’I strained my mental eyesight only to discover that, as with the complexion of all our actions, the shade of difference was so delicate that it was impossible to say.  It might have been flight and it might have been a mode of combat.  To the common mind he became known as a rolling stone, because this was the funniest part:  he did after a time become perfectly known, and even notorious, within the circle of his wanderings (which had a diameter of, say, three thousand miles), in the same way as an eccentric character is known to a whole countryside.  For instance, in Bankok, where he found employment with Yucker Brothers, charterers and teak merchants, it was almost pathetic to see him go about in sunshine hugging his secret, which was known to the very up-country logs on the river.  Schomberg, the keeper of the hotel where he boarded, a hirsute Alsatian of manly bearing and an irrepressible retailer of all the scandalous gossip of the place, would, with both elbows on the table, impart an adorned version of the story to any guest who cared to imbibe knowledge along with the more costly liquors.  “And, mind you, the nicest fellow you could meet,” would be his generous conclusion; “quite superior.”  It says a lot for the casual crowd that frequented Schomberg’s establishment that Jim managed to hang out in Bankok for a whole six months.  I remarked that people, perfect strangers, took to him as one takes to a nice child.  His manner was reserved, but it was as though his personal appearance, his hair, his eyes, his smile, made friends for him wherever he went.  And, of course, he was no fool.  I heard Siegmund Yucker (native of Switzerland), a gentle creature ravaged by a cruel dyspepsia, and so frightfully lame that his head swung through a quarter of a circle at every step he took, declare appreciatively that for one so young he was “of great gabasidy,” as though it had been a mere question of cubic contents.  “Why not send him up country?” I suggested anxiously. (Yucker Brothers had concessions and teak forests in the interior.) “If he has capacity, as you say, he will soon get hold of the work.  And physically he is very fit.  His health is always excellent.”  “Ach!  It’s a great ting in dis goundry to be vree vrom tispep-shia,” sighed poor Yucker enviously, casting a stealthy glance at the pit of his ruined stomach.  I left him drumming pensively on his desk and muttering, “Es ist ein’ Idee.  Es ist ein’ Idee.”  Unfortunately, that very evening an unpleasant affair took place in the hotel.

’I don’t know that I blame Jim very much, but it was a truly regrettable incident.  It belonged to the lamentable species of bar-room scuffles, and the other party to it was a cross-eyed Dane of sorts whose visiting-card recited, under his misbegotten name:  first lieutenant in the Royal Siamese Navy.  The fellow, of course, was utterly hopeless at billiards, but did not like to be beaten, I suppose.  He had had enough to drink to turn nasty after the sixth