"Something tells me," said Cleggett seriously, "that this intrusion of armed men is only a prelude.I have little doubt of the hostility of Morris's; I am sure that the men who hid in the hold are spies from Morris's.I do not yet know the motive for this hostility.But the JasperB.is in the midst of dangers and mysteries.There is before us an affair of some magnitude.Ere the Jasper B.sets sail for the China Seas, there may be many wounds."And then he began to outline a plan that had flashed, full formed, into his mind.It was to rent, or purchase, the buildings at Parker's Beach, and fit them up as a field hospital, with three or four nurses in charge.Lady Agatha, who had been listening intently, interrupted.
"But--the China Seas," she said."Did I understand you to say that you intend to set sail for the China Seas?""That is the ultimate destination of the Jasper B." said Cleggett.
"I have heard--it seems to me that I have heard--that it's a very dangerous place," ventured Lady Agatha."Pirates, you know, and all that sort of thing.""Pirates," said Cleggett, "abound."
"Well, then," persisted Lady Agatha, "you are going out to fight them?""I should not be surprised," said Cleggett, folding his arms, and standing with his feet spread just a trifle wider than usual, "if the Jasper B.had a brush or two with them.A brush or two!"Lady Agatha regarded him speculatively.But admiringly, too.
"But those nurses--" she said."If you're going to the China Seas you can't very well take Parker's Beach along.""I was coming to that," said Cleggett, bowing."I contemplate a hospital ship--a vessel supplied with nurses and lint and medicines, that will accompany the Jasper B., and fly the Red Cross flag.""But they are frightful people, really, those Chinese pirates, you know," said Lady Agatha."Do you think they'll quite appreciate a hospital ship?""It is my duty," said Cleggett, simply."Whether they appreciate it or not, a hospital ship they shall have.This is the twentieth century.And although the great spirits of other days had much to commend them, it is not to be denied that they knew little of our modern humanitarianism.It has remained for the twentieth century to develop that.And one owes a duty to one's epoch as well as to one's individuality.""But," repeated Lady Agatha, with a meditative frown, "they are really FRIGHTFUL people!""There is good in all men," said Cleggett, "even in those whom the stern necessities of idealism sentence to death.And I have no doubt that many a Chinese pirate would, under other circumstances, have developed into a very contented and useful laundry-man."Lady Agatha studied him intently for a moment."Mr.Cleggett," she said, "if you will permit me to say so, a great suffragist leader was lost when fate made you a man.""Thank you," said Cleggett, bowing again.
He dispatched George--a person of address as well as a fighter in whom the blood of ancient Greece ran quick and strong--on a humanitarian mission.George was to walk a mile to the trolley line, go to Fairport, hire a taxicab, and make all possible speed into Manhattan.There he was to communicate with a young physician of Cleggett's acquaintance, Dr.Harry Farnsworth.
