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Applications of Deep
Learning in
Electromagnetics
The ACES Series on Computational and Numerical Modelling in Electrical
Engineering
Andrew F. Peterson, PhD – Series Editor

The volumes in this series will encompass the development and application of numerical
techniques to electrical and electronic systems, including the modelling of electromagnetic
phenomena over all frequency ranges and closely related techniques for acoustic and optical
analysis. The scope includes the use of computation for engineering design and optimization,
as well as the application of commercial modelling tools to practical problems. The series will
include titles for senior undergraduate and postgraduate education, research monographs for
reference, and practitioner guides and handbooks.

Titles in the Series

K. Warnick, “Numerical Methods for Engineering,” 2010.
W. Yu, X. Yang and W. Li, “VALU, AVX and GPU Acceleration Techniques for Parallel
FDTD Methods,” 2014.
A.Z. Elsherbeni, P. Nayeri and C.J. Reddy, “Antenna Analysis and Design Using FEKO
Electromagnetic Simulation Software,” 2014.
A.Z. Elsherbeni and V. Demir, “The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method in
Electromagnetics with MATLAB Simulations, 2nd Edition,” 2015.
M. Bakr, A.Z. Elsherbeni and V. Demir, “Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis of High Frequency
Structures with MATLAB,” 2017.
O. Ergul, “New Trends in Computational Electromagnetics,” 2019.
D. Werner, “Nanoantennas and Plasmonics: Modelling, design and fabrication,” 2020.
K. Kobayashi and P.D. Smith, “Advances in Mathematical Methods for
Electromagnetics,” 2020.
V. Lancellotti, “Advanced Theoretical and Numerical Electromagnetics, Volume 1:
Static, stationary and time-varying fields,” 2021.
V. Lancellotti, “Advanced Theoretical and Numerical Electromagnetics, Volume 2:
Field representations and the method of moments,” 2021.
S. Roy, “Uncertainty Quantification of Electromagnetic Devices, Circuits, and
Systems,” 2021.
Applications of Deep
Learning in
Electromagnetics
Teaching Maxwell’s equations to machines

Edited by
Maokun Li and Marco Salucci

The Institution of Engineering and Technology

Published by SciTech Publishing, an imprint of The Institution of Engineering and
Technology, London, United Kingdom

The Institution of Engineering and Technology is registered as a Charity in England &

Wales (no. 211014) and Scotland (no. SC038698).

© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2022

First published 2022

This publication is copyright under the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright
Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research
or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in
the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued
by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those
terms should be sent to the publisher at the undermentioned address:

The Institution of Engineering and Technology

Futures Place
Kings Way, Stevenage
Herts, SG1 2UA, United Kingdom

www.theiet.org

While the author and publisher believe that the information and guidance given in this
work are correct, all parties must rely upon their own skill and judgement when making
use of them. Neither the author nor publisher assumes any liability to anyone for any
loss or damage caused by any error or omission in the work, whether such an error or
omission is the result of negligence or any other cause. Any and all such liability
is disclaimed.

The moral rights of the author to be identified as author of this work have been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this product is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-83953-589-5 (hardback)

ISBN 978-1-83953-590-1 (PDF)

Typeset in India by MPS Ltd

Printed in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon

Cover Image: ThinkNeo / DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

 Contents

About the editors xiii

Foreword xv
Acknowledgment xix

1 An introduction to deep learning for electromagnetics 1

Marco Salucci, Maokun Li, Xudong Chen and Andrea Massa
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Basic concepts and taxonomy 3
1.2.1 What is deep learning? 3
1.2.2 Classification of deep learning techniques 4
1.3 Popular DL architectures 8
1.3.1 Convolutional neural networks 8
1.3.2 Recurrent neural networks 13
1.3.3 Generative adversarial networks 16
1.3.4 Autoencoders 18
1.4 Conclusions 20
Acknowledgments 20
References 20

2 Deep learning techniques for electromagnetic forward modeling 25

Tao Shan and Maokun Li
2.1 Introduction 25
2.2 DL and ordinary/partial differential equations 27
2.3 Fully data-driven forward modeling 30
2.4 DL-assisted forward modeling 38
2.5 Physics-inspired forward modeling 44
2.6 Summary and outlook 56
References 57

3 Deep learning techniques for free-space inverse scattering 67

Julio L. Nicolini and Fernando L. Teixeira
3.1 Inverse scattering challenges 69
3.2 Traditional approaches 71
3.2.1 Traditional approximate solutions 71
3.2.2 Traditional iterative methods 73
3.3 Artificial neural networks applied to inverse scattering 75
vi Applications of deep learning in electromagnetics

3.4 Shallow network architectures 76

3.5 Black-box approaches 77
3.5.1 Approaches for phaseless data 81
3.5.2 Application in electrical impedance and
capacitance tomography 82
3.6 Learning-augmented iterative methods 84
3.7 Non-iterative learning methods 89
3.8 Closing remarks 92
References 93

4 Deep learning techniques for non-destructive testing and evaluation 99

Roberto Miorelli, Anastassios Skarlatos, Caroline Vienne,
Christophe Reboud and Pierre Calmon
4.1 Introduction 99
4.2 Principles of electromagnetic NDT&E modeling 101
4.2.1 Field solution for the flawless piece and calculation
(p)
of the signal geometry ZTR 103
(d)
4.2.2 Defect response: calculation of the flaw signal ZTR 103
4.2.3 Examples 106
4.2.4 Inverse problems by means of optimization and machine
learning approaches 107
4.3 Applications of deep learning approaches for forward and
inverse problems in NDT&E 109
4.3.1 Most relevant deep learning architecture in NDT&E 111
4.4 Application of deep learning to electromagnetic NDT&E 111
4.4.1 Deep learning in electromagnetic NDT&E applied
to the energy sector 113
4.4.2 Applications to the transportation and civil
infrastructures sectors 116
4.4.3 Applications to the manufacturing and agri-food sectors 119
4.5 Applications to higher frequency NDT&E methods 121
4.5.1 Infrared thermography testing and terahertz wave testing 122
4.5.2 Radiographic testing 125
4.6 Future trends and open issues for deep learning algorithms
as applied to electromagnetic NDT&E 129
4.7 Conclusion and remarks 131
4.8 Acknowledgments 132
References 132

5 Deep learning techniques for subsurface imaging 145

Rui Guo, Maokun Li and Aria Abubakar
5.1 Introduction 146
5.2 Purely data-driven approach 147
 Contents vii

5.2.1 Convolutional neural network 148

5.2.2 Recurrent neural network 150
5.2.3 Generative adversarial network 151
5.3 Physics embedded data-driven approach 153
5.3.1 Supervised descent method 153
5.3.2 Physics embedded deep neural network 154
5.4 Learning-assisted physics-driven approach 158
5.5 Deep learning in seismic data inversion 160
5.5.1 Inversion with unsupervised RNN 160
5.5.2 Low-frequency data prediction 162
5.5.3 Physically realistic dataset construction 163
5.5.4 Learning the optimization 164
5.5.5 Deep learning constrained traveltime tomography 166
5.6 Deep learning in multi-physics joint inversion 166
5.7 Construction of the training dataset 170
5.8 Conclusions and outlooks 171
References 172

6 Deep learning techniques for biomedical imaging 179

Yuan Fang, Kazem Bakian-Dogaheh and Mahta Moghaddam
6.1 Introduction 179
6.2 Physics of medical imaging 181
6.2.1 Maxwell’s equations 182
6.2.2 Formulations of EIT 182
6.2.3 Formulations of MWI 185
6.2.4 Inverse methods for EIT and MWI 187
6.3 Deep-learning in medical imaging 195
6.3.1 Machine learning 196
6.3.2 Deep learning neural networks 198
6.3.3 DNN in medical imaging 203
6.4 Hybrid physics-based learning-assisted
medical imaging: example studies 208
6.4.1 Example 1: EIT-based SDL-assisted imaging 208
6.4.2 Example 2: MWI(CSI)-based UNet-assisted imaging 211
6.4.3 Example 3: MWI(BIM)-based CNN-assisted imaging 213
6.5 Summary 219
References 219

7 Deep learning techniques for direction of arrival estimation 231

Zhang-Meng Liu, Liuli Wu and Philip S. Yu
7.1 Introduction 231
7.2 Problem formulation 234
7.2.1 Conventional observation model 234
7.2.2 Overcomplete formulation of array outputs 235
viii Applications of deep learning in electromagnetics

7.2.3 Array imperfections 236

7.3 Deep learning framework for DOA estimation 236
7.3.1 Data pre-processing 237
7.3.2 Deep learning model 239
7.3.3 Post-processing for DOA refinement 243
7.4 A hybrid DNN architecture for DOA estimation 244
7.4.1 The hierarchical DNN structure 244
7.4.2 Training strategy of the hybrid DNN model 247
7.4.3 Simulations and analyses 254
7.5 Concluding remarks and future trends 262
References 263

8 Deep learning techniques for remote sensing 273

Qian Song and Feng Xu
8.1 Target recognition 273
8.1.1 Ship detection 273
8.1.2 Aircraft recognition 275
8.1.3 Footprint extraction 277
8.1.4 Few-shot recognition of SAR targets 281
8.2 Land use and land classification 282
8.2.1 Local climate zone classification 282
8.2.2 Crop-type classification 284
8.2.3 SAR-optical fusion for land segmentation 287
8.3 Disaster monitoring 289
8.3.1 Flood detection 290
8.3.2 Storm nowcasting 291
8.3.3 Lightning nowcasting 293
8.4 Forest applications 295
8.4.1 Tree species classification 296
8.4.2 Deforestation mapping 299
8.4.3 Fire monitoring 301
8.5 Conclusions 303
References 304

9 Deep learning techniques for digital satellite communications 313

Federico Garbuglia, Tom Dhaene and Domenico Spina
9.1 Introduction 313
9.2 Machine learning for SatCom 314
9.2.1 Deep learning 315
9.3 Digital satellite communication systems 317
9.3.1 Uplink segment 317
9.3.2 Space segment 318
9.3.3 Downlink segment 318
 Contents ix

9.4 SatCom systems modelling 318

9.4.1 High-power amplifier modelling 320
9.5 SNR estimation 322
9.5.1 Autoencoders 322
9.5.2 SNR estimation methodology 323
9.5.3 Metrics 325
9.5.4 Application example 327
9.5.5 Metrics tuning and consistency analysis 328
9.5.6 Results and discussion 332
9.6 Input back-off estimation 334
9.6.1 Deep learning model for IBO estimation 334
9.6.2 Performance metric 335
9.6.3 Data generation 336
9.6.4 Results and discussion 338
9.7 Conclusion 340
References 341

10 Deep learning techniques for imaging and gesture recognition 345

Hongrui Zhang and Lianlin Li
10.1 Introduction 345
10.2 Design of reprogrammable metasurface 345
10.3 Intelligent metasurface imager 348
10.3.1 System configuration 348
10.3.2 Results 350
10.4 VAE-based intelligent integrated metasurface sensor 351
10.4.1 System configuration 352
10.4.2 Variational auto-encoder (VAE) principle 353
10.4.3 Results 354
10.5 Free-energy-based intelligent integrated metasurface sensor 356
10.5.1 System configuration 358
10.5.2 Free-energy minimization principle 361
10.5.3 Results 362
References 368

11 Deep learning techniques for metamaterials and metasurfaces

design 371
Tao Shan, Maokun Li, Fan Yang and Shenheng Xu
11.1 Introduction 371
11.2 Discriminative learning approach 373
11.3 Generative learning approach 381
11.4 Reinforcement learning approach 388
11.5 Deep learning and optimization hybrid approach 392
11.6 Summary 402
References 402
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x Applications of deep learning in electromagnetics

12 Deep learning techniques for microwave circuit modeling 409

Jing Jin, Sayed Alireza Sadrossadat, Feng Feng,
Weicong Na and Qi-Jun Zhang
12.1 Introduction 409
12.2 Feedforward deep neural network for microwave
circuit modeling 411
12.2.1 Feedforward deep neural network and the
vanishing gradient problem 412
12.2.2 A hybrid feedforward deep neural network 415
12.3 Recurrent neural networks for microwave circuit modeling 418
12.3.1 Global-feedback recurrent neural network 418
12.3.2 Adjoint recurrent neural network 420
12.3.3 Global-feedback deep recurrent neural network 422
12.3.4 Local-feedback deep recurrent neural network 423
12.3.5 Long short-term memory neural network 424
12.4 Application examples of deep neural network for
microwave modeling 427
12.4.1 High-dimensional parameter-extraction modeling
using the hybrid feedforward deep neural network 427
12.4.2 Macromodeling of audio amplifier using long
short-term memory neural network 430
12.5 Discussion 432
12.6 Conclusion 433
References 433

13 Concluding remarks, open challenges, and future trends 439

Marco Salucci and Maokun Li
13.1 Introduction 439
13.2 Pros and cons of DL 439
13.2.1 High computational efficiency and accuracy 439
13.2.2 Bypassing feature engineering 440
13.2.3 Large amounts of training data 440
13.2.4 High computational burden 440
13.2.5 Deep architectures, not learning 440
13.2.6 Lack of transparency 440
13.3 Open challenges 441
13.3.1 The need for less data and higher efficiency 441
13.3.2 Handling data outside the training distribution 441
13.3.3 Improving flexibility and enabling multi-tasking 441
13.3.4 Counteracting over-fitting 441
 Contents xi

13.4 Future trends 442

13.4.1 Few shot, one shot, and zero shot learning 442
13.4.2 Foundation models 442
13.4.3 Attention schemes and transformers 442
13.4.4 Deep symbolic reinforcement learning 442
13.5 Conclusions 443
References 443

Index 445
This page intentionally left blank
 About the editors

Maokun Li (senior member, IEEE) is an associate professor in the Department of

Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He received his BS
degree in electronic engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2002,
and his MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign in 2004 and 2007, respectively. After graduation, he worked
in Schlumberger-Doll Research as a research scientist before he joined Tsinghua
University in 2014.

Marco Salucci (senior member, IEEE) received an MS degree in Telecommunication

Engineering from the University of Trento, Italy, in 2011, and his PhD degree from
the International Doctoral School in Information and Communication Technology of
Trento in 2014. He was a postdoctoral researcher at CentraleSupélec, in Paris, France,
and then at the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives
(CEA), in France. He is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Civil,
Environmental, and Mechanical Engineering (DICAM) at the University of Trento,
and a Research Fellow of the ELEDIA Research Center. Dr Salucci is a member of the
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society and he was a member of the COST Action
TU1208 “Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar.” He is the
associate editor for communications and memberships of the IEEE Transactions on
Antennas and Propagation. Moreover, he serves as an associate editor of the IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation and of the IEEE Open Journal of Antennas
and Propagation, and as a reviewer for different international journals including
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on Microwave
Theory and Techniques, IEEE Journal on Multiscale and Multiphysics Computational
Techniques, and IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation. His research activities are
mainly concerned with inverse scattering, biomedical and GPR microwave imaging
techniques, antenna synthesis, and computational electromagnetics with focus on
system-by-design methodologies integrating optimization techniques and artificial
intelligence for real-world applications.
This page intentionally left blank
 Foreword

With the help of big data, massive parallelization, and computational algorithms,
deep learning (DL) techniques have been developed rapidly during the recent years.
Complex artificial neural networks, trained by large amounts of data, have demon-
strated unprecedented performance in many tasks in artificial intelligence, such as
image and speech recognition. This success also leads DL into many other fields of
engineering. And electromagnetics (EM ) is one of them.
This book is intended to overview the recent research progresses in applying DL
techniques in EM engineering. Traditionally, research and development in this field
have been always based on EM theory. The EM field distribution in engineering
problems is modeled and solved by means of Maxwell’s equations. The results can
be very accurate, especially with the help of modern computational tools. However,
when the system gets more complex, it is tough to solve because the increase in the
degree-of-freedom exceeds the modeling and computational capabilities. Meanwhile,
the demand for real-time computing also poses a significant challenge in the current
EM modeling procedure.
DL can be used to alleviate some of the above challenges. First, it can “learn”
from measured data and master some information about the complex scenarios for the
solution procedure, which can improve the accuracy of modeling and data processing.
Second, it can reduce the computational complexity in EM modeling by building fast
surrogate models. Third, it can discover new designs and accelerate the design process
while combining with other design tools. More engineering applications are being
investigated with deep learning techniques, such as antenna design, circuit modeling,
EM sensing and imaging, etc. The contents of the book are as follows.
In Chapter 1, a brief introduction to machine learning with a focus on DL is
discussed. Basic concepts and taxonomy are presented. The classification of DL
techniques is summarized, including supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and
reinforcement learning. Moreover, popular DL architectures such as convolutional
neural networks, recurrent neural networks, generative adversarial networks, and
auto-encoders are presented.
Chapter 2 reviews the recent advances in DL techniques as applied to EM forward
modeling. Traditional EM modeling uses numerical algorithms to solve Maxwell’s
equations, such as the method of moments, the finite element method, and the finite
difference time domain method. In this context, DL can establish the mapping between
a physical model and the corresponding field distribution. In other words, it is possible
to predict the field distribution without solving partial differential equations, resulting
in a much faster computation speed. In addition to fully data-driven approaches,
xvi Applications of deep learning in electromagnetics

DL can be incorporated into traditional forward modeling algorithms to improve

efficiency. Physics inspired forward modeling includes physics into neural networks
to enhance their interpretability and generalization ability.
Chapter 3 discusses the application of DL to free-space inverse scattering. The
surveyed techniques can be classified into three broad categories. The “black-box”
approaches directly map measured far-field data to parametric values. Differently,
learning-augmented iterative methods apply a learning-based solution to an itera-
tive procedure, either by approximating the solution of the forward problem with a
learning-based surrogate model or by integrating deep artificial neural networks into
the entire iterative process. Finally, non-iterative learning approaches obtain the solu-
tion for the inverse problem directly. Still, they combine the prior knowledge of the
problem, and for such a reason they cannot be regarded as simple black-box solutions.
Chapter 4 describes the use of DL-based methods for non-destructive testing
and evaluation. The discussion is categorized based on the domain of application,
including energy, transportation and civil infrastructures, manufacturing and agri-
food sectors. The application to higher frequency methods is also reviewed, such
as infrared thermography testing, terahertz wave testing, and radiographic testing.
Moreover, the challenges and future trends of DL in non-destructive testing and
evaluation are carefully discussed.
Chapter 5 reviews recent DL research as applied to subsurface imaging with
a focus on EM methods. The state-of-the-art techniques, including purely data-
driven approaches, physics-embedded data-driven approaches, and learning-assisted
physics-driven approaches, are discussed. Several DL-based methods for seismic
data inversion are also included in the Chapter. Furthermore, different techniques
for constructing training datasets are discussed, which is essential for learning-based
procedures.
Chapter 6 focuses on the current state-of-the-art DL methods used in medical
imaging approaches. The physics of electromagnetic medical imaging techniques
and their related physical imaging methods are first reviewed. Then, the commonly
used deep neural networks with their applications in medical imaging are discussed.
Recent studies on synergizing learning-assisted and physics-based imaging methods
are presented, as well.
Chapter 7 presents an overview of how DL can be exploited for direction-of-
arrival (DoA) estimation. After introducing the mathematical formulation of this
problem under different conditions, the most common DL frameworks that have been
applied to DoA estimation are reviewed, including their neural network configurations
and the most widely used algorithmic implementations. Finally, a hierarchical deep
neural network framework is presented to solve the DoA estimation problem.
Chapter 8 reviews the application of DL to remote sensing. With the accumulation
of years of vast data, DL can effectively use these data in an automatic manner to
serve many practical applications. The fields of target recognition, land cover and
land use, weather forecasting, and forest monitoring are discussed, with a focus on
how various DL models are employed and fitted into these specific tasks.
Chapter 9 discusses DL-based methods to improve digital satellite communica-
tions. DL can be employed to automate resource allocation, noise characterization,
 Foreword xvii

and nonlinear distortion in digital satellite communication links. Both are essential
tasks in efficient digital satellite communications. Moreover, these strategies can be
extended to other domains, such as EM compatibility or signal integrity.
Chapter 10 focuses on applying DL in task-oriented sensing, such as imaging
and gesture recognition, based on metasurfaces. Three recent research progresses
are discussed: intelligent metasurface imagers, variational-auto-encoder-based intel-
ligent integrated metasurface sensors, and free-energy-based intelligent integrated
metasurface sensors.
Chapter 11 reviews the application of DL to the design of metamaterials and
metasurfaces. The design strategies are categorized into four groups: discriminative
learning approach, generative learning approach, reinforcement learning approach,
and optimization hybrid approach. With the help of DL, the inverse design of
metamaterials and metasurfaces can become more flexible, efficient, and feasible.
Chapter 12 describes DL as applied to microwave circuit modeling, an important
area of computer-aided design for fast and accurate microwave design and optimiza-
tion. The feed-forward deep neural network and the vanishing gradient problem during
its training process are introduced. Various recurrent neural networks for nonlinear
circuit modeling are presented. Several application examples are presented to demon-
strate the capabilities of deep neural network modeling techniques. As widely demon-
strated through the Chapter, the powerful learning ability of DL makes it a suitable
choice for modeling the complex input-output relationship of microwave circuits.
Based on these discussions, Chapter 13 summarizes the pros and cons of DL
when applied to EM engineering, envisaging challenges and future trends in this
area, and drawing some concluding remarks.
Despite the recent rapid progress in research, DL is still in its early stage in solving
EM problems. Compared with imaging and speech processing, its application to EM
engineering is more challenging considering the available data, the complexity of the
scenarios, the requirement of learning and generalization ability, etc. A hybridization
of physics and data may provide a way to address some long-term challenges.

Maokun Li
Marco Salucci
This page intentionally left blank
 Acknowledgment

We sincerely thank all the contributors to this book. Special thanks to Ms Olivia
Wilkins for her help in editing it. We sincerely hope this manuscript can help more
researchers to work in this promising field, and we look forward to your feedback.
Visit https://ebookmass.com today to explore
a vast collection of ebooks across various
genres, available in popular formats like
PDF, EPUB, and MOBI, fully compatible with
all devices. Enjoy a seamless reading
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Exploring the Variety of Random
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recognise the Penguin as one of her fighting ships, official or
unofficial, that with her peculiar ideas as to the rights of belligerents
and nonbelligerents she might be as bad a party to be captured by
as Germany.
He knew quite well now that between the Spreewald affair and the
Sprengel business, to say nothing of the original cable-cutting
adventure, he would have an exceedingly bad time were this cruiser
to clap the shackles on him.
He watched her now as she dropped a boat; then he leaned over
and shouted to Harman, who had come on deck again, to have the
companionway lowered.
Then, as the boat came alongside, he came down from the bridge to
meet his fate.
A young, fresh-looking individual came up the steps—a full
lieutenant by his stripes—saluted the quarter-deck in a perfunctory
manner, recognised Blood at once as the skipper, and addressed him
without ceremony.
“What’s the name of your ship?” asked the lieutenant.
“The Penguin,” replied Blood.
“The deuce it is! Are you sure it’s not the Sea Horse?”
“The which horse?” inquired Blood, whose temper was beginning to
rise.
It was his first experience of British navy ways with merchantmen,
ways which are usually decided and heralded by language which is
usually abrupt.
“Sea Horse—Sea Horse—ah!” His eye had fallen on a life buoy
stamped with the word “Penguin.” “You are the Penguin. You will
excuse me, but we were looking after something like you—a fifteen-
hundred-ton grey-painted boat. The Sea Horse. Tramp steamer gone
off her head and turned pirate, looted a German vessel under
pretence that war had broken out between England and Germany.”
“Well, it wasn’t us,” laughed the Captain. “Couldn’t you see we were
a cable ship by the gear on deck?”
“Yes, but the message came to us by wireless with bare details.
What was your last port?”
“Christobal Island, quite close here—we have only left it a few hours,
and by the same token there was news there that war had broken
out between Germany and England.”
“How did they get it?”
“Well, the fellow there—Sprengel is his name—has a wireless
installation, and he picked up a message some days ago.”
“He picked up a lie. It has been all over the Pacific, seems to me.
There’s been a sort of dust-up over a place called Agadir, but there’s
no small chance of war, worse luck. The business has been settled.
We had the news only yesterday.”
No news could have been more dumfounding to the unfortunate
Blood than this. The cable message that had so upset Shiner and
Wolff had been some lying news-agency rumour. On the strength of
it he had done all he had done. More than that was the mystery of
the Sea Horse. What on earth did it mean? Had another ship gone
pirating on the same rumour?
He managed, however, to keep a cheerful countenance and even to
speak.
“Well,” said he, “I’m right glad to hear that. War may be all right for
you, but it’s no good to our business.”
“No, I don’t suppose it is,” said the lieutenant. “Well, I suppose you
are all right, but just as a matter of form I’ll have a glance at your
log.”
“Of course,” said Blood, with death in his heart. “If you’ll come down
to the saloon I’ll have the greatest pleasure in showing it to you.”
The lieutenant followed him below.
Harman had put out the log and the cigar box on the saloon table.
The lieutenant refused a cigar, but showed interest at the sight of
the log. He sat down and opened it.
“Why, good heavens,” said he, “you haven’t been writing it up for
days and weeks! Where’s your first officer’s log?”
“Harman doesn’t keep one,” said Blood, whose anger was beginning
to rise against the situation and his visitor.
“Who’s Harman?” inquired the other, his eyes running over the
entries.
“My first officer.”
“Oh, doesn’t he? H’m—h’m! Most extraordinary—what’s this?
‘Reached the Spot.’ What spot?”
“The spot on the cable we were due to work on.”
“What cable?”
“You must ask the owners that. It’s private business.”
“Who are the owners?”
“Shiner & Wolff.”
“Where are they?”
Blood did not know where the precious pair might be at that
moment, but he answered:
“Frisco.”
“Are they a cable company or simple cable repairers?”
“Repairers, I think.”
“Where are the rest of the ship’s papers?”
Blood tramped off to his cabin, and returned with a bundle of all
sorts of documents.
“Well,” said the lieutenant, “I can’t go through them now. I must get
back and report. I’ll take these with me for reference.” He bundled
log and papers together and put them under his arm.
“Look here!” said Blood. “Are you taking those off the ship?”
“Only for reference,” replied the other. “They will be quite safe, and
you can have them back when I have reported.”
“Very well,” said Blood.
“And now I’d just like to have a look round. Follow me, please.”
This was a new departure. A command. Blood followed, sick at
heart, but cigar still in mouth.
The lieutenant evidently knew all about cable ships.
He stopped at the after-cable tank.
“Cable tank—how much have you on board?”
“Not an inch,” replied Blood.
“H’m! But you want some spare cable for mending purposes.”
“We used it all.”
The officer passed on through the square where the forward cable
tank was situated, then down to the cable deck.
Here the first thing he spotted was the infernal spar gun.
He smelled round it, and inquired its use.
“I don’t know,” said Blood. “It was on the ship when I joined—some
truck left over from the last voyage, I believe.”
This suddenly recalled the inquisitor to something he had forgotten
—Blood’s Board of Trade certificates.
Blood produced them, having to go back to his own cabin for them.
They told their tale of long unemployment.
The lieutenant was a gentleman, and having glanced them over
returned them without comment. Then he left the ship with the log
and the papers under his arm, and was rowed back to the Minerva.
“What’s up?” asked Harman.
“We are,” said Blood. “There’s no war; the whole thing was a lying
rumour those two guys sucked in over the cable. There was a good
chance of war, but it was patched up, and it’s now peace, perfect
peace, with us perched on top of it like a pair of blame fools.” He
told the whole tale that we know. Then suddenly light broke upon
him.
“The Sea Horse,” said he. “I see the whole thing now—when we
fired those two blighters off the ship and shoved them on the
Spreewald it was their interest not to give the show away. We were
nose on to the Spreewald, so she couldn’t see our name. Shiner and
Wolff would be the last men to give their own names, considering
what they’d been doing and the latitude they were found in. They’d
be sure to pose as innocents taken off some other ship by us. They’d
fake up a yarn, and they’d fake up a new name for the old Penguin.”
They had gone on to the bridge again and they were talking like this
with an eye always upon the Minerva, that arbiter of their destinies.
“That’s easy enough to understand,” said Harman. “What gets me is
how to understand our position. What the deuce did that scuffy
want, cartin’ off the log and the ship’s papers for? Ain’t there no law
to protect an innocent vessel bein’ manhandled by a durned British
cruiser in times of peace? What’s to become of peaceful tradin’ if
such things is allowed? Where’s the rights of neutrals if a monkey on
a stick like that blue-an’-gold outrage on the name of a sailor can
walk on board you an’ walk off with the log book in his pocket?
That’s what I want to know. I’m not a man that wants much in this
here world. I only wants justice.”
“Faith, and I think you are going to get it,” said the Captain. “Bare
justice, as the little boy’s mother said when she let down his pants.
I’m not saying I didn’t do most of the inciting to the piracy and
plundering, but whether or no we are all in the soup, and the chap
with the ladle is fishing for us, and there’s no use in bothering or
laying blame—we’d have shared equally in the profits.”
“Oh, I’m makin’ no remarks,” said Harman. “I’m not the man to fling
back at a pal, and I guess I can take the kicks just the same as the
ha’pence, but you’ve a better headpiece than me, and what I say is,
be on the lookout to get the weather gauge of these jokers so be it’s
possible. You can do it if any man can—get out of the soup and be a
pineapple.”
“Give us a chance,” said the Captain. “I’m not going to haul my
colours down without a fight for it.”
They stood watching the Minerva. Men were cleaning brasswork on
board of her, a squad of sailors were doing Swedish exercises; the
ship’s work was going on as unconcernedly as though she were lying
in harbour, and this vision of cold method and absolute indifference
to all things but duty and routine did not uplift the hearts of the
gazers.
“They’re stuffed with pride, those chaps,” said the single-minded
Harman. “They potter about and potter about the seas with their
noses in the air, lookin’ down at the likes of us who do all the work’s
to be done in the world. And what do they do? Nothin’! They never
carry an ounce of grain or a hoof or hide, or mend a cable or fetch a
letter, and they looks down on us that do as dirt. You saw that josser
in the brass-bound coat and the way he come aboard—they’re all
alike.”
“She’s moving up to us,” said the Captain, suddenly changing his
position. “She’s going to speak us.”
The Minerva, with a few languid flaps of her propeller, was indeed
moving up to them. When she came ranging alongside, within
megaphone distance, a thing—a midshipman, Blood said—speaking
through a megaphone nearly as big as itself addressed the Penguin.
“Ship ahoy! You are to follow us down to Christobal Island.”
“Good Lord!” said Harman. The Captain said nothing, merely raising
his hand to signify that he had understood.
“What’s your speed?” came again the voice through the megaphone.
The Captain seized the bridge megaphone.
“Ten knots,” he answered.
“Right!” came the reply. “Follow us at full speed.”
The blue water creamed at the Minerva’s forefoot as her speed
developed. She drew away rapidly, and the Penguin slowly and
sulkily began to move, making a huge circle to starboard.
When she got into line the Minerva was a good two miles ahead.
Said Harman, for the Captain was speechless:
“I call this playing it pretty low down. Jumping Jeehoshophat, but
we’ll be had before Sprengel! He won’t rub his hands—oh, no! I
guess he won’t rub his hands! And the old Penguin is going as if she
liked it. Ain’t there no gunpowder aboard to blow a hole in her skin
an’ sink her? And that durned British cruiser as tight fixed to us as
though she was towing us with a forty-foot hawser. I reckon if I had
some poison I’d pour it out and drink it. I would that! I feel that way
low down I’d pour it out and drink it.”
“Oh, shut your head!” said the Captain. “You carry on like an old
woman with the stomach ache. We’re caught and we’re being
lugged along by the police officer, and there’s no use in clutching at
the railings or making a disturbance. The one good thing is that we
haven’t any of those chaps on board us, sitting with fixed bayonets
on the saloon hatch and we in the saloon. The first thing to be done
is to steal as much distance out of her as we can without her
kicking.”
He went to the engine-room speaking tube:
“Below there, heave any muck you think likely to make smoke in the
furnaces; there’s a lot of old rubber and canvas waste on the cable
deck. I’ll tell Mr. Harman to have it sent down to you. I want to ’pear
as if we were doin’ more than our best—yes, we’re caught and bein’
led to port, and we mean to have a try to get loose; keep a good
head of steam, and keep your eye on the engine-room telegraph. I’ll
be altering the speed now and then.”
He sent Harman to do what he said; then he stood watching the
distant Minerva. She was now about two and a quarter miles ahead.
The two vessels were going at about equal speed, with the balance
perhaps in favour of the Minerva. He ordered the engines to half
speed, and kept them so for a couple of minutes, then put them on
to full speed again. The result of this proceeding was an almost
imperceptible gain on the part of the cruiser.
In the next two hours, by the skilful use of this device, the distance
between the two ships was increased to at least three and a half
miles. Blood was content with that; so gradually had the increase
been made that the Minerva, suspecting nothing, stood it, but Blood
instinctively felt that she would not stand any more. The man had a
keen psychological sense.
He was reckoning on a change of weather.
The wind had fallen absolutely dead, and the heat was terrific,
simply because the air was charged with moisture. The captain knew
these latitudes.
“I don’t see what you’re after,” said Harman, coming up on the
bridge. “What’s the good of stealin’ a few cable len’ths out of her?
We can’t get rid of her by day, for her guns can hit us at six miles,
and if we made a show to bolt she’d turn and be on us like a cat
pouncin’. She can do twenty-five knots to our twelve. Then at
sundown she’s sure to close with us and keep us tied tight to her
tail.”
“Maybe,” said the Captain.
He said nothing more.
An hour later he had his reward.
The horizon to westward and beyond the Minerva had become
slightly indistinct; the horizon to eastward and behind them was still
brilliant and hard.
He knew what was happening. A slight change of temperature was
stealing from the west, precipitating the moisture as it came in the
form of haze.
He put his hand on the lever of the telegraph and rang the engines
off.
Harman said nothing. He went to the side and spat into the sea.
Then he came back and stood watching.
“There’s nothing like haze to knock gun firing on the head,” said the
Captain.
Harman said nothing, but moistened his lips. A minute passed, and
then the Minerva, all at once, like a person showing the faintest sign
of indecision, showed the faintest change in definition. The faint
haze had touched her.
At the same moment the Captain rang up the engines, and ordered
the helm to be put hard astarboard. The Penguin forged ahead, and
began to turn.
“They’re so busy cleaning brasswork and saluting each other that
they haven’t noticed Mr. Haze,” said the Captain. “They’re new to
this station and don’t know that Mr. Fog is sure coming on her heels.
Ah, she’s seen us, and she’s turning.”
The Minerva, in fact, had also put her helm hard astarboard.
She was making a half circle, and as small a half circle as she
possibly could, but the Penguin had got a quarter circle start on her,
and while the Minerva was still going about the Penguin was off.
If hares ever chased ducks this business might be compared to a
lame duck being chased by a hare. The Minerva could steam ten
miles to the Penguin’s five and over; her guns even now could have
sunk the Penguin with ease, though they might not have made very
good shooting, owing to the haze; that elusive, delusive haze.
“Below there,” cried the Captain through the engine-room speaking
tube. “Shake yourself up, MacBean! Whack the engines up—give us
fifteen or burst! What’s the matter? We’re being chased by that
British cruiser, and it’s the penitentiary for the lot of us if we’re
caught—that’s all.”
He turned, and at that moment the Minerva spoke.
A plume of smoke showed at her bow, there came a shrill, long-
drawn “whoo-oooo” like a hysterical woman “going off” somewhere
in the sky, then a jet of spume and a lather of foam in the sea two
cable lengths to port.
It was a practice shell, and it left the water and made another plume
a mile and a half ahead and yet another a mile beyond that.
It was her first and last useful word, for now the haze had her,
destroying her for war purposes as efficiently as a bursting shell in
her magazine.
The haze had also taken the Penguin; everything seemed clear all
around, but all distant things had nearly vanished.
Another shell came whooing and whining from the spectred Minerva
before the white Pacific fog blotted her out.
A faint wind was bringing it, less a wind than a travelling chillness, a
fall of temperature, moving from east to west.
The Captain, having given his instructions to the helmsman, left the
bridge, and went down below.
 X
THE LAST OF THE “PENGUIN”

South of Chiloe Island, on the Chile coast, there lies a little harbour
which shall be nameless.
Here, six days later, the Penguin was hurriedly coaling—on the
Spreewald’s dollars.
It was at eight o’clock on a glorious and summerlike morning that
she put out of this place with her bunkers only half full, her stores
just rushed aboard cumbering the deck, and a man swung over the
stern on a board, painting her name out above the thunder and
pow-wow of the screw.
Blood would never have wasted paint and time in the attempt to
alter the name of his ship had it been the English he dreaded now.
As a matter of fact, word had come to the chief official at the little
nameless port above indicated that the Germans were out looking
for a fifteen-hundred-ton cable boat named the Penguin, grey-
painted and captained by a master mariner named Michael Blood.
The bleating of the infernal Spreewald had been heard all over the
Pacific. Sprengel’s bad language was following it. The Minerva had
communicated by wireless with the German gunboat Blitz, lying at
the German island of Savaii, in the Navigators. The Blitz had spoken
to the cruiser Homburg, lying at Tongatabu; from Tongatabu it had
been flashed to Fiji, and from there to Sydney. From Sydney it went
to San Francisco, reaching the City of the Golden Gate in time for
the morning newspapers; from there it passed in dots and dashes
down the west American seaboard to Valparaiso and Valdivia.
Added to all the turmoil, the cable company whose cable had been
broken smelled the truth and were howling for the Penguin’s blood.
Marconi waves from Valparaiso had found the German cruiser
squadron far at sea, and they had started on the hunt.
This was the news that had come to the chief official at the little
Chilean port, and which, being friendly toward Blood and unfriendly
toward Germany, he communicated to the former. There was also
the matter of a tip, which left the coffers of the Penguin completely
empty after the account for coal, provisions, and harbour dues had
also been settled.
“What’s the course?” asked Harman as the coast line faded behind
them.
“Straight out to sea,” replied Blood. “Due west till we cut the track
from Taliti to the Horn; then southeast for the Straits of Magellan.
Ramirez is going to fake them with the news that we have gone
north.”
“Why not go straight for the Straits down the coast instead of puttin’
out like this?”
“They’ll be hunting the coast; sure to send a ship south. They’ll
never think of us going west; the last thing they’d think of.”
“Are you sure Ramirez is safe?”
“Oh, he’s safe enough. He hates the Germans, and he has taken my
money. He’ll stick to his bargain. I wish we were as safe. Good Lord,
every cent gone and nothing to show for it but this old hooker which
we can’t sell, and the sure and certain prospect of the penitentiary if
we don’t work a miracle—and even then we are lost dogs. Frisco is
closed to us. We never can show our noses in Frisco again.”
“I wouldn’t have come on this cruise if I’d known things was goin’ to
pan out like this,” said the ingenuous Harman. “No, indeedy! I’d
have stuck to somethin’ more honest. What I want to know is this:
What’s the use of war, anyway? When it has a chance of doin’ a man
a good turn the blighted thing holds off, whereas if you and me had
been runnin’ a peace concern it’s chances that it’d have come on.
No, blamed if I don’t turn a Methodis’ passon if I ever get out o’ this
benighted job. It’s crool hard to be choused like this by a cus’t
underhand trick served on one just as a chance turns up to make a
bit. Why couldn’t they have fought and been done with it? What’s
the good of all them guns and cannons, and all them ships? What in
the nation’s the good of them ships? Seems to me the only good of
them is to go snuffin’ and smellin’ round the seas, pokin’ their guns
into other folk’s affairs and spoilin’ their jobs. Well, there’s an end of
it. I’m a peace party man now and forever more. Blest if it ain’t
enough to make a man turn a Bible Christian!”
“You’d better go and see to the stowing of the stores,” said the
Captain. “There’s no use in carrying on like that. I didn’t make war,
or else I guess I’d have made it more limber on its legs. Come!
Hurry up!”
They stood two days to the west, and then they turned to the south
coast and made their dash for the Straits.
The weather had changed. It was steadily blowing up from the
westward. The sea, under a dull sky, had turned to the colour of
lead, and the heavy swell told of what was coming.
They had not sighted a ship since leaving the Chilean coast, but
three days after altering their course the smoke of a steamer
appeared, blown high by the wind and far to westward. The wind
had scarcely increased in force, but the sea was tremendous and
spoke of what was coming.
The Captain, on the bridge, stood with a glass to his eye, trying to
make out the stranger. He succeeded, and then, without comment,
handed the glass to Harman.
Harman, steadying himself against the rolling and pitching of the
ship, looked.
A waste of tempestuous water leaped at him through the glass, and
then, bursting a wave top to foam with her bows, grey as the seas
she rode came a ship of war.
A cruiser, with guns nosing at the sky as if sniffing after the traces of
the Penguin. She was coming bow on, and now, falling a point or
two, her fore funnel seemed to broaden out and break up. It was
the three funnels showing, now en masse and now individually.
Then, as she came to again, the three funnels became one.
“She’s a three-funnel German,” said Harman, “and she has spotted
us.”
Even as he spoke the wind suddenly increased in violence.
“I’m not bothering about her much,” said the Captain. “I’m bothering
about what’s in front of us.”
“Whacher mean?”
“Mean! Look at the sea and the stuff that’s coming. Could we put
the ship about in this sea? No, we couldn’t. You know very well the
old rolling log would turn turtle. Well, what’s before us? A lee shore.
If we don’t reach the opening of the Straits of Magellan before
sundown we’re dead men all. Germans! I wish I were safe in the
hold of a good German ship.”
The truth of his words burst upon Harman. There are no lights at
the entrance of the Magellan Straits; the entrance is not broad; to
hit it in the darkness would be next door to impossible, and not to
hit it would be certain death.
It was impossible to put the ship about. Harman’s extraordinary
mind did not seem much upset at the discovery.
“D’ye think we’ll do it?” asked he.
“I don’t know,” said the Captain. “We may and we mayn’t. You see,
we haven’t a patent log. I haven’t had a sight of the sun for two
days. I can’t figure things to a nicety. But if I had ten patent logs I
wouldn’t use them now. I’d be afraid to—what would be the good?
Mac is whacking up the engines for all they’re worth.”
“Well, maybe we’ll do it,” said Harman, applying his eye again to the
glass. Then: “She’s going about.”
The Captain took the glass.
The cruiser was turning from her prey before it was too late. It was
a terrific spectacle, and once the Captain thought she was gone. The
foam was bursting as high as her fighting tops and the grey water
pouring in tons over her decks.
Yet she did it, and the last Blood saw of her was the kick of her
propellers through sheets of foam.
At four o’clock that day they knew that they could not do it. There
was no grog on board, so they were having a cup of tea in the
saloon. The Captain sat at the head of the table, before the tin
teapot and a plate of fancy biscuits.
The Captain and Harman were the only two men on board with a
knowledge of what was coming.
“Another lump of sugar in mine,” said Harman. “I don’t hold with
tea; I never did hold with tea. The only thing that can be said for it
is it’s a drink. And how some of them blighters ashore lives suckin’ it
day and night gets me.”
He was drinking out of his saucer.
“Oh, tea’s all right. I reckon tea’s all right,” said the Captain in an
absent-minded manner.
“Maybe it is, but give me a hot whisky and you may take your tea to
them that like it,” replied Harman.
He lit his pipe and went on deck. The Captain followed. They could
not keep away from the fascination up above.
The bos’n was on the bridge, and they relieved him.
Not a sign of land was in sight, and the sea was running higher than
ever.
“You see,” said the Captain, “we can’t make it. It’ll be sundown in an
hour. We’ll strike the coast some time after dark, and God have
mercy on our souls.”
“You ain’t tellin’ the hands?” said Harman.
“No use tellin’ them. I told Mac, so that he might get the best out of
the engines.”
“And there’s no bit of use gettin’ out life belts,” said Harman. “I know
this coast; rocks as big as churches an’ cliffs that nuthin’ but flies
could crawl up; and b’sides which if a chap found himself ashore
he’d either starve or be et by niggers. They’re the curiosest chaps,
those blighters down here. I guess the A’mighty spoiled them in the
bakin’ and shoved them down here by the Horn to hide them from
sight. Wonder what Wolff and Shiner is doin’ by this?”
“God knows!” said the Captain.
The darkness fell without a sight of the land, and, leaving the bos’n
on the bridge, they came down for a while to the engineroom for a
warm. Mac just inquired if there was any sight of land, and said
nothing more.
The engines were no longer being pressed, and they smoked and
watched the projection and retraction of the piston rods, the
revolution of the cranks, and all the labours of this mighty organism
so soon to be pounded and ground to death on the hard rocks
ahead.
It was toward midnight that the coast spoke, so that all men could
hear on board the Penguin.
Its voice came through the yelling blackness of the night like the
roar of a railway train in the distance.
The crew were gathered aft and in the alleyways, for all forward of
the bridge the decks were swept. Harman and the Captain were on
the bridge.
Mac had the word to give her every ounce of steam he could get out
of the boilers, in the desperate idea that the harder she was pressed
the higher she might be driven on the rocks, and the tighter she
might stick.
The roaring of the breakers seemed now all around them, and the
Captain and Harman were clinging to the bridge rails, bracing
themselves for the coming shock, when—just as a curtain is drawn
aside in a theatre—the rushing clouds drew away from the moon.
The white, placid full moon whose light showed the foam-dashed
coast to either side of them, and right ahead clear water.
They had struck the Magellan Straits by some miracle, just as the
bullet strikes the bull’s-eye of a target, and right to port they saw a
great white ghost rising in the moonlight and falling again to the
sea.
It was the foam breaking on the Westminster Hall.
It was breaking three hundred feet high, and Harman, as he was
hurled along to the safety of the Straits, caught a glimpse of the
great rock itself after a wave had fallen from it, glistening in the
moonlight desolately, as slated roofs glisten after rain.
That was a sight which no man, having once seen, could ever forget.

I met Blood last year. He was exceedingly prosperous, or seemed so.

He told me this story, and I have so mixed names and places that he
himself would scarcely recognise the chief actor, much less his
enemies. As to the fate of the Penguin, I could only get him to say
that she “went down” somewhere south of Rio, but that all hands
were saved. Harman, he said, had turned religious.
 PART II
THE “HEART OF IRELAND”
THE “HEART OF IRELAND”
 I
THE CAPTAIN GETS A SHIP

After the Penguin job, Captain Blood and Billy Harman, that simple
sailorman, had come back to Frisco, the very port of all others one
might fancy they would have avoided, but Billy had been a power in
Frisco, and, reckoning on his power, he had taken the Captain back
with him.
“There’s no call to be afraid,” said Billy; “there was more in that job
than the likes of us. Why, they’d pay us money to tuck us away.
Whatser use freezin’ round N’ York or Boston? There’s nothin’ to be
done on the Eastern side. Frisco’s warm.”
“Damn warm!” put in the Captain.
“Maybe; but there’s ropes there I can pull an’ make bells ring. Clancy
and Rafferty and all that crowd are with me, and we’ve done nothin’.
Why, we’re plaster saints to the chaps that are walkin’ round in
Frisco with cable watch chains across their weskits.”
They came back, and Billy Harman proved to be right. No one
molested them. San Francisco was heaving in the throes of an
election, and people had no time to bother about such small fry as
the Captain and his companion, while, owing to the good offices of
the Clancys and Raffertys, Billy managed to pick up a little money
here and there and to assist his friend in doing likewise.
Then things began to get slack, and to-day, as bright a morning as
ever broke on the Pacific coast, the Captain, down on his luck and
without even the price of a drink, was hanging about a wharf near
the China docks waiting for his companion.
He took his seat on a mooring bitt, and, lighting a pipe, began to
review the situation. Gulls were flitting across the blue water,
whipped by the westerly wind blowing in from the Golden Gate, a
Chinese shrimp boat with huge lugsail bellying to the breeze was
blundering along for the upper bay, crossing the bows of a Stockton
river boat and threatening it with destruction; pleasure yachts, burly
tugs, and a great four-master just coming in with the salt of Cape
Horn on her sun-blistered sides—all these made a picture bright and
moving as the morning.
It depressed the Captain.
Business and pleasure have little appeal to a man who has no
business and no money for pleasure. We all have our haunting
terrors, and the Captain, who feared nothing in an ordinary way, had
his. When in extremely low water, he was always haunted by the
dread of dying without a penny in his pocket. To be found dead with
empty pockets was the last indignity. His Irish pride revolted at the
thought, and he was turning it over in his mind now as he sat
watching the shipping.
Then he caught a glimpse of a figure advancing toward him along
the quay side.
It was Mr. Harman.
“So there you are,” said he, as he drew up to the Captain. “I been
lookin’ for you all along the wharf.”
“Any news?” asked the Captain.
Mr. Harman took a pipe from his pocket, and explored the empty
bowl with his little finger; then, leaning against the mooring bitt, he
cut some tobacco up, filled the pipe, and lit it. Only when the pipe
was alight did he seem to hear the Captain’s question.
“That depends,” said he. “I don’t know how you’re feelin’, but my
feelin’ is to get out of here, and get out quick.”
“There’s not much news in that,” said Blood. “I’ve had it in my head
for days. What’s the use of talking? There’s only one way out of
Frisco for you or me, and that’s by way of a fo’c’s’le, and that’s a
way I’m not going to take.”
“Maybe,” said Harman, “you’ll let me say my say before putting your
hoof in my mouth. News—I should think I had news. Now, by any
chance did you ever sight the Channel Islands down the coast there
lying off Santa Barbara? First you come to the San Lucas Islands,
then you come to Santa Catalina, a big brute of an island she is,
same longitude as Los Angeles; then away out from Santa Catalina
you have San Nicolas.”
“No, I’ve never struck them,” replied Blood. “What’s the matter with
them?”
“The Chinese go there huntin’ for abalone shells,” went on Harman,
disregarding the question. “I’m aimin’ at a teeny yellow bit of an
island away to the north of the San Lucas, a place you could cover
with your hat, a place no one ever goes to.”
“Well?”
“Well, there’s twenty thousand dollars in gold coin lyin’ there ready
to be took away. Only this morning news came in that one of the
See-Yup-See liners—you know them rotten old tubs, China owned,
out of Canton, in the chow an’ coffin trade—well, one of them things
is gone ashore on San Juan, that’s the name of the island. Swept
clean, she was, and hove on the rocks, and every man drowned but
two Chinee who got away on a raf’. I had the news from Clancy. The
wreck’s to be sold, and Clancy says the opinion is she’s not worth
two dollars, seein’ the chances are the sea’s broke her up by this.
Well, now look here, I know San Juan, intimate, and I know a
vessel, once ashore there, won’t break up to the sea in a hurry by
the nature of the coast. There’s some coasts will spew a wreck off in
ten minutes, and some’ll stick to their goods till there’s nuthin’ left
but the starnpost and the ribs. It’s shelvin’ water there and rocks
that hold like shark’s teeth. The Yan-Shan—that’s her name—will
hold till the last trumpet if she’s hove up proper, which, by all
accounts, she is, and there’s twenty thousand dollars aboard her.”
“Well?” said Blood.
“Well, if we could crawl down there—you an’ me—we’d put our claws
on that twenty thousand.”
“How in the nation are you going to rig out a wrecking expedition on
two cents, and suppose you could buy the wreck for two dollars—
where’s your two dollars?”
“I’m not goin’ to buy no wrecks,” replied Harman, “nor fit out no
wreckin’ expeditions. What I want is something small and easy
handled—no steam, get her out and blow down on the northwest
trades, raise San Juan and the Yan-Shan, lift the dollars, and blow
off with them. Why, it’s as easy as walkin’ about in your slippers!”
The Captain sighed.
“As easy as getting into the penitentiary,” said he. “First of all, you’d
have to steal a boat, and Frisco is no port to steal boats in; second,
there’s such things as telegraphs and cables. You ought to know that
after the Penguin job. Then if we were caught, as we would be,
you’d have the old Penguin rising like a hurricane on us. She’s
forgotten now, I know, but once a chap gets in trouble everything
that’s forgotten wakes up and shouts.”
“Maybe,” said Harman, “and maybe I’d be such a fool as to go
stealin’ boats. I’m not goin’ to steal no boats. But I’m goin’ to do this
thing somehow, and once I set my mind on a job I does it. You mark
me. I’m fair drove crazy to get out of here and be after somethin’
with money on the end of it, and once I’m like that and sets my
think tank boilin’, there’s fish to fry. You leave it to me. I ain’t no fool
to be gettin’ into penitentiaries. Well, let’s get a move on; there’s
nothin’ like movin’ about to keep one’s ideas jumpin’.”
They walked along the wharf, stepping over mooring hawsers, and
pausing now and then to inspect the shipping. There is no port in
the world to equal San Francisco in variety and charm. Here, above
all other places, the truth is borne in on one that trade, that much
abused and seemingly prosaic word, is in reality another name for
romance. Here at Frisco all the winds of the world blow in ships
whose voyages are stories. Freighters with China mud still clinging to
their anchor flukes, junks calling up the lights and gongs of the
Canton River, schooners from the islands, whalers from the sulphur-
bottom grounds, grain ships from half the world away, the spirit of
trade hauls them all in through the Golden Gate, and, over and
beyond these, the bay itself has its romance in the ships that never
leave it—junks and shrimp boats, the boats of Greek fishermen,
yachts, and all sorts of steam craft engaged on a hundred
businesses from Suisun Bay to the Guadeloupe River.
Wandering along, Blood and his companion came to Rafferty’s
Wharf. Rafferty’s Wharf is a bit of the past, a mooring place for old
ships condemned and waiting the breaking yards. It has escaped
harbour boards and fires and earthquakes, healthy trade never
comes there, and very strange deals have been completed in its
dubious precincts over ships passed as seaworthy yet held together,
as Harman was explaining now to Blood, “by the pitch in their seams
mostly.”
As they came along a man who was crossing the gangway from the
tank saw Harman and hailed him.
“It’s Jack Bone,” said Harman to Blood. “Walk along and I’ll meet
you in a minute.”
Blood did as he was directed, and Harman halted at the gangway.
“You’re the man I want,” said Bone. “Who’s your friend?”
“Oh, just a chap,” replied Harman. “What’s up now?”
Bone took him by the arm, and led him along in an opposite
direction to that in which Blood was going. Bone was the landlord of
the Fore and Aft Tavern, half tavern, half sailors’ boarding house,
situated right on Rafferty’s Wharf and with a stairway down to the
water from the back premises. His face, to use Harman’s description
of it, was one grog blossom, and what he did not know of wicked
wharfside ways could scarcely be called knowledge.
“Ginnell is layin’ about, lookin’ for two hands,” said Bone. “He’s due
out this evenin’, and it’s five dollars apiece for you if you can lay your
claws on what he wants. Whites, they must be whites; you know
Ginnell.”
Harman did.
Ginnell owned a fifty-foot schooner engaged sometimes in the shark-
fishing trade, sometimes in other businesses of a more shady
description. He had a Chinese crew, and, though the customhouse
laws of San Francisco demanded only one white officer on a
Chinese-manned boat, Ginnell always made a point of carrying two
men of his own colour with him.
Being known as a hard man all along the wharfside, he sometimes
found a difficulty in supplying himself with hands.
“Yes, I know Ginnell,” replied Harman. “Him and his old shark boat
by repitation. I’ve stood near the chap in bars now and again, but I
don’t call to mind speakin’ to him. His repitation is pretty noisy.”
“Well, I can’t help that,” said Bone. “I didn’t make the chap nor his
repitation; if he had a better one, I guess ten dollars wouldn’t be
lyin’ your way.”
“Nor twenty dollars yours,” laughed Harman.
“That’s my business,” said Bone. “The question is, do you take on
the job? I’d do it all myself only there’s such a want of sailormen on
the front. It’s those durned Bands of Hope and Sailors’ Rests that
sucks ’em in, fills ’em with bilge in the way of tracks and ginger beer,
and turns ’em out onfit for any job onless it’s got a silver-plated
handle to it. Mouth organs an’ the New Jerusalem is all they cares
for onct them wharf missionaries gets a holt on them. I tell you, Billy
Harman, if they don’t get up some by-law to stop these chaps
propagatin’ their gospels and spoilin’ trade, the likes of me and you
will be ruined—that’s a fac’. Well, what do you say?”
All the time Mr. Bone was holding forth, Harman, who had struck an
idea, was deep in meditation. The question roused him.
“If Ginnell wants two chaps,” said he, “I believe I can fit him with
them. Anyhow, where’s he to be found?”
“He’ll be at my place at three o’clock,” said Bone, “and I’ve promised
to find the goods for him by that.”
“Well, I’ll tell you,” said Harman, “I’ll find the chaps and have them
at your place haff past three or so; you can leave it safe in my
hands.”
“You speak as if you was certain.”
“And certain I am. I’ve got the chaps you want.”
“Now look here,” said Bone, “don’t you take on the job unless you’re
more than sure. Ginnell isn’t no boob to play up and down with; he’d
set in, mostlike, to wreck the bar if he thought I was playin’ cross
with him.”
“Don’t fret,” said Harman. “I’ll be there, and now fork out a dollar
advance, for I’ll have some treatin’ to do.”
Bone produced the money. It changed hands, and he departed,
while Harman pursued his way along the wharf toward his friend.
Blood was sitting on an empty crate.
“Well,” said he, as the other drew up, “what business?”
Harman told every word of his conversation with Bone, and, without
any addition to it, waited for the other to speak.
“Well, you’ve got the dollar,” said Blood at last, “and there’s some
satisfaction in that. I’m not the chap to take five cents off a chap by
false pretenses same’s you’ve done with Bone, but Bone’s not a man
by all accounts; he’s a crimp in man’s clothes, and if all the old
whalemen he’s filled with balloon juice and sent to perdition could
rise up and shout, I reckon his name’d be known in two
hemispheres.”
“I beg your pardon,” said Harman. “What was that you were saying
about false pretenses? I haven’t used no false pretenses. They ain’t
things I’m in the habit of usin’ between man and man.”
“Well, what have you been using? You told me a moment ago you’d
agreed to furnish two hands to this chap’s order for five dollars
apiece and a dollar advance.”
“So I have.”
“And where’s your hands?”
“I’ve got them.”
“In your pocket?”
“Oh, close up!” said Harman. “I never did see such a chap as you for
wearin’ blinkers; can’t you see the end of your nose in front of you?
Well, if you can’t, I can. However, I’ll tell you the whole of the
business later when I’ve turned it round some more in my head.
What I’m after now is grub. Here’s a dollar, and I’m off to Billy
Sheehan’s; you come along with me—a dollar’s enough for two—and
you can raise your objections after you’ve got a beefsteak inside of
you. Maybe you’ll see clearer then.”
The Captain said no more, but followed Harman. Far better educated
than the latter, he had come to recognise that Harman, despite his
real and childlike simplicity in various ways, had a mind quicker than
most men’s. He would often have gone without a meal during that
wandering partnership which had lasted for nearly a year but for
Harman’s ingenuity and power of resource.
At Sheehan’s they had good beefsteak and real coffee.
“Now,” said Harman, when they had finished, “if you’re ready to
listen to reason, I’ll tell you the lay I’m on. Ginnell wants two hands.
I’m goin’ to offer myself for one, and you are goin’ to be the other.”
“I beg your pardon,” said Blood. “You mean to say I’m to sign on in
that chap’s shark boat. Is that your meaning?”
“I said nuthin’ about signin’ on in shark boats. I said we two has got
to get out of here in Ginnell’s tub. Once outside the Gate we’re all
right.”
“I see,” said Blood. “We’re to scupper Ginnell and take the boat—and
how about the penitentiary?”
“I’m blest if you haven’t got penitentiaries on the brain,” said
Harman. “If you leave this thing to me, I’ll fix it so that there’ll be no
penitentiaries in the business. Of course if we were to go into such a
fool’s job as you’re thinkin’ about, we’d lay ourselves under the law
right smart. No, the game I’m after is deeper than that, and it’s
Ginnell I’m goin’ to lay under the law. Now I’ve got to run about and
do things an’ see people. I’ll leave you here, and here’s a quarter,
and don’t you spend it till the time comes. Now you listen to me.
Wait about till haff past three, and at haff past three punctual you
turn into the Fore and Aft and walk up to the bar and lay your
quarter down and call for a drink. You’ll see me there, and if I nod to
you, you just nod to me. Then I’ll have a word in private with you.”
“Is that all?” said the Captain.
“That’s all for the present,” said Harman, rising up. “You’ll be there?”
“Yes, I’ll be there,” said Blood, “though I’m blest if I can see your
meaning.”
“You will soon,” replied the other, and, paying the score, off he went.
He turned from the wharves up an alley, and then into a fairly
respectable street of small houses. Pausing before one of these, he
knocked at the door, which was opened almost immediately by a big,
blue-eyed, sun-burned, good-natured-looking man some thirty years
of age and attired as to the upper part of him in a blue woollen
jersey.
This was Captain Mike, of the Fish Patrol.
“Billy Harman!” said Captain Mike. “Come in.”
“No time,” said Harman. “I’ve just called to say a word. I wants you
to do me a favour.”
“And what’s the favour?” asked the Captain.
“Oh, nothin’ much. D’you know Ginnell?”
“Pat Ginnell?”
“That’s him.”
“Well, I should think I did know the swab. Why, he’s in with all the
Greeks, and there’s not a dog’s trick played in the bay he hasn’t his
thumb in. Him and his old shark boat. Whatcher want me to do with
him?”
“Nothin’,” replied Harman, “and maybe a lot. I want you just to drop
into the Fore and Aft and sit and smoke your pipe at haff past three.
Then when I give you the wink you’ll pretend to fall asleep. I just
wants you as a witness.”
“What’s the game?” asked Captain Mike.
Harman told.
Had you been watching the two men from a distance, you might
have fancied that there was a great joke between them from the
laughter of Captain Mike and the way in which Harman was slapping
his thigh. Then the door closed, and Harman went off, steering north
through a maze of streets till he reached his lodgings.
Here he packed a few things in a bundle and had an interview with
his landlady, a motherly woman whose income was derived from a
washtub and two furnished bedrooms.
Among the other belongings which he took with him was a box of
quinine tabloids. These he placed in the pocket of his coat, and, with
the bundle under his arm, departed.
It was five minutes past three when he entered the dirty doggery
misnamed the Fore and Aft, and there before the bar behind which
Bone was serving drinks stood Ginnell.
Pat Ginnell, to give him his full name, was an Irishman of the sure-
fwhat type, who might have been a bricklayer but for his decent
clothes and sea air and the big blue anchor tattooed on the back of
his left hand. There was no one else in the bar.
“Here’s the gentleman,” said Bone, when he sighted Harman. “Up to
time and with the goods to deliver, I dare say. Harman, this is the
Captain; where’s the hands?”
“Well,” said Harman, leaning his elbows on the bar, “I believe I’ve
got them. One of them’s meself.”
“D’you mean to say you’re up to sign on with me?” asked Ginnell.
“That’s my meanin’,” said Harman.
Ginnell looked at Bone. Then he spoke.
“It won’t do,” said he. “I know you be name, Mr. Harman; you’re in
with Clancy and that crowd, and my boat’s too rough for the likes of
you.”
“You needn’t fear about that,” said Harman. “I’ve done with Clancy.
What I’ve got to do is get out of Frisco and get out quick. The cops
are after me; there you have it. I’ve got to get out of here before
night—do you take me—and I’m so pressed to get out sudden I’ll
take your word for ten dollars a month without any signin’.”
Ginnell’s brow cleared.
“What are you havin’?” said he.
“I’ll take a drink of whisky,” replied Harman.
The bargain was concluded.
“And how,” said Ginnell, “what about the other chap?”
Harman wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I’ve made an arrangement with a chap to meet me here,” said he.
“He’ll be in in a minute.”
“What’s he like?” asked Ginnell.
“Like? Why, I’ll tell you what he’s like; he wouldn’t sign on in your
tub for a hundred dollars a month.”
“Faith and you’re a nice sort of chap,” said Ginnell. “Is it playin’ the
fool with me you are?”
By way of reply Harman took the box of quinine tabloids from his
pocket, opened it, showed the contents, and winked.
Bone and Ginnell understood at once.
“One of those in his drink will lay him out for an hour,” said Harman,
“without hurtin’ him. Put one in your weskit pocket, Bone—and how
about your boat?”
“She’s down below at the stairs,” replied the landlord, putting the
tabloid in his waistcoat pocket. “I’ll go and call Jim to get her ready
—a moment, gentlemen.” He vanished into a back room, and they
heard him shouting orders to Jim; then he returned, and as he
passed behind the bar who should enter but Captain Mike!
The Captain walked to the bar, called for a drink, and without as
much as a glance at the others took it to a seat in a far corner,
where he lit a pipe. Several wharf habitués loafed in, and soon the
place became hazy with tobacco smoke and horrible with the smell
of rank cigars.
“Well,” said Ginnell, “where’s your man? I’m thinkin’ he’s given you
the slip, and be the powers, Mr. Harman, if he has, it’ll be the worst
for you.”
The brute in Ginnell spoke in his growl, and Harman was turning
over in his mind the fate of any unfortunate who had Ginnell for
boss when the swing door opened and Blood appeared.
“That’s him,” said Harman. “You leave him to me.”
Blood was not the sort of man to frequent a hole like the Fore and
Aft, and he frankly spat when he came in. He was in a temper, or
rather the beginning of a temper, and Harman seemed to have some
difficulty in soothing him. They had a confabulation together near
the corner where Captain Mike, his glass and pipe on the table
before him, was sitting, evidently asleep, and then Blood, seeming to
agree with some matter under discussion, allowed himself to be led
to the bar.
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