been anything but a seaman. You would not have been surprised to learn
that he was an architect. To me (I know how absurd it is) to me he
looked like a churchwarden. He had the appearance of a man from whom you
would expect sound advice, moral sentiments, with perhaps a platitude or
two thrown in on occasion, not from a desire to dazzle, but from honest
conviction.

Though very well known and appreciated in the shipping world, he had
no regular employment. He did not want it. He had his own peculiar
position. He was an expert. An expert in--how shall I say it?--in
intricate navigation. He was supposed to know more about remote and
imperfectly charted parts of the Archipelago than any man living. His
brain must have been a perfect warehouse of reefs, positions, bearings,
images of headlands, shapes of obscure coasts, aspects of innumerable
islands, desert and otherwise. Any ship, for instance, bound on a trip
to Palawan or somewhere that way would have Captain Giles on board,
either in temporary command or "to assist the master." It was said that
he had a retaining fee from a wealthy firm of Chinese steamship owners,
in view of such services. Besides, he was always ready to relieve any
man who wished to take a spell ashore for a time. No owner was ever
known to object to an arrangement of that sort. For it seemed to be the
established opinion at the port that Captain Giles was as good as
the best, if not a little better. But in Hamilton's view he was an
"outsider." I believe that for Hamilton the generalisation "outsider"
covered the whole lot of us; though I suppose that he made some
distinctions in his mind.

I didn't try to make conversation with Captain Giles, whom I had not
seen more than twice in my life. But, of course, he knew who I was.
After a while, inclining his big shiny head my way, he addressed me