Page:Tom Beauling (1901).pdf/92

 because of the dull pain in the man's head. The man had a shrewd, whimsical face, and was clothed from neck to heel in snow-white linen made up by a real tailor. The breast pockets of his coat bulged with cigars. The little finger of his left hand was circled by a plain gold seal-ring, with a coat of arms cut into the oval. Originally the ring had fitted the finger; now only the bones of the knuckle kept it on. The man looked at the clean, leafy city of Hong-Kong for some moments, then traveled his eyes over the grim cliffs above it, then over the war-ships in the harbor, rested them for a moment on the red, white, and blue flag of his country, and shut them tight. Then he drew the back of his hand across them, opened them, and said to the view:

"There's a fine big city, and back of it's a fine big country, about five times as rich as the State of Pennsylvania, inhabited by four hundred million people who would consider me vulgar; in front of it is one of the finest harbors in the world, filled with war-ships belonging to