There is a big Chinese
company in Singapore, called "Shan Brothers," whose name is well
known on bills of lading, and Fu Shan was connected with them. But a
man wouldn't have thought to find Sadler a partner in banking,
mercantile, and shipping business, with a Chinaman. He'd been the
wildest of us all in the _Hebe Maitland_ days, and always acted
youthful for his years. There were two things in him that never could
get to keep the peace with each other, his conscience and his
sporting instinct. Yet he was a capable man, and forceful, and I
judge he could do 'most anything he set his hand to.
He and Fu Shan lived just outside the town of Saleratus in two
ornamented and expensive houses, side by side, on a hill that was
bare and mostly sand banks, and that hung over the creek which ran
past the town into the bay. Sadler lived alone with Irish, but Fu
Shan was domestic. He was a pleasant Oriental with a mild, squeaking
voice, and had more porcelain jars than you would think a body would
need, and fat yellow cheeks, and a queue down to his knees. He wore
cream-coloured silk, and was a picture of calmness and culture. Irish
hadn't changed, but Sadler was looking older and more melancholy,
though I judged that some of the lines on his face, that simulated
care, came from the kind of life folks led in Saleratus to avoid
monotony.
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