We loafed around Hong Kong for weeks, for it had been arranged that Miss Crofton should communicate with me there as to the probable result of her effort to secure a pardon after the confession she intended to make to the Home Secretary. Finally the word came, and it was a great shock to me, for it was a report of her death, which occurred suddenly at her old home in Ireland, soon after she arrived there on her way to London. I had been in love before, more times than once, but never so much as with her. For her I was ready to give up my adventurous life, but the knowledge that she was gone from me made me more desperate than ever. I was tempted to resume the old piratical life, yet I could not bear to remain amid scenes that would constantly remind me of her. So I left the China Sea behind me and never have returned to it. On receipt of the heart-breaking news I told Norton the whole story of how I became acquainted with the beautiful Miss Crofton and fell in love with her, and how my romance had been shattered. I told him he could stay there if he wanted to, and return to the old life if he wished, but that I intended to leave at once and for all time. He declared he would go with me, and suggested that we take a trip to Australia; but I was moody and wanted to cruise around a bit, in the solitude of the open sea, with no definite object in view. We headed up along the coast and Norton, who was looking after the navigation of the ship, in which I had lost all interest for the time being, put in at Amoy, for want of something better to do. He thought a visit to a strange port might do me good. While we were lying there Norton became acquainted with a Chinese or Corean merchant. He was anxious to get up to the Shantung Peninsula, where the Germans were beginning to establish themselves firmly with the idea of taking possession of that rich section of China when the Empire was divided up among the “friendly” powers, so called because they were altogether unfriendly, and Norton proposed that we continue our indefinite journey that far and take him along. I agreed, thinking we might find something interesting in new scenes. When we got nearly up to the Peninsula Norton unfolded a new scheme. Our merchant passenger, he said, had told him of a lot of treasure buried in a cemetery in Corea, close to a river and not a great way from the coast, which was guarded only by the superstitious native fear of the dead. It would be an easy matter to secure the treasure, according to his story, and he offered to lead us to it if we would give him a share of it. By that time I was in a frame of mind to welcome any excitement and I told Norton to close with him and go ahead.