Leaving the dock gates behind me I tramped through the steady drizzle,
going parallel with the river and making for the Chinese quarter. The
hour was about half-past eleven on one of those September nights when,
in such a locality as this, a stifling quality seems to enter the
atmosphere, rendering it all but unbreathable. A mist floated over
the river, and it was difficult to say if the rain was still falling,
indeed, or if the ample moisture upon my garments was traceable only to
the fog. Sounds were muffled, lights dimmed, and the frequent hooting of
sirens from the river added another touch of weirdness to the scene.
Even when the peculiar duties of my friend, Paul Harley, called him
away from England, the lure of this miniature Orient which I had first
explored under his guidance, often called me from my chambers. In the
house with the two doors in Wade Street, Limehouse, I would discard the
armour of respectability, and, dressed in a manner unlikely to provoke
comment in dockland, would haunt those dreary ways sometimes from
midnight until close upon dawn. Yet, well as I knew the district and
the strange and often dangerous creatures lurking in its many burrows, I
experienced a chill partly physical and partly of apprehension to-night;
indeed, strange though it may sound, I hastened my footsteps in order
the sooner to reach the low den for which I was bound--Malay Jack's--a
spot marked plainly on the crimes-map and which few respectable
travellers would have regarded as a haven of refuge.
But the chill of the adjacent river, and some quality of utter
desolation which seemed to emanate from the deserted wharves and
ramshackle buildings about me, were driving me thither now; for I knew
that human companionship, of a sort, and a glass of good liquor--from
a store which the Customs would have been happy to locate--awaited me
there. I might chance, too, upon Durham or Wessex, of New Scotland Yard,
both good friends of mine, or even upon the Terror of Chinatown, Chief
Inspector Kerry, a man for whom I had an esteem which none of his
ungracious manners could diminish.
I was just about to turn to the right into a narrow and nameless alley,
lying at right angles to the Thames, when I pulled up sharply, clenching
my fists and listening.
A confused and continuous sound, not unlike that which might be
occasioned by several large and savage hounds at close grips, was
proceeding out of the darkness ahead of me; a worrying, growling, and
scuffling which presently I identified as human, although in fact it
was animal enough. A moment I hesitated, then, distinguishing among
the sounds of conflict an unmistakable, though subdued, cry for help,
I leaped forward and found myself in the midst of the melee. This was
taking place in the lee of a high, dilapidated brick wall. A lamp in a
sort of iron bracket spluttered dimly above on the right, but the
scene of the conflict lay in densest shadow, so that the figures were
indistinguishable.
“Help! By Gawd! they're strangling me------”
From almost at my feet the cry arose and was drowned in Chinese
chattering. But guided by it I now managed to make out that the struggle
in progress waged between a burly English sailorman and two lithe
Chinese. The yellow men seemed to have gained the advantage and my
course was clear.
A straight right on the jaw of the Chinaman who was engaged in
endeavouring to throttle the victim laid him prone in the dirty roadway.
His companion, who was holding the wrist of the recumbent man, sprang
upright as though propelled by a spring. I struck out at him savagely.
He uttered a shrill scream not unlike that of a stricken hare, and fled
so rapidly that he seemed to melt in the mist.
“Gawd bless you, mate!” came chokingly from the ground--and the rescued
man, extricating himself from beneath the body of his stunned assailant,
rose unsteadily to his feet and lurched toward me.
As I had surmised, he was a sailor, wearing a rough, blue-serge jacket
and having his greasy trousers thrust into heavy seaboots--by which I
judged that he was but newly come ashore. He stooped and picked up his
cap. It was covered in mud, as were the rest of his garments, but he
brushed it with his sleeve as though it had been but slightly soiled and
clapped it on his head.
He grasped my hand in a grip of iron, peering into my face, and his
breath was eloquent.
“I'd had one or two, mate,” he confided huskily (the confession was
unnecessary). “It was them two in the Blue Anchor as did it; if I 'adn't
'ad them last two, I could 'ave broke up them Chinks with one 'and tied
behind me.”
“That's all right,” I said hastily, “but what are we going to do about
this Chink here?” I added, endeavouring at the same time to extricate my
hand from the vise-like grip in which he persistently held it. “He hit
the tiles pretty heavy when he went down.”
As if to settle my doubts, the recumbent figure suddenly arose and
without a word fled into the darkness and was gone like a phantom. My
new friend made no attempt to follow, but:
“You can't kill a bloody Chink,” he confided, still clutching my hand;
“it ain't 'umanly possible. It's easier to kill a cat. Come along o' me
and 'ave one; then I'll tell you somethink. I'll put you on somethink, I
will.”
With surprising steadiness of gait, considering the liquid cargo he had
aboard, the man, releasing my hand and now seizing me firmly by the
arm, confidently led me by divers narrow ways, which I knew, to a little
beerhouse frequented by persons of his class.
My own attire was such as to excite no suspicion in these surroundings,
and although I considered that my acquaintance had imbibed more than
enough for one night, I let him have his own way in order that I might
learn the story which he seemed disposed to confide in me. Settled in
the corner of the beerhouse--which chanced to be nearly empty--with
portentous pewters before us, the conversation was opened by my new
friend:
“I've been paid off from the Jupiter--Samuelson's Planet Line,” he
explained. “What I am is a fireman.”
“She was from Singapore to London?” I asked.
“She was,” he replied, “and it was at Suez it 'appened--at Suez.”