paired ? " 
 
 The dying man scarce takes heed of him ; his eyes 
 are glassy; he looks wanderingly about. Perhaps the 
 growing gloom confuses him. He takes Katsuma's 
 hand, suddenly places his daughter's in it and whis- 
 pers : " Bless you, my children ! " 
 
 " Don't disturb my father ! " sobs Eira, though her 
 face is as red as the setting sun. Then she cries sav- 
 agely: "Let him die in peace!" Despite himself the 
 strong hand .of the Japanese gives tender clasp to the 
 delicate fingers whose touch thrills him. 
 
 "To save you, I'd wake the dead!" says Katsuma 
 simply. Then he implores : " Man ; for your child's 
 sake ! Rouse yourself to keep her from Chinese lust." 
 
 " Yes ! " Boardman's voice is low but determined ; 
 the mention of his daughter's strait has brought sen- 
 tiency again to him. 
 
 " Is there any means of repairing the automatic ? " 
 
 " Yes ! Tool-box and extra parts in in small pack- 
 ing-case in in my bedroom! I'll I'll do the job!" 
 
 To the astonishment of them all the dying manufac- 
 turer springs up. Taking six tottering steps, he stands 
 at the head of the stone stairway, gazing down on the 
 heaps of dead and dying, killed by his own mechanical 
 genius. Pride in his invention dominates even death. 
 He gasps : "By gum, isn't the 3O-calibre a hummer ! 
 It has killed all them It has killed me too ! " He 
 staggers ; blood comes from his mouth, and he falls 
 headlong down the steps upon a pile of Chinese 
 corpses, as dead as any of them. 
 
 A moment later Joel's body is borne back to the first 
 tier and placed in his daughter's arms,
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 25! 
 
 " He is dead ! The first of us are gone ! " shudders 
 the girl, wringing her hands : " The tragedy of the 
 white pagoda is beginning ! " 
 
 Tugging at her skirt, little Harold is whimpering: 
 " Ma mamanf Haben die Boxers sie getodt? " Then 
 the child sobs piteously : " Mama ! My mama ! She 
 is dead ! " 
 
 But Osuri cannot wait for grief. The gun must be 
 repaired. To do this he must first make his way 
 through the gardens and bring back the tool-satchel 
 overlooked by Boardman in the hurry of their first 
 preparations. The coming darkness is his opportunity. 
 
 He calls McCormick to him. 
 
 " I've got to get into that pavilion in the garden. 
 In the small packing-case in that dead man's bedroom 
 are the extra parts for this gun that is now out of ac- 
 tion," he explains. 
 
 " Bedad, I'm afeerd the man who goes to get it has a 
 very slim chance of taking it to any place but the other 
 world. Those moving trees show the garden is full of 
 sneaking Boxers. Ye can see their spears flashing in 
 the gloom," returns the Irish sergeant ; then the brave 
 fellows suggests : " Let me go, Cap." 
 
 " No ! You stay here with Saraki and guard the 
 stairway." 
 
 " For the love of the Virgin, Captain, at least let me 
 go wid ye ! " 
 
 " One can do this better than a dozen. I go alone. 
 Obey orders, sergeant ! " 
 
 "Yes, yer honor!" 
 
 They have already replaced the 3O-calibre by the sec- 
 ond automatic, arranged to rake the stone stairway. 
 Leaning upon it, the Irish soldier grimly watches the 
 Japanese, as Osuri hurriedly throwing off his uniform 
 glides down the stairway armed only with a revolver 
 and knife. The stones padded with dead bodies give 
 out no sound Katsuma like a naked snake silently 
 disappears in the darkness,
 
 25* TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 So the Irishman waits and waits. 
 
 Then growing, after his Celtic nature, impatient of 
 inaction, he calls : " Whist, Saraki ! Kape an eye from 
 the balcony. If the Cap needs help, just yell, and Mc- 
 Cormick of the Ninth will sally out and bring in the 
 Jap, who is as brave as Brian Boru." 
 
 The night seems very silent now. The only noise is 
 the low sobbing of the bereft girl in the main room and 
 the babble of little Harold, who is crying: " Ou est 
 mon nouvel Vater? Ou est Aunt Imogenef Naughty 
 Boxers do 'em up." 
 
 Suddenly Saraki shouts: " Yojen sanibeshi!" and 
 takes his place beside the gun at the head of the stairs, 
 as a wild, Mongolian, jabbering, screaming noise rises 
 from the garden. 
 
 The Irishman fixes the bayonet on his rifle, flies 
 down the stairway, and reaching the open, sees Osuri 
 beset by three Boxer men ; a hundred more are com- 
 ing fifty feet away ; a thousand more are issuing from 
 the shrubbery beyond. 
 
 " Quick, Cap, or ye're dead ! " cries the sergeant, as 
 one falls to the revolver of the Japanese. Katsuma is 
 saved from his gleaming blade by the Irishman driv- 
 ing his bayonet through the second Mongol spearsman. 
 The third makes a lunge ; McCormick sees the blood 
 spurt from the left arm of the Japanese, with which, 
 though burdened by the tool-satchel, Osuri has de- 
 fended his heart. Then the revolver speaks again and 
 the man goes down. 
 
 " Sergeant, you disobeyed orders. Back to your 
 post ! " his captain cries sternly, and the two hurriedly 
 retreat. 
 
 But the delay has been disastrous ; other Chinese 
 spearsmen close about them. Osuri and McCormick 
 enter the lower story of the pagoda, battling with a 
 few. As they reach the foot of the stone steps the 
 few have grown into a mob. Through these both fight 
 their way.
 
 FLACJl i$$ 
 
 At the platform the Japanese turns about. Ten steps 
 below him the gallant Irishman is lying beneath the 
 feet of swarming Boxers. 
 
 " Don't think of me ! Don't let 'em rach the floor ! 
 Rake the stairs with the machine gun, Cap ! " he cries 
 devotedly, then gasps : " Oh, God, there's another 
 knife in me ! " 
 
 But Katsuma is not of the kind to escape from bat- 
 tle and let his savior perish. He throws the tool- 
 satchel to a place of safety and dashing back fights 
 his way to the fallen Irishman. Gathering McCormick 
 in his arms, he again reaches the head of the steps. 
 Upon him are closing the Chinese spearsmen. To 
 Saraki, who, absolutely obeying orders, has never left 
 his post, he cries : " Fire ! " 
 
 The uninjured automatic gives out its five hundred 
 shots a minute. The stairway is cleared of living Box- 
 ers ; but there is a dying man in Osuri's arms. Ser- 
 geant McCormick of the Ninth U. S. Infantry has 
 fought his last battle. 
 
 Over him bends Eira Boardman, wringing her hands 
 and sighing : " Another dead for me ! " 
 
 The girl's face tells Osuri, without action to stay her 
 grief for her father, she will probably go mad. 
 
 As soon as the Chinese retreat, he says shortly : 
 " Though that gallant fellow deserves your tears as 
 much as any man who ever wore uniform, still others 
 demand your attention; wounded men myself for in- 
 stance." 
 
 " Oh, Heaven, wounded for me ! " And she is at 
 her patient briskly. In a moment her soothing hands 
 are putting a first-aid bandage on his hurt to stop the 
 bleeding. 
 
 "Thank you," murmurs the Japanese, trying to. re- 
 press the joy her tender touch brines to him. In truth 
 her aid has come none too soon. The loos of blood has 
 been sufficient, added to the toil of this burning day, 
 to make him feel faint, but cheered by a cup of water
 
 254 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 from Saraki, he goes to work upon the disabled auto- 
 matic and soon has it again ready for service. 
 
 The attack not being renewed; at the first oppor- 
 tunity he orders Saraki and the coolie girl to carry both 
 Boardman's and McCormick's remains to the upper 
 story. 
 
 For a moment Eira is a'bout to dissent ; then the wis- 
 dom of the Japanese striking her she says to herself: 
 " A woman has duties in a garrison as well as men." 
 A brighter look comes into her face and the mourner 
 changes to a worker. Calling Lie-lie to her she hur- 
 riedly arranges both for hospital as well as domestic 
 service. 
 
 So the first night comes down upon them; both 
 Osuri and Saraki watching carefully, their garrison is 
 so small. 
 
 As Katsuma peers out Tien Tsin way in some faint 
 hope of coming relief, a delicate hand touches him 
 lightly on the shoulder. He knows who it is his acute 
 ears have already recognized the light step that he 
 loves. 
 
 " You are exhausted," whispers Eira : then sud- 
 denly rebels : " Don't send me back under cover. It 
 is too dark for them to see to shoot me/' Adding 
 pleadingly : " Let me watch for you. Come in, 1 have 
 a meal prepared." 
 
 " Keep down ! " The Japanese's voice is sternly 
 anxious. A random ball has chipped off some marble 
 near them. " You forget I command here, Miss Board- 
 man." 
 
 " You forget that women always command in the 
 hospital, and you are wounded," says the girl, a tinge 
 of archness in her sweet persuasion. " Come in and 
 eat ! Besides, you must have rest. Saraki tells me you 
 battled all yesterday, all last night ; and in the morning 
 your desperate journey, and all this day this desperate 
 fight for me ! " 
 
 These entreaties from the lips that he adores make
 
 t ANGLED FLAGS. 25 
 
 the warrior weak enough to say : " I eat, if you eat 
 with me." 
 
 " That I will with pleasure ! " And Eira, calling 
 Lie-lie to her, directs she keep watch upon the Tien 
 Tsin side; forcing Katsuma to do the best thing for 
 them all ; that is, strengthen himself for future exploit. 
 
 To his astonishment, in the central room of the pa- 
 goda women are so deft about these matters a fire 
 has been kindled from some broken boxes; a hot cup 
 of coffee" is awaiting him, some canned provisions, ta- 
 ble biscuits packed by an American cracker company 
 and a steaming grilled ham-bone. 
 
 Still the meal, lighted by a flickering lamp shaded 
 so as not to draw the enemy's fire, though invigorat- 
 ing is not as pleasing as Osuri hopes for. If Miss 
 Boardman had been tender to her warrior as his nurse, 
 after tempting him to the meal, she seems more distant 
 to him. 
 
 The natural bashfulness of the girl who is now 
 wholly alone, bereft of kindred, and utterly dependent, 
 even for life itself, upon the devotion of this man, 
 who she knows loves her, makes her scarce reply to his 
 earnest speeches. 
 
 Besides duty can't destroy love; honor cannot an- 
 nihilate passion ; Osuri's glances, despite his resolu- 
 tion, are ardent at seeing this being of his heart so near 
 to him. 
 
 Noting this, though she has supreme confidence in 
 his honor, for Eira Boardman is beginning to look 
 upon Katsuma as the maids of old looked upon the 
 knights who died for them and asked no reward, save 
 a little glove or silken scarf, the girl grows constrained 
 in her bearing and formal in her address. 
 
 But, now from the darkness issue two horrors. 
 
 The meal is hurriedly broken in upon. Saraki, who 
 has been munching his rations outside as he has kept 
 guard, steps into an embrasure and calls : " Master ;
 
 a foreign voice is crying to. you outside. It asks for 
 help ! " 
 
 Stepping quickly out, Osuri, protecting himself from 
 treacherous shot, looks cautiously over the balustrade. 
 In the gloom, twenty feet below him, is a prostrate 
 figure. 
 
 The night is very silent ; a whisper floats up to him 
 in wheedling entreaty : " Is that you, Katsuma, dear 
 old boy ? I must have word with you, don't yer know." 
 
 It is the voice of Arthur Passmere pleading for his 
 life. 
 
 " No word with you, villain. Go away, I am 
 tempted to shoot you in cold blood." 
 
 The answer that comes startles the Japanese : " I 
 can't go anywhere ; I am helpless. Bound hand and 
 foot. I have been placed here as the ambassador of 
 Li Wong Chieun; he has terms to offer you. If you 
 will come out he will give you safe conduct to the 
 allied troops." 
 
 " I don't believe you ! " answers the captain sharply ; 
 then he orders suspiciously : " Saraki, patrol the other 
 sides of the pagoda, so that we are not taken by sur- 
 prise." 
 
 '' Then for the love of God give me whispered word 
 with you so that no one hears. I have a secret to tell 
 you. For your own sake, for my sake, listen to me ! 
 Surrender the girl ! It will be fortune to you to me ! 
 Chieun knows her father is dead ; give her up quietly ; 
 and the princely American fortune of the arms manu- 
 facturer will come to me, through my wife Flora, his 
 niece. Together, dear old boy, we will enjoy old 
 Boardman's millions." 
 
 " You will never enjoy a fortune through your wife. 
 It was she who came into our lines, risking more than 
 her life to denounce you ; to save her child." 
 
 " Flora ! " gasps the man below : " my God, my 
 bride who w r as as wax to me in her love ! " Then a
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 257 
 
 flat, jarring, rasping, unnatural laugh rings out de- 
 spairingly. 
 
 Almost in the same breath his pleading rises to Kat- 
 suma, weird and horrid upon the still night air : " Then 
 shoot me. For the love of mercy, shoot me dead ! I 
 I dare not be taken back to Li Wong Chieun. Tor- 
 tures more awful than any but Oriental minds can de- 
 vise are preparing for me, if I do not induce you to 
 surrender Eira Boardman." 
 
 " For his lust ? Never ! " shudders the Japanese. 
 " By Isanagi, you are not man to ask it. Wretch, you 
 have destroyed even my pity ! " 
 
 Then, overcome by the foul, moaning, screaming 
 adjurations that come up to him, Osuri mutters: " I 
 dare not descend to you for fear of your treachery. 
 But ! " He tosses his dagger into the clutch of the 
 frantic wretch, and whispers: "Cut yourself loose! 
 I give you the same chance I would a mad dog." 
 
 Gazing down, the Japanese can see the pinioned 
 hands below him working with gleaming poniard on 
 the cords that bind him ; then a form, inert from lack 
 of exertion, stagger towards the dense thickets of the 
 garden. Then from out of the gloom he notes the 
 gliding figures of the watching Chinese guards. An- 
 other second and he hears a muttered, sighing shriek 
 and knows that Arthur Passmere is again within the 
 mercy of the Chinese monster. 
 
 Pas-sing from this hideous interview, Osuri, in 
 an unused arch, stumbles over another horror. In the 
 darkness his foot disturbs what seems to him a bale 
 of goods. A low moan comes from it. Bending down 
 he sees one whom in the hurry of this desperate day, 
 with its. unending anxieties, and nearly perpetual com- 
 bat, he had forgotten, and murmurs : " Imogene Pass- 
 mere ! " 
 
 The delicate face contorted by its merciless gag 
 would produce compunction in the heart of any man. 
 Osuri Katsuma has a little pity even for her. He pulls
 
 258 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 out the cotton stuff rammed remorselessly into the 
 sensitive mouth. The girl simply gasps : " Water ! " 
 
 He drags her to the centre of the apartment and 
 pours some down her throat; then calling Saraki, he 
 commands : " Unbind her ! " 
 
 " She is a dangerous thing ; she is a bad spirit. Your 
 orders were ' Secure her ! ' She is secure ! " 
 
 " Unbind her ! And yet, perhaps she is less danger- 
 ous as she is." 
 
 But a sweet voice, almost echoing him, cries domi- 
 nately : " Untie her ! " Eira Boardman is at his side. 
 She whispers indignantly : " Have you no heart ? 
 Don't you see how those awful cords torment her." 
 
 " I have heart for all but your enemies, Sun God- 
 dess! You know this woman's crime against you. 
 The ineffable debasement to which she would have 
 doomed you." 
 
 " Y-e-s," murmurs the girl, her blazing face turned 
 from him : " Still, send her away ; don't torture her ; " 
 for a heavy sighing, moaning comes from between the 
 thin lips of the captive. 
 
 Yielding unwillingly to her appeal Osuri steps out-' 
 side to patrol the balcony ; as Saraki, with the same art 
 by wHIch he had made his delicate prisoner inert, un- 
 binds her, and the blood begins to flow throughout her 
 veins. 
 
 Almost as if awakening from a delirious dream Imo- 
 gene, by the faint light of the flickering lamp, sees the 
 woman that she hates bending down by her ; and hears 
 her order the Chinese girl and the ayah to rub her 
 limbs. And so gazing into Eira Boardman's face, re- 
 turning life revivifies her hate. The traces of suffer- 
 ing on her rival's face bring her no remorse ; the dead 
 arms manufacturer, who had been kind to her, pro- 
 duces no penitence ; revenge is her only thought. 
 Looking upon the ethereal beauty of the other, divine 
 even in its exquisite pallor, Imogene Passmere utters 
 a fairy-like yet monstrous laugh! Ker occult mind
 
 tANGLED FLAGS. 259 
 
 has formulated a vengeance, pyschological and dia- 
 bolical. 
 
 To herself she utters this weird yet subtle proposi- 
 tion : " My very vileness must make her believe he 
 wronged me ! " 
 
 For this atrocity Miss Boardman gives her quick 
 opportunity. 
 
 With curiosity, yet modest shame in her manner, 
 Eira says wistfully : " Miss Passmere, I had always 
 been kind to you. Why would you have doomed me 
 to a loathsome debasement which involved my death ; 
 for I would never have survived the outrage you had 
 planned for me." 
 
 " Why ? " The light of triumph flames up in the 
 cold gray eyes of Imogene. Rising totteringly, she 
 stands before her rival, now to become her victim, and 
 whispers: "Don't you guess? Because of the man 
 you stole from me ; the man who loves you." 
 
 " The man who loves me ! You don't mean " 
 
 " No, I don't mean Katsuma," sneers Imogene sav- 
 agely : " though he loves you better than the man you 
 love ; because he is true to you. James Burton In- 
 graham is the gentleman of whom I speak ; the man 
 to whom you have pledged yourself to wed. Had 
 you no idea that another woman might have a prior 
 and better claim upon his love." 
 
 " A prior and a better claim ! " gasps Eira : " What 
 do you mean? " 
 
 " Oh, there was a steamer on which he journeyed 
 with me from San Francisco. An ardent man, the big' 
 lieutenant. Could I not love him as well as you? " 
 
 " He he has given you cause to hope? " The vic- 
 tim's lips are quivering. 
 
 " Cause to hope ? How about moonlight walks upon 
 the deck ; arms circling my waist ; lips pressed to 
 mine." 
 
 "No, no!"
 
 ?6o TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 "And words that swore I should be his and no 
 others ! " 
 
 The very ecstasy of simulated recollection on Miss 
 Passmere's face is convincing. 
 
 Guarding against Chinese surprise on the balcony, 
 Katsuma casts his eyes upon the scene. He cannot 
 hear their words but it seems to him as if a goddess of 
 truth and light were attacked by some vile yet beauti- 
 ful spirit of the Inferno. 
 
 But Eira, after the first racking shock, breaks out, 
 fighting against the destruction of her hope in life: 
 " No, no ! My Jim ; impossible ! How dare you say 
 such things without proof ! " 
 
 " Proof ! Is not my miserable crime against you 
 proof that I had the promise of Jim Ingraham's love 
 and its realization?" 
 
 " In mercy ; stop ! " 
 
 " What woman could be vile enough to hate as I 
 hate, unless she had tasted the love of which you 
 robbed me ? " The liar's eyes are big with the pas- 
 sion of her imagination. 
 
 " You mean to say you are Mr. Ingraham's 
 mistress ? " 
 
 " Did I say I was his wife? " whispers Miss Pass- 
 mere coldly. " Ah, you believe now ! " 
 
 " Yes ! No woman could confess herself so wanton 
 unless it were the truth," is sighed out from the white 
 lips of Eira Boardman. Then suddenly she half 
 screams : " Oh, God, forgive him ! I have naught to 
 live for now ! " and stricken by this subtle untruth 
 crowning this day's despair, she falls upon her knees, 
 writhing, moaning, and hysterical. 
 
 For a moment Katsuma fears Imogene has struck 
 his goddess down with some physical weapon and 
 curses himself for ordering her unbound. The next 
 instant with a sigh of relief he sees it is only a mental 
 blow.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 26 1 
 
 But the triumph in Imogene Passmcre's eyes is her 
 undoing. 
 
 Ere another word can issue from her lips his strong 
 hand grips her slight wrist and he leads her relent- 
 lessly to the stone stairway and down to the platform. 
 From this the bodies have been tumbled to the base- 
 ment floor. 
 
 Saraki, on guard with the automatic gun, salutes 
 him. 
 
 Katsuma's voice is that of the martial martinet as he 
 says sternly : " Wretch, you have committed a military 
 crime here." 
 
 " What military crime ? " 
 
 " You have stricken down one of my garrison ; the 
 nurse in our hospital. As commander of this post I 
 order you to go from it." 
 
 " Where ? " gasps Imogene. 
 
 " You are one of Chieun's harem-women to your 
 friends out there." 
 
 "To Chieun?" Miss Passmere's eyes are wide with 
 'horror. " To Chieun, who thinks I have betrayed 
 him ! No, no ! not to him ! Mercy ! " 
 
 " By law of war all enemies can be expelled from 
 belligerent lines. Saraki ! " 
 
 "Master!" 
 
 " See that this woman is sent from this fortress ! 
 Good-bye, Miss Passemere. Had you remained even 
 quiescent, sheltered by womanhood from your crimes, 
 you might have stayed here and taken the chances of 
 war with us." 
 
 His voice though inexorable as fate is low and 
 broken, for even among the bloody corpses on the 
 lower stairway the girl has fallen on her knees to him : 
 "As it is, save your life, if you can, outside. Saraki, 
 if she returns put her to death." 
 
 " Better kill her now, Master ! " cries the Japanese 
 boy, his eyes ablaze with superstition. " She is the
 
 262 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 woman about whom the ghost whispered that our fate 
 and hers " 
 
 " Silence ! I give her the chance of a military out- 
 cast!'-' 
 
 Then, unheeding frantic words and even clinging 
 arms, Katsuma steps hurriedly up, and coming to his 
 stricken deity tries to bring calmness to her tortured 
 mind. 
 
 Taking all military precautions, he has ordered the 
 Chinese girl to patrol the balcony ; therefore Lie-lie, 
 whose bright eyes are sharp from terror, for she knows 
 she will receive no more mercy than the rest, trembl- 
 ingly yet vigilantly keeps ward outside. 
 
 The Japanese boy is standing ready, in 'front of the 
 automatic, peering down the stairway. The Indian 
 ayah, with little Harold sleeping in her arms, is in 
 some far-away corner of the big, white room. The 
 night is very silent, save once or twice a low, weird, 
 wailing moaning seems to float from the compound in 
 which the Chinese satrap holds his sway. It is a noise 
 that makes the Chinese woman shudder, and the stout- 
 hearted Japanese boy turn pallid. 
 . Suddenly from out the darkness in the lower story, 
 appears to Saraki a trembling, shivering, crouching 
 figure. 
 
 "Halt!" 
 
 " Don't fear ; it is I ! " whispers the shuddering 
 voice of Imogene Passmere. " I I dare not go ! 
 Merciful God, Chieun is torturing my dear brother 
 now ! " Frantic terror makes her seem eerie. 
 
 " You know to what you come back, ghost wom- 
 an!" 
 
 Superstition is always cruel. 
 
 The look in the boy's black eyes makes her retreat 
 to the entrance of the pagoda, but a weird shriek upon 
 the silent air of night drives her tottering back to 
 Saraki's mercy. She shudders ; " Yes ; kill me quick ! J>
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 263 
 
 " Will not I ! " mutters the Japanese; " for thou art 
 a bad spirit ! Your hands ! " 
 
 To him she silently extends two little, trembling 
 wrists, whose white flesh springs up between the 
 strong cords with which he pinions them. 
 
 She mutters helplessly : " You you are going to 
 shoot me? '\ 
 
 " No ; in the sacred way ! Bad spirits die hard ! " 
 
 She had been picked up in the lithe arms of the little 
 Nihoncse, who, with swift feet, is carrying her light 
 figure round the white steps higher and higher, to the 
 upper stories. 
 
 Suddenly she screams : " In pity, what are you go- 
 ing to do ? " 
 
 ' The sacred way ! I am going to throw you 
 down ! " 
 
 " Oh mercy, no ! " 
 
 " Great traitors are thrown from higher rocks." 
 
 They have reached the top balcony ; the low balus- 
 trade is all that stands between the trembling creature 
 and empty space. She has fallen on her knees ; she is 
 trying to win life with her beauty; she is shrieking: 
 " Spare me, Saraki, and I will be your slave ! Will I 
 not be a nice Yoshiwara girl for you? " 
 
 The allurement of her eyes tempts him. He turns 
 away his head and snarls : " Don't try to bribe a sol- 
 dier." 
 
 She is struggling and fighting with him. He has 
 put her over the balustrade. She has contrived to 
 throw her bound arms over an outstanding pinnacle. 
 She is dangling by the cords upon her delicate wrists. 
 She falters : " No, no ! Kill me first ; not that way ; not 
 from this awful height ! " 
 
 " Then let me wring your neck." 
 
 With a little sigh she extends the ivory column of 
 her swan-like throat. Two sinewy brown hands encir- 
 cle her smooth white neck, two desperate wrenches, a 
 
 Blight noise of breaking bones, a little gurgling cryj
 
 264 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 then something is thrown into the open air of night, 
 and after a moment a faint, dull thud comes floating 
 upwards. 
 
 Gazing down, Saraki mutters : " Bad spirits die 
 hard ; but this one is surely sped ! Now there is hope of 
 victory for me and my dear master ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 In a retired nook of the great room Osuri finds the 
 woman of his heart ; and Eira Boardman is more tempt- 
 ing to his senses than she had been before. Though 
 suffering has given pallor to her cheeks, nervous anx- 
 iety makes her blue eyes more vivid in their lights 
 than even happiness. Half kneeling upon the marble 
 floor, the American girl is gazing over the balustrade 
 toward Tien Tsin. The graces of her perfect figure are 
 outlined by muslin torn, frayed, bedraggled, and yet 
 softly clinging. 
 
 Though the crafty lies of the woman who has scarce 
 left her, have compelled the belief that Ingraham is 
 unworthy of her love, Eira's is no heart to be thrown 
 from one man to another. Therefore an anxious tim- 
 idity seems to fill this maiden, helpless now in the 
 hands of this man whom she knows loves her. 
 
 Though she trusts him implicitly, beneath Osuri's 
 dark eyes, a woman's instinct tells her, is a volcano 
 that at an electric touch of hand, or even careless word 
 of lips may spring into amorous eruption. 
 
 Rising hurriedly, the American girl astonishes the 
 Japanese. He had expected to see her crushed by the 
 unknown revelation of Imogene Passmere ; but meeting 
 him quite calmly she says, wisely banishing all senti- 
 ment : " You must rest now ; I am on watch ! "
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 265 
 
 " No, no ! Think of the danger that may come to 
 you from some prowling marksman ! " 
 
 " Pish ; your garrison is so small, all must aid ! " she 
 ejaculates. " Don't you think I care enough for my life 
 to work a little to save it? Sleep, so that you can 
 fight ! " For, weakened by loss of blood and exhausted 
 by the unceasing effort of forty-eight hours, her pro- 
 tector has sunk upon an upturned cracker-box. 
 
 " I dare not sleep ! For for your sake, I must be 
 ready ! " he says, resolutely. " Your bright presence 
 will stifle fatigue." Then, a tinge of curiosity en- 
 tering his voice, he asks: " With what mental stone did 
 that cruel devil strike you down ? " 
 
 " Don't ask me that in mercy not that ! " sighs 
 Eira. Then determined to keep sentiment aloof from 
 this man, whose voice, despite himself, caresses her, 
 she breaks out : " Make me an efficient member of your 
 garrison, Captain Katsuma." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " This ! I know a good deal about my my poor 
 dead father's machine-guns." Her lips tremble, her 
 eyes soften with tears, but she goes on stoutly : " A 
 little instruction from you will make your new recruit 
 perhaps in dire emergency useful." 
 
 " Very well," assents Osuri, gazing in admiration 
 at the undaunted face. " You have a right to know 
 how to battle for yourself." 
 
 Taking her to the automatic upon the balcony, he 
 explains the proper uses of the weapon, not its mech- 
 anism, with which she shows herself quite well ac- 
 quainted, but the methods of sighting it, its elevations 
 for certain distances, how she can sweep one face of 
 the pagoda, and then, by reversing it, command the 
 other. 
 
 " Thank you," she says sweetly, adding in attempted 
 sprightliness : " Next time I kill some of my enemies 
 myself." 
 
 " Not until every hope is gone," commands Osuri.
 
 266 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " To see you risk yourself would " he checks him- 
 self by jeering, " You can't be everything in the gar- 
 rison cook, nurse, and fighting-woman." 
 
 " I can be everything for the man who " she 
 
 pauses " for the. commander of the garrison of which 
 1 am a recruit." 
 
 " Very well, raw recruit, go and rest." 
 
 " And permit you, warn out and wounded, to watch 
 over me ! No, no ! " the rebel dissents ; then suddenly 
 cries, " Merciful heavens ! " 
 
 For high overhead are two bird-like screams then 
 a slight body whistling through the air like the wings 
 of ducks in rapid flight. From below arises a dull thud. 
 
 " Saraki ! " cries Katsuma. " Our enemies are 011 
 the top of the pagoda." 
 
 No answer comes but in another moment the Ni- 
 honese boy bounding down the stairways leading from 
 the upper balconies, springs in, salutes and says : " I 
 have to report the execution of the military outcast. 
 The katni will no more turn their faces from us. The 
 gods will not slay us. Victory is ours. I threw her 
 down hard! " 
 
 '' Threw her down ! " screams Eira. " Who ? " 
 ' The woman who the ghost told me would work 
 bad things." 
 
 " You you don't mean Imogene? " Then her white 
 lips form : " You have not murdered her ? " 
 
 " He has murdered no one," replies Katsuma tersely. 
 " When the wretch struck you with some mental weap- 
 on I expelled her from the garrison ; that is all. Ac- 
 cording to military law, I ordered Sakara, if she re- 
 turned, to execute her. According to military law, he 
 obeyed me." Then he directs : " Saraki, take p*>st on 
 the stairs again." 
 
 " Yes, master. No one can kill us now." As if to 
 prove this, the boy walks round the balcony to his 
 post, taking no protection from the balustrades. 
 
 ( Oh, Go4 forgive you, you have Hilled Irnogene fof
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 267 
 
 speaking the truth ! " shudders Eira, as soon as her 
 senses recover from the shock. 
 
 "What truth?" 
 
 " The truth that it was necessary that I should know. 
 What I demanded from her. The reason of her hatred 
 for me; why she plotted for me worse than death." 
 
 "Pish have you not your dead father's words so 
 that she and her devilish brother could obtain your im- 
 mense fortune through his wife being next of kin ! " 
 mutters the Japanese. 
 
 " No woman could plot such horror for merely 
 money." 
 
 " She gave you another reason? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "What was it?" 
 
 " I decline to state." 
 
 " No secret in this garrison from its military com- 
 mander. Tell me." 
 
 " It is too cruel a story. I'll not torture myself by 
 the telling! I I would never have believed it," she 
 sighs, " but no woman would confess such wantonness 
 unless it were the truth." Then the tortured lips cry 
 despairingly : " Can't you see, it is breaking my heart ! 
 Can't you see? Oh, Tim my Jim ! " 
 
 And having refused her secret, woman-like she tells ; 
 sighing out in broken sentences the cruel lies by 
 which Imogene Passmere had made her believe the 
 perfidy of her affianced. Pacing the floor, she looks 
 up and cries: "Bereft of father by his death, of lover 
 by his untruth ! " and sends a thrill of divine ecstasy 
 through the listening Japanese by sobbing: "Is there 
 only one true man upon this earth ! " 
 
 Were he villain ; aye, even only diplomatist, Osuri 
 Katsuma might have strangre vantage over his rival. 
 He has only to keep silent and she will believe 
 her affianced dastard and perjured, and he may win 
 some guerdon from her despair,
 
 263 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 But the ineffable anguish of the woman he worships 
 forces him to the truth. 
 
 " Miss Boardman, the tainted thing lied to you. The 
 snake is dead, but left her sting behind," he says simply. 
 " Her slander of Jim Ingraham is but a proof of the 
 venom of this wretch who would destroy your faith 
 in the man who loves you." 
 
 " The man who loves me ! " sneers the girl unbe- 
 lievingly. " Did Imogene Passmere not proclaim her- 
 self his I cannot say the word. Don't defame the 
 wretched dead woman. For what other reason could 
 she so hate me? " 
 
 " Pish, you speak like a mo us me," answers the Japa- 
 nese sharply. " Her mind, diseased by vanity, made her 
 intolerant of your happiness. That is all. She loved 
 Jim Ingraham. She was one of those women who 
 think if they love, man must also love. You look as 
 if you doubt me. Don't you guess, if I could say this 
 man you love is faithless and unworthy of you ; turn to 
 me, who really loves you, I I would do it! But 
 your affianced loves you as I love you. I cannot say 
 more. Upon the Tien Tsin battle-field, no mere wound, 
 but your reported death at the Pekin Legation struck 
 the strong man down, otherwise he were here to fight 
 for you, to die for you, to tell you that that woman 
 lied when she said she had felt in his arms the love that 
 is wholly yours. No, no! Don't think I am immac- 
 ulate." 
 
 For the girl has seized his hand, is kissing it and 
 whispering " Noble ! " 
 
 " My love for you is flesh and blood a man's love ! 
 He has seized her delicate shoulders in his entreat- 
 ing hands ; he is holding her up, so that his eyes flame 
 into hers until they droop. " Don't think I would not 
 have you on my bosom, if the man of my heart did 
 not stand between us ; but you are true to him and 
 he is true to you. and I were dastard if I let you think 
 otherwise. Now go from me ; your beauty tortures me. 
 I have suffered enotuzh."
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 269 
 
 From his passion the girl moves tremblingly away; 
 yet once, gazing wistfully at the watchful figure on 
 the halcony, she says rapturously : " God bless you for 
 having made my heart so happy ! Oh, how nobly, how 
 unselfishly you love me ! " And one of the strange 
 moods of women coming over her, she murmurs : " If 
 I but dared to be more kind to you," then flutters: 
 " Oh, Jim, forgive me ! " 
 
 About three o'clock in the morning Katsuma hears 
 the rattle of the automatic on the stairway. 
 
 Getting there, he finds it is but a half-hearted at- 
 tack. 
 
 " Yoroshiu, master ! " grins Saraki. " It doesn't 
 amount to anything. I drove them off with half a dozen 
 shots. Nothing can hurt me now, since I slew the 
 woman who brought the anger of the kami upon us. 
 See, I come from behind the steel shield; I let them 
 take aim at me and then I dodge back, so ! " 
 
 BANG ! 
 
 And the Nihonese boy lies dead at Osuri's feet. 
 
 A puff of smoke floating in from the entrance of the 
 lower story shows where some marksman, lurking 
 after his fellows had been driven off, has obtained re- 
 venge. 
 
 " Keep back, by Izanaga!" cries Katsuma; for Eira 
 Boardman has got the boy in her arms and is sighing 
 over him : " Another dead for me ! " 
 
 Pulling them both behind the protection of the balus- 
 trade, Osuri looks upon his dying boy. Tears come into 
 his eyes, but he brushes them away and forces his mind 
 upon one problem : How can he with diminished garri- 
 son hold this place long enough to save this being whose 
 blue eyes, seeing her defenders falling one by one, have 
 now in them a kind of shuddering appeal. To him 
 their frantic glances seem to say: "Shall I have to 
 slay myself to escape the Chinese monster's arms? " 
 
 As the two bend over the dead Nihonese, Osuri whis- 
 pers to Miss Boardman : " I must get word to Tien Tsin
 
 27 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 to hurry the relief column. Take some of the paper 
 from the packing-cases ; write in your own hand ; here 
 is a pencil. Tell them they must get here to-day! A 
 woman's cry for aid is so potent with all mankind, it 
 will have more weight than my military report. Write 
 also to your lover." 
 
 " I will only write to the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 
 Ninth Infantry," she answers. " I'll not doubt my boy 
 again. If the sun prostration has passed way, Jim In- 
 graham will, if it kills him, get here in time.'' 
 
 By the aid of the flickering lamp-light, Eira writes 
 her prayer for succor upon a piece of paper, hastily 
 torn from the wrapping of a tomato-can. 
 
 As the American is scribbling her epistle, the Japa- 
 nese is preparing to send it. He has brought Lie-lie to 
 her and instructed the bright Chinese girl to conceal 
 the letter in her clothes. 
 
 " You must get this to Tien Tsin, to the foreign 
 troops," he explains. " Stay here and you die as well 
 as we." 
 
 "Me sabe." 
 
 " Come back with them and guide them, and you 
 shall be rich ! " He gives the amah some hasty direc- 
 tions. 
 
 While he has been speaking he has tied a rope under 
 the arms of Lie-lie. 
 
 Going out upon the balcony of the pagoda nearest the 
 outer wall looking towards Tien Tsin, he lowers his 
 messenger down, Miss Boardman and the Indian ayah 
 giving him their aid. 
 
 Then under his instructions, aided by the feet of the 
 Chinese girl, the rope is given a swinging motion that 
 sways it over the low battlement but ten feet from the 
 building's base. At his word they lower rapidly. A 
 few moments after the rope, released from its burden, 
 indicates Lie-lie has safely reached the ground beyond 
 the wall. 
 
 " Now I can do nothing more, except to guard you 
 until aid arrives, or the end comes to us," he sighs.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. k/l 
 
 " But one thing ! " Eira's voice grows low : " Show 
 me how to blow up the stairway. That will be the last 
 thing before I kill myself." 
 
 " Yes, I must explain that to you," replies Katsuma ; 
 " as, when that is necessary, I shall not be here. 
 Come ! " Taking her to the steps, he instructs her 
 about the mine, as quietly as if he were explaining to a 
 brother officer. 
 
 Looking down, Eira sees the head of a small fuse, 
 that is brought carefully up in the groove along the out- 
 side of the lower balustrade, and secured in place 
 every foot or two by stout cord. Already it has been 
 stained by the blood of combat, many dying men have 
 fallen over it. 
 
 Noting inquiry in her glance, Osuri remarks : " I 
 have examined it; it is still intact and effective. And 
 now please let me watch. I have but one sentry since 
 Saraki has joined the spirits." 
 
 " You shall not watch," replies his charge resolutely. 
 Exhausted by his forty-eight hours' supreme travail, 
 the face of the Japanese is haggard, and his agile tread 
 is at times almost faltering. 
 
 A frantic entreaty comes into her voice : " There is 
 but one man to fight for me to-morrow. For my sake, 
 for your own, let him be equal to his task ! " 
 
 " Then that your samurai be worthy of you, Sun 
 Goddess ! " And like a good campaigner the Japanese 
 lays himself down near his machine-gun and passes 
 
 into the sleep of a soldier. 
 
 ****** 
 
 A light touch is upon Osuri's shoulder, a sweet voice 
 is saying: " Cantnin Katsuma. breakfast is ready." 
 
 " Oh ah yes ! I am awake !" Then he calls : " Here 
 Saraki ! " But as he speaks the captain remembers with 
 a start that there is now no faithful Nihonese boy. He 
 utters a slight sigh. 
 
 " You slept four good hours, thank God !" says Eira 
 earnestly. " The sun is rising. See, everything about
 
 27* f ANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 is very quiet! The Chinese must all have run away, 
 you killed so many of them." 
 
 " That may be possible," answers the Japanese : " It 
 is an axiom in our army ; that when a certain number 
 of Chinese soldiers are slain, the rest always fly. Fight- 
 ing Europeans, even if forty per cent, were disabled, 
 you would probably have the remainder >still in line of 
 battle. But the Chinese troops are different; though 
 they may fight like devils for a time; keep pounding 
 them and when the proper number are disabled the 
 percentage varies somewhat the rest, panic-stricken, 
 leave the fight. It is only a question if we have killed 
 enough of Chieun's Boxers," Osuri continues, trying 
 to make light of a situation he knows is desperate. 
 " I'll see if I can find some evidence of their going." 
 
 He starts up and gazes about ; the burning sun is 
 ascending quietly over the white pagoda and its sur- 
 rounding gardens. The silence is almost suspicious. 
 Naught save the noise of the playing fountain and the 
 singing of some birds which have returned, come to 
 their ears. 
 
 " That these larks and finches are about is a good 
 sign for us." 
 
 " Voila les peacocks ! " cries Harold, running to 
 Eira's side, and pointing to some of these birds grazing 
 among the dead bodies scattered through the garden 
 walks and lawns. Then the child sobs : " Ma maman, 
 why is she not here to kiss me ? " 
 
 " Mama will come presently," says Eira, trying to 
 soothe the urchin. "But, breakfast, Captain; all the 
 rest of us have eaten." 
 
 " Just a moment ! " The Japanese steps to the other 
 side of the pagoda and looks anxiously out, then utters 
 a little sigh. There is no sign of movement down the 
 Tien Tsin road. 
 
 " Come quick, Captain Katsuma ! " cries the girl. 
 To the ayah she directs, " Patrol the balcony and give 
 him a chance to eat."
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 273 
 
 "But the little sahib?" 
 
 " He can do without you." 
 
 " No I can't ! and I'll kick her shins if she goes ; and 
 you look out, also, or I'll tell der andere about your 
 new chap ! " Harold has been in the habit of noting 
 the amours of his nurses and holding their infidelities 
 over their heads. 
 
 " You little wretch," whispers Eira, almost shudder- 
 ingly to him, " when he is dying for me ! " 
 
 " Dass ist what Lizette's fellow always told her 'E 
 was a dyen' for 'er. C'est drole ! But it don't work 
 with me ! Say, where's my mama, anyway ? " And the 
 child, who is growing fractious from the absence of his 
 mother, sits himself down discontently. 
 
 Paying slight attention to him, Eira cries : " Hurry, 
 Captain Katsuma, or your breakfast will get cold, and 
 I cooked it for you myself ! " There is the air of the 
 housewife in her sweet tones. 
 
 The Indian ayah, her eyes big with anxiety, is care- 
 fully patrolling the balconies ; he can give himself a lit- 
 tle respite. 
 
 "Who could resist you?" the young officer says, 
 half laughingly, and seats himself before some steam- 
 ing coffee, grilled him and canned chicken, of which 
 Eira has made a kind of fragrant stew. 
 
 Despite his protests the maid plays the waitress, trip- 
 ping now and again to the balcony to prevent surprise, 
 and making an exquisite picture of domesticity. 
 
 Her eyes bright with anxiety, grow strangely tender 
 as she gazes on this man who has done so much for her 
 and for whom she can do so little. 
 
 For convenience in her cooking the sleeves of her 
 muslin corsage have been rolled up above the dimpled 
 elbows; the white muslin jupe, recklessly torn to 
 make quick bandages for her wounded defenders, is 
 caught up in a short skirt for her domestic duties, dis- 
 playing Osuri thinks the most graceful feet and ankles
 
 274 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 on this earth, despite the little slippers soiled by the 
 dust and blood of battle; and stockings, fairy-webs 
 yesterday, now bedraggled and torn into holes through 
 which her white skin gleams as ivory. 
 
 As he drinks the last of his coffee Katsuma places a 
 big Havana in his mouth ; his waitress, tripping up to 
 him, lights it. 
 
 Perhaps it is the touch of her dress, mayhap it is the 
 propinquity to her loveliness ; his dark eyes grow 
 bright. 
 
 He mutters hoarsely : " A charred stick is easily 
 kindled You do too much for me." 
 
 " Too much for you, who this day are going " 
 
 " To give my life for you ! " 
 
 " Oh, God, not that ! "' 
 
 Some divination is perhaps in both their souls, the 
 girl's blue orbs grow eerie, a new light flashes in their 
 depths. 
 
 " That's what you meant, dear one die for you ! 
 die in your arms ! " The pathos in his eyes makes her 
 cry. He is very near her. 
 
 Then the child's voice startles them, jeering in aw- 
 ful American slang: " Nothin' doing! Serves vous! 
 Diable, nothin' doing! " 
 
 It strikes them remorselessly as the chorus of a 
 Greek tragedy ; they draw shudderingly apart. 
 
 " Watch here, and I will see if there are signs of 
 movement on the Tien Tsin Road ! " says Osuri 
 sharply. 
 
 There is an ecstasy in his step. His eyes glow like 
 stars. 
 
 Crossing the main room he steps upon the balcony 
 and looks along the level valley. After a few minutes 
 careful watching his strong limbs shake just a little. 
 Again he looks ; he must be sure. 
 
 In a dust column rising far away on the causeway 
 they call the Tien Tsin Road, he catches a distant 
 gleaming. Is it a Chinese force, which in the pres-
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 4 75 
 
 ent state of his defenses means destruction? Is it a 
 column that will bring life to the woman he loves? 
 With eyes and ears alert he looks and listens. Sud- 
 denly hope flames through him ; he cries : " Eira, you 
 are saved ! " 
 
 He is already hurrying across the big central room to 
 the stairway, where he had left the girl standing by 
 the automatic. 
 
 She is not there ! He changes his course and runs 
 out on the verandah and sees Oh, horror, what does 
 he see? 
 
 Little Harold tripping merrily along a walk leading 
 towards a clump of flowering peonie trees. Almost 
 frantically pursuing him is Eira Boardman. 
 
 She is calling wildly : " Harold, stop ! For the love 
 of heaven, come back to me ! " 
 
 But the child laughs to her: "Mon nouvel papa 
 is calling to me; I hear his voice among the flow- 
 ers. It sounds queer, but it says my mama is here." 
 Then he cries eagerly : " Mama, dear mama ! where 
 are you ? " and runs on again. 
 
 Just in front of the boy, Osuri from his high balcony 
 sees a curious thing stumbling in the bushes. 
 
 He scarce gives heed to it; for gathering about, 
 quite distant yet, are Chinese spearsman. From bush 
 to bush they crouch very cautiously but always draw- 
 ing nearer the maiden of his heart. 
 
 Katsuma bounds to the head of the stairs, flies down 
 over the corpses and running across the garden is 
 now scarce fifty feet behind his love. All the time 
 he is loosening the two heavy revolvers in his belt. 
 
 He calls: "Eira, stop! Let the child go! They 
 will not harm him ; it is you they want, Eira, my dar- 
 ling! " Her peril has loosed the love upon his lips. 
 
 He is now in a little glade. Sweet-smelling honey- 
 suckles and jasmine give odors to the air. The girl 
 has paused as sharply as if confronted by a serpent.
 
 2 76 lAtfGLEi) 
 
 Harold is but twenty feet in front of her; a curious 
 look of wonder in the child's eyes. 
 
 In front of them is a kind of nameless thing. It 
 seems not wholly man nor entirely beast. It has a 
 funny, squeaky voice. When it moves, it stumbles as 
 if its limbs were dislocated when it is speaking it 
 is moaning as if in some weird torment. By God's 
 mercy, Eira can not see the whole of it. In a kind 
 of shrieking, wheezing, shrinking apology, it mum- 
 bles : " I would not have done it. I I am not devil 
 enough for that, but if I don't lure you Chieun will 
 torture me again I am half beast now ; don't yer 
 know. Hanged, if I don't give yer to him Chieun will 
 make me all ape can't yer see." 
 
 " My God, Arthur Passmere ! " screams the girl, and 
 little Harold shrieks : " Papa's made into a monkey ! 
 Oh, what will poor mama say ! " 
 
 But the thing goes mumbling on : " Forgive me ! 
 Do his will or you will suffer pangs like mine. Look 
 what torture ! Do his will, Eira ; he only wants to 
 love yer ! Can't you see ? Can't yer understand ? " 
 
 Gazing about Osuri understands and Eira also! 
 
 Harold has already run screaming back from the 
 uncanny thing. 
 
 There is a gleam of distant spears, a noise of men 
 circling about to cut off their retreat comes to them; 
 and yet the place is very silent. The click of Katsu- 
 ma's pistol-lock can be distinctly heard. 
 
 Upon the unclean beast who has brought death 
 or defilement on his goddess he turns the heavy re- 
 volver. Then for a moment pauses! 
 
 Careless in his triumph, the joyful face of the Chi- 
 nese monster is rising from some honeysuckles drap- 
 ing a mimosa bush. Li Wong Chieun, with chuckling 
 grin is saying in his best pidgin English : " Missee 
 Eira ; so gladee, so gladee keep gladee ! " His 
 sleepy, anaconda eyes gaze in gloating and unholy
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 277 
 
 desire upon the beauty of his hapless victim. He 
 utters two short monkey cries of uncanny rapture. 
 
 As if by instinct the aim of Katsuma changes ; he 
 sees before his revolver sights the yellow forehead of 
 the Chinese demon and draws a fine bead between the 
 serpent eyes. His pistol is steady as in the West Point 
 shooting gallery: he holds his breath and touches the 
 light trigger. 
 
 As the report rings out upon the air, a sudden big 
 round blotch appears as if it were the third eye of the 
 Chinese satrap; an eye from which spouts both brains 
 and blood. With a shrieking, howling chimpanzee cry, 
 the last of it so weird it must come from Hades, the 
 Chinese Commissioner-High and Mandarin of the 
 Yellow Girdle and Red Button goes to the hottest fur- 
 nace in Zamiel's keeping. 
 
 " Run, Eira ! " cries Osuri : " Your revolver for your 
 enemies, now. Ten minutes and you are saved ! " 
 
 The two are speeding back. But as they reach the 
 entrance to the white pagoda, Mongolian faces and red- 
 queued Boxers are too close behind them. 
 
 He turns about and faces them all for her. 
 
 To each bark of his revolver a Chinaman goes down. 
 As he fights, he commands : " Up the stairs ! Turn 
 the automatic loose upon them ! " 
 
 " Donner und Blitzen ! I'll shoot it! Diable! I'm a 
 soldier ! " comes in infant tones. Harold is at the 
 rapid-fire. 
 
 Reaching the top, Eira turns about ; then screams : 
 " It will not work ! The devilish imp has jammed the 
 cartridges." 
 
 ' Then fire the mine ! " he cries to her. 
 
 " I I cannot. You are lying on it ! " There is de- 
 spair in her voice. He has fallen wounded upon the 
 platform and the Boxers are upon him. 
 
 " For you sake ! What is my life ? Fire it, or I " 
 
 His knife has cut the fuse close to the mine. 
 
 Standing over him three coolies drive their knives
 
 down, but he gives them no attention, save a slight 
 shudder as their blades go home. As the blood flies 
 from his lips with each panting, gasping breath ; he 
 lights the port-fire. At sight of blazing fuse the Box- 
 ers give back. 
 
 " You come to die with me ! " he sighs. For the girl 
 has sprung to him and with unnatural strength has 
 caught up his supple form and dragged him to the first 
 tier beyond the second automatic. 
 
 A second later there is a sharp detonation. The 
 stairs upheave! Two pursuing coolies, whose hands 
 are outstretched to seize her are thrown down dying, 
 their white-soled feet kicking in air. 
 
 Then in her hands the second 3O-calibre pours forth 
 its hail. 
 
 Cut off by the destroyed stairs, the girl is saved ; but 
 Osuri Katsuma lies expiring at her feet. 
 
 " Slain for me ! " she sobs ; bending down over the 
 dying soldier, whose mind, under heat and wounds, at 
 times now wanders. 
 
 She moistens with water the lips that speak words, 
 half delirium, half love, for Osuri is talking of his own 
 far-away Dai-Nippon and playing as a boy in the soft 
 waters of his Inland-Sea. 
 
 Twice he starts partly up and mutters : " The Jap- 
 anese bugles ! " 
 
 Suddenly comes the shrill cry of the Indian ayah and 
 the yell of little Harold : " Soldaten! Soldaten! Void 
 les' Chasseurs! " 
 
 Then a volley shakes the building and the urchin 
 screams: "Mein Himmel! Ain't they killing the 
 Chinese ! " 
 
 As if by magic the pagoda is left to dead and dying 
 Boxers, and its defenders. 
 
 Looking up the dying Japanese murmurs : " My 
 ears were right you are saved ! Saved by me, Sun 
 
 Goddess ! Now that I am sped " he shivers, his 
 
 voice low with weakness : " I I can tell you ! " 
 
 "What?" Eira's voice is as low as his owq.
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 2 70 
 
 '' That I love you, Hime; not better than my life, 
 for that is already given, but better than my soul." 
 
 Stooping down, the girl whispers sobbingly : " Of a 
 different race, I could not give my earthly love; but 
 your soul, Osuri, I adore." 
 
 " Then kiss me before I die ! " 
 
 " Forgive me, Jim ! " she shudders. Sinking down, 
 she has already taken his pallid face within her hands, 
 his eyes all rapture, his lips already ashy with the hue 
 of death, entreating hers. 
 
 When suddenly she hears : " Eira ! " ring through 
 the building. Despite the musketry outside she 
 hears it. 
 
 Alone into the lower story staggers a man whose 
 left arm is bound up, whose face is covered with the 
 sweat of a hot ride, whose Saxon eyes have in them a 
 wild questioning. Outside, volleys scorch the garden : 
 within there is nothing upon the lower floor but dead 
 and dying Boxers, and on the tier above it, a woman 
 screaming: "Jim, my Jim!" 
 
 He is calling: " Eira, speak to me ! " He is running 
 towards the balustrade, his eyes are but for her; when 
 suddenly behind him rises a half-dead Kansu man 
 one of the kind who always sting as they die. He 
 lifts up a short, chopping sword which flashes razor- 
 like. 
 
 " Jim, look behind you ! Oh, God, too late ! " shrieks 
 the girl then gasps astounded. 
 
 A dying man has fallen from the balustrade upon 
 the Boxer's back ! A dying man's revolver has blown 
 the Kansu's head half off his body, and Osuri Katsuma 
 has cried : " Jim ! By Izanagi and our West Point 
 love ! I give her to you ! " and sank down dead upon 
 the lower story's floor. 
 
 As in a daze Miss Boardman sees the building 
 thronged with detachments of all nations, each carry- 
 ing its own flags, for this raiding column has been 
 made up hurriedly of any troops that can be spared.
 
 280 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 Into the garden with its flowering trees near the 
 splashing fountain is placed the body of the stout sol- 
 dier that had held the white pagoda against the Boxer 
 hordes. 
 
 About the impromptu bier a little group of officers 
 and a crowd of men are gathered, their voices, in many 
 tongues, having reverence for the dead who did such 
 mighty combat; for the lower story of the pagoda is a 
 slaughter-house and these gardens of blossoming flow- 
 ers are a shambles. 
 
 Pale as the corpse, Ingraham is kneeling by the body 
 of the man whose death has given to him a living love. 
 Recollections of the parade ground on the Hudson, 
 where he and Osuri had become as brothers, fill his 
 eyes with tears. His lips tremble as he presses them 
 to the forehead of his chum and murmurs the old West 
 Point sobriquet : " Boom-de-rah." 
 
 Suddenly he seizes, from a sergeant of the Ninth, 
 the colors of his regiment; his voice grows strident, 
 he cries : " Though of another race, we taught you to 
 be a soldier ! Thy glory is ours ! " And the Stars 
 and Stripes of the American Republic float down over 
 the dead body of the Japanese. 
 
 " He is ours ! " cries a white-capped major of Japa- 
 nese cavalry. Gazing about at the great slaughter pen, 
 he asserts : " Dai-Nippon has many heroes but here's 
 another ! " and the banner of the Mikado descends 
 upon the lody of his soldier. 
 
 With hoarse Tartar speech, a Cossack tenderly low- 
 ers Russia's Imperial Eagles on the hero's corpse. 
 
 " Blow me eyes! It's a devilish fine woman he died 
 for ! " says a sergeant of the Welsh Fusileers. " A 
 man like this belongs to the whole blooming world !" 
 and the Union Jack of England drops upon the bier. 
 
 " Er war ein herrlicher Mann!" utters an officer 
 wearing the Iron Cross ; as the banner of the German 
 Empire mingles with its fellows. 
 
 But an officer of the Tonkin contingent has run up
 
 TANGLED FLAGS. 28 1 
 
 and cries : " France always salutes the brave ! " and 
 the Tri-color decks the bier. 
 
 So Italian and Austrian follow with their draping 
 ensigns, as over the body of Osuri Katsuma droops the 
 tangled flags of the civilized world. 
 
 But a woman, with pathetic, outstretched hands, lifts 
 up the ensigns of military glory and sobs : " He is 
 mine ! He gave up his life for me; he is mine, alone ! ' 
 and the sweet lips of Eira Boardman tender to the dead 
 the salute she had refused unto the living. 
 
 But even as she holds his cold head in her tender 
 arms it seems as if her kisses were returned to her. 
 The dead man's eyes open and answer hers; the dead 
 man's lips warm for one moment unto hers ; then, as if 
 having fought death till they felt her love, they close. 
 
 " Mein Himmel!" jeers the little polyglot, who has 
 been looking upon this wonderingly : " Es ist nicht das 
 erste Mai, elle I' a embrasse. Nothin' doing! Mein 
 Gott, nothin' doing ! " 
 
 Hearing this, Jim Ingraham, pale, distraught from 
 the exertions he has made to reach his love in time, 
 staggers away and, clutching the rim of the fountain 
 with his uninjured hand to support himself, murmurs 
 hoarsely : " By heaven, has Osuri done his devoir too 
 well? Has the dead hero's memory come forever be- 
 tween us ! " 
 
 Just here little Harold gives a startled cry and goes 
 shrieking through the gardens : " Here's Chieun's 
 monkey ! " for a misshapen thing is pursuing him 
 about the leafy alleys, muttering and moaning. 
 
 Then a shot from the carbine of a Cossack, who mis- 
 takes him for a wounded Boxer, sends Arthur Pass- 
 mere to his long account. 
 
 Familiarity with slaughter makes man indifferent to 
 it. Upon this Ingraham looks moodily uninterested; 
 until a fair hand is placed upon his arm and a sweet 
 voice says : " You mourned for me as dead, Jim ; have 
 you no greeting for the living sweetheart ? "
 
 28 2 TANGLED FLAGS. 
 
 " Not till I know whether your heart is buried be- 
 neath ? " He points to the draping ensigns on the 
 
 bier. 
 
 " No, but a mighty gratitude," sighs Eira. Then she 
 draws herself up sternly and ejaculates : " How about 
 Miss Passmere? Last night you would have lost me 
 forever had it not been for the words of the gallant 
 gentleman who lies beneath those tangled flags." 
 
 FINIS.
 
 The Princess of Copper 
 
 rHIS story, like Mr. Gunter's "Miss 
 NOBODY OF NOWHERE," which had 
 such a phenomenal success, is a series 
 of most exciting and fascinating pictures of 
 both the salons of New York society and 
 the rough-and-tumble mining camps of the 
 West. It is divided into five books, as 
 follows: 
 
 BOOK I. The Rocky Mountains 
 BOOK II. The Waldorf-Astoria 
 BOOK III. A New York Toung Lady 
 BOOK IV. A Great City after 
 BOOK V. Una and the Lion 
 
 Illustrations by the celebrated artist, 
 ARCHIE GUNN 
 
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 Adrienne de Portalis by A. C. Gunter 
 
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 M. S. Bradford Special by A. C. Gunter 
 
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