Produced by Al Haines. [Transcriber’s note: The source book’s idiosyncratic punctuation has been preserved as printed.] UNDER SAIL BY LINCOLN COLCORD LONDON EVELEIGH NASH & GRAYSON LTD. 148 STRAND 1922 _Copyright in the U.S.A._ By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY *CONTENTS* AN INSTRUMENT OF THE GODS THE UNCHARTED ISLE SERVANT AND MASTER RESCUE AT SEA UNDER SAIL ANJER *AN INSTRUMENT OF THE GODS* *AN INSTRUMENT OF THE GODS* *I* "The longer I live" said Nichols from the darkness of his corner "the less of difference I see between the East and the West. I’ve been listening closely to you fellows. We are fond of saying that we don’t understand the Oriental; but, let me ask you, do we fully understand our best friends—even ourselves? Whose fault is it? Or, failing to understand the Oriental, is it logical for us to consign him to a different sphere of human nature? Of course, it’s the easiest way to dodge the real answer...." The old _Omega_ had drifted that morning past Green Island, dropping anchor a little later among the fleet off Stonecutter’s; and after dinner, moved by a common impulse, we had called our sampans and joined Nichols under her spacious after awning. There, with the broad land-locked harbour of Hong Kong under a half moon reflecting the perfect outline of the Peak, talk had wandered lazily along the range of our shipping activities, to reach at last, as it always did in such company, that world-old problem of the races of men.