"Wilbur lay as he had fallen after the sampan's frantic plunge. He made no movement; and we, on our part, left him where he was"
X
"Two nights later, under a clear starry sky, we slipped through Lymoon Pass on the tail of the land breeze. Before we reached Wanchi, it fell flat calm. We shipped the long sweeps and began to row; the chattering crew, who'd never expected to see Hong Kong again, fell to work willingly. The lights of the city twinkled against the Peak, the sleeping fleet swung at anchor in the landlocked harbour; all was silence and tranquillity ... as we see it now. But that night, let me tell you, the familiar scene was invested with a poignant charm. At length we reached the bulkhead, from which we'd taken our maniac departure three days before, and settled in our berth as comfortably as if we'd just returned from a pleasure trip down the bay.
"No words were said as we came in. I sat against the bulwarks, almost afraid to move, like a man awakening to consciousness after a long siege of fever. A little forward of my position, Wilbur rose to his feet. He hadn't spoken or touched food since that tragic hour under the reefs two nights before; had spent most of his time below decks, locked in a tiny stateroom, and had come out only in the last few minutes, as if in response to the nearing sounds of the land. He stood at the rail, a figure wrapped in silence and immobility, watching them berth the sampan. Then, without a glance in our direction, he walked to the gangway and stepped ashore. On the bulkhead he paused for a moment irresolute, turning and gazing across the harbour. His form stood out plainly against a bright light up the street. It had lost those lines of vigour and alertness; it was the figure of a different and older man. A broken figure, that could never again be the same....
"A moment later he had lurched away, vanishing suddenly in the darkness of a side street. Three days afterwards, we heard that he had taken the boat for Singapore. He hasn't been seen or heard of in this part of the world since that day.
"When he had gone, that night at the bulkhead Lee Fu approached me; we crossed the deck of the sampan, and stood for a long while silent at the harbour rail.
"'Thank you, Captain' said he at last 'As I foresaw, it has been supremely interesting. For your part, I hope you feel repaid?'
"'It's quite enough to be alive, just now' I confessed without shame 'I want to see a chart of that locality, Lee Fu. I want to find out what you did'
"'Oh, that? It was not much. The gods were always with us, as you must have observed. As for the rest of it, I know that region pretty well'
"'Evidently.... Did the Speedwell fetch up among those same reefs, or to leeward of them?'