She responded to all his suggestions with flattering promptness until preparations were set on foot to hold a huge gymkhana, in which everybody on board should take part.  The enterprise fired her enthusiasm instantly.  She was a born organizer, and the prospect of a whole day devoted to sports captivated her.  The project served as a peg on which she and Percival hung their first quarrel.

“Of course I’m going into it,” she exclaimed hotly, “and so are you.”

“The idea!” said Percival.  “I shouldn’t think of it for a moment.  Fancy me chasing an egg around the deck in a teaspoon, and all that sort of thing!”

“But there are lots of other contests.  There’s the long jump, and the tug-of-war—­”

“And pinning tails on donkeys,” added Percival, bitterly.  “Dare say you’d like to see me doing that.”

“I’d like to see you doing anything that would make you more sociable,” flashed Bobby.

For the rest of the day Percival sulked in the smoking-room, raging at the time that was stolen from him, and given to the making of silly rules and the buying of trifling prizes.

On the morning of the sports he arrayed himself in one of the white creations of G. Lung Fat’s, giving special attention to the accessories of his toilet.  Then, with marked indifference to the games, which were the all-absorbing topic of the day, he had his chair moved to the far side of the deck, and sat there in superior isolation during the whole morning.

But even there he could not avoid hearing what was taking place; shouts of laughter, groans, and jeers over a failure, and frantic applause over a victory, were wafted to him constantly.  Now and then some one hurried by with the information that Andy Black had won the quoits prize or that Andy Black had won the bottle-race.  His lip curled contemptuously at sports that required a mere trickster’s turn of the wrist or an animal’s sense of direction.  He would like to see Andy attempt a long jump or a mile race.  Imagine the fat pink-and-white youth on a polo pony!

At luncheon Andy’s praises were passed from lip to lip.  The affair had assumed an international significance.  A Scotchman, a German, a Japanese, and an American were striving for first place.  The captain’s patriotism ran so high that he offered to set up the handsomest dinner the Astor Hotel in Shanghai could afford if Andy came out victorious.

In vain Percival sought to hold Bobby’s attention.  The tapers in her eyes were lighted for Andy, and he was obliged to undergo the new and intolerable sensation of sitting in a darkened niche and watching the candles burn at an adjoining shrine.

The slightest hint of deflection in one upon whom he had bestowed his favor maddened him.  He had showered upon this ungrateful girl attentions the very husks of which would have sustained several English girls he knew through a lifetime of patient waiting.  He recalled their unswerving loyalty with a glow at his heart.