"Presently—I mean by and by. When do you sail again?"
"When I receive sailin' orders. Maybe to-morrow—maybe never."
"Come, Eagan, you're mysterious, for you! Your anchor's a-peak, and you are loosing sails. You are just off. What's the game? Whither bound—honour bright?"
He paused and looked at his tumbler, then raised it and looked at the lamp through the liquid the glass contained. He slowly brought his eyes back upon mine, and said—
"Honour it is! Chemulpo perhaps—Shanghai certain."
"Oh!" I exclaimed. "I say, Eagan, what's your Jap up to?" He started and stared at me, then he replied—
"I say, Jule, what's your Chinese up to?"
"Rats," I replied. "What's the coil here?"
"Snakes," he retorted. "What's your notion?"
He suspected me; and I fancied that I had by accident hit upon the Coreans' vessel, or of the vessel they had chartered, perhaps.