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- Anyway, we finally set sail from Singapore on June the 28th, intending to sail to Shanghai with this load of manganese. And on the first afternoon out, we saw the black junk. Now those seas are mighty busy, of course, and a junk is only what you expect in that part of the world; but I didn't like the look of this one
- I was the second mate of the Lavinia, not much of a berth, since she was only a shabby little tramp.-all kinds of goods between Yokohama and Calcutta, and pretty well anywhere else on the way''
- ''They started, so they say, as a way of organizing resistance to the Manchu dynasty that rules China. And I dare say some of 'em are innocent enough - just a way of looking after your own people or your relatives, with a bit of ritual thrown in. But there's others far more sinister than that. The Triads.''
- ''I don't know what you know about the Chinese in the East Indies, There's all kinds of networks of influence and pressure - political, commercial, criminal... And there are the secret societies.''
- ''Well, the first thing that happened was that we lost a cargo. Mr Lockhart came aboard unexpectedly. He had a servant with him - a Malayan fellow called Perak. Never used to leave his side. Anyway, we were due to take on a cargo of cloth, and it was suddenly cancelled.''
- ''We were given orders to sail out in ballast, and then that was cancelled too. Mr Lockhart was angry, and went back and forth I don't know how many times between the harbour and the office. I didn't blame him; I didn't like that way of running things - it was unbusinesslike and careless. Nor did he, and I guess he saw my feelings. It was during that week that we got talking. Perak the servant used to make notes -he'd been a clerk, Mr Lockhart said.''
- That was a strange time. Drifting, almost, further and further away from the shipping lanes, while little by little all the work on board came to an end... I kept on at the Captain, but he just brushed me aside. The men just lay about in the shade, while that ugly black hull was never off the horizon. Just crawling, creeping, dawdling across the water... It was beginning to drive me mad. Then on the second night it happened, I was standing the middle watch. It was about one in the morning; a sailor called Harding was at the wheel
- The fact was, the Captain seemed to be dawdling on purpose. Mr Lockhart was no sailor, else he'd have seen at once that we weren't making anything like the speed we could and the Captain, a man called Cartwright, did what he could to keep me out of Mr Lockhart's way. Anyway, he spent most of the time in his cabin, writing up his notes.
- I told Harding to stay where he was, and raced down the companionway to Mr Lockhart's cabin. It was locked - there was no answer when I banged on it, so I kicked the door down. And then- I'm sorry, miss. He'd been stabbed.
- And then Harding, the helmsman, says to me, 'Mr Bedwell, there's a man moving about amidships.' I went to the rail, careful not to make a sound, and sure enough I saw a figure by the portside rail - in the act of climbing over, and down into a boat bobbing by the side. I was about to call out - but in all that great wash of light, I recognized his face. It was the Captain.
- Miss Lockhart, his last words were 'Tell her to keep her powder dry.' That's all I remember clearly. He said that, and then he died.
- And that was where I'd heard the name of Ah Ling the pirate. He was said to be a headman of the same society. It was called the Fan Lin Society, Miss Lockhart - The Seven Blessings.
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