"'Exactly' said Lee Fu 'Let us be practical.... Captain Nichols, is it impossible for the Caucasian to reason from cause to effect? There seems to be no logic in your design—which explains many curious facts of history. I have merely insisted, in our consideration of this case, that a man who would do one thing would do another, and that sooner or later life would inevitably present him with another thing to do'
"'But I've known too many men who escaped what you call destiny' I argued peevishly.
"'Have you?' inquired Lee Fu.
"He said no more, and we went out to tiffin"
IV
"That year I plunged into the Malay Archipelago for an extended cruise, was gone seven months among the islands, and wasted another month coming up the China Sea in order to dodge the tail-end of the typhoon season. But luck favoured me, of course, since I wasn't in a hurry; and so it happened that for the last three hundred miles across from Luzon I raced with a typhoon after all, beating it to an anchorage in Hong Kong by a margin of twelve hours. It was an exceptionally late storm; and the late ones, you know, are the least dependable in their actions. Typhoon signals were flying from the Peak as I came in; before the Omega's sails were furled the sky to the eastward had lowered and darkened like a shutter, and the wind had begun to whip in vicious gusts across the harbour.
"I went ashore at once, for I carried important papers from Lee Fu's chief agent in the islands. When I reached his outer office, I found it full of gathering gloom, although it was still early afternoon. Sing Toy immediately took in my name. In a moment I was ushered into the familiar room where my friend sat beside a shaded lamp, facing a teakwood desk inlaid with ivory and invariably bare, save for a priceless Ming vase and an ornament of old green bronze.
"'Back again, Lee Fu' said I, placing the island letters on the desk before him 'And just in time, it seems' A rising gust outside whined along the street.
"He paid no attention to my greeting or the letters. 'Sit down, Captain' said he 'I have bad news'
"'Yes?' I queried, somewhat alarmed at the vagueness of the announcement. So far as I was aware, no matter that we shared between us could result in 'bad news' said in such a tone.