said, "because the Governor may take it into his head to come along too."
I
did as I was told. But scarcely had I stepped unobtrusively aboard on
the morrow when within five minutes from sailing time the Governor
himself also stepped on board. He was the worse for liquor and in a
nasty mood. I heard him shout to the skipper, "How much beer have you
got on board?"
"Four cases, sir," the skipper replied.
"I
hope it will last till the morning," hiccuped the Governor. Then he
gave orders to cast off, but just as we were sheering away he happened,
as bad luck would have it, to spy me sitting quietly in the shadows.
"Damn you," he shouted at me, "what the hell are you doing on this
Government launch?"
I
tried my best to explain; but he was furious and told me to jump while
there was time or he'd throw me overboard. He seemed quite ready to
suit the action to the word, so I grapped my bag and leaped. I landed
within a fraction of an inch of the edge of the pier. And so ended my
first excursion out of Jolo.
After
that the Gobernador and I were not friends. He eventually got moved as
"temperamentally unsuited" to his high office. And some time after
that, I heard, he bestrode a nag one day that was equally
temperamental. It threw him as he had threatened to throw me, and he
broke his neck.
Perhaps
it was just as well that I should truckle down to the work in hand and
not go gadding about seeing sights. I called on the Chino merchants,
for I had been given to understand that all trade was in their hands,
but as I had fared in Broome so I fared here; only the Chinos were
whiter men. They explained to me that they could not trade with me as
they were under obligation to the big Chinese firms who were their
correspondents in such centers as Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong,
Shanghai and Amoy.
This first refusal did not worry or discourage me, but after several vain attempts I came to the conclusion that I had little
