"An Englishman?" asked the Jap again.
"Yes, an Englishman," answered Wilson himself.
The Japanese officer looked at him keenly and said: "I seem to know you."
"It is not impossible," said Wilson, "I have been navigating Japanese waters for several years."
"Indeed?" asked the lieutenant, "may I inquire on which line?"
"On several lines; I know Shanghai, I have been from Hongkong to Yokohama in tramp steamers, and once during the Russian war I got to Nagasaki—also with a cargo of machinery," he added after a pause. "That was a dangerous voyage, for the Russians had just sailed from Vladivostock."
"With a cargo of machinery," repeated the Japanese officer, adding, "and you are familiar with these waters also?"
"Fairly so," said Wilson.
"Have you any relatives in the American Navy?" asked the Jap sharply.
"Not that I know of," answered Wilson, "my family is a large one, and as an Englishman I have relatives in all parts of the world, but none in the American Navy, so far as I know."