went into the hotel office.

At Whitridge's appearance the boyish-looking clerk behind the desk flushed guiltily and hid something under a book. Whitridge handed him an odd silver cigarette case which the young fellow had often admired.

"Just a token for your kindness, my boy," he said.

"Gee, I—I'm sorry you're going away, Captain—Whitr—Whitridge," stammered the clerk and faltering peculiarly at the name. "I'll always keep this. What you've said has braced me up and—as soon as I get a little more money together I'm going home. Good-by and—and the best of luck to you."

"Good-by and good luck to you," said the departing guest, shaking the young fellow's hand heartily. "You'll come through all right."

The clerk's gaze followed Whitridge and Chang through the door and until they were clear of the grounds. Then he pulled out an old newspaper. It was what he had hidden at Whitridge's unexpected appearance. Chang had dropped it in packing Whitridge's things. For several minutes he studied the face which looked up at him from a mass of black headlines. It was a portrait of Whitridge beyond a doubt.

"He's Lavelle all right—but nobody'll ever get it out of me. He's square," he muttered to himself, and as he did so he tore the paper into small bits.

CHAPTER II

"You marther get him better you kom-men back?" asked Chang, breaking a long silence as Whitridge and he came to the Cambodia's gangway.

Just then Miss Granville and her maid went by, but Whitridge did not catch her glance of recognition.

"You not—you never kom-men back," said the Chinaman, shaking his head disconsolately and bringing Whitridge's gaze away from the splendid figure of womanhood moving up the gangway. The devotion that shone in the yellow giant's eyes pierced his heart.

"Maybe, Chang—maybe. I don't know," answered Whitridge. "Good-by, old man—good-by." He caught Chang's yellow hand and wrung it and coolies idling round wondered at the sight. "You're white all——" He wanted to tell him that he was white all through, but something closed his throat and he dared not trust himself further. He fled up the gangway.

When he reached the deck he looked back, intending to give Chang a farewell hand wave, but the Chinaman had disappeared. He 

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