looking at him and dodged into a doorway, but fled when he saw me start
after him.

In the _quilez_ I laughed at myself for allowing a prying old man like
Meeker to upset my temper, and, as I rode back to the hotel, put the both
of them out of my mind; but promised myself that I would take my revenge
on the old pest in some way aboard the steamer.

My bag was packed again, and I was ready for tiffin and then an afternoon
nap, to be called in time to catch the steamer. My telephone rang, and I
hastened to answer it, expecting orders from the cable-office, and hoping
that London had decided, after all, to send me after the Baltic fleet to
the south, rather than to Hong-Kong.

"Is this Mr. Trenholm? This is the steamship office, Mr. Trenholm. We
wish to inform you that the _Kut Sang_ has been delayed until to-morrow
morning for cargo which did not get in to-day. Sails to-morrow sure."

It made little difference to me, and I would be glad to have a night's
sleep ashore after the rice-steamer. However, it would be wise to have
the exact sailing-time of the _Kut Sang_, so I rang up the steamship
office and asked, not wishing to run the risk of getting to the mole and
finding the steamer gone.

"She sails this afternoon at five, as noted on the board," was the
startling response to my query. I was so taken aback for a second that I
didn't know what to think or say. I remarked into the telephone that
somebody in the steamship office must take me for a fool, and that I did
not consider such things jokes.