About: My Strangest Case by Guy Boothby

MY STRANGEST CASE

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Susan Woodring and PG DistributedProofreaders

My Strangest Case

By Guy Boothby

Author of "Dr. Nikola," "The Beautiful White Devil," "Pharos, theEgyptian," etc.

Illustrated byL.J. Bridgman and P. Hard

_Originally Published 1901_

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"A DARK, NARROW HOLE, THE BOTTOM OF WHICH IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE."

"'LOOK HERE,'HE CRIED,'IT'S THE BANK OF ENGLAND IN EACH HAND.'"

"'POOR DEVIL,'SAID GREGORY.'HE SEEMS TO BE ON HIS LAST LEGS.'"

"HE FELL WITH A CRASH AT MY FEET."

"'LET'S OUT HIM, BILL,'SAID THE TALLER OF THE TWO MEN."

"'HOW DO YOU DO, MR. FAIRFAX?'SAID MISS KITWATER."

"IN HIS HAND HE HELD A REVOLVER."

"THE WOODWORK SNAPPED, AND THE TWO MEN FELL OVER THE EDGE."

_MY STRANGEST CASE_

~INTRODUCTION~

PART I

I am of course prepared to admit that there are prettier places on theface of this earth of ours than Singapore; there are, however, I ventureto assert, few that are more interesting, and certainly none that canafford a better study of human life and character. There, if you are sodisposed, you may consider the subject of British Rule on the one hand,and the various aspects of the Chinese question on the other. If you area student of languages you will be able to hear half the tongues of theworld spoken in less than an hour's walk, ranging say from ParisianFrench to Pigeon English; you shall make the acquaintance of every sortof smell the human nose can manipulate, from the sweet perfume of thelotus blossom to the diabolical odour of the Durien; and every sort ofcooking from a dainty _vol au vent_ to a stuffed rat. In the harbour theshipping is such as, I feel justified in saying, you would encounter inno other port of its size in the world.

It comprises the statelyman of war and the Chinese Junk; the P. and O., the MessagerieMaritime, the British India and the Dutch mail boat; the homely sampan,the yacht of the globe trotting millionaire, the collier, thetimber ship, and in point of fact every description of craft that pliesbetween the Barbarian East and the Civilized West. The first glimpse ofthe harbour is one that will never be forgotten; the last is usuallyassociated with a desire that one may never set eyes on it again. He whowould, of his own free will, settle down for life in Singapore, musthave acquired the tastes of a salamander, and the sensibility of a frog.

Among its other advantages, Singapore numbers the possession of amultiplicity of hotels. There is stately Raffles, where theglobe trotters do mostly take up their abode, also the Hotel del'Europe, whose virtues I can vouch for; but packed away in another andvery different portion of the town, unknown to the wealthyG.T.,andindeed known to only a few of the white inhabitants of Singapore itself,there exists a small hostelry owned by a lynx eyed Portuguese, whichrejoices in the name of the Hotel of the Three Desires. Now, every man,who by mischance or deliberate intent, has entered its doors, has hisown notions of the meaning of its name; the fact, however, remains thatit is there, and that it is regularly patronized by individuals of acertain or uncertain class, as they pass to and fro through the Gatewayof the Further East.

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