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The White Jade Seal by H.
Bedford Jones. One Garvin, mouthing his

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chiroot in the smoking room, idly
fingered the white jade seal that depended from

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his watch chain. This seal was
an odd thing. Garvin himself was odd.

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Most singular of all, however,
was the fact that the man sitting

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on Garvin's left should have laid down
his book at this precise instant, thus

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catching sight of the jade seal.
If you are at all intimately acquainted with

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the line of mail boats running from
India to Rangoon, you have heard some

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queer tales. None of them surpasses
the story of the White Jade Seal when

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it comes to Queerness. However,
Garvin was tall, dark bearded, and

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silent, his eyes darkling with hidden
fires. The man on his left was

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small, spectacled, rather chubby,
yet with a mouth that expressed unreasonable determination,

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a regular trapmouth. In fact,
Garvin's looks spoke of the far hills

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in jungle, those of the other
men of cities and clubs. The latter

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was down on the passenger list,
as John Manning, commercial traveler. Beastly

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hot night, said Manning the instant
after he had laid down his book.

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Garvin gave him a swift glance,
found him cherubic and smiling, and nodded

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gravely. Very rank. Manning nodded
and gave his order, for Garvin had

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previously beckoned a boy. Presently,
the drinks came, the glasses were touched

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and sipped. Manning mopped his brow, which had suddenly become finally beated with

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perspiration. Devilish country, he said, impulsively, glad, I don't have

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to stay in it. You look
as though you don't mind, though Garvin

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smiled slightly, I don't. It's
good country for men up in the hills,

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the hills. Manning turned toward him
with voluble interest. Did you hear

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about that horrible affair up country Rangoon? Papers were full of it this last

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week. I don't call that a
good country. I call it beastly.

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I read a little something about the
details, but not very much. These

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two chaps who murdered each other,
I mean, or one of them murdered

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the other. Which was it?
Garvin mouthed his cigar, then took it

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out and carefully inspected it. One
gained the distinct impression that he was trying

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not to look startled. You have
it wrong, he said, slowly and

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steadily. You misunderstood the reports.
That is, if you refer to the

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case of Smithson and Ormsby. That's
the one, affirmed Manning eagerly. Those

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two mining chaps, you know,
who had been up in the Shen country

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looking for gold or tin or something. They'd been gone a long while,

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given up for dead by everyone until
this story came out. Oh yes,

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rubies, that was it. They
were after rubies. I swear I had

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an idea that one of them had
murdered the other. Perhaps I read the

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story amiss. Some chap brought down
the yarn, found the bodies or something.

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Who was he? I was the
chap, said Garvin. Manning strained

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around, staring at him blankly.
You, Garvin nodded. Yes, you

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see, I happened to run across
Ormsby's boy in the hills dying. He

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had been captured by the hill tribes
and escaped. He told me the whole

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thing. If you'd be interested in
learning what really happened, Oh, yes,

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yes, exclaimed Manning. His eyes
fell for an instant on the white

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jade seal. Yes, do tell
me. Let's have the boy fill the

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glasses again. Eh. Garvin nodded, and the boy came when he had

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filled the orders, and gone again. Garvin composedly told his story. It's

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not much of a yarn, though
the newspapers played it up. He said.

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When the boy was out of earshot, the two chaps got in trouble

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with the hillman and had to run
for it. Finally, the beggars surrounded

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them on a hill. They held
out for a week until their last cartridges

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were used up, and then were
rushed. After I heard about it,

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I went there, found the place
and buried their bones. So that's the

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whole thing, Not as you had
it, oh, said Manning, disappointedly.

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So that's the way of it,
exactly, said Garvin, and puffed

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at his cigar. His fingers toyed
with the white jade's seal, and Manning

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leaned forward and looked at it.
Frankly enough, that's a curious thing,

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May I see it? Garvin started
slightly, then laughed and held up the

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seal. It was a trifle over
an inch long, a long cube of

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white jade with a gold ring sunk
in one end. On the other end

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was a cut Chinese inscription in tiny
characters it's Melee, isn't it, asked

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Manning innocently. Garvin laughed at that. Oh, no, Chinese. I

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picked it up in the Singapore bazaar
two years ago. It's a seal,

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you know. The idiographs mean good
luck or something of the sort. Odd

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thing, said Manning. Then picked
up the book and rose, well,

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I'll say good night, and thanks
very much for the story. Queer,

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how I got it so jumbled?
Night, said Garvin. Manning left the

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smoking room. He made his way
to the upper deck, and there stood

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for a moment at the rail.
Then, deliberately he flung his book overboard

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and watched the splash in the phosphorescent
rush of water alongside. It was a

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gesture as though he had finished with
something forever. Drawing a deep breath,

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he turned aft and went to the
purser's cabin, at which he knocked.

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The purser was splitting a bottle of
beer with the first officer, and Manning

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crowded into the little cabin and sank
on the bunk. Greetings and long life,

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old son, exclaimed the purser.
Cheerfully mac reach him down another bottle,

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and then go turn in like a
good little boy, said Manning.

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Solemnly. The first officer collared a
bottle of beer and went to the door.

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I wouldn't drink with two bad eggs
like you, anyhow, he declared,

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and then grinned as he departed.
John Manning seemed to be rather well

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known aboard here. Now, old
son, spit it out, said the

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purser, wiping his mustache. Here, I say, what's it all about?

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Buck up? Buck up? This
won't do. Manning was leaning back

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in the bunk, looking whitish and
rather ill. He smiled faintly, and

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then his trap mouth set in two
lines again, and he sat up.

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After gulping down some beer, he
accepted a cigarette and lighted it. You

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know that Chap Garvin, tall bearded
tan brought in that story from the Hills

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that was in all the Rangoon papers
last week, Aye, said the purser

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cautiously. Well, you have a
nasty job to do for me, will

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you? For you, as the
owner in chief of this Bally steamship line,

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demanded the purser, Or for you
yourself, damn the steamship line,

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said Manning, for me myself,
with the same old streamers that you're wearing

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on your manly chest. Old son, I'll do murder for you, said

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the purser. Not for you as
owner, mind to hell with the owner's

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off duty. But you and me
and that brother of yours. Say,

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say now, I'd cut off my
right hand to have him here with us

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over the beer. Do you mind
that night when the three of us was

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in a Gallipoli trench and we had
a bottle of beer. Shut up and

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listen to me, said Manning.
You're drunk this minute two. Garvin had

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enjoyed a rubber of bridge and was
about ready to turn in for the night

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when the purser came into the nearly
emptied smoking room and flopped down into a

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chair side Garvin. The purser was
drunk, obviously, so the row of

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campaign ribbons on his breast was always
askew when he was drunk. He called

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for a drink, blinked at Garvin, and then began to laugh, Old

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son, funniest thing happened tonight,
he said, funniest thing you ever heard.

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Suppose I shouldn't talk about it,
but who cares. You're all right,

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Sparks told me about it. Poor
kid. He'll have half the cowcutt

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of police out to meet us.
Excited he is. You and me are

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pals. What here's how and many
to come? Garvin nodded, and the

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glasses tinkled. The purser thirstily emptied
his glass at a gulp. What,

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oh, yes, funniest thing ever
here It is now feller on board here

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who murdered some chap up country,
understand, shot him in the backer somewhere,

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robbed him, then grew a beard
and came down to rangoon and came

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aboard with the loot. Funniest thing
ever here's how. Garvin gulped a little,

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lifted his glass mechanically. The purser
cursed his own empty glass noisily summoned

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the boy and presently began to talk
again. This fella name is ormsby understand,

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had a thing he took off the
man he murdered. Don't understand myself,

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something particular. It was jade or
something. And today or tonight sometime

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he got talking with somebody and this
other chap saw this thing and popped onto

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the game. Right, Oh,
police chap, this chap was understand,

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damn complicated thing to talk about.
Oh yes, I remember now. Murdered

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man's name was Smithson. And now
the wireless is signalant for the Calcutta Police.

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Funny thing wireless when you stop to
think about it. Now, I

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remember one time back where was it? Oh? Yes, back in the

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old BP line, you know it, out of the Australian ports. Garvin

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raised to his feet, walked away
suddenly, and was gone. The purser

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stared vacantly after him, then rose
and also left the smoking room, but

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with a surprisingly steady step. When
he had returned to his own cabin,

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the purser found Manning still there,
quietly smoking. Did it, old son?

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Though, for the life of me, I can't see just what your

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game is letting onto that rodder that
you're a police chap. A knock sounded

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at the door, and Spark stepped
in. The young wireless officer, who

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was new to the line, gave
Manning one curious glance, and then shoved

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back his cap and looked at the
purser. See here, I just got

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a message in from rang Doon for
a chap named Smithson. No one by

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that name aboard, the old hooker, thought. Purser waved his hand genially

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toward Manning. Right here, y'are
mister Smithson, God save the mark he

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owns most of this ruddy steamship line, old son, and I've no respect

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for him at all, devil a
bit, but you'd better have plenty down

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under his placid exterior. He has
brains somewhere. Shut up, said Manning,

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looking at Sparks. Where's the message
here, sir, said Sparks.

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Aught into belief, he handed over
the message and left the cabin. Manning

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spread out the slip on his knee, and at his invitation, the purser

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crowded over to read the words.
Smithson s s. Hulagu, little known

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of Garvin here said, came overland
from Yu Dan explorer Rangoon Times. I

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sent the Times a request to look
him up this evening, but sent a

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personal call to the editor and only
signed my first name, said Manning.

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An explanation, well, loosen up, said the purser. What's your game

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now? If what you think is
so, why not call the police?

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Why give him warning? What's the
jade thing? Manning smiled slightly. You

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are a venerable, bald headed and
senile. Do you remember the Typing rebellion

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in China? Heard of it?
Why? My grandfather was in it,

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A friend and adviser of the Typing
Emperor When my grandfather came home, the

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Taiping Emperor gave him a jade seal, a small private imperial seal for personal

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letters. Nothing like it could possibly
exist and duplicate. My brother Bob carried

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it as a lucky token also in
case he got up into China and needed

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any help. Last letter I had
from him before digging off with Ormsby,

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he mentioned it. So this chap
Garvin light about it. Nobody knows much

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what Ormsby looked like, but this
thing gave his game away. The purser

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whistled at this bully, and you're
wrangling him at the strength of it.

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But look here, what do you
expect to get out of it? Suppose

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you and me go down there and
arrest the blighter for the murder of your

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brother. What, cool down and
open another bottle of beer, said Manning,

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and shut off that electric fan.
Being a purser and at one time

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a naval brigade officer, it's natural
you should have no brains. We'll try

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to instruct you. The purser shut
off the buzzing electric fan, and so

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sudden silence fell, broken only by
the monotonous twang of the engines. In

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this silence. The two men brank
their beer, Manning complacent and alert,

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the purser sadly, puzzled and wondering. Suddenly, something jarred into the night.

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A muffled vibration lifted through the ship. With an exclamation, the purser

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sprang to his feet. That's a
shot somewhere below exactly, said Manning coolly.

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Also, that's the end of the
story, the end of the Jade Seal.