throat with the air of a man who knows the value of a good billet.

The first morning the new flag floated over the stern of the Nan-Shan
Jukes stood looking at it bitterly from the bridge. He struggled with
his feelings for a while, and then remarked, "Queer flag for a man to
sail under, sir."

"What's the matter with the flag?" inquired Captain MacWhirr. "Seems all
right to me." And he walked across to the end of the bridge to have a
good look.

"Well, it looks queer to me," burst out Jukes, greatly exasperated, and
flung off the bridge.

Captain MacWhirr was amazed at these manners. After a while he stepped
quietly into the chart-room, and opened his International Signal
Code-book at the plate where the flags of all the nations are correctly
figured in gaudy rows. He ran his finger over them, and when he came to
Siam he contemplated with great attention the red field and the white
elephant. Nothing could be more simple; but to make sure he brought the
book out on the bridge for the purpose of comparing the coloured drawing
with the real thing at the flagstaff astern. When next Jukes, who was
carrying on the duty that day with a sort of suppressed fierceness,
happened on the bridge, his commander observed:

"There's nothing amiss with that flag."

"Isn't there?" mumbled Jukes, falling on his knees before a deck-locker
and jerking therefrom viciously a spare lead-line.