Lee Ching arrived with promptitude, saluted his captain, and stood gravely at attention. He was not a young man, and he had a decidedly Oriental, mask-like face. It seemed strange that he should be dressed in the conventional boatswain's uniform, with peaked cap and the whistle of his office. One could imagine him better in some brilliant-hued, wide-sleeved Chinese garment, with a long pig-tail down his back. "Lee Ching," said the captain, "these young ladies are very much interested in these two bracelets that have come into their possession. The characters on them, you see, are in your language. We wonder if you will be so kind as to translate them for us?" Lee Ching took the trinkets and examined them minutely. Presently he asked: "Will ladies have what say by word of mouth?" The captain was about to answer yes, and then changed his mind: "No. It may be rather important, and we want to remember it accurately. We would be obliged if you would write it out." Lee Ching nodded gravely. "Will captain permit I retire to cabin?" he requested, and on being dismissed, he retreated with a formal bow. "But _can_ he write English?" cried Marcia, when he had disappeared. "Of course he can, better than he can speak it!" laughed the captain. "English is child's play compared to that brain-paralyzing language of his! I must say, though, that Lee Ching is rather unusual--as Chinese sailors go. He's studied in the University of Pekin, reads and writes English well, and never speaks Pidgin-English. Why he's spending his life as boatswain of a trading-steamer I don't know. He's fitted for far different things. But I have an idea it's on account of his health that he follows the sea." The time before Lee Ching's reappearance seemed to the girls interminable, though, in all probability, it was not more than fifteen minutes. At last, however, he returned, laid the bracelets and a slip of paper in the captain's hand, and was about to retire. "One moment!" said Captain Brett. "Is the writing on the two bracelets the same?" [Illustration: "Words on two bracelets are Identical," replied Lee Ching, precisely] "Words on two bracelets are identical," replied Lee Ching, precisely. "That is all, then, and thank you!" And the captain dismissed him. "Oh, _read_ it," cried Marcia, "or I shall die of impatience!" and she hung over his shoulder while he read aloud Lee Ching's queer, angular handwriting. [Illustration: Writing: "From the maker of melodies to the flower-maiden on this day of their wedding. Amoy, Sept. 25, 1889."] When he had finished, a blank look crept over the expectant faces of the two girls. "Is _that_ all?" cried Janet. And Marcia exclaimed, "Why, how disappointing! It doesn't tell us a single thing!" "Wait a minute," said the captain, tugging thoughtfully at his short mustache, while he studied the paper, "I'm not so sure of that!" CHAPTER XV PUZZLING IT OUT