Mr. Steele’s twelve or fifteen years of studying the technique of story
writing have resulted in his mastering the power of suggestion, found
at its height in Kipling, and the clear vigorous expression for which
Stevenson is famous. Without a statement to the contrary from the
author himself it would be safe to assume that they were his models.
“The Yellow Cat” is told in the first person by Ridgeway, aided by
McCord, and it is in part created by the reader. One who likes to
create with ease will find a strain upon his powers of construction;
the more he takes his reading as a narcotic, the less he will enjoy it.
The constructive reader will delight in it.
As a change from the analysis of plot in the presentation, it will be
profitable to construct the events in chronological order.
A. The master of the _Abbie Rose_ fears his Chinaman cook; he enters
his fear in his log, intimating that he may do away with the Chinaman.
B. The second seaman, Bach, also becomes a victim of fear. The two men
find that their revolvers are stolen.
C. (Invented by every reader to suit himself. Perhaps the two seamen
deserted the ship?)
D. The Chinaman is left on board. (Is he innocent?) He climbs into the
shrouds, when he sees the smoke of an approaching vessel.
E. The vessel is descried, soon after C, or D, by the _Mercury_. (...
“the stove in the galley still slightly warm.”) It is seemingly empty
but for a yellow cat.
F. McCord and Björnsen are detailed to steer the _Abbie Rose_ to port,
over a hundred miles distant. McCord is the engineer.
G. Björnsen, going to shake out the foretopsail encounters the Chinaman.
H. (Invented by the reader. Björnsen was probably knocked into the sea,
and may have made his escape to the land. Was he killed?)
I. McCord missing Björnsen, and becoming obsessed by the yellow cat,
begins to consider the theory of transmigration of souls.
J. (Suggested to the reader: McCord thinking the Chinaman is dead--for
he has read the log entries--suspects that his soul has come back in
the body of the cat.)
K. He undergoes a period of mental agony, during which time he brings
the vessel into port. He sees the shadow of the Chinaman; he shoots at
the shadow; he misses the water, etc. He cannot sleep and the cat has
disappeared.
(Note that all the incidents above are of the time preceding the
“acting time” of the story, or the immediate situation and action.)
L. The narrator, Ridgeway, here comes on board the vessel lying in the
upper river.