Transnational Lives in Global Cities: A

Multi-Sited Study of Chinese

Singaporean Migrants Caroline Plüss
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/transnational-lives-in-global-cities-a-multi-sited-study-
of-chinese-singaporean-migrants-caroline-pluss/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Fabricating Transnational Capitalism: A Collaborative

Ethnography of Italian-Chinese Global Fashion Lisa
Rofel

https://textbookfull.com/product/fabricating-transnational-
capitalism-a-collaborative-ethnography-of-italian-chinese-global-
fashion-lisa-rofel/

Psychosocial Experiences of African Migrants in Six

European Countries A Mixed Method Study Erhabor
Idemudia

https://textbookfull.com/product/psychosocial-experiences-of-
african-migrants-in-six-european-countries-a-mixed-method-study-
erhabor-idemudia/

Mandarin Competence of Chinese English Bilingual

Preschoolers A Corpus based Analysis of Singaporean
Children s Speech 1st Edition Hock Huan Goh (Auth.)

https://textbookfull.com/product/mandarin-competence-of-chinese-
english-bilingual-preschoolers-a-corpus-based-analysis-of-
singaporean-children-s-speech-1st-edition-hock-huan-goh-auth/

Competition and Compromise among Chinese Actors in

Africa: A Bureaucratic Politics Study of Chinese
Foreign Policy Actors Niall Duggan

https://textbookfull.com/product/competition-and-compromise-
among-chinese-actors-in-africa-a-bureaucratic-politics-study-of-
chinese-foreign-policy-actors-niall-duggan/
Hokkien Theatre Across The Seas A Socio Cultural Study
Caroline Chia

https://textbookfull.com/product/hokkien-theatre-across-the-seas-
a-socio-cultural-study-caroline-chia/

Map Men Transnational Lives and Deaths of Geographers

in the Making of East Central Europe Steven Seegel

https://textbookfull.com/product/map-men-transnational-lives-and-
deaths-of-geographers-in-the-making-of-east-central-europe-
steven-seegel/

Multi-Layered Diplomacy in a Global State: The

International Relations of California Alison R. Holmes

https://textbookfull.com/product/multi-layered-diplomacy-in-a-
global-state-the-international-relations-of-california-alison-r-
holmes/

Re positioning Accent Attitude in the Global Englishes

Paradigm A Critical Phenomenological Case Study in the
Chinese Context 1st Edition Fan (Gabriel) Fang

https://textbookfull.com/product/re-positioning-accent-attitude-
in-the-global-englishes-paradigm-a-critical-phenomenological-
case-study-in-the-chinese-context-1st-edition-fan-gabriel-fang/

Migration and the Search for Home: Mapping Domestic

Space in Migrants’ Everyday Lives 1st Edition Paolo
Boccagni (Auth.)

https://textbookfull.com/product/migration-and-the-search-for-
home-mapping-domestic-space-in-migrants-everyday-lives-1st-
edition-paolo-boccagni-auth/
Transnational Lives
in Global Cities
A Multi-Sited Study of Chinese
Singaporean Migrants

CAROLINE PLÜSS
Transnational Lives in Global Cities
 Caroline Plüss

Transnational Lives
in Global Cities
A Multi-Sited Study of Chinese Singaporean
Migrants
Caroline Plüss
University of Liverpool
Singapore, Singapore

ISBN 978-3-319-96330-3 ISBN 978-3-319-96331-0 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96331-0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950052

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.

Cover image: © royaltystockphoto/GettyImages

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Jeremy
 Preface

This book is a rare multi-sited study—conducted between 2008 and

2010 in Hong Kong, London, New York, and in Singapore—of how
109 Chinese Singaporean transnational migrants, who lived and were
researched in one these four global cities, experienced their transnational
lives. This study answers the questions if, how and why living in one of
the four global citied differently impinged on the transnational lives of
the Chinese Singaporeans. These questions are rarely addressed in the
scholarship on transnational migrants or on global cities. The Chinese
Singaporeans studied were well-educated, middle-class, and often high-
ly-skilled. The majority of the participants—67 Chinese Singaporeans—
were repeat migrants: they are migrants who have lived in more than
two different societies, possibly in such societies multiple times, and are a
growing but understudied population.
It is my experience with having lived in four different societies—in
Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and now in Singapore—
which sparked my interest in a multi-sited research on people whose
lives stretch across national boundaries. It is often by moving to places
with different characteristics that one more keenly becomes aware
of one’s past and present surroundings. Having myself moved from
Hong Kong to live and work in Singapore, prompted my interest in
Chinese Singaporeans. Since I already knew Hong Kong, London, and
New York, and realized that these cities are among the places to which
Singaporeans may move to in order to (temporarily) live abroad, I
decided to conduct a multi-sited study in all four global cites. This was

vii
viii    Preface

to understand if, how, and why transnational lives in global cities may
be differently affected by the characteristics of these cities. Also, I was
intrigued by the question of how one relates again to a society of origin
when one returns to live in this society, after having had lived elsewhere,
and when one has a transnational live. The Chinese Singaporeans stud-
ied were nearly all were Singaporean citizens and had family members in
Singapore, they all had lived in Singapore, and most of the participants
had grown up in Singapore. They had crossed national boundaries to live
elsewhere for work, education, and family, more rarely for friendships
and lifestyle, and also for combinations of these reasons.

Singapore Caroline Plüss

 Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Academic Research Fund Tier 1

(RG99/07) of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and
by the School of Law and Social Justice of the University of Liverpool.
My thanks are to the Sociology undergraduate students of Nanyang
Technological University who helped me with transcribing the interview
recordings, and to my Research Associates Ms. Sithi Hawa, Ms. Vivian
Woon, and Mr. Alex Ang for helping with coding these large-scale quali-
tative data, assisting with writing-up coded data and reviewing literature,
in addition conducting interviews in Hong Kong and Singapore. Special
thanks are to my editors at Palgrave Macmillan for their support. My
sincerest gratitude is to all the participants in this research, who made
the time in their often very busy schedules to contribute to generate this
knowledge by sharing their lives, and for providing me with much hos-
pitality. Thanks are due to Sage, and Springer, for enabling me to use
parts of a journal article, and a book chapter, which presented prelimi-
nary findings of this research.

ix
 Contents

1 Accounting for Transnational Lives 1

1.1 Introduction 1
1.1.1 Aims and Rationale of this Study 1
1.1.2 The Chinese Singaporean Transnational Migrants 7
1.2 Analytical Framework 11
1.3 Transnational Socialities 15
1.3.1 Forms Transnationality 15
1.3.2 Cosmopolitan Socialities 16
1.3.3 Hybrid Socialities 17
1.3.4 Incongruous Socialities 19
1.3.5 Homogenous Socialities 21
1.4 Chapters 23
References 24

2 (Dis)Embeddedness in Transnational Contexts 31

2.1 Transnational Contexts 31
2.1.1 Education and Friendships/Lifestyle Contexts 32
2.1.2 Work and Friendships/Lifestyle Contexts 34
2.1.3 Family and Friendships/Lifestyle Contexts 36
2.2 Global Cities 38
2.2.1 Researching Global Cities 38
2.2.2 Singapore 39

xi
xii    Contents

2.2.3 Hong Kong 42

2.2.4 London 45
2.2.5 New York 47
2.3 Methods 49
2.3.1 Transnational Biographies 49
2.3.2 Multi-Sited Research 52
2.3.3 Sampling 53
References 54

3 Being Chinese in a Chinese Global City: Hong Kong 63

3.1 The Chinese Singaporeans in Hong Kong 63
3.2 Being Chinese and Different at Work 71
3.3 Homogenous Transnational Families in Hong Kong 79
3.4 Ethnicity and Transnational Friendships/Lifestyles 83
3.5 Relating to Singapore 87
References 90

4 In the East and in the West: London 95

4.1 The London Participants 95
4.2 Maneuvering Porous Education Contexts 98
4.3 Cosmopolitanism When Working in a Cosmopolitan City? 112
4.4 Negotiating Individualism in Transnational Families 118
4.5 East–West Friendships/Lifestyles 124
References 131

5 Incongruous Transnational Lives: New York 135

5.1 The Sample 135
5.2 Ruptures at American Universities 138
5.3 Disjunctures in Work Contexts in New York City 149
5.4 Incongruous Transnational Families 158
5.5 Clashing Transnational Friendships/Lifestyles 163
References 171

6 Gendered Transnationalism: Singapore 175

6.1 The Male and Female Participants 175
6.2 Gender in Transnational Education and Friendships/
Lifestyle Contexts 179
 Contents    xiii

6.3 Gender, Hybridity, and Inequality in Transnational

Work Contexts 204
6.4 Hybridity in Women’s Definitions of the Family 213
6.5 Women’s Embeddedness in Transnational
Friendships/Lifestyle Contexts 221
References 234

7 Conclusions 237
7.1 Transnational Education Contexts 240
7.1.1 International Education in London 241
7.1.2 Incongruities at American Universities 244
7.1.3 Gendered Education Socialities of the Returned
Chinese Singaporeans 246
7.2 Working in Global Cities 250
7.2.1 High Diversity in Hong Kong 250
7.2.2 Cultural Differences in London 254
7.2.3 Inequalities in New York 256
7.2.4 Gender and Work Contexts in Singapore 258
7.3 The Transnational Family 261
7.3.1 Homogenous Families in Hong Kong 261
7.3.2 East–West Families in London 263
7.3.3 Ambiguous Family Relations in New York 264
7.3.4 Gendered Family Socialities in Singapore 266
7.4 Transnational Friendships/Lifestyles 268
7.4.1 Homogenous Friendships and Incongruous
Lifestyles in Hong Kong 268
7.4.2 Incongruous or Hybrid Friendships/Lifestyles in
London 270
7.4.3 Variety in Friendships/Lifestyles in New York 272
7.4.4 Gender and Variety in Transnational
Friendships/Lifestyle Contexts in Singapore 273
7.5 Living in Global Cities: Does It Matter Where I Am? 276
7.5.1 Translational Lives in Global Cities 276
7.5.2 Hybrid Transnational Education Contexts in
London 280
7.5.3 Incongruous Transnational Work Contexts in
London 281
7.5.4 Homogenous Transnational Families in Hong
Kong 282
xiv    Contents

7.5.5
Incongruous Transnational Friendships/Lifestyle
Contexts 284
7.5.6 Intersections Among Different Transnational
Contexts 286
7.6 The Importance of Location 289
References 291

Index 297
 List of Tables

Table 3.1 Transnational migration trajectories of the Hong Kong

participants 66
Table 4.1 Transnational migration trajectories of the London
participants 99
Table 5.1 Transnational migration trajectories of the New York
participants 139
Table 6.1 Transnational migration trajectories of the Chinese
Singaporean women in Singapore 180
Table 6.2 Transnational migration trajectories of the Chinese
Singaporean men in Singapore 186
Table 7.1 Transnational contexts in the four global cities,
and being repeat migrants 278
Table 7.2 Transnational contexts in the four global cities 285

xv
 CHAPTER 1

Accounting for Transnational Lives

1.1  Introduction

1.1.1   Aims and Rationale of this Study

This book is a unique, multi-sited, and qualitative study of the
transnational lives of 109 Chinese Singaporean migrants. These Chinese
Singaporeans were researched within-depth interviews (Patton 2002;
Chase 2005) when they lived in one of four global cities, in the East or
in the West: Hong Kong, London, New York, or back in Singapore.1
Twenty-five participants were studied in Hong Kong in spring 2009, 24
participants in London in summer 2008, 22 participants in New York
in summer 2009, and 38 participants were researched in Singapore
between 2009 and 2010. The latter are Chinese Singaporeans who (tem-
porarily) returned to live in Singapore after having lived elsewhere. This
book addresses the questions if, how, and why living in one of these four
global cities—at the time of research—differently affected the transna-
tional lives of the Chinese Singaporeans. The 109 participants shared
race, had lived in Singapore, had strong links with Singapore, and nearly

1 Two participants researched in London lived in other places in the United Kingdom

and were interviewed when they visited London. They are included in this study because
their experiences provide knowledge on British society. One more participant who lived in
London was researched when she visited Singapore because there had been no time for an
interview in London. One participant researched in Singapore lived both in Singapore and
in Continental Europe.

© The Author(s) 2018 1

C. Plüss, Transnational Lives in Global Cities,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96331-0_1
2 C. PLÜSS

always were Singaporean citizens. They were middle- or upper-mid-

dle-class, well-educated, often had multiple migration experiences, and
if they worked, as the large majority did, they worked in mid- or high-
skilled work.
The questions if, how, and why the transnational lives of a group of
migrants who shared many characteristics, and who lived in one of four
global cities were differently influenced by the characteristics of these cit-
ies, have not yet been answered in the scholarship of migrants (Kusek
2015; Moore 2016) or of global cities (Sassen 2000; Beaverstock et al.
2002). To provide such an answer is important, and very timely: more
and more people in the world cross national boundaries to live else-
where. In 2013 (United Nations’ Department of Economics and Social
Affairs 2013), 232 million people, or 3.2% of the world’s population,
moved to live in another society. Global cities (Sassen 2000; Beaverstock
and Hall 2012) attract disproportionate numbers of migrants. The schol-
arship of global cities (Beaverstock et al. 2002) often explains their char-
acteristics in terms of these cities’ shared role in a globalizing economy:
the ability to operate global networks of exchange. This emphasis results
in that the characteristics of global cities (Kennedy 2004; Ley 2004)
often are viewed as rather being ‘uniformly’ global, and as similarly
impinging on the lives of transnational migrants who live in these cities,
especially if these migrants share social status. Recent research (Moore
2016) shows that transnational migrants who live in different global cit-
ies understand the characteristics of these cities differently. There also
is only little research (Nagel 2005; Kusek 2015) on differences in how
migrants who live in a global city perceive the characteristics of this city.
Furthermore, there exists no known single-authored, and multi-sited
research on the experiences of one group of migrants who lived in one
of four global cities, and who were researched in that respective city. This
book contributes toward filling these significant gaps in the scholarship
of transnational migrants and global cities. Furthermore, this study also
contributes to the scholarship of migrants because high-skilled migration
(Koser and Salt 1997) has accelerated faster than low-skilled migration,
but is less often researched.
I decided to conduct this research on Chinese Singaporean transna-
tional migrants who lived in Hong Kong, London, New York, or back
in Singapore because these cities are places to which Singaporeans often
 1 ACCOUNTING FOR TRANSNATIONAL LIVES 3

(temporarily) move or return.2 The selection of these cities also stems

from that I have lived in two of them (Hong Kong and Singapore) and
visited the remaining two (London and New York) for extended peri-
ods. This provides me with contextual knowledge (Davies 2008), which
is especially important for a qualitative and multi-sited study. Multi-sited
research (Falzon 2009) seeks to understand the nuances and complexi-
ties of a phenomenon studied by studying this phenomenon in different
locations. Multi-sited research in four global cities needs a high number
of research participants: one hundred and nine Chinese Singaporeans.
This number provides this book with a large qualitative database.
To understand if there were impacts of living in either Hong Kong,
London, New York, or back in Singapore on the transnational lives
of the 109 Chinese Singaporeans, this book answers the following
questions:

1. Did the 109 Chinese Singaporeans think that their global-city lives
were similar, and similarly impinged on their transnational lives?
2. Did the 109 Chinese Singaporeans think that life in one of the four
global cities had city-specific characteristics, and therefore, differ-
ently influenced their transnational lives?
3. Did the Chinese Singaporeans feel that living in one of these four
cities did not much influence their transnational lives because
other characteristics in these lives were more important to explain
them?

To answer these questions in a fine-grained and encompassing manner,

this book develops and applies a new analytical framework, which this
chapter explains.
It is well known that what characterizes the transnational lives of
migrants (Basch et al. 1994) is that these lives span across the boundaries
of different societies, or nations, in which these migrants live and lived.
These cross-border connections are cultural, social, economic, and/or
political. Transnationality (Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004) means that
when migrants think about their life in one society, they also consider

2 I gained this knowledge in a pilot study (Plüss 2009) that I conducted for this large-

scale, and multi-sited research. The participants in the pilot study and in this book are dif-
ferent persons.
4 C. PLÜSS

their life elsewhere, and vice versa. The result is that migrants experi-
ence transnational simultaneity, i.e., they make time-space compressions.
These time-space compressions are the migrants’ simultaneous relating
to characteristics of different places, societies, or regions. Time-space
compressions also is an important concept in the scholarship of globali-
zation (Held 2004). Although the scholarship on transnational migrants
is bourgeoning (Portes et al. 2007; Khagram and Levitt 2008), this
research mostly pertains to migrants who lived in a small number of soci-
eties, typically two. Studies of transnational migrants who have lived in
more than two societies are much rarer (D’Andrea 2007; Ossman 2013).
Furthermore, research on the lives of transnational migrants mostly stud-
ies these lives in a small number of transnational contexts, such as the
migrants’ transnational work contexts (Castells 2000; Beaverstock 2005),
transnational education contexts (Bai 2008; Kim 2012), transnational
family contexts (Cooke 2007; Ho and Bedford 2008), or transnational
lifestyle contexts (D’Andrea 2007). When migrants’ experiences in sev-
eral transnational contexts are studied, such research usually focuses on
two such contexts: transnational education and work contexts (Waters
2007; Pritchard 2011), transnational education and family contexts
(Nukaga 2013; Rutten and Verstappen 2014), transnational work and
family contexts (Nowicka 2006; Salaff and Greve 2013), or transnational
work and friendships/lifestyle contexts (Kennedy 2004; Beaverstock
2011).
This scholarship certainly offers much insight into the lives of trans-
national migrants, but researching only one or two transnational con-
texts of migrants does not fully account for their transnational lives:
these lives include more transnational contexts, and intersection among
these contexts. This book, with its new analytical framework, stud-
ies four transnational contexts (as they apply), and intersections among
them. The contexts studied are the Chinese Singaporean’s transna-
tional contexts of education, work, family, and/or friendships/life-
style.3 Furthermore, this research considers that the majority of the 109

3 The military context of male Singaporeans, who are required to serve this mandatory

service in Singapore (see Chapter 2), is not included as a transnational context in this
study: this service only pertains to Singapore. When male participants found that their mil-
itary experiences were relevant for their transnational lives, these experiences are explained
as they pertained others of the men’s transnational contexts, which are mostly those of
education and/or work.
 1 ACCOUNTING FOR TRANSNATIONAL LIVES 5

Chinese Singaporeans—67 participants—were repeat migrants (Kau and

Sirmans 1976; Borjas 2015): migrants who have lived in more than two
different societies, and may have lived in some of these societies more
than once.4 Migrants, including highly-skilled migrants (Sklair 2001;
Nowicka 2006), do not necessarily wish to, or are unable to settle per-
manently in a society to which they have moved: the migrants often help
to fill temporary skill shortages, and then need to move to live and work
elsewhere. Furthermore, repeat migrants (Takenaka 2015) are a growing
segment of the world’s population, and are globally under-researched.
Providing knowledge on repeat migrants adds to the importance and
timeliness of this book.
This study also provides new insight into global city-life. As already
alluded to, global cities are frequently researched in terms of their shared
economic role: as command hubs of global exchanges in a globalizing
economy (Beaverstock et al. 2002). As a result, the characteristics of
global cities often are explained in similar ways. For instance, pertain-
ing to highly-skilled migrants, research on global cities (Beaverstock and
Hall 2012) stresses that these cities seek to attract highly-skilled people
from different parts of the world, to have the expertise to operate net-
works of global exchange, and that these cities attract these profession-
als by offering attractive work opportunities, good prospects for career
advancement, easy access to information and expertise, and an interna-
tional and multicultural milieu. For instance, Ley (2004, 160) finds that
global cities have gentrified inner-city areas inhabited by ‘highly-edu-
cated dwellers’ who often like to live with other such people from differ-
ent societies, and that these areas promote a ‘cosmopolitan’ lifestyle with
access to the international media, ethnic restaurants, and a ‘cosmopoli-
tan’ architecture which draws on an ‘international design menu.’ These
emphases result in that the lives of highly-skilled migrants in global cit-
ies frequently are explained as being influenced by these shared glob-
al-city characteristics (Kennedy 2004; Beaverstock 2005, 2011). On the
other hand, global cities (Moore 2016) have differences in their cultures,

4 Repeat migrants are also called ‘serial migrants’ (Ossman 2013) or ‘multiple migrants’

(Takenaka 2015), and include ‘circular migrants’ (Onwumechili et al. 2003) and migrants
who are called ‘global nomads’ (D’Andrea 2007). ‘Circular migrants’ (Onwumechili et al.
2003) are migrants who return several times to live in one society, after having lived else-
where, and ‘global nomads’ (D’Andrea 2007) are people who temporarily reside in several
societies.
6 C. PLÜSS

histories, and locations. Living in a global city also is found to be very

differently experienced by different social classes (Kusek 2015) and/or
ethnicities (Nagel 2005).
To answer the questions if, how, and why living in Hong Kong,
London, New York, or back in Singapore impinged differently on
how the 109 Chinese Singaporeans experienced their transnational
lives, when they lived and were researched in one of these four global
cities, the data of this book are the Chinese Singaporeans’ entire
transnational biographies. These biographies are migrants’ subjective
and retrospective accounts of their experiences with living in different
places and societies, and interacting with different people and collec-
tivities in them. This study generated the 109 transnational biogra-
phies with qualitative, in-depth, and face-to-face interviews in the four
cities (see Chapter 2). It is important to have data on entire trans-
national biographies to understand the present lives of transnational
migrants: past experiences in other societies influence how transna-
tional migrants relate to the society in which they live (Castles 2004),
and present experiences impinge upon how migrants recast their past
(Phoenix 2008). The aim of this book is not to find out ‘how things
really were’ in the Chinese Singaporeans’ entire transnational lives.
For this, a longitudinal study is appropriate. Rather, this book seeks
to explain the Chinese Singaporeans’ ‘present’ transnational lives—
when they lived in one of the four global cities—to understand if,
how, and why living in these cities differently impinged on how the
Chinese Singaporeans understood their ‘present’ transnational lives.
To do so, this research also considers how the Chinese Singaporeans
assessed how their ‘present’ transnational lives were influenced by
experiences that they had earlier when they had lived elsewhere, in
one or several other societies. Working with data of entire transna-
tional biographies adds to the importance and timeliness of this book:
such data are globally very sparse (Kahanec and Zimmerman 2010).
Conducting a multi-sited research in four global cities, researching
migrants’ four transnational contexts of interaction (and intersections
of these contexts), studying multiple migration experiences, and tak-
ing into account the Chinese Singaporeans’ entire transnational biog-
raphies means that this book incorporates the suggestion (Guarnizo
and Smith 1998) that to understand transnational lives, it is important
to explain how and why several characteristics pertaining to these lives
influence them.
 1 ACCOUNTING FOR TRANSNATIONAL LIVES 7

1.1.2   The Chinese Singaporean Transnational Migrants

The 109 Chinese Singaporeans were racially Chinese, had significant
links with Singapore, and had lived in Singapore. Nearly all participants
were Singaporean nationals, had family members in Singapore, and most
participants grew up in Singapore. These strong links with Singapore
explain why these participants are referred to as ‘Chinese Singaporeans.’
All participants were at least bilingual (speaking English, and to differ-
ent degrees Mandarin, which are the two languages in which Chinese
Singaporeans are schooled in Singapore, see Chapter 2). Nearly all par-
ticipants were well-educated, middle- or upper-middle-class, and when
they worked at the time of research, most participants worked in mid-
or high-skilled professions. The Chinese Singaporeans also comprised of
education migrants (especially in the London sample), a smaller number
of married female participants who moved with their families to live else-
where and who were homemakers, a few participants who were unem-
ployed, and a few participants who had retired. The participants in this
study were male or female, and mostly single or married. A few partic-
ipants were divorced. Their ages ranged from the early twenties to their
late sixties. They lived in one of the four global cities in which they were
studied for different time periods, ranging from one year to decades.
Very few participants lived in a society for less than one year during their
entire transnational migration trajectories.
The Chinese Singaporeans most often crossed national boundaries
several times to live elsewhere. This was most frequently for work, fol-
lowed by family reasons, education, and then by friendships/lifestyle
reasons. Participants also often moved to live in another society for com-
binations of these reasons, such as family and work, work and lifestyle, or
less often, for education and work. A small number of male participants
moved from abroad to (temporarily) live in Singapore to serve their two
years of mandatory military service. These men were in their late teens or
early twenties. For clarity, the Chinese Singaporeans in this study are all
referred to as migrants. According to the United Nations (Anderson and
Scott 2017) they qualify as migrants because during their transnational
migration trajectories, the Chinese Singaporeans nearly always lived
in different societies for longer than one year, and only very rarely for
less than one year. The latter would qualify them as switchers (Anderson
and Scott 2017). Few of the 109 participants were both migrants and
8 C. PLÜSS

switchers. To use both terms to refer to the same participants would be

confusing.5
There are common trends in the 109 transnational migration tra-
jectories. Most participants had grown up in Singapore until their late
teens or early twenties, and many of them then moved abroad for uni-
versity studies. These societies nearly all were English-speaking and west-
ern. Several participants, especially in London, were researched then. A
few participants, when they had been very young, had moved with their
families from Singapore to live and school in another society, mostly
in Asia. Some of these young participants then had returned to school
in Singapore, with or without their parents. They then moved abroad
again, once or several times, for university studies, and/or work, and
may have returned to live in Singapore in between living in one or sev-
eral societies abroad. A few such participants were researched in Hong
Kong, London, New York, and Singapore. Very few participants in this
study had been born in other societies than Singapore. They had moved
to Singapore for schooling (with or without their parents), or for work
(and became Singapore nationals), and then moved abroad again, to
work in one or several societies. More rarely, this small number of partic-
ipants returned to work in Singapore in between these overseas national
boundary crossings. Such participants were researched in London, Hong
Kong, and in New York.
Many participants also first moved abroad to work in western or east-
ern societies. Such participants were researched in London, Hong Kong,
and New York. They then may have (temporarily) returned to live and
work in Singapore, often to be near their parents to take care of them,
or more rarely, to have help from their families with child rearing, and/
or receiving emotional support. Such participants were researched in
Singapore. Many of these returned participants then moved again to
work in other societies in the East or the West. They may have returned
to live and work in Singapore, and then moved again to work in one or
several societies abroad. Many such repeat migrants were researched in
all four global cities.

5 In the scholarship of migration, migrants who temporarily live in another society are

commonly referred to as ‘sojourners’ (Ley and Kobayashi 2005) or ‘transmigrants’ (Yeoh

and Willis 2005). The term ‘immigrants’ (Zhou 2014) is used to refer to migrants who
have moved to settle in another society for good.
 1 ACCOUNTING FOR TRANSNATIONAL LIVES 9

A few more participants moved several times to English-speaking

western societies to study at university. They may had temporarily
returned to work in Singapore in between these studies to finance them.
Such participants were researched in London and in Singapore. Other
Chinese Singaporeans first moved abroad with their spouse (and possibly
children), to the East or the West, and they had worked (or not) in these
societies. They possibly lived in several societies abroad, and it was not
uncommon that they temporarily returned with their spouse, and possi-
bly children, to live and possibly work in Singapore in between living in
different societies abroad. Such participants were researched in all four
cities.
There are also participants in this book who had moved from
Singapore to work and/or study in English-speaking western societies,
and who continued to live in the same or different societies abroad to
work. Such participants are included in the Hong Kong, London, and
New York samples. A few male participants had returned to live in
Singapore from abroad to serve the two years of mandatory military ser-
vice. They then often moved to work abroad again, possibly returned
to Singapore to work and to be near their parents, and then moved
again elsewhere. A few such participants were studied in the three over-
seas sites and in Singapore. The 109 Chinese Singaporeans’ crossings
of national boundaries to live elsewhere, including returning to live in
Singapore, were not always for work, studies, and/or family alone. Often
such movements also were for friendships/lifestyle reasons.
The participants are representative that middle-class and mid- and
high-skilled Singaporeans relatively often move to temporarily live
in other societies (Yeoh and Willis 2005; Ho 2008). The Singaporean
government and employers in Singapore (Yap 1994) encourage
Singaporeans to spend time living abroad, to study and/or to work,
to gain overseas exposure: familiarity and connections with different
people, societies, and cultures. The Singaporean government (Kor 2010)
stresses that such overseas experience increases the global connectiv-
ity of Singapore by building and maintaining links with different places
and societies, and that this helps Singapore’s global exchange of knowl-
edge and resources. What also contributes to Singaporeans temporarily
moving to study and/or work in other societies, especially to English-
speaking western societies, is that international companies (Ye and Kelly
2011) and other organizations in Singapore often require Singaporean
applicants for high-skilled work to have overseas experience. With the
10 C. PLÜSS

globalization of the economy, there are increasing demands, especially

in organizations working internationally (Nowicka 2006), to have inter-
national work and/or education experience to obtain high-skilled and
high-paid employment and to achieve fast career paths. The 109 partic-
ipants in this study also are representative that with accelerated condi-
tions of globalization, especially with the spread of neoliberalism (Hardt
and Negri 2004), more and more people in the world (have to) cross
national boundaries to live elsewhere. This book also includes education
migrants because moving to another society for education has become a
significant part of transnational migration. For example, in 2004 (Kim
2012, 456) an estimated 2.7 million students were studying abroad,
and in 2002 (Florida 2007, 11), the fees paid by international students
at American colleges and universities were close to thirteen billion US
Dollars.
A competitive education, in which young and middle-aged
Singaporeans acquire good English-language skills, exposure to English-
language media in Singapore, and Singapore’s prosperity and high devel-
opment provide many Singaporeans with skills and resources to study,
work, and live in other places and societies. Singapore is the only soci-
ety in Asia in which English is the main language, the world’s most
desired second language, and often the language of international busi-
ness. In 2008 (Department of Statistics Singapore 2009), when this
research began, 180,000 Singaporean citizens and permanent residents
lived abroad. They were 4.95% of Singapore’s ‘native’ population of
3,642,700 citizens and permanent residents in that year.6 Contemporary
Singapore is a highly developed city-state, with a small land area. It is
an island (Department of Statistics Singapore 2018) of just under 720
square kilometers, with a total population of 5.6 million people in 2018.
Singapore’s economy strongly relies on upgrading the skills of its pop-
ulation and on attracting high-, mid-, and low-skilled migrants from
abroad to fill temporary work shortages, all to achieve Singapore’s eco-
nomic emphases on service, research, and development, and to assure
that Singapore is a high-performing city-state in which it is attractive to
live (see Chapter 2 for characteristics of the four global cities).

6 This number (Department of Statistics Singapore 2009) is based on the entry and exit

records of Singaporeans. Included in the count are Singaporeans who lived abroad for a
cumulative period of at least six months during the year preceding the count.
 1 ACCOUNTING FOR TRANSNATIONAL LIVES 11

The results of this study show that living in one of the four global
cities—Hong Kong, London, New York, or Singapore—rarely lead to
that the Chinese Singaporeans experienced their transnational contexts
as cosmopolitan (Delanty 2006). Rather, living in one of these cities
foremost resulted in the that the Chinese Singaporeans experienced a
sense of transnational dis-embeddedness. Although there was variety in
the perceptions of the Chinese Singaporeans of the characteristic of the
global city in which they lived, there also were discernible differences in
how they perceived that the characteristics of these cities impinged on
their transnational lives.

1.2  Analytical Framework
This book puts forth a new analytical framework to answer in encom-
passing and fine-grained ways if, how, and why ‘presently’ living in
either Hong Kong, London, New York, or back in Singapore differently
impinged upon how the 109 Chinese Singaporeans experienced their
transnational lives. This framework was developed inductively, using
grounded theory (Charmaz 2013). Grounded theory compares data
with analytical ideas to achieve a fit. The challenge with developing this
new analytical framework was that there was high variety in how Chinese
Singaporeans experienced their ‘present’ transnational lives. However, it
is important to account for the perceptions of people and collectivities of
their circumstances (Berger and Luckman 1991) because they can have
different interpretations of similar events, leading to different projects
and actions. Therefore, to understand the great variety in how ‘present’
global-city life influenced (or not) the Chinese Singaporeans’ perceptions
of their transnational lives, my analytical framework needed to be very
general. As Chapter 2 explains, no single theory beyond structure-agency
theory (Bourdieu 1984; Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992) was used in
this research to explain this variety. A central idea in this new framework
to account for, analyze, and explain the Chinese Singaporeans’ ‘pres-
ent’ transnational lives—which involved their different transnational
contexts (those of education, work, family, and/or friendships/life-
style), and intersections among these contexts—is to emphasize differ-
ent forms of time-space compressions when the Chinese Singaporeans
accounted for their different transnational contexts, and intersections
among these contexts. This book distinguishes between cosmopolitan,
12 C. PLÜSS

hybrid, incongruous, or homogenous time-space compressions. They are

explained in the next section of this chapter.
To operationalize the idea of different forms of time-space com-
pressions to understand if, how, and why ‘presently’ living in one of
the four global cities of research—in Hong Kong, London, New York,
or back in Singapore—impinged on how the Chinese Singaporeans
understood their transnational lives this new framework uses the ideas
of embeddedness and dis-embeddedness (Portes and Sensenbrenner
1993; Kloosterman and Rath 2001) in transnational contexts, builds on
Bourdieu’s (1984, 1986) ideas of the convertibility of three forms of
capital into each other, and uses the concept of socialities (Wittel 2001;
Kennedy 2004). Embeddedness or dis-embeddedness in a context of
interaction (Portes and Sensenbrenner 1993; Kloosterman and Rath
2001) is strongly related to one’s access to the resources of this context:
embeddedness means having access to the resources of this context, and
dis-embeddedness means having little or no such access. Both concepts
imply that this (non)access to resources is based on one’s relations with
the members of a context.7
Bourdieu’s structure-agency theory (Bourdieu 1984; Bourdieu and
Wacquant 1992), especially his ideas (Bourdieu 1984, 1986) of the
convertibility of three forms of capital into each other, help to render
the idea of (dis)embeddedness even more empirically embedded. These
three forms are cultural, social, and economic capital. Cultural capi-
tal (Bourdieu 1986, 245) is the signaling and practicing of a context’s
required cultural characteristics—including language, education, qualifi-
cations, cultivation, knowledge, prestige, or taste—that the members in
this context require in order to judge people and/or collectivities who
wish to access resources of this context as having legitimate competence
to be given this access. Signaling and practicing (by exercising agency)

7 The term embeddedness is linked to that of integration (Remennick 2003; Anger and

Strang 2008), but I find embeddedness more appropriate for this study. Integration usually
refers to immigrants in a new society (Remennick 2003; Anger and Strang 2008) and indi-
cates that the immigrants have achieved a desired fit with the characteristics of this society,
and therefore are given access to its resources. The 109 Chinese-Singaporeans researched
in this book were not immigrants, who are migrants who move to another society and plan
to stay for good, and possibly to take on citizenship. The participants in this study mostly
crossed national boundaries to live elsewhere for shorter time periods (usually for several
years). The term ‘embeddedness’ is not linked to an intention to stay in a place and/or
society for good.
 1 ACCOUNTING FOR TRANSNATIONAL LIVES 13

legitimate competence or showing and enacting cultural capital (which is

a structure) in a context of interaction, conveys to members of this con-
text that one endorses this context’s aims and values and therefore can
be admitted as a member of this context. If one can signal and practice a
context’s required cultural capital, one can build social relations with the
members of this context, which is social capital (Bourdieu 1984, 1986).
Social capital refers to social relations that provide access to a context’s
cultural (e.g., information, training, or certification), social (e.g., friend-
ships, help, or manpower), economic (money or resources directly con-
vertible into money), and/or political resources. Having access to these
resources, based on one’s social relations with members of a context, by
signaling and practicing required similarities with these members, results
in embeddedness in this context.
Important for this study is that that these three forms of capital can
be converted into each other (Bourdieu 1984, 1986). The scholarship
of transnational migrants has many examples (Girard and Bauder 2007;
Plüss 2013) showing how these migrants use and convert cultural,
social, and/or economic capital that they had acquired in one society
to build new cultural capital to access new resources in a new society.
Transnational migrants, who are connected to different places and soci-
eties, often wish to (continue to) access (future) resources in different
places and societies in which they live and lived. This framework empha-
sizes that to access resources in a transnational context, which spans
contexts of interaction in different places and societies, one needs to
simultaneously relate to, intersect and/or combine, and signal and prac-
tice constituent contexts’ definitions of cultural capital. This serves to
build or maintain social relations with the members of these contexts and
provides access to these contexts’ resources. When transnational migrants
simultaneously relate to, attempt to intersect and/or combine, and signal
and practice their contexts’—in different places and societies—definitions
of cultural capital, they compress time and space, or experience transna-
tional simultaneity (Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004).
Instead of working with cultural and social capital separately, to
account for how one gains or maintains access to the resources in a trans-
national context, this new framework emphasizes that this access depends
on one’s ability to signal and practice constituent contexts’ dominant
and required definitions of appropriate practices of socialities. This book
takes socialities, also called sociabilities (Glick Schiller et al. 2011), as
14 C. PLÜSS

important characteristics to account for how the Chinese Singaporeans

were (dis)embedded in their different transnational contexts, and in
intersections of these contexts. This study’s new framework views pat-
terns of similarities and differences in this (dis)embeddedness—when
the Chinese Singaporeans were researched in one of the four global
cities—to express if, how, and why ‘presently’ living in one of the four
cities differently impinged on the Chinese Singaporeans’ transnational
lives.
Socialities (Wittel 2001; Kennedy 2004) are contextually embed-
ded social relations of trust, collaboration, and exchange, which
provide access to the resources of a context, and therewith produce
embeddedness in this context. Socialities (Kennedy 2004) are based
on shared experiences, frames of references, ambitions, and/or life-
styles of the members of a context of interaction. Socialities can be
long lasting or short term. To further operationalize the four forms
of time-space compressions—cosmopolitanism, hybridity, incongru-
ity, or homogeneity, as they are explained in the next section of this
chapter—as fine-grained and encompassing features of the Chinese
Singaporeans’ (dis)embeddedness in their transnational contexts,
and in intersections of these contexts, this book views these time-
space compressions as the Chinese Singaporeans’ simultaneous relat-
ing to, attempting to intersect and/or combine, and signaling and
practicing dominant and required definitions of appropriate prac-
tices of socialities of their different contexts of interaction, in differ-
ent places and societies. These contexts, and intersections between
them, form the transnational contexts of the Chinese Singaporeans.
As the next section of this chapter shows, these different forms of
time-space compressions reflect the Chinese Singaporeans’ proclivities
to have experienced (dis)embeddedness in their respective transna-
tional contexts, in intersections of these contexts, and to think of self,
others, places, and societies in certain ways. To account for the pos-
sible impacts of living in one of the four global cities on the Chinese
Singaporeans’ transnational lives, this study crystallizes the patterns
of similarity and differences in how the Chinese Singaporeans—when
they were researched in one of the four global cities—compressed
time and space in their different transnational contexts, and in intersections
of these contexts.
 1 ACCOUNTING FOR TRANSNATIONAL LIVES 15

1.3  Transnational Socialities

1.3.1   Forms Transnationality

The scholarship of globalization (Held 2004) views time-space
compressions as one of the main characteristics of processes of globali-
zation, or of the increasing interconnectedness in the world: what is
happening in one place, society, or region influences what happens in
other places, societies, or regions. When explaining the main features
of these time-space compressions, the scholarship of globalization dis-
tinguishes between four characteristics: cosmopolitanism (Beck 2007;
Calhoun 2008), hybridity (Hannerz 2000; Nederveen 2004), incongru-
ity (Huntington 1996; Appadurai 1990), and homogeneity (Tomlinson
1999). This book uses these four forms of time-space compressions to
characterize four ways in which the Chinese Singaporeans could feel (dis)
embedded in their transnational contexts, and in intersections of these
contexts. As explained, these time-space compressions are the Chinese
Singaporeans’ simultaneous relating to dominant and required defini-
tions of appropriate practices of socialities in the Chinese Singaporeans’
different transnational contexts (those of education, work, family,
and/or friendships/lifestyle), and in intersections of these contexts.
Chapters 3–6 crystallize how and why the Chinese Singaporeans,
when they lived in one of the four global cities, related in different ways
(in cosmopolitan, hybrid, incongruous, or homogenous ways) to their
transnational contexts, and to intersections of these contexts. Chapter 6
also considers gender differences of the Chinese Singaporeans because
its sample is large enough to do so. This crystallization in Chapters 3–6
explains how and why the Chinese Singaporeans felt (dis)embedded in
their different transnational contexts, and in intersections of these con-
texts, when they lived in one of the four global cities. Comparing the
patterns of similarities and differences in this (dis)embeddedness is the
main analytical feature of this book in order to reveal if, how, and why
global-city life in the four different cities impinged differently upon how
the Chinese Singaporeans experienced their transnational lives. Such an
influence is especially clear if similarities in how the Chinese Singaporean
transnational migrants experienced their respective transnational
lives—transnational contexts and intersections among these contexts—
can cut across differences among the Chinese Singaporeans. Such dif-
ferences include age, gender, occupation, length of residency in a global
16 C. PLÜSS

city, and transnational migration trajectories (including being a repeat

migrant or not). Chapter 7 crystallizes these patterns of similarities and
differences to answer the overarching questions of this book: if, how, and
why living in different global cities influenced how a group of migrants,
with many similar characteristics, experienced their transnational lives.
Selected literature on migrants’ experiences of the four forms of trans-
national contexts, and of the characteristics of the four global cities, is
reviewed in Chapter 2. The section below comments on how different
forms of transnational socialities—when transnational migrants simulta-
neously relate to dominant and required definitions of appropriate prac-
tices of socialities of their (different) contexts of interaction, in different
places and societies—account for the (dis)embeddedness of transnational
migrants in their transnational contexts or spaces.

1.3.2   Cosmopolitan Socialities

Beck (2007) defines a cosmopolitan definition of an appropriate prac-
tice of sociality of a context of interaction as requiring openness to dif-
ferences among its members, so that they can pursue shared interests.
Calhoun (2008) explains that a cosmopolitan definition of an appropri-
ate practice of a sociality stresses that one views self and others as citizens
of the world, so that there is community among the members of a con-
text to realize common aims. Glick Schiller et al. (2011) think that a cos-
mopolitan practice of a sociality requires that one relates to other people
and collectivities who are different from oneself by practicing inclusive
social relations. The scholars (Glick Schiller et al. 2011) stress that a cos-
mopolitan definition of a sociality enables the members of a context of
interaction to coexist with differences, which commonly stem from eth-
nicity, religion, gender, or class. Delanty (2006), in turn, finds that a
cosmopolitan sociality of a cosmopolitan context of interaction requires
its members to be reflexive about self and others to be able to include
differences.
These core characteristics of a cosmopolitan, dominant, and required
definition of an appropriate practice of sociality, and of a cosmopolitan
context of interaction, indicate that when transnational migrants signal
and practice cosmopolitan transnational socialities, constituent contexts’
dominant and required definitions of appropriate practices of socialities
are cosmopolitan too. This is because one can only simultaneously relate
to, intersect and/or combine, and signal and practice different contexts,’
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
"O-o-o-oh, Lo-o-ord!" began Jim in a scared voice; then, gathering
courage as he saw the quizzing smile in the rover's eyes, "Thank
goodness that, though I'm young, I ain't tender."
"This man's name," continued Jack, "is Tari, and the other, bowing
there before the image, is Lobu. He is a little touched in the head
from a blow of a cutting-in spade——"
"These here two Cimmarons, you-alls says, is man-eaters, an' one of
'em is locoed," interrupted Broncho solemnly. "Wall, I'm shore
thankful a whole lot they ain't more numerous. Mebbe, though, these
two Marquesas sports have done roasted an' eaten the rest of the
outfit—they looks hungry enough to chaw up a whole bunch of
Navajo bucks without battin' an eye nor yet fallin' victims to
indegeestion. I reckon they regyards humans the same as we-alls do
pra'rie hen, ba'r stakes, terrapins, an' sech-like high-flung eadibles,
as bein' plumb full of relish. They don't look to me as if they'd pass
up their hands or quit s'long as thar's an uneaten cawpse idlin'
around; no, siree, they jest sharpens their carvin' knives an' sits right
into business."
"They used to be cannibals; they are not now," went on Jack. "These
two men are harpooners. Tari here knows Big Harry, whose mate I
was for three years trading among the Islands——"
"You don't say!"
"He says the Ocmulgee has been out three years with only three
hundred barrels of oil to her credit. She lost her mate and three men
in a fight with a solitary bull-whale in the Japanese seas; then scurvy
broke out whilst they were away to the south'ard; and, to make
matters worse, they got jammed in the ice the whole winter. When
they finally got clear there were only the captain and five men left.
The captain bore up all he knew to make northing. They had a long
spell of foul weather; then he died, and the other three men and
these two have been alone on the ship for a whole moon, drifting
under bare poles."
"Wall, I reckon as how they've been sittin' in pretty dirty luck; but do
you-alls mean to relate as how Destiny allows these here tattooed,
man-chewin' pagans to win through, whilst white men has to go
donnin' wings or tails, harps or hot pitchforks, as the case may be, in
the etarnal beyond? Fortune shore deals a queer game."
"That's about the size of it," said Jack.
"Can this here aboriginal speak English?"
"He can talk Beach-le-mer, a kind of pidgin English of the South
Seas."
"Same as that flapjack-tossin' Chink, Lung?"
"Pretty much the same."
"Wall, I surmise he regyards that 'ere hunchbacked, ebony mannikin
as havin' pulled him through this devastatin' holocaust, scurvy, which
downs the rest of the band so free an' easy," remarked the cowboy
musingly.
"What are we goin' to do, Jack?" asked the boy, with chattering
teeth. "Can't we rout out some dry duds? I'm near froze standin' here
talkin'."
"That's certainly the first thing to be thought about," agreed the
rolling-stone. "Then, when we've overhauled the ship below, we'll
have a powwow."
Leaving the two Kanakas on deck, they descended the companion-
way, and found themselves in a fair-sized cabin, with doorways
opening out of it.
In the centre was an inlaid mother-of-pearl table, and the bulkheads
were hung with curios of every description—spears of all shapes and
sizes, fantastic-looking bone-studded clubs, various harpoons, some
twisted and bent, evidently the relics of by-gone battles, swords of
sharks' teeth, ships' models in bottles, specimens of skrimshander,
rare shells and Japanese nitchkies in cabinets, carved cocoanuts,
feather cloaks and war head-dresses; and last, but not least, some
fearfully-grinning Japanese masks.
Catching sight of these, Jim gave an exclamation of horror.
"Mercy, look at those devil-faces!" he gasped.
"Devil-faces—which that ain't no compliment to the devil, an' I reckon
he's plumb mortified at sech remyarks. Them feachers is that fearful
they're suffeecient to promote silence in a hoot-owl," remarked
Broncho solemnly.
"This cabin is surely the dime-museum you were talking about," said
Jack, with a laugh.
"It's shore liable to give a gent who's been some free with the
nosepaint the jimjams in a highly variegated form. It would knock him
offen his mental reservation quicker'n a bullet out of a Winchester."
After searching through the berths, Broncho and Jack managed to
find clothes which fitted them; but Jim had to close-reef the legs of
his trousers and the ends of his sleeves before he could get his
hands and feet to appear.
Clad once more in dry raiment, they then made a descent upon the
deceased captain's stateroom, and overhauled the log-book.
It was a gloomy perusal.
They found the statements of the Kanaka Tari to be correct, and the
log had been written up to within the last month.
The entries were a series of tragedies. Solemnly Jack read them out,
picking the more important items:
"Oct. 2nd.—William K. Budd, 1st officer; James Rake, harpooner;
John Coffin and Pedro Gonzalez, able seamen, killed by a whale in
Lat. 43°25 North, Long. 136°15 East.
"Feb. 16th.—Henry Gaul, cooper, died of scurvy.
"Feb. 23rd.—Simeon Bennett and Henri Rochey, able seamen, died
of scurvy.
"May 2nd.—Shut in by pack ice in Lat. 69°12 South, Long. 140°63
West.
"May 15th.—Ezekiel K. Scruggs, 2nd officer, died of scurvy."
So the sad entries ran on until the last, which was entered in a very
shaky hand:
"Oct. 3rd.—Only six of ship's company left, including myself; all of
us, except two Kanakas, in the last stages of scurvy. Cannot last
many more days. Strong westerly winds with snow squalls
increasing in force. Unable to take sights. Ship hove-to on port tack."
"That's shore a heap melancholy. I surmise he cashes in poco
tiempo after them observations—his luck's that mighty rank, not to
say demoniac," was Broncho's comment.
"The first thing we'd better do," said Jack, as he closed the old
sharkskin-bound log-book, "is to examine into the provisions. I
expect they're liable to be pretty bad."
"I'm goin' to hunt up some fishing-lines," announced Jim. "Eating
deep-sea fish is better than living on food which has killed a whole
crew with scurvy."
"Which I think your proposeetion is as full of sense as a rattlesnake
in August is of p'ison," remarked Broncho approvingly.
Then, whilst Jim went after the fishing-lines, Jack and Broncho made
their way into the lazarette, and started to overhaul the stores.
"Just as I thought," muttered the former, holding aloft an old
binnacle-light which he had discovered and promptly brought into
use, and peering round the gloomy interior. "Condemned
Government stores, and the cabin truck run out."
Two or three barrels were standing already broached, with a few
pieces gone out of each, as if an attempt had been made to pick out
the best bits.
"This here pork an' beef is plenty lively for its years," declared
Broncho, his hand to his nose. "I reckon it has over a hundred rings
on its horns; but you can bet your moccasins it goes pawin' 'round in
a man's inside until it has him oozin' with p'ison from his spurs to his
sombrero. I ain't none surprised it makes a winnin' agin them
onfort'nit' whale-huntin' sports."
"And look at the hard-tack," said Jack, as he shook a handful of
weevils out of a biscuit.
"It's shore inhabited a whole lot. I allow them Kanakas has insides
like goats."
"Well, there's no time to be lost. The sight of that grub means
cracking on for the Islands," grunted Jack, as he hurriedly made for
the door.
"Can you locate us at all, Jack?" asked the cowboy, as they once
more breathed freely in the dime-museum cabin. "Ain't thar no
blazed trail we-alls could jump on to, so as to lope into Frisco some
quicker'n we've been comin' out?"
"'Fraid not; Frisco's a long way off, but I don't think we're more than a
week's sail from Pitcairn Island. This breeze'll let her head up within
a point of north. I'll get the latitude if I can catch the sun to-morrow,
but I'm afraid the longitude will be mere guess-work, as the
chronometers have both been allowed to run down."
"Wall, you play the hand, Jack; you're up in this ship's game. I just
come in blind an' leave it to you, bein' what you-alls might call an
amature."
"We'll just have a powwow with the Kanakas and then get to work,"
said Jack, as they left the cabin.
On gaining the deck they found the elements still moderating.
The Ocmulgee floated high out of the water as buoyant as a cork,
and her deck, except where the rollers slopped through the bulwark
ports, or an occasional saucy-crested comber popped over her
topgallant rail, was quite free of water.
At the stern was perched Jim, busily watching three fishing-lines,
whilst amidships Lobu still sat gazing at his ebony tiki.
From the caboose came a thin wreath of smoke, which blew down to
leeward in a long streamer. Tari was within, doing all he knew to
make a fat lump of rancid pork more or less eatable.
Jack gave a long look round the heaving horizon, but no sail broke
the monotony of rushing sea and sky. He then went and sounded the
pumps, and was well satisfied.
"An hour's work will pump her dry," he remarked to the cowpuncher.
"We'll get sail on her first, though."
Then, "All hands make sail!" he sang out cheerily, dropping naturally
into the position of leader.
"Jim, you're an active nipper and quicker than the rest of us; jump up
an' cast the gaskets off the main-topsails."
"Aye, aye, sir," returned the boy, with a twinkle in his eye and an
emphasis on the "sir."
But Jack never noticed it. He was too busily employed trying to make
Lobu understand that he had to get off his haunches and add his
weight and muscle as they mustered at the lower-topsail sheets.
"Warble out one o' them chanties o' yours, Jack," called the cowboy.
"They helps a man to brace back on a rope a whole lot."
Thereupon Jack struck up an old sea legend about a drowned sailor,
who married a mermaid and had an unpleasant habit of climbing up
ships' cables and frightening their crews.
Taking the upper-topsail halliards to a small capstan aft, they
tramped round strongly to the weird sailor song, in the wild chorus of
which even Tari joined:
"And it's blow, ye winds, heigh-ho!
Blow, ye winds, heigh-ho!
Blow away the mist and snow!
And it's blow, ye winds, heigh-ho!"
Before dark the Ocmulgee was plunging heavily along under two
lower-topsails, main upper-topsail, reefed foresail and staysails,
close hauled on the port tack.
The spanker was also set, without the head being hauled out.
By this time all hands were pretty well wearied, besides being very
keen set, and some of Tari's cooking was demolished with many
grimaces.
Then, leaving Jim at the wheel, they turned to again to rid the ship of
water, and it was close on two bells in the first watch before the
cheerful sound of the pumps sucking greeted their ears.
Leaving Lobu to resume his religious duties before the ebony image,
the rest of the small ship's company assembled round the wheel,
and held a counsel of ways and means.
"Wall, Jack," said Broncho, opening the debate, "you-alls bein' the
old he-coon of this outfit, we awaits your remyarks as to what trail
you allows we'd better pull our freight on to. We-alls wants to be
posted as to how the kyards are stackin' up, an' how we're to play
our hands to emerge victors out o' this here onexpected racket."
"I reckon we ought to be somewhere near Pitcairn or the Paumotus
in less than ten days," replied the rover easily.
"At Pitcairn we can get fresh fruit and vegetables. From there we can
jog across to Papeete, the port of Tahiti, hand the Ocmulgee over to
the American consul, and take schooner for Frisco."
"The way you puts it, this here bill o' fare seems some easy to chew
on," commented the cowpuncher, looking keenly at Jack. "Mebbe,
though, it ain't sech a cinch as I surmises. Ain't we-alls some scarce
as an outfit to keep this here ship from stampedin' 'way offen the
trail? Do you-alls reckon we is numerous enough to ride herd on
her."
"Well," returned Jack slowly, "we are rather short-handed, and that's
a fact. Still [with a smile], we're enough to keep the ship from milling.
[10] Tari and Jim can both steer; and you, Broncho, must have your
first lesson as soon as possible. We three will have to take watch
and watch, as I don't like to trust the ship to the Kanakas."
"And who'll ride first night gyard?" asked Broncho.
"You two both look pretty fagged out. Suppose you jump below and
turn in; Tari and I will keep the middle watch."
"I ain't tired—I'm as frisky as can be," objected Jim. "I might as well
take the first trick now I'm at the wheel."
"And I'm as full of buck as a corn-fed cow-pony," put in Broncho.
"You're lookin' some weary an' overplayed yourself, Jack; just you
prowl down in your blankets whilst Jim and I deal the game."
"I think we'd better elect a captain first," said the rover casually, "or
it'll be a case of too many cooks."
"Bein' as you savvys the game, Jack, I concloods you-alls is elected
onanimous; thar shore ain't no candidate for the opposition. You're
the range-boss o' this round-up."
"Why, 'er course," affirmed Jim.
"Well, then, you two obey orders and turn in until further notice,"
returned Jack, with a laugh.
"You guileful ole terrapin!" growled Broncho, as he reluctantly made
for the companion-way, followed by the boy.

FOOTNOTES:
[10] Going round in a circle, as cattle sometimes do when
frightened or restless.
 CHAPTER III
"THE BURNING OF THE SOUTH SEAMAN"
The night passed without incident, and dawn found the Ocmulgee
jogging along with the yards just off the backstays.
The wind had steadied down to a fair south-west breeze; the sea
was much quieter, and matters were looking up all round.
Broncho was taught to steer, and Jim fished indefatigably, but
beyond catching a huge molly-mawk, which had swooped on the
bait, he had not had much success.
Tari, however, the skilled harpooner, had managed to spear several
dolphins, and dolphin stew made a welcome addition to the poor
fare.
So the days passed.
Except for Lobu, the madman, who caused some anxiety by his
queer behaviour, all hands were pulling together well.
Tari proved to be invaluable. He had a soft, gentle nature and
worked like an ox, his disfigured countenance aglow with beaming
good temper.
He cooked, he steered, he was ready for everything and toiled away
unceasingly with wonderful endurance. The man was untiring in his
efforts to please, and Jack especially he seemed to take to.
"You my pleni," he had announced to that worthy in his soft
Polynesian tones.
Pleni means "friend," and has a peculiar sentimental significance in
the South Seas, and after this announcement Tari waited upon Jack
like a slave.
This behaviour seemed to impress the cowpuncher greatly, and
about the third day on board he commented on it to the rolling-stone.
"That 'ere Tari, whom you-alls say by his tattooing is a big chief,
behaves as if he's your nigger, Jack, an' he shore hungers to please
you. You sartinly has his affections roped, tied down, an' with your
brand on to 'em that-away. I watches him eyein' you with them big
antelope orbs o' his same as if you're some kind o' god, an' it's
plumb touchin' as a spectacle."
"That's the custom, Broncho, in the South Seas. The natives are like
affectionate dogs, and when a man announces that he is your pleni it
means that from then on you are his first consideration in this world,"
replied Jack. "It's a far, far stronger affection than that which lovers
hold to one another in the Society and Marquesas groups,
passionate though they are."
"Wall, I reckon a pagan Kanaka shore calls the turn that-away on
redskins. Tari's a different breed entire to them yellow snakes. I ain't
never seen the redskin's eye I'd trust, but Tari's I'd jest as soon stack
upon as any white man's."
"How do you like the Ocmulgee's tobacco?" asked Jack, as he lit his
pipe behind his hands.
"For smokin' it'll about run in double harness with tea, which same is
puttin' it some mild; but for chewin' it makes me as peevish as a sick
infant, it's that rank, an' shore gives a gent a ja'ndiced view of life."
During this conversation they were seated round the cabin skylight in
the first dog-watch.
Suddenly Lobu, who as usual was engaged in mysterious
confidence with his black baby-god, sprang to his feet, and with a
wild cry seized Tari's harpoon, which was resting up against the fife-
rail; then, before any one of them could make a move, he had the
weapon poised for a terrific lunge at Jack.
Like a wild thing, Jim, who was steering, flung himself in front of his
hero. At the same moment, Tari, making a wonderful shot with a
belaying-pin, which he had snatched from the rail, dashed the
harpoon to the deck, and before the infuriated madman could pick up
his weapon, all hands had scattered for safety.
"He's running amuck! Look out for yourselves!" roared Jack, as he
dodged round the companion.
Broncho made a break for the tryworks, whilst Jim, springing on to
the main fife-rail, went hand-over-hand up the port lower-topsail
sheet.
Foaming at the mouth and jerking forth queer, wild guttural cries,
Lobu, with weapon raised on high, hurled himself round the
companion after Jack; but the fleet-footed Britisher was too quick for
him.
Foiled here, he suddenly turned and launched his weapon at Jim,
who was swarming up the purchase with the agility of a monkey.
Nothing but a sharp roll of the ship saved the boy, and the harpoon
stuck quivering in the mainmast.
Meanwhile, Broncho, with the ready resource of a frontiersman, had
seized the coil of line from a boat tub, and hastily making a running
bowline, crept up behind the unsuspecting Kanaka.
Lobu now stood hesitating, and gazing stupidly up at Jim above him.
With a quick twist of the wrist the rope snaked from the cowboy's
hand, and the loop dropped neatly over the insane man's head and
shoulders. With such an expert at roping and throwing as Broncho, it
was but a moment before Lobu lay on the deck, securely bound and
helpless.
"My! That was close!" panted Jim, as he slid down to the deck.
"Jim, shake!" said the rover, breathing deeply and with the smallest
tremble in his voice. "I won't forget what you did to-day as long as I
live."
The boy blushed vividly with pleasure, and stammered out
something which was quite unintelligible, whilst Broncho said
heartily:
"Good for you, son! It shore were a clean strain play o' yours, an'
plumb full o' sand as the Mohave desert."
Then Tari came in for congratulations and thanks, and the way Jack
gripped his hand made the Islander beam with pleasure and wince
with pain.
"Fine shootin', Tari, as ever I sees," commented Broncho. "Black
Davis is plumb childlike with a belayin'-pin compared to you."
The question now was, what was to be done with Lobu, who lay on
the deck panting and spent, and apparently sane enough again,
though rolling his eyes in wide alarm.
"I believe he thinks we are going to cook and eat him," observed
Jack. "The Marquesans always used to eat the captured amongst
their enemies."
"I'm feelin' some hungry myself," asserted Broncho, with his slow,
quiet drawl, which always grew slower and more serious the lighter
and more flippant the remark he was making happened to be.
This was the way with the cowboy. On serious or more important
subjects he assumed a lightness and indifference in his speech
which he was very far from feeling, whilst he brought out a joke with
more solemnity than a Chancellor of the Exchequer introducing the
budget.
"We'll shore have to skin him," he went on. "Eating a gent unskinned
when he's tattooed that-away would give folks delusions that they're
consumin' of boa-constrictors, which same is liable to give
palp'tations round the cartridge-belt to a gent who's been used to
beans, salt pig, an' air-tights, bein' some rich an' high-flung as an
edible."
Jack and Tari proceeded to have a long consultation together in the
Marquesan dialect, at the end of which the former turned to the
others and said:
"Tari wants us to set him loose. He says he'll watch him closely, and
give us warning if he looks like having another fit of man-hunting.
What do you say, boys?"
"Wall, you can bet your moccasins I'm goin' to pack 'round a six-
shooter in future. That 'ere Lobu springs his little game on us that
headlong an' sudden, an' puts sech fervor into it, that he comes near
callin' a show-down on the crowd; an' in the event of his scoutin' off
on the war-path again, I reckon I'll plant some lead amongst his
idees, an' sober him some," pronounced Broncho.
"He don't look any too safe," said Jim, as Lobu, having recovered his
breath, began to scowl and mutter to himself.
"I'm an Apache if he ain't hungerin' to begin his butchery again,"
drawled Broncho; "he's shore due to inaug'rate a holycaust if we
turns him loose."
"Heart no bad! Head bad!" said Tari sadly.
"Mebbe, son, mebbe. But he ain't sedentary enough to go
skallyhootin' 'round onfettered; he's a heap too vivid an' high-
sperited, an' is liable to crease one of us mavericks."
"Better put him in the forepeak and clap the hatch on over him,"
proposed Jack.
"He's cert'nly too apparent on the scenery where he is," declared the
cowboy.
Jack's idea was finally acted on. Lobu and his ebony idol were
relegated to the forepeak, and once more serenity prevailed.
With sunset the wind died down considerably, and the long swell
caused the Ocmulgee to roll heavily.
Night descended. The sky became one sparkling mantle of stars,
and the sea, in heavy black ridges, lumbered in from the westward,
slow and dignified, the last relics of the Roaring Forties.
At each lurch of the vessel her canvas thumped against the masts
and rigging, giving forth a sound like the cracking of an Australian
stockwhip.
The dark form of the cowboy at the wheel swayed slowly backwards
and forwards across the glittering moonlight as the vessel rolled.
The flare of the galley fire peeped forth forward in shafts of yellow
light. The silent decks were striped with cold moonbeams and inky
shadows, weird and eerie-looking, the great whale-jaws at the
companion giving a grotesque appearance to the after part of the
barque.
Occasionally the top of a roller would slop in through a port, and
ripple across the sloping deck like a stream of shining silver.
Reclining on the locker which ran round the cabin skylight lay Jack
Derringer, pipe in mouth, lazily watching his beloved stars.
Forward the Kanaka Tari could be seen flitting backwards and
forwards across the shaft of light from the galley, busily engaged in
gathering fuel from the fore 'tween-decks.
Presently he went forward, and lifting the hatch of the forepeak,
looked down into the gloom, where lay the poor madman.
As he bent over the hatch a heavy volume of smoke poured forth,
enveloping his face and causing him to cough.
Hastily withdrawing his head he rushed aft, crying in his strange,
broken English:
"Shippe burn! shippe burn! Lobu settee fire shippe!"
Up jumped Jack, quick to think and quick to act.
"Leave the wheel, Broncho, there's not enough wind to hurt. You, Jim
and Tari, get the quarter-deck buckets forrard. Follow me, Broncho—
sail-locker, spare t'gallants'l."
Short and sharp came the words, and Jack was gone.
In an incredibly short space of time Broncho and the rover
reappeared with the sail on their shoulders.
Meanwhile, Tari and Jim had succeeded in hauling the senseless
form of Lobu out of the forepeak, and were hard at work throwing
water on to the smother of smoke.
It was a slow process, however, as the water had to be drawn over
the side, there being no pump on board.
Rapidly the sail was dipped overboard and spread out.
"Pass it down to me, boys," called Jack; and before any one could
divine his intention, he had descended the ladder into the midst of
the smoke.
With hurried hands the sail was lowered down after him, and for a
few minutes it looked as if the fire was going to be smothered.
With redoubled vigour they turned to the buckets, and, in a constant
stream, the water was sent sousing down.
Suddenly Jack's head appeared, soaking wet and blackened with
smoke, at the top of the ladder.
"An axe!" he gasped out. "The bulkhead's caught!"
"An axe! an axe!" repeated Jim aimlessly.
But Tari, with two bounds, reached the caboose, and snatching up
the weapon with which he had lately been chopping wood, dashed
forward and handed it to Jack, who once more descended, having
tied a red silk handkerchief over his nose and mouth.
Then the sound of blows could be heard below, as the rolling-stone
battled with the flaming bulkhead.
Suddenly the chopping ceased, the dense clouds of smoke were
redoubled, and a second later flames were perceived.
Meanwhile, no signs of Jack.
The bucket gang began to grow anxious.
"Hey, Jack, cut loose outer that, or you'll get straddled," called
Broncho.
In response, a faint cry as if from a long way off came floating up.
Still no Jack.
Moments passed, and it was plain to all that the fire was rapidly
gaining on them.
"Come up, Jack, come up!" cried the boy wildly.
"No use, Jim," growled the cowpuncher. "You can't ride him—no, not
with buckin' straps an' a Spanish bit."
No responding cry was heard this time.
"My God, where is he?" exclaimed Jim with alarm. "He'll suffocate
and lose his senses if he stays down there any longer."
"I guess I'll just scout 'round an 'see how he's playin' the game.
Mebbe them flames makes a winnin' against him," said Broncho
leisurely, in his most indifferent tones—the very carelessness a sure
sign that he was deeply anxious.
"Lemme go, lemme go!" urged Jim, his voice strained and
overwrought.
"No, son, it's my bet," said the cowpuncher, as he slipped a rope's-
end over his shoulders. "Now, you-alls cinch on to the end o' this, an'
if I don't show up on the scenery in five minutes, just yank me out,
an' don't use no mildness neither"; and down went Broncho.
A minute later he reappeared, followed by an object whom they had
some difficulty in recognising as Jack Derringer.
He was black as a sweep. His clothes were in tatters and
smouldering in places; most of the hair on one side of his head was
singed off, and he was evidently very exhausted.
On reaching the deck he swayed unsteadily, and then toppled over
in a faint.
"One o' them locoed critters who don't know when they've got
enough," growled Broncho, as he soused a bucket of water over the
inanimate form.
"You go to blazes!" came in faint tones from the senseless man, and
two rows of gleaming white teeth appeared in the blackened
countenance of the rover, as his lips curved in a smile and he slowly
opened and shut one eye.
Jack was only overcome by the fumes of smoke, which had got into
his lungs, and the fresh air and cold water rapidly revived him.
Presently he sat up.
"It's no use," he exclaimed. "The ship's saturated with oil, and will be
in a blaze fore and aft in half an hour."
And the flames and smoke, which were now bursting through the
scuttle, gave point and emphasis to his remarks.
"Which is the best of the whaleboats, Tari?" he continued.
"De starbo'd boat on de quarter."
"Well, jump's the word, boys. Hustle, we've got no time to lose.
Broncho, you and Tari fill the water-breakers belonging to the boats;
Jim and I will get the grub on deck."
Working with a will, they got the whaleboat over, and whilst Tari and
Jim jumped into her, Jack and Broncho passed the provisions along.
She was a magnificent boat, a fine specimen of New Bedford
handiwork, and held a vast amount without any overloading.
The four boat-breakers were passed in, a keg of biscuits, and
enough salt horse to last close on a month with care; then a huge
tarpaulin, a spare mast and sails from one of the other boats, four
Winchester rifles and ammunition, whilst the three white men each
buckled on a revolver and belt of cartridges.
This armament was Jack's forethought, for he knew that possibly
they might find themselves amongst the Paumotu or Low
Archipelago of atolls, which had got a very bad reputation and lay
right in their course for either Tahiti or the Marquesas.
The sextant was not forgotten, or the chronometer; and even
oilskins, blankets, and spare clothing were handed aboard. Whilst
the small ship's company worked hard to provision the whaleboat,
the old oil-sodden Ocmulgee was blazing furiously.
The whole of her, forward, was now a mass of flame, which with long
yellow tongues went licking out to the end of the jibboom and up the
tarred shrouds aloft. The foresail and topsails soon caught fire, and,
with the blazing jibs and rigging, lit up the scene until the castaways
were working as if by daylight.
At two bells in the first watch the fore-topmast came down with a
crash, a mass of sparks like a St. Catherine's wheel; then, plunging
into the sea with a loud hiss, it lay dead, a blackened, charred wreck.
By this time the main rigging had caught, and the ship was like a
gigantic beacon.
"We'd better shove off clear of her at once," cried Jack, as he
appeared out of the cabin entrance, his arms full of odds and ends.
"What you totin' along, Jack?" inquired Broncho, from the boat.
"Tobacco, matches, bull's-eye lantern, hammer, saw, packet of nails,
two towels, a housewife, fishing-lines and hooks, spy-glass, nautical
almanac, chopper——"
"Ain't you forgot somethin?" broke in the cowpuncher, with gentle
irony.
Lobu had already been placed in the boat securely bound. He had
recovered his senses, and sat quiet and sphinxlike on the
floorboards.
As they were preparing to shove off, Tari rushed forward, and
presently reappeared with his beloved harpoon.
"All aboard!" now sang out Jack lightly. "Any more for the shore?"
He was a most cheery person to be shipwrecked with. His spirits
rose with the danger. Desperate situations, hardships, the near
approach of death, all seemed to act upon him as a tonic and instil
him with an infectious gaiety.
He jumped lightly into the boat and they shoved on.
"Kaoha, nuir!" muttered Tari, as they pulled away from the burning
ship.
It was a friendly farewell, for the words, roughly translated, meant,
"We part in friendship!"
Jim hummed the famous chanty:
"Leave her, Johnny, leave her,
It's time for us to leave her."
"To fa,[11] old ship!" called Jack. "The luck's against you. Kismet,
always Kismet!"
"Yes, the kyards is stackin' up against you, an' like many another
clean-strain gent, you bucks against them without weakenin'. Finally,
you cashes in, back to the wall, boots on an' your gun empty. Old
Ocmulgee, I looks towards you, you're dyin' game." Thus Broncho.
It was a melancholy sight as, lying on the swell about half a cable's
length off, they watched for the end.
She was now in flames fore and aft. Every rope was a thread of fire.
Even where they lay to windward they could hear it roaring and
hissing as it wrapped the poor old barque in its furious toils.
The sea sparkled in the reflection. The smoke fell away to leeward in
a huge bank of black, blotting out the stars.
The faces of the boat's crew showed red and yellow in the glare of
the fiery blast—Tari's sad and downcast, Lobu's sullen and
indifferent, Jim's wide-eyed, the cowboy's keen and interested, and
Jack's dreary but resolute.
In silence they watched the end, each wrapped up in his own
thoughts.
Tari wistfully wondered if he would ever see his beloved island home
again, with its breadfruit trees and cocoanut palms, its surf-beaten
shores and rocky headlands, its sandy inlets and crystal streams;
and not least, its light-hearted, flower-decked maidens. He was
weary and worn with this tragic voyage, tired of this buffeting by the
Fates about the rough world, and longed desperately for his own
paepae-hae once more.
Jim, who had never known a paepae-hae, whose only home had
been a ship's foc's'le, whose playground had been that rough one
the wide world, recalled tales of open-boat experiences with a feeling
half of dread for the future, half of excited anticipation, the glamour
and fascination of uncertain fortune making itself felt even in his
small but romantic breast.
Broncho pondered upon the strange freaks of Dame Fortune, the
streaks of good and bad luck, called by some "Providence," which go
to make up men's lives.
Jack stared with the bright glare of the flaming ship full in his eyes,
yet saw it not. His mind was far away. His memory was crowded with
strange events, perils overcome, dangers met and conquered on the
battlefield, in the bush, on deep water, and on mountain top, and his
courage rose high—that courage which, in conjunction with iron
nerves, great strength to suffer, and absolute fearlessness of death,
made the rolling-stone such a difficult man for the Fates to trample
upon.
Well he knew the terrors which were likely to be before them, the
terrors of an open boat alone in mid-ocean—the torments of thirst
and hunger, the growing weakness of mind and body, the aching,
cramped limbs, the perils of storm and calm, the gradual feeling of
despair, the long days of helplessness, then the feverish senses full
of distorted views as mind and body grew more diseased, and, last
of all, the wild, raving delirium. Well he knew them. He gave himself
a shake and braced his mind to fight the coming battle.
All night the Ocmulgee roared, hissed, and crackled. All night the
yellow tongues flared in fiery coils about her.
At six bells, eleven o'clock, the mainmast went by the board; then
the mizzen tottered, swayed, hung for a moment like a flaming Tower
of Pisa, and then slowly, deliberately, plunged into the sea.
A smother of foam burst forth, the sparkling white enveloping the
flickering yellow and extinguishing it.
In the black background of smoke the red sparks gleamed like
myriads of fire-flies.
And now, as the flames broke out over the hull, the salt-incrusted
timbers turned the yellow tongues into weird blue and green flares,
which in all the shades of the rainbow flickered and flourished.
Still the gallant old ship floated, and it was not more than an hour
before dawn when at last, being burnt down to the water's edge, the
Ocmulgee had to give up the fight.