“Are the spirits of the dead satisfied?” queried Mr. Chang.
Li Mow Gee poured himself another cup of wine and positively grinned.
“If they are not,” he said, this time in English, “they are damned hard to please!”
It will be observed that Li Mow Gee was out nothing whatever—except certain obscure labors—for while he had paid Huber Davis nineteen florins, Carefrew had paid nineteen florins to agents of Li Mow Gee. And this, according to Oriental notions, was the acme of honor and propriety.
V
The Royal Mail boat, the “through packet” on which Ruth Carefrew was coming, held due for Sabang late in the afternoon. Upon the morning of that day Huber Davis went to the wireless station and sent a message to Ruth, aboard the steamer, to prepare to leave ship at Saban and cancel passage.
Then Huber Davis returned to his own bungalow, and met Dr. Brossot as the latter was leaving.
“Well,” inquired Huber Davis quickly, “what’s the trouble?”
The physician shrugged his shoulders.
“It has come, that’s all. Java has been swept, the west coast of Sumatra has seen them die by thousands, and now—it is here.”