The Flying Boat: A Story of Adventure and Misadventure Read online

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  MR. TING ASTONISHES THE SCHOOL _See page_ 14]

  THE FLYING BOAT

  _A STORY OF ADVENTURE AND MISADVENTURE_

  BY HERBERT STRANG

  _ILLUSTRATED BY T. C. DUGDALE_

  LONDON HENRY FROWDE HODDER AND STOUGHTON 1912

  RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER THE FIRSTENTER MR. TING

  CHAPTER THE SECONDERRINGTON MAKES A FRIEND

  CHAPTER THE THIRDA MOVE UP COUNTRY

  CHAPTER THE FOURTHRIVER PIRATES

  CHAPTER THE FIFTHDIVIDED WAYS

  CHAPTER THE SIXTHMR. TING SPEAKS OUT

  CHAPTER THE SEVENTHA DISCOVERY IN THE SWAMP

  CHAPTER THE EIGHTHCROWDED MOMENTS

  CHAPTER THE NINTHSU FING'S PRISONER

  CHAPTER THE TENTHLO SAN'S PILGRIMAGE

  CHAPTER THE ELEVENTHREINHARDT SHOWS HIS COLOURS

  CHAPTER THE TWELFTHTHE PRICE OF A MOUSTACHE

  CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTHRECONCILIATION

  CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH"MY BROTHER!"

  CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTHREINHARDT IN THE TOILS

  CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTHA LITTLE LUNCHEON PARTY

  CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTHTHE DASH FROM THE YAMEN

  CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTHWINGED

  CHAPTER THE NINETEENTHHIDE AND SEEK

  CHAPTER THE TWENTIETHWILL-O'-THE-WISP

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRSTTHE END OF THE CHASE

  CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECONDMR. TING EXPLAINS

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  MR. TING ASTONISHES THE SCHOOL (see page 14) . . . . . . Frontispiece

  A BRUSH WITH RIVER PIRATES

  A CRITICAL MOMENT

  REINHARDT AVENGES HIS LOSS

  ERRINGTON HITS OUT

  RUNNING THE GAUNTLET

  CHAPTER I

  ENTER MR. TING

  The term was drawing to its close, and all Cheltonia, from the seniorprefect to the smallest whipper-snapper of the fourth form, was in theplaying-field, practising for the sports. The centre of the greatestinterest was perhaps the spot where certain big fellows of the sixthwere engaged in a friendly preliminary rivalry for the high jump. Therewas Reginald Hattersley-Carr, who stood six feet two in his socks--astrapping young giant whom small boys gazed up at with awe, the despairof the masters, the object of a certain dislike among the prefects forhis swank. There was Pierce Errington, who beside the holder of thedouble-barrelled name looked small, though his height was five feet ten.He was the most popular fellow in the school--dangerously popular forone of his temperament, for he was easy-going, mercurial, speaking andacting impulsively, too often rash, with a streak of the gambler in hiscomposition--though, to be sure, he had little chance of being undulyspeculative on his school pocket-money. And there was Ted Burroughs,Errington's particular chum, equally tall, almost equally popular, butas different in temperament as any man could be. Burroughs was popularbecause he was such a downright fellow, open as the day, a felloweverybody trusted. He always thought before he spoke, and acted withdeliberation. He held very strong views as to what he or others shoulddo or should not do, and carried out his principles with a firm will.As was natural, he did not easily make allowances for other men'sweaknesses, except in the case of Errington, to whom he would concedemore than to any one else.

  It was known that the high jump would fall to one of these three, andtheir performances at the bar were watched with keen appreciation by asmall crowd of boys in the lower school. Hattersley-Carr had justcleared five feet three, and Errington was stripping off his sweater, inpreparation for taking his run, when the school porter came up, an oldsoldier as stiff as a ramrod, and addressed him.

  "A gentleman to see you," he said.

  "Oh, bother!" said Errington. "Who is it, Perkins?"

  "A stranger to me; a sort of foreigner by the look of him: in fact, whatyou might call a heathen Chinee."

  "Bless my aunt!" Errington ejaculated, with a droll look at Burroughs."Did you tell him where I was?"

  "I said as how you were jumping, most like; and he said as how he'd liketo see; not much of a sport, either, by the looks of him."

  Now hospitality to visitors was a tradition at Cheltonia, and with theeyes of the small boys upon him Errington knew that he must accept theinevitable. But it was the law of the place that an afternoon visitorshould be invited to tea at the prefects' table, and Errington, with aschool-boy's susceptibility, at once foresaw a good deal of quizzing andsubsequent "chipping" at the embarrassing presence of a Chinaman.

  "Rotten nuisance!" he said, in an undertone. "Still!"--and with ahalf-humorous shrug he put on his sweater and blazer and walked acrossto the school-house.

  A few minutes afterwards there was a buzz of excitement all over thefield when he was seen returning with his visitor. It was anunprecedented spectacle. Beside the tall athletic form of Erringtonwalked with quick and springy steps a little Chinaman, not much abovefive feet in height, slight, thin, with a very long pigtail, and a keen,alert countenance that wore an expression of vivid curiosity. There wasa tittering and nudging among the smaller boys, who, however, did notdesist from their occupations, and only shot an occasional side-longglance at the stranger. The members of the sixth looked on with acarefully cultivated affectation of indifference. Errington led theChinaman to the spot where Burroughs and Hattersley-Carr were standingtogether, and with a pleasant smile introduced his school-fellows.

  "This is Burroughs--you've heard of him. They call him the Mole here.Hats--Hattersley-Carr, our strong man--Mr. Ting."

  Burroughs shook hands with the Chinaman, who shot a keen look at him, asif trying to discover why, his name being Burroughs, he was called theMole. Hattersley-Carr had his hands behind him, gave the visitor thefaintest possible acknowledgment, and then looked over his head, as ifhe no longer existed. Errington afterwards declared that he sniffed.Burroughs caught a twinkle of amusement in Mr. Ting's face, as, glancingup at the supercilious young giant towering above him, he said, in ahigh-pitched jerky voice, but an unexceptionable accent--

  "Once a servant of Mr. Ellington's father, sir."

  Hattersley-Carr paid no attention. Errington flushed, and was on thepoint of rapping out something that would hardly have been pleasant,when Burroughs interposed.

  "Buck up, Pidge; we've both cleared half-an-inch higher," he said. "Thetea-bell will ring in a jiffy."

  Whether it was that Errington was in specially good form, or that he wasspurred on by Hattersley-Carr's impoliteness, it is a fact that duringthe next twenty minutes he twice outdid his two competitors byhalf-an-inch. Mr. Ting was as keen a spectator as any boy in the crowd,which, now that the jumping furnished a pretext, had grown much largerby the afflux of many who were more interested in the Chinaman. The barstood at five feet five, and Hattersley-Carr had just failed to clear itat the third attempt, when Mr. Ting turned to Burroughs at his side, andsaid--

  "Most intelesting. Is it allowed for visitors to tly?"

  "Why, certainly," replied Burroughs, hiding his astonishment with aneffort. "But----" He glanced down at the clumsy-looking Chinese boots. />
  "I should like to tly," said the Chinaman, and, lifting his feet oneafter the other, he took off his boots, tucked up his robe about hisloins, and walked to the spot where Hattersley-Carr had begun his run.

  There was what the reporters call a "sensation" among the crowd. Theidea of this little foreigner, a Chinaman, actually with a pigtail, andwithout running shorts, attempting a jump at which Hats had failed,seemed to them the best of jokes, and they lined up on each side,prepared to laugh, and pick up the little man when he fell, and give himan ironical cheer. Hattersley-Carr stood by one post, his hands on hiships, his lips wrinkled in a sneer. Errington and the Mole stoodtogether near him, the former's face shaded with annoyance, for it wasbad enough to have to entertain a Chinaman at all, without theadditional ridicule which a sorry failure at the jumping bar wouldentail. The expression on Burroughs' countenance was simply one ofsober amusement.

  A dead silence fell upon the crowd. Mr. Ting had halted, and was tuckingup the long sleeves of his tunic, and putting on a pair of spectacles.He began to run, his feet twinkling over the grass. His pace quickened;within three yards of the bar he seemed to crouch almost to the ground;then up he flew, his pigtail flying out behind him, the eyes and mouthsof the small boys opening wider with amazement. There was the bar,steady in its sockets; and there was Mr. Ting, standing erect on theother side, his features rippling with a Chinese smile.

  Then the cheers broke out. "Good old Chinaman!" "Well _done_, sir!""Ripping old sport!" (Mr. Ting was thirty-five.) A dozen rushed forwardto shake hands with him; a score flung their caps into the air; ahundred roared and yelled like Red Indians. Errington grinned atHattersley-Carr; Burroughs stepped forward quietly with Mr. Ting'sboots; and Hattersley-Carr stood in the same attitude, with the samesupercilious curl of the lip.

  The warning bell rang; there was a quarter of an hour for changingbefore tea, and the throng trooped off, some to the changing-rooms, theidle onlookers to talk over the Chinaman's performance. Burroughs ledMr. Ting towards the house, Errington and Hattersley-Carr followingtogether.

  "You _silly_ ass!" said Errington.

  "How much?"

  "He was my father's comprador--confidential secretary, factotum, almostpartner."

  "Well, he said servant: how was I to know your rotten Chinese ways?"

  "Anyhow, you shouldn't be such a beastly snob."

  And at that Hattersley-Carr turned on his heel and strode alone out ofthe field, and out of this history.