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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blue Jackets, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Blue Jackets
+       The Log of the Teaser
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Illustrator: W.B. Handforth
+
+Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21299]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLUE JACKETS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+
+Blue Jackets; or, The Log of the Teaser, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+Another very exciting nautical novel by this author, who is a master of
+suspense.  HMS Teaser, a clipper-gunboat, is patrolling the China Seas
+on the lookout for pirates.  At the time of the story she has proceeded
+up the Nyho river, and is at anchor off the city of Nyho.  The teller
+of the story is one of three young midshipmen, Nathaniel Herrick.  A
+most important character is Ching, the Chinese interpreter, who would
+love to be much more important than he is.  The boys and Ching find
+themselves in various situations which look pretty terrifying at the
+time, but the author manages to slip them out of these situations just
+in the nick of time.  One particularly well-drawn scene is where the
+boys beg Ching to take them to a Chinese theatre, and he decides upon
+something that he thinks will really interest them.  Unfortunately it is
+a public beheading of some pirates whom the Teaser has brought to
+justice, but the boys do not enjoy the scene.  They realise that if they
+tried to walk out they would most probably be beheaded themselves, so
+they have to sit tight.
+
+It's a full-length novel with a great deal of suspense, so there's
+plenty to enjoy here.
+NH
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+BLUE JACKETS; OR, THE LOG OF THE TEASER, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+WE JOLLY SAILOR BOYS.
+
+"Come along, boys; look sharp!  Here's old Dishy coming."
+
+"Hang old Dishipline; he's always coming when he isn't wanted.  Tumble
+over."
+
+We three lads, midshipmen on board HM clipper gunboat the _Teaser_, did
+"tumble over"--in other words, made our way down into the boat
+alongside--but not so quickly that the first lieutenant, Mr Reardon,
+who, from his slightly Hibernian pronunciation of the word discipline
+and constant references thereto had earned for himself among us the
+sobriquet of "Dishy," did catch sight of us, come to the gangway and
+look down just as Double B had given the order to shove off, and was
+settling the strap of the large telescope he carried over his shoulder.
+I ought to tell you our names, though, in order of seniority; and it
+will make matters more easy in this log if I add our second handles or
+nicknames, for it was a habit among us that if a fellow could by any
+possibility be furnished with an alias, that furnishing took place.
+
+For instance, Bruce Barkins always went by the name of "Double B," when,
+in allusion to the Bark in his family name, he was not called the
+"Little Tanner," or "Tanner" alone; Harry Smith, being a swarthy,
+dark-haired fellow, was "Blacksmith;" and I, Nathaniel Herrick, was
+dubbed the first day "Poet"--I, who had never made a line in my life--
+and later on, as I was rather diminutive, the "Gnat."
+
+One can't start fair upon any voyage without preparations, so I must put
+in another word or two to tell you that there were two logs kept on
+board the good ship _Teaser_--one by the chief officer, and in which the
+captain often put down his opinion.  This is not that, but my own
+private log; and I'm afraid that if the skipper or Lieutenant Reardon
+had ever seen it he would have had a few words of a sort to say to me--
+words which I would rather not have heard.
+
+It was a gloriously fine morning.  We had been dodging about the coast
+on and off for a month on the look-out for piratical junks and lorchas,
+had found none, and were now lying at anchor in the mouth of the Nyho
+river, opposite the busy city of that name.  Lastly, we three had leave
+to go ashore for the day, and were just off when the first lieutenant
+came and stood in the gangway, just as I have said, and the Tanner had
+told the coxswain to shove off.
+
+"Stop!" cried our tyrant loudly; and the oars which were being dropped
+into the pea-soupy water were tossed up again and held in a row.
+
+"Oh my!" groaned Barkins.
+
+"Eh?" cried the first lieutenant sharply.  "What say?" and he looked
+hard at me.
+
+"I didn't speak, sir."
+
+"Oh, I thought you did.  Well, young gentlemen, you are going ashore for
+the day.  Not by my wish, I can assure you."
+
+"No, sir," said Smith, and he received a furious look.
+
+"Was that meant for impertinence, sir?"
+
+"I beg pardon, sir; no, sir."
+
+"Oh, I'm very glad it was not.  I was saying it was not by my wish that
+you are going ashore, for I think you would be all better employed in
+your cabin studying navigation."
+
+"Haven't had a holiday for months, sir," said Barkins, in a tone of
+remonstrance.
+
+"Well, sir, what of that?  Neither have I.  Do you suppose that the
+discipline of Her Majesty's ships is to be kept up by officers thinking
+of nothing else but holidays?  Now, listen to me--As you are going--
+recollect that you are officers and gentlemen, and that it is your duty
+to bear yourselves so as to secure respect from the Chinese inhabitants
+of the town."
+
+"Yes, sir," we said in chorus.
+
+"You will be very careful not to get into any scrapes."
+
+"Of course, sir."
+
+"And you will bear in mind that you are only barbarians--"
+
+"And foreign devils, sir."
+
+"Thank you, Mr Smith," said the lieutenant sarcastically.  "You need
+not take the words out of my mouth.  I was going to say foreign
+devils--"
+
+"I beg pardon, sir."
+
+"--In the eyes of these self-satisfied, almond-eyed Celestials.  They
+would only be too glad of an excuse to mob you or to declare that you
+had insulted them, so be careful."
+
+"Certainly, sir."
+
+"Perhaps you had better not visit their temples."
+
+Smith kicked me.
+
+"Or their public buildings."
+
+Barkins trod on my toe.
+
+"In short, I should be extremely guarded; and I think, on further
+consideration, I will go to the captain and suggest that you have
+half-a-dozen marines with you."
+
+"Captain's ashore, sir."
+
+"Thank you, Mr Herrick.  You need not be so fond of correcting me."
+
+I made a deprecatory gesture.
+
+"I should have remembered directly that Captain Thwaites was ashore."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said Barkins, touching his cap.  "Well, Mr Barkins."
+
+"I hope you will not send any marines with us."
+
+"And pray why, sir?"
+
+"We should have to be looking after them, sir, as much as they would be
+looking after us."
+
+"Mr Barkins, allow me to assure you, sir, that the dishipline of the
+marines on board this ship is above reproach."
+
+"Yes, sir.  Of course, sir.  I only thought that, after being on board
+the ship so long, sir, they might be tempted, sir."
+
+"I hope that the men of Her Majesty's gunboat _Teaser_ are above all
+temptations, Mr Barkins," said the lieutenant harshly.  "There, upon
+second thoughts, I will not send a guard.  You can go."
+
+The oars dropped with a splash on either side, and away we went among
+the hundreds of native boats of all kinds going up and down the river,
+and onward toward the crowded city, with its pagodas, towers, and
+ornamental gateways glittering in the morning sunshine, and looking
+wonderfully attractive to us prisoners, out for the day.
+
+"Don't speak aloud," I whispered to Smith, who was gathering himself up
+for an oration respecting the first lieutenant's tyranny.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because the men are listening, and one of 'em may report what you say."
+
+"He'd better," said Smith defiantly.  "I'm not afraid to speak.  It was
+all out of his niggling meddlesomeness, so as to show off before the
+men."  But all the same he spoke in a low voice that could only be heard
+by our companion who held the lines.
+
+"There, never mind all that bother," cried Barkins.  "I say, how would
+you like to live in one of those house-boats?"
+
+"I call it pretty good cheek of the pigtailed humbugs to set up
+house-boats," cried Smith.  "They imitate us in everything."
+
+"And we don't imitate them in anything, eh?" said Barkins.  "Hi! look
+out, old Chin-chin, or we shall run you down," he shouted to a man in a
+sampan.
+
+"My! what a hat!" cried Smith.  "Why, it would do for an umbrella.
+Port, Barkins."
+
+"All right; I won't sink him.  Pull away, my lads."
+
+"I say," I cried, as we rowed by an enormous junk, with high poop and
+stern painted with scarlet and gold dragons, whose eyes served for
+hawseholes; "think she's a pirate?"
+
+"No," said Barkins, giving a look up at the clumsy rig, with the huge
+matting-sails; "it's a tea-boat."
+
+As she glided away from us, with her crew collected astern, to climb up
+and watch us, grinning and making derisive gestures, Barkins suddenly
+swung round the telescope, slipped the strap over his head, adjusted it
+to the proper focus, as marked by a line scratched with the point of a
+penknife, and raised it to his eye, when, to my astonishment, I saw all
+the Chinamen drop down out of sight.
+
+"Yes, she's a tea-boat," said Double B decisively, "and heavily laden.
+I wish she had pirates on board."
+
+"Why?" cried Smith.  "They'd kill all the crew."
+
+"And then we should kill them, make a prize of the junk, and have a lot
+of tin to share.  Bother this glass, though!  I wish I hadn't brought
+it."
+
+"Why?" said Smith; "we shall have some good views from up yonder, when
+we get to the hills at the back of the town."
+
+"Ain't got there yet.  It's so heavy and clumsy, and the sun's going to
+be a scorcher."
+
+"I'll carry it, Tanner," I said.
+
+"You shall, my boy," he cried, as he closed it up, and rapidly slipped
+the strap off his shoulder again.  "Catch hold.  Mind, if you lose it, I
+value it at a hundred pounds."
+
+"Say five while you're about it, Tanner," cried Smith.  "Why, it isn't
+worth twopence--I mean I wouldn't give you a dollar for it.  But I say,
+my lads, look here, what are we going to do first?" continued Smith, who
+was in a high state of excitement, though I was as bad.  "Start off at
+once for a walk through the city?"
+
+"Shouldn't we be mobbed?"  I said, as I slung the heavy glass over my
+shoulder.
+
+"They'd better mob us!" cried Smith.  "If they give me any of their
+nonsense, I'll take tails instead of scalps.  My! what fools they do
+look, with their thick-soled shoes, long blue gowns, and shaven heads!"
+
+"That fellow in the boat is grinning at us, and thinks we look fools, I
+said."
+
+"Let him!" said Barkins.  "We know better."
+
+"But what are we going to do?"  I said.  "I hate being in a crowd."
+
+"Oh, they won't crowd us," said Barkins contemptuously.  "Here, hi! you
+sir; mind where you're going.  There, I thought you'd do it!"
+
+This was to a young Chinaman, in a boat something like a Venetian
+gondola, which he was propelling by one oar as he stood up in the bows
+watching us, and was rowing one moment, the next performing a somersault
+in the air before plunging into the water between the port oars of our
+boat with a tremendous splash.
+
+I did not say anything, thinking that it was a case of running up
+against a man, and then crying, "Where are you shoving to?" but leaned
+over the side, and caught at the first thing I saw, which happened to be
+the long black plaited pigtail, and, hauling upon it, the yellow,
+frightened face appeared, two wet hands clutched my arm, and, amidst a
+tremendous outburst of shouting in a highly-pitched tone, boats crowded
+round us, and the man was restored to his sampan, which was very little
+damaged by the blow inflicted by our stem.
+
+"Give way, my lads," cried Barkins, and we rowed on towards the
+landing-place, followed by a furious yelling; men shaking their fists,
+and making signs suggestive of how they would like to serve us if they
+had us there.
+
+"I'm sorry you knocked him over," I said.
+
+"Who knocked him over, stupid?" cried Barkins.  "Why, he ran right
+across our bows.  Oh, never mind him!  I daresay he wanted washing.  I
+don't care.  Of course, I shouldn't have liked it if he had been
+drowned."
+
+Ten minutes later we were close in to the wharf, and Smith exclaimed--
+
+"I say, why don't we get that interpreter chap to take us all round the
+place?"
+
+"Don't know where he lives," said Barkins, "or it wouldn't be a bad
+plan."
+
+"I know," I cried.
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"He showed me when he was on board, through the little glass he wanted
+to sell you."
+
+"Why, you couldn't see through that cheap thing, could you?"
+
+"Yes, quite plain.  It's just there, close to the warehouses, with a
+signboard out."
+
+"So it is," cried Smith, shading his eyes; and he read aloud from a red
+board with gilt letters thereon--
+
+  Ching
+  Englis' spoken
+  Interpret
+  Fancee shop
+
+Just then the boat glided up against the wood piles; we sprang out on to
+the wharf, ordered the men back, and stood for two minutes watching them
+well on their return for fear of any evasions, and then found ourselves
+in the midst of a dense crowd of the lower-class Chinese, in their blue
+cotton blouses and trousers, thick white-soled shoes, and every man with
+his long black pigtail hanging down between his shoulders.
+
+These men seemed to look upon us as a kind of exhibition, as they
+pressed upon us in a semicircle; and I was beginning to think that we
+should end by being thrust off into the water, when there was a burst of
+angry shouting, a pair of arms began to swing about, and the owner of
+the "fancee shop," whose acquaintance we had made on board, forced his
+way to our side, turned his back upon us, and uttered, a few words which
+had the effect of making the crowd shrink back a little.
+
+Then turning to us, he began, in his highly-pitched inquiring tone--"You
+wantee Ching?  You wantee eat, dlink, smoke?  Ching talkee muchee
+Englis'.  Come 'long! hip, hip, hoolay!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+A PIECE OF CHINA.
+
+Ching flourished his arms to right and left, forming a lane for us to
+pass along, and we followed him for the few dozen yards between the
+landing-place and his place of business; but it was like passing through
+so much human sand, which flowed in again behind us, and as soon as we
+were in the shelter of the lightly-built bamboo place, crowded round the
+door to stare in.
+
+But Ching had regularly taken us under his protection, and, stepping
+into the doorway, he delivered himself of a furious harangue, which grew
+louder and louder, and ended by his banging to the door and fastening
+it; after which he turned to us with his little black eyes twinkling,
+and crying--
+
+"Allee light.  Ching light man light place."
+
+We all laughed, of course, and the Chinaman joined in.  Then, growing
+serious directly, he looked from one to the other.
+
+"You likee dlink?"
+
+"No, no, not yet," cried Barkins.
+
+"No likee dlink?" said the Chinaman wonderingly; and then in a voice
+full of reproof, "Sailor boy likee dlink."
+
+"Oh yes, by and by," cried Smith.
+
+"Ah, you wantee buy fan, shawl, ivoly?  Fancee shop."
+
+"No, no, we don't want to buy anything now," cried Barkins.  "We'll pay
+you--"
+
+"Allee light," cried the man, brightening up, for he had looked
+disappointed, and he held out both hands for the promised pay.
+
+"Oh, come, wait a bit," I said.  "We want you to take us and show us the
+shops."
+
+"No, no.  Shop no good.  Bess shop--fancee shop, Ching."
+
+"Oh yes; but we want to see the others too, and the streets."
+
+"Stleet allee full dust--allee full mud.  No good."
+
+"Never mind," said Barkins; "we want to see them, and the temples and
+mandarins' houses."
+
+"Pliest shut up temple.  Want muchee money.  Mandalin call soldier man
+muchee, put all in plison.  No good."
+
+"They'd better," cried Smith; "why, the captain would blow all the place
+down with his big guns."
+
+"No blow Ching fancee shop down.  Englis' spoken.  Good fliend."
+
+"Look here, Ching.  Shut up shop, and come and take us all round the
+town to see everything, and we'll each give you a dollar."
+
+"Thlee dollar?" cried the man, holding his head on one side, and raising
+three fingers.
+
+"Yes," we cried, and once more his hand went out.
+
+"What can't you trust us?" cried Smith.
+
+"No tlust.  All pay leady money.  Go 'board.  Fo'get."
+
+"Oh no, we shan't," I cried.  "And look here, Ching, after we've been
+round the town we want to go to the theatre."
+
+"'Top flee day to go to fleatre?" he said.
+
+"Three days! no.  We must be back on board at sundown."
+
+"No go fleatre--no time."
+
+"Never mind the theatre, then," cried Barkins.  "Now then, off we go.
+And I say, boys, let's have something to eat first."
+
+"Wantee something eatee?" cried Ching, making for a canister upon a
+shelf.
+
+"No, no," cried Smith, "not that.  We want a good dinner.  Do you know
+what a restaurant is?"
+
+"Lestaulant?"
+
+The Chinaman shook his head.
+
+"Wantee good din': eat muchee soup, fis', cakee?"
+
+"Yes, that's right; come along."
+
+The yellow-faced man went softly to the door and listened, while we
+glanced round at the collection of common Chinese curios, carvings,
+lanterns, sunshades, stuffed birds, bits of silk, and cane baskets which
+filled the place, till he came back to us with a cunning look, and his
+eyes twinkling, as Smith said, "like two currants in a penny bun."
+
+"Too muchee men all wait," he whispered.  "No talkee talkee;" and,
+making a gesture to us to be very silent, he led us through the back of
+his shop into a smaller room, closed and fastened the door, and then led
+us through another into a kind of yard full of boxes and old tea-chests,
+surrounded by a bamboo paling.
+
+There was a gate at the end of this, and he led us through, fastened it,
+and, signing to us to follow, led us in and out behind houses, where we
+sometimes saw a woman or two, sometimes children at play, all of whom
+took refuge within till we had passed.
+
+"Big clowd outside, wait long time," said Ching, with a laugh; and
+directly after he led us along a narrow alley and out into a busy
+street, which was crowded enough, but with people going to and fro,
+evidently on business, and though all stopped to look, and some
+followed, it was not a waterside crowd of loafers, but of respectable
+people, moved by curiosity to watch the barbarian sailors passing along
+their street, but paying most heed to me with the heavy glass.
+
+I'm getting an old man now, my lads--the old boy who is writing this
+log; but it all comes back as clear to my mind's eye as if it were only
+yesterday: the narrow, busy street, with men shuffling along carrying
+packages, baskets of fruit and vegetables or fish, cages too containing
+birds, and all in the same way slung at the ends of a stout bamboo
+placed across the bearer's shoulder, and swinging there as if the man
+were carrying curious-looking pairs of scales.
+
+The shops were as bright and gay as paint and gilding laid on their
+quaint carvings could make them, while on their fronts hung curious
+lanterns, banners, and signs covered with Chinese characters, all of
+which I longed to decipher, and at which I was ready to stop and stare,
+till Ching bade me imperatively, "Come 'long."
+
+"Chinaman no fond love English sailor allee same Ching.  Don't know
+better.  Come 'long."
+
+This drew my attention to the fact that among the faces full of
+curiosity there were plenty which greeted us with a heavy, dull scowl,
+and, recalling the fact that we were only "foreign devils," according to
+their teachings, it seemed better to obey our guide, though we were all
+bitten by the same desire to stop and inspect the various shops and
+stores we passed.
+
+Ching led us farther and farther away from the riverside, and past
+enclosures at whose gates stood truculent-looking, showily-dressed men,
+who carried swords hung from a kind of baldrick, and scowled at us from
+beneath their flat, conical lacquered hats.  And I noticed that our
+guide always hurried us past these gateways, peeps through which were
+wonderfully attractive, showing as they did glimpses of gardens which
+looked like glorified, highly-coloured representations of our old
+friends the willow-pattern plates.
+
+One in particular was so open that Smith stopped short, heedless of the
+presence of three fierce-looking Chinamen, with showy robes and long
+pendent moustachios.
+
+"Look here, boys," he cried.  "What a game!  Here's the old bridge over
+the water, and the cannon-ball tree, and the gold-fish pond, and--"
+
+"Come 'long," whispered Ching hurriedly; and he caught our comrade by
+the arm, forcing him onward as the guards scowled at us fiercely.
+
+"Here, what are you up to?" cried Smith, resenting the interference.
+
+"Take velly much care of Englis' offlicers.  Big mandalin live there.
+Men sword velly sharp--cut off head."
+
+"Bosh!" said Smith shortly; "they'd better."
+
+"Oh no, they hadn't," cried Barkins.  "We don't want to take you on
+board without any head."
+
+"But they daren't hurt us," cried Smith bumptiously.  "We're Englishmen,
+and our gunboat is in the river.  I'm not afraid.  Why, there'd be a war
+if one of these men interfered with us.  Our people would land and burn
+up the place."
+
+"No," said Ching quietly.  "Send letter to mandalin.  Why you men cut
+off little offlicer head?"
+
+"Here, who are you calling little officer, Pigtail?" cried Smith
+indignantly.
+
+"Mean young offlicer," cried Ching hastily.  "Say, Why you men cut chop
+young offlicer head off?  Mandalin say, Velly solly.  He find out who
+blave was who chop young offlicer head, and give him lichi."
+
+"You mean toco?" said Barkins.
+
+"No; lichi."
+
+"What's lichi?"  I said.
+
+"Tie blave up along post, and man come velly sharp sword, cut him all in
+'lit pieces while he live."
+
+"And do they do that?"  I asked, in horror.
+
+"Neve' find out blave who chop off head," said Ching, with a queer
+twinkle of the eyes.  "No find blave, no can give him lichi."
+
+"Sounds pleasant, Poet, don't it?" said Barkins.
+
+"Horrid!"  I cried, with a shudder.
+
+"Moral: Don't try to peep into mandarins' gateways, Blacksmith,"
+continued Barkins.
+
+"Bosh! it's all gammon.  I should like to see one of them try to cut my
+head off."
+
+"I shouldn't," I cried, laughing; "and he wouldn't."
+
+"No," said Ching perfectly seriously.  "Velly bad have head chop off.
+Head velly useful."
+
+"Very," said Barkins mockingly.  "Well done, Chinese Wisdom.  I say,
+Herrick, why is a mandarin like the Grand Panjandrum?"
+
+"Because he plays at the game of catch, catch, can and can't catch the
+man who cuts off the English fellow's head," said Smith.
+
+"Wrong!" cried Barkins.  "Now you, Poet."
+
+"Because he's got a little round button on the top."
+
+"Good boy, go up one," cried Barkins.
+
+"Hallo! what place is this?"
+
+"Velly good place, eatee drinkee.  All velly nicee nicee."
+
+"Here, I say, Ching," cried Smith, "gently; any one would think we were
+babies.  Stow some of that nicee nicee."
+
+"Yes!  Stow all along inside, like ship.  Allee good.  Come 'long."
+
+For we had reached a showy-looking open-sided building, standing a
+little way back in a well-kept garden, with rockeries and tiny
+fish-ponds, clipped trees and paved walks, while the large open house
+displayed tables and neat-looking waiters going to and fro, attending
+upon well-dressed Chinamen, whose occupation was so much in accordance
+with our desires, that we entered at once, and Ching led the way to a
+table; one of the waiters coming up smiling as soon as we were seated.
+
+"Now then," cried Barkins, who was full of memories of hard biscuit and
+tough salt beef, "what are we going to have to eat?"
+
+"I don't know," I said, looking round uneasily.  "What have they got?"
+
+"Here, let's make Ching order the dinner," cried Smith.  "Look here, old
+chap.  We can have a good dinner for a dollar apiece, can't we?"
+
+"Velly good dinner, dollar piecee," he replied.
+
+"That's right," said Barkins; "we don't have a chance every day to spend
+a dollar upon our dinner.  Go it, Ching.  Tell the waiter fellow, and
+order for yourself too.  But I say, boys, we must have birds'-nest
+soup."
+
+"Of course," we chorussed, though Smith and I agreed afterwards that we
+rather shrank from trying the delicacy.
+
+Ching lost no time in giving the orders, and in a very few minutes the
+man bustled up with saucers and basins, and we began tasting this and
+tasting that as well as we could with the implements furnished to us for
+the purpose, to wit chopsticks, each watching the apparently wonderful
+skill with which Ching transferred his food from the tiny saucers placed
+before him, and imitating his actions with more or less success--
+generally less.
+
+We had some sweet stuff, and some bits of cucumber cut up small, and
+some thick sticky soap-like stuff, which rather put me in mind of melted
+blancmange with salt and pepper instead of sugar, and when this was
+ended came saucers of mincemeat.
+
+"'Tain't bad," whispered Barkins, as we ate delicately.  "Peg away,
+lads.  We're pretty safe so long as we eat what Pigtail does."
+
+I did not feel so sure; but I was hungry, and as the food did not seem
+to be, as Barkins said, bad, I kept on, though I could not help
+wondering what we were eating.
+
+"I say, Ching," said Smith suddenly, "when's the birds'-nest soup
+coming?  Oughtn't we to have had that first?"
+
+"Eat um all up lit' bit go," replied Ching.
+
+"What, that sticky stuff?"  I cried.
+
+"Yes.  No have velly bess flesh birds'-ness for dolla'; but all velly
+good.  Nicee nicee, velly nicee."
+
+"Don't!" cried Smith excitedly.
+
+"Let him be, Blacksmith," said Barkins; "it's only his way.  Ah, here's
+something else!"
+
+I looked at the little saucers placed before us, in which, neatly
+divided, were little appetising-looking brown heaps, covered with rich
+gravy, and smelling uncommonly nice.
+
+"What's this?" said Barkins, turning his over with the chopsticks.
+
+"Velly good," said Ching, smiling, and making a beginning.
+
+"Yes; don't smell bad," said Smith.  "I know: it's quails.  There's lots
+of quail in China.  'Licious!"
+
+I had a little bit of the white meat and brown gravy, which I had
+separated from a tiny bone with the chopsticks, and was congratulating
+myself on my cleverness, when it dropped back into my saucer, for Ching,
+with his mouth full, said quietly--
+
+"No, not lit' bird--lat."
+
+"What's lat?" said Barkins suspiciously.
+
+"No lat," said Ching smiling; "lat."
+
+"Well, I said lat.  What is lat?"
+
+Smith put down his chopsticks.  I had already laid down mine.
+
+"What's the matter?" said Barkins, who kept on suspiciously turning over
+the contents of his saucer.
+
+"He means rat," whispered Smith in an awful tone.
+
+"What!" cried Barkins, pushing himself back with a comical look of
+disgust upon his face.
+
+"Yes, lat," said Ching.  "Velly good fat lat."
+
+Our faces were a study.  At least I know that my companions' were; and
+we were perfectly silent while our guide kept on making a sound with his
+mouth as he supped up the rich gravy.
+
+"Here, hold hard a minute," said Smith.  "I mean you, Ching."
+
+"Yes?" said the Chinaman, with a pleasant smile; and he crossed his
+chopsticks, and looked at our brother middy inquiringly.
+
+"What was that we were eating a little while ago?"
+
+"Clucumber; velly good."
+
+"No, no; before that."
+
+"Birds'-ness soup; velly cost much.  Not all birds'-ness.  Some
+shark-fis' fin."
+
+"I don't mean that, I tell you," cried Smith in an exasperated tone of
+voice.  "I mean that other brown meat cut up small into the brown sauce.
+It was rabbit, wasn't it?"
+
+"Oh no," said Ching decisively; "no labbit.  Lit' mince-up pup-dog.
+Nicee nicee."
+
+Smith turned green, and his eyes rolled so that he actually squinted;
+while Barkins uttered a low sound-like gasp.  As for me, I felt as I
+remember feeling after partaking meekly of what one of my aunts used to
+call prune tea--a decoction made by boiling so many French plums along
+with half an ounce of senna leaves.
+
+"Oh gracious!" murmured Barkins; while Smith uttered a low groan.
+
+"You both likee more?" said Ching blandly.
+
+"No!" they cried so unanimously that it was like one voice; and in spite
+of my own disgust and unpleasant sensations I felt as if I must laugh at
+them.
+
+"Oh, mawkish morsels!" muttered Barkins.
+
+"You feel you have 'nuff?" said Ching, smiling.  "Oh no.  Loas' suck-pig
+come soon.  You eat velly much more."
+
+"Not if I know it," whispered Smith to me.  "I don't believe it'll be
+pig."
+
+"What then?"  I whispered back.
+
+"Kid."
+
+"Well, kid's nice."
+
+"Get out!  I meant baby."
+
+"Ugh!  Don't."
+
+"It's too late to say don't," groaned Smith.  "We've done it."
+
+"Hold up, old chap," I whispered.  "Everybody's looking at you."
+
+"Let 'em," he groaned.  "Oh, I do feel so ill!"
+
+"Nonsense!  Look at Tanner."
+
+He turned his wild eyes upon Barkins, whose aspect was ludicrous enough
+to make him forget his own sensations, and he smiled a peculiarly
+saddened, pensive smile; for our messmate was leaning towards Ching.
+
+"Don't eat any more of that," he said faintly.
+
+"Eat um all up; velly good."
+
+"Can one get a drop of brandy here?"
+
+"Dlop blandy?  No.  Velly nicee 'lack."
+
+"What's 'lack?"
+
+"No, no 'lack! lice spilit."
+
+"'Rack!"  I said--"arrack?"
+
+"Yes, allack," said Ching, nodding.
+
+"Let's have some--a glass each," said Barkins; "and look sharp."
+
+Ching summoned one of the smiling waiters, and the order was given.
+Then for the first time he noticed that we had not finished the contents
+of our little saucers.
+
+"No eat lat?" he cried.
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"Velly good!"
+
+"We're not quite well," said Smith.
+
+"Been out in the sun too much," added Barkins.
+
+"Ah, sun too much bad!  Lit' dlop spilit make quite well.  No eat lat?"
+
+"No, no!" we cried in chorus.
+
+"Velly good," said our guide; and in alarm lest such a delicacy should
+be wasted, he drew first one and then the other saucer over to his side,
+and finished their contents.
+
+Long before this, though, the attendant had brought us three tiny
+glasses of white spirit, which we tossed off eagerly, with the result
+that the qualmish sensations passed away; but no recommendations on the
+part of our guide could induce us to touch anything that followed,
+saving sundry preparations of rice and fruit, which were excellent.
+
+The dinner over, Ching took us about the garden to inspect the lilies in
+pots, the gold and silver fish, fat and wonderfully shaped, which glided
+about in the tanks and ponds, and then led us into a kind of arbour,
+where, beneath a kind of wooden eave, an instrument was hanging from a
+peg.  It was not a banjo, for it was too long; and it was not a guitar,
+for it was too thin, and had not enough strings; but it was something of
+the kind, and evidently kept there for the use of musically-disposed
+visitors.
+
+"You likee music?" said Ching.
+
+"Oh yes," I replied dubiously, as I sat using the telescope, gazing
+right away over the lower part of the town at the winding river, with
+its crowds of craft.
+
+"Why, he isn't going to play, is he?" whispered Smith.  "We don't want
+to hear that.  Let's go out in the town."
+
+"Don't be in such a hurry," replied Barkins.  "The sun's too hot.  I
+say, our dinner wasn't such a very great success, was it?"
+
+Smith shook his head, and just then Ching began to tune the instrument,
+screwing the pegs up and down, and producing the most lugubrious sounds,
+which somehow made me begin to think of home, and how strange it was to
+be sitting there in a place which seemed like part of a picture,
+listening to the Chinese guide.
+
+I had forgotten the unpleasantry of the dinner in the beauty of the
+scene, for there were abundance of flowers, the sky was of a vivid blue,
+and the sun shone down brilliantly, and made the distant water of the
+river sparkle.
+
+Close by there were the Chinese people coming and going in their strange
+costume; a busy hum came through the open windows; and I believe that in
+a few minutes I should have been asleep, if Ching had not awakened me by
+his vigorous onslaught upon the instrument, one of whose pegs refused to
+stay in exactly the right place as he kept on tuning.
+
+@@@@
+
+Then a little more screwing up.
+
+_Peng_, _peng_, _pang_--_pong_.
+
+Ching stopped, nursed the instrument upon his knee as if it were a baby,
+pulled out the offending peg as if it were a tooth, moistened the hole,
+replaced the peg, and began again--screw, screw, screw.
+
+@@@@
+
+Just a quarter of a tone out still, and he tried again diligently, while
+my eyes half closed, and the Tanner and Blacksmith both nodded in the
+heat.
+
+@@@@
+
+Right at last; and Ching threw himself back so that his mouth would open
+to the widest extent, struck a chord on the three strings, and burst
+forth with celestial accompaniment into what was in all probability a
+passionate serenade, full of allusions to nightingales, moonbeams,
+dew-wet roses, lattice-windows, and beautiful moon-faced maidens, but
+which sounded to me like--
+
+  "Ti ope I ow wow,
+  Ti ope I ow yow,
+  Ti ope I ow tow,
+  Ti ope I ligh."
+
+The words, I say, sounded like that: the music it would be impossible to
+give, for the whole blended together into so lamentable a howl, that
+both Barkins and Smith started up into wakefulness from a deep sleep,
+and the former looked wildly round, as confused and wondering he
+exclaimed--
+
+"What's matter?"
+
+As for Smith, he seemed to be still half-asleep, and he sat up, staring
+blankly at the performer, who kept on howling--I can call it nothing
+else--in the most doleful of minor keys.
+
+"I say," whispered Barkins, "did you set him to do that?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"Because--oh, just look! here are all the people coming out to see
+what's the matter."
+
+He was right as to the people coming, for in twos and threes, as they
+finished the refreshment of which they had been partaking, first one
+path was filled and then another, the people coming slowly up and
+stopping to listen, while Barkins stared at them in blank astonishment.
+
+"Here Nat--Poet," he whispered, "look at 'em."
+
+"I am looking," I said.  "Isn't it just like a picture?"
+
+"It's like an old firescreen," he said; "but I don't mean that.  Look!
+Hang me if the beggars don't seem to like it.  Can't you stop him?"
+
+"No, of course not."
+
+"But how long will it be before he has run down?"
+
+"I don't know," I whispered.  "But look, aren't those like some of the
+men we saw by the gates?"
+
+I drew his attention to about half-a-dozen fierce-looking men in showy
+coats and lacquered hats, who came up to the garden, stared hard at us,
+and then walked in.  Each of them, I noticed, wore a sword, and a kind
+of dagger stuck in his belt, and this made me at once recall their
+offensive looks and contemptuous manner towards us, and think of how far
+we were away from the ship, and unarmed, save for the ornamental dirks
+which hung from our belts, weapons that would have been, even if we had
+known how to use them, almost like short laths against the Chinamen's
+heavy, broad-bladed, and probably sharp swords.
+
+"I say, Gnat," whispered Barkins, "those must be the chaps we saw at the
+mandarin's gate.  Never mind; we'll ask them to have something as soon
+as old Ching has finished his howling."
+
+But that did not seem likely to be for some time, and I began to think,
+as I sat there noticing how the men were gradually closing in upon us,
+that our position was not very safe, right away from the landing-place,
+and that we had done wrong in stopping so long where we were.  I knew
+that the Chinese were obsequious and humble enough so long as they were
+face to face with a stronger power, but if they had the upper hand,
+cruel and merciless to any one not of their own nation, and that it was
+wiser to give them a wide berth.
+
+Then I began to think that the captain had been too ready to believe in
+our prestige in giving us leave to go, and that we should have been
+wiser if we had stayed on board.  Finally, I had just come to the
+conclusion that we ought to stop Ching in his howling or singing, which
+grew more and more vehement as he saw that his audience was increasing,
+when Smith jogged my elbow.
+
+"I say," he whispered, "let's get away from here."
+
+"Why?"  I said, to get to know what he thought.
+
+"Because I'm afraid those chaps with the swords mean mischief."
+
+"I say, lads," said Barkins, leaning towards us, "aren't those chaps
+crowding us up rather?  What do they mean?  Here, I'm senior, and the
+skipper said I was to take care of you youngsters.  We'll go back to the
+wharf at once."
+
+"What's the good?" said Smith.  "The boat won't be there to fetch us off
+till sundown."
+
+"Never mind, let's get away from here," said Barkins decisively; "we
+don't want to get in a row with the Chinese, and that's what they want."
+
+"But they're quiet enough," I said, growing nervous all the while.
+
+"Yes, they're quiet enough now," whispered Barkins; "but you look at
+that big fellow with the yellow belt, he keeps on making faces at us."
+
+"Let him; that will not hurt us."
+
+"I know that, little stupid," he cried, "but what follows may.  Look at
+him now."
+
+I looked up quickly, and saw the man turn away from looking at us, and
+say something to his fierce-looking companions, who glanced towards us
+and laughed.
+
+"There," said Barkins, "I'm not going to be laughed at by those jolly
+old pigtailed heathens.  Here, Ching, old chap, we want to go."
+
+As he spoke he gave our guide a sharp nudge, which made him turn round
+and stare.
+
+"Ti--ope--I--ow!"
+
+"Do you hear?  We want to go!"
+
+"Ti--ope--I--ow!" howled Ching, beginning again.
+
+"Yes, we want to go," I said anxiously.
+
+"Ti--ope--I--ow!" he howled again, but as he gave forth his peculiar
+sounds he suddenly struck--purposely--a false, jarring note, lowered the
+instrument, seized one of the pegs as if in a passion, and began talking
+to me in a low, earnest voice, to the accompaniment of the string he
+tuned.
+
+"Ching see now,"--_peng_, _peng_, _peng_--"bad men with
+swords,"--_pang_, _peng_--"look velly closs,"--_pang_, _pong_--"wantee
+fightee,"--_pang_, _pang_--"you no wantee fightee,"--_pung_, _pung_.
+
+"No," I whispered anxiously; "let's go at once."
+
+"No takee notice,"--_pang_, _peng_, _peng_.  "All flee, walkee walkee
+round one sidee house,"--_pang_, _pong_--"Ching go long other
+sidee,"--_peng_, _peng_.  "No make, hully--walkee velly slow over lit'
+blidge,"--_ping_, _ping_, _ping_, _ping_, _pang_, _pang_.
+
+The little bridge was just behind us, and I grasped all he said--that we
+were to go slowly over the bridge and walk round the back of the house,
+while he would go round the front and meet us on the other side.
+
+_Bang_, _jangle_, _pang_, _pang_, _ping_, _ping_, _peng_, _peng_, went
+the instrument, as Ching strummed away with all his might.
+
+"Wait, Ching come show way," he whispered.  And as I saw that the
+mandarin's men were coming nearer and evidently meant mischief, Ching
+raised his instrument again, and, after a preliminary flourish, began
+once more, to the delight of the crowd.  My messmates and I slowly left
+our places and walked round the summer-house towards the little bridge
+over one of the gold-fish tanks, moving as deliberately as we could,
+while Ching's voice rang out, "Ti--ope--I--ow!" as if nothing were the
+matter.
+
+The little crowd was between us and the mandarin's retainers, but it was
+hard work to appear cool and unconcerned.  Above all, it took almost a
+superhuman effort to keep from looking back.
+
+Smith could not resist the desire, and gave a sharp glance round.
+
+"They're coming after us," he whispered.  "We shall have to cut and
+run."
+
+"No, no," said Barkins hoarsely.  "They'd overtake us directly.  They'd
+come down like a pack of wolves.  We must be cool, lads, and be ready to
+turn and draw at the last.  The beggars are awful cowards after all."
+
+We went on over the bridge, and, in spite of my dread, I made believe to
+look down at the gold-fish, pointing below at them, but seizing the
+opportunity to look out for danger.
+
+It was a quick glance, and it showed me that the crowd from the
+eating-house were taking no notice of us, but listening to Ching, who
+had left his seat, and, singing with all his might, was walking along
+one of the paths towards the front of the low building, while we were
+slowly making for the back, with the result of crowding the mandarin's
+men back a little, for the whole of the company moved with our guide,
+carefully making room for him to play, and thus unconsciously they
+hampered the movements of our enemies.
+
+The distance was not great, of course--fifty yards altogether, perhaps,
+along winding and doubling walks, for the Chinese are ingenious over
+making the most of a small garden, but it was long enough to keep us in
+an intense state of excitement, as from time to time we caught sight of
+the men following us.
+
+Then we saw that they had stopped to watch which way we went, and
+directly after we knew that they were only waiting for us to be behind
+the house to go back and hurry round and meet us.
+
+At last we had passed to the end of the maze-like walk, and were
+sheltered by the house from the little crowd and our enemies, with the
+result that all felt relieved.
+
+"I say," said Smith, "isn't this only a scare?"
+
+"Don't know," said Barkins.  "P'raps so; but I shan't be sorry to get on
+board again.  They think nothing of cutting a fellow to pieces."
+
+"Let's make haste, then," I said; and, nothing loth, the others hurried
+on past the back of the house, where the kitchen seemed to be, and
+plenty of servants were hurrying to and fro, too busy to take any heed
+of us.  Then we turned the corner, and found that we were opposite to a
+gateway opening upon a very narrow lane, which evidently went along by
+the backs of the neighbouring houses, parallel with the main street,
+which was, however, not such a great deal wider than this.
+
+"Here's a way for us to go down, at all events," said Barkins, after we
+had listened for a few moments for Ching's song, and the wiry notes of
+his instrument.
+
+"Yes, let's cut down at once," said Smith.
+
+"Where to?"  I said excitedly.  "We can't find our way without Ching."
+
+"No; and those beggars would hunt us down there at once," said Barkins.
+"Won't do.  I say, though, why don't they give us better tools than
+these to wear?"
+
+"Hark!"  I said; "listen!"
+
+We listened, but there was nothing but the murmur of voices in the
+house, and not a soul to be seen on our side, till all at once I caught
+sight of something moving among the shrubs, and made out that it was the
+gay coat of one of the men from whom we sought to escape.
+
+"Come on!" said Smith excitedly, and he threw open the gate leading into
+the narrow lane, so that in another moment we should have been in full
+retreat, had not a door behind us in the side of the house been opened,
+and Ching appeared.
+
+He did not speak, but made a sign for us to enter, and we were hardly
+inside and the door thrust to--all but a chink big enough for our guide
+to use for reconnoitring--when we heard the soft pat-pat of the men's
+boots, then the rustle of their garments, and the tap given by one of
+their swords as they passed through the gateway and ran down the narrow
+lane.
+
+"All gone along, catchee you," whispered Ching.  "Come 'long other way."
+
+He stepped out, made us follow, and then carefully closed the door.
+
+"Now, come 'long this way," he said, with his eyes twinkling.  "No
+walkee fast.  Allee boy lun after."
+
+We saw the wisdom of his proceedings, and followed him, as he took us by
+the way our enemies had come, straight out into the main street, down it
+a little way, and then up a turning, which he followed till we came to
+another important street parallel to the one by which we had come, and
+began to follow it downward toward the waterside.
+
+"Muchee flighten?" he said.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," growled Barkins, who had the deepest voice of the
+three.  "It was startling.  Did they mean mischief?"
+
+"Mean chop chop.  Allee bad wick' men.  No catchee now.  Ching velly
+much flighten."
+
+He did not look so, but chatted away with open, smiling face, as he
+pointed first on one side then on the other to some striking-looking
+shop or building, though he never paused for a moment, but kept on at a
+good rate without showing a sign of hurry or excitement.
+
+"How are we to get on board when we get to the river?"  I said, as we
+went on.  "There'll be no boat till sundown."
+
+"Ching get one piecee boat low all aboard ship."
+
+"Can't you keep us in your place till our boat comes?"
+
+The man shook his head.  "Mandalin boy come burn um down, makee all lun
+out.  So velly hot.  No stay.  Get boat, low away."
+
+"How far is it, do you think?" asked Smith.
+
+"I don't know," said Barkins.  "We seemed to be walking for hours in the
+hot sun coming up.  How far is it, Ching?"
+
+"Velly long way.  No look at garden now."
+
+He pointed to one of the handsome gateways about which a party of armed
+retainers were hanging, and, whispering to us not to take any notice, he
+walked us steadily along.
+
+But we were not to get by the place without notice, for the loungers saw
+us coming, and strode out in a swaggering way--three big sturdy fellows
+in blue and scarlet, and pretty well blocked the way as they stood
+scowling at us.
+
+"Look out," whispered Barkins, "ready with your toasting-forks, and then
+if it comes to it we must run."
+
+"You'll stick by us, Gnat," whispered Smith in a hasty whisper.
+
+"I'll try," I said.
+
+"Keep velly close," whispered Ching.  "No takee notice.  No talkee
+closs.  Ching speakee."
+
+He said something in Chinese to the men, and led us in single file
+between the two most fierce-looking, our prompt action taking them
+somewhat by surprise, and, as we gave them no excuse for taking offence,
+they only turned to gaze after us.
+
+There were plenty of people in the street ready to stand and look at us,
+and we met with no interruption from them, but I could not help seeing
+the anxiety in Ching's face, and how from time to time he wiped his
+streaming brow.  But as soon as he saw either of us looking at him he
+smiled as if there was nothing the matter whatever.
+
+"No velly long now," he said.  "Lot bad men to-day.  You come walkee
+walkee 'gain?"
+
+"It's not very tempting, Ching," I said.  "Why can't they leave us
+alone?"
+
+He tightened his lips and shook his head.  Then, looking sharply before
+him, he hurried us along a little more.
+
+"Wish got ten--twenty--piecee soldier man 'longside," he whispered to
+me, and the next minute he grasped my arm with a spasmodic snatch.
+
+"What's the matter?"  I said.
+
+He did not speak, but looked sharply to right and left for a means of
+escape.  For, in spite of the cleverness of our guide, the mandarin's
+men had been as cunning.  They had either divined or been told that we
+had made for the other street, and had contrived to reach the connecting
+lane along which we should have to pass.  Here they had planted
+themselves, and just as we were breathing more freely, in the belief
+that before long we should reach the shore of the great river, we caught
+sight of them in company with about a dozen more.
+
+We were all on the point of halting, as we saw them about fifty yards in
+front, but Ching spoke out sharply--
+
+"No stoppee," he said firmly.  "Lun away, all come catchee and choppee
+off head.  Go 'long stlaight and flighten 'em.  Englis' sailor foleign
+debil, 'flaid o' nobody."
+
+"There's something in that," said Barkins.  "Right.  Show a bold front,
+lads.  Let's go straight by them, and if they attack, then out with your
+swords and let's make a fight for it."
+
+I heard Smith say, "All right," and my heart was beating very fast as I
+said the same.
+
+Frightened?  Of course I was.  I don't believe the boy ever lived who
+would not feel frightened at having to face death.  For it was death we
+had to face then, and in the ugliest shape.  But Smith's words sent a
+thrill through us.
+
+"I say, lads," he said, "we've got to fight this time.  If we begged for
+our lives they'd only serve us worse; so let 'em have it, and recollect
+that, if they kill us, the old _Teasers'll_ come and burn their town
+about their ears."
+
+"'Fraid, Ching?"  I whispered; for he and I were in front.
+
+"No 'flaid now," he whispered back.  "Plenty flighten by and by."
+
+He smiled as he spoke, and led us straight on to where the four
+mandarin's men and the rough-looking fellows with them blocked the road,
+and if for a moment we had shown any hesitation, I believe they would
+have rushed at us like wolves.  But Ching kept his head up as if proud
+of acting as guide to three British officers, and when we got close up
+he nodded smilingly at the men in the mandarin's colours, and then, as
+if astounded at the little crowd standing fast, he burst out into a
+furious passion, shouting at them in a wild gabble of words, with the
+effect of making them give way at once, so that we passed through.
+
+Then I heard him draw a panting breath, and saw that he was ghastly.
+
+"Walkee walkee," he whispered.  "Not velly fast.  'Top I say lun, and
+lun fast alleegether."
+
+At that moment there was a loud shouting behind, then a yell, and,
+turning my head, I saw that the mandarin's men had their great blades
+out, and were leading the men after us, shouting to excite themselves
+and the little mob.
+
+"Now lun!" cried Ching.  "I showee way."
+
+"No!" shouted Barkins.  "Draw swords and retreat slowly."
+
+We whipped out our weapons and turned to face the enemy, knowing full
+well that they would sweep over us at the first rush, while a feeling of
+rage ran through me, as in my despairing fit I determined to make the
+big fellow opposite to me feel one dig of English steel before he cut me
+down.
+
+Then they were upon us with a rush, and I saw Ching dart in front and
+cleverly snatch one of the clumsy swords from the nearest man.  The next
+moment he had whirled it up with both hands, when--
+
+_Boom_--_Crash_!
+
+There was the report of a heavy gun, whose concussion made the wooden
+houses on each side jar and quiver as it literally ran up the narrow
+street, and, to our astonishment, we saw the little mob turn on the
+instant and begin to run, showing us, instead of their fierce savage
+faces, so many black pigtails; the mandarin's men, though, last.
+
+"Hooray!" we yelled after them, and they ran the faster.
+
+"Now, velly quick," panted Ching.  "Come back again soon."
+
+We uttered another shout, and hurried along the lane to the principal
+street, turned at right angles, and began to hurry along pretty rapidly
+now, Ching marching beside us with the big sword over his shoulder.
+
+But the scare was only temporary, the tremendous report was not
+repeated, and before a minute had elapsed, our guide, who kept glancing
+back, cried--
+
+"Now, lun velly fast.  Come along catchee catchee, and no big gun go
+shoot this time."
+
+He was quite right, and we took to our heels, with the yelling mob close
+at hand, and so many people in front, that we felt certain of being run
+down long before we could reach the waterside.
+
+"And no chance for us when we do," muttered Barkins from close behind
+me.  "Oh, if a couple of dozen of our lads were only here!  Why didn't
+they send 'em?" he panted, "instead of firing as a signal for us to go
+back on board."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+CUTTING IT CLOSE.
+
+My messmate uttered these words close to my ears in a despairing tone as
+we dashed on, and now I saw Ching strike to his right, while I made a
+cut or two at my left, as men started from the sides and tried to trip
+us up.
+
+I was growing faint with the heat down in that narrow, breathless
+street, my clothes stuck to me, and Barkins' heavy telescope banged
+heavily against my side, making me feel ready to unfasten the strap and
+let it fall.  But I kept on for another fifty yards or so with our
+enemies yelling in the rear, and the waterside seeming to grow no
+nearer.
+
+"Keep together, lads," cried Barkins excitedly.  "It can't be far now.
+We'll seize the first boat we come to, and the tide will soon take us
+out of their reach."
+
+But these words came in a broken, spasmodic way, for, poor fellow, he
+was as out of breath as any of us.
+
+"Hoolay!  Velly lit' way now," cried Ching; and then he finished with a
+howl of rage, for half-a-dozen armed men suddenly appeared from a
+gateway below us, and we saw at a glance that they were about to take
+sides with the rest.
+
+"Lun--lun," yelled Ching, and, flourishing his sword, he led us right at
+the newcomers, who, startled and astounded by our apparent boldness,
+gave way, and we panted on, utterly exhausted, for another fifty yards,
+till Ching suddenly stopped in an angle of the street formed by a
+projecting house.
+
+"No lun.  No, no!" he panted.  "Fight--kill."
+
+Following his example, we faced round, and our bold front checked the
+miserable gang of wretches, who stopped short a dozen yards from us,
+their numbers swelled by the new party, and waited yelling and howling
+behind the swordsmen, who stood drawing up their sleeves, and
+brandishing their heavy weapons, working themselves up for the final
+rush, in which I knew we should be hacked to pieces.
+
+"Good-bye, old chap," whispered Barkins in a piteous tone, his voice
+coming in sobs of exhaustion.  "Give point when they come on: don't
+strike.  Try and kill one of the cowardly beggars before they finish
+us."
+
+"Yes," I gasped.
+
+"Chuck that spyglass down," cried Smith; "it's in your way."
+
+Gladly enough I swung the great telescope round, slipped the strap over
+my head, and as I did so I saw a sudden movement in the crowd.
+
+In an instant the experience we had had upon the river flashed across my
+brain.  I recalled how the crew of the great tea-boat had dropped away
+from her high stern when Barkins had used the glass, and for the first
+time I grasped why this had been.
+
+My next actions were in a mad fit of desperate mischief more than
+anything else.  For, recalling that I had a few flaming fusees in my
+jacket pocket, I snatched out the box, secured one; then, taking off the
+cap, which hung by a strap, I pulled the brass and leather telescope out
+to its full extent, presented the large end at the mob, uttered as
+savage a yell as I could and struck a fusee, which went off with a
+crack, and flashed and sparkled with plenty of blaze.
+
+The effect was instantaneous.  Mistaking the big glass, which had been a
+burden to me all day, for some terrible new form of gun, the swordsmen
+uttered a wild yell of horror, and turned and fled, driving the unarmed
+mob before them, all adding their savage cries of dread.
+
+"Hoor-rah," shouted Barkins.  "Now, boys, a Yankee tiger.  Waggle the
+glass well, Gnat.  All together.  Hurrah--rah--rah--rah--rah!"
+
+We produced as good an imitation of the American cheer as we could, and
+Ching supplemented it with a hideous crack-voiced yell, while I raised
+and lowered the glass and struck another match.
+
+As we looked up the street we could see part of the mob still running
+hard, but the swordsmen had taken refuge to right and left, in doorways,
+angles, and in side shops, and were peering round at us, watching every
+movement.
+
+"No' laugh!" said Ching anxiously.  "Big fool.  Think um bleech-loader.
+Now, come 'long, walkee walkee blackward.  I go first."
+
+It was good advice, and we began our retreat, having the street to
+ourselves for the first minute.  My messmates supported me on either
+side, and we walked backward with military precision.
+
+"Well done, gun carriage," panted Barkins to me.  "I say, Blacksmith,
+who says the old glass isn't worth a hundred pounds now?"
+
+"Worth a thousand," cried Smith excitedly.  "But look out, they're
+coming out of their holes again."
+
+I made the object-glass end describe a circle in the air as we slowly
+backed, and the swordsmen darted away to the shelters they had quitted
+to follow us as they saw us in retreat.  But as there was no report, and
+they saw us escaping, they began to shout one to the other, and ran to
+and fro, zig-zagging down the street after us, each man darting across
+to a fresh place of shelter.  And as the retreat went on, and no report
+with a rush of bullets tore up the street, the men gained courage; the
+mob high up began to gather again.  Then there was distant yelling and
+shouting, and the danger seemed to thicken.
+
+"Is it much farther, Ching?" cried Barkins.
+
+"Yes, velly long way," he replied.  "No' got no levolvers?"
+
+"No, I wish I had."
+
+"Fine levolver bull-dog in fancee shop, and plenty cahtlidge.  Walkee
+fast."
+
+We were walking backwards as fast as we could, and the danger increased.
+In place of running right across now from shelter to shelter, the big
+swordsmen stopped from time to time on their way to flourish their
+weapons, yell, indulge in a kind of war-dance, and shout out words we
+did not understand.
+
+"What do they say, Ching?" asked Smith.
+
+"Say chop all in lit' small piece dilectly."
+
+"Look here," cried Barkins, as the demonstrations increased, and the
+wretches now began to gather on each side of the street as if
+threatening a rush, "let's stop and have a shot at 'em."
+
+"No, no," cried Ching, "won't go off blang."
+
+"Never mind, we'll pretend it will.  Halt!"
+
+We stopped, so did our enemies, and, in imitation of the big gun
+practice on board ship, Barkins shouted out order after order, ending
+with, Fire!
+
+Smith held the flaming fusees now, and at the word struck one with a
+loud crackle, just as we were beginning to doubt the efficacy of our
+ruse, for the enemy were watching us keenly; and, though some of them
+moved uneasily and threatened to run for shelter, the greater part stood
+firm.
+
+But at the loud crackle and flash of the fusee, and Smith's gesture to
+lay it close to the eye-piece, they turned and fled yelling once more
+into the houses on either side, from which now came an addition to the
+noise, in the shrill howls and shrieks of women, who were evidently
+resenting the invasion of all these men.
+
+"Now, walkee far," cried Ching.  "No good no mo'.  Allee fun lun out.
+No be big fool any longer."
+
+We felt that he was right, and retreated as fast as we could, but still
+backward, mine being the duty to keep the mouth of our sham cannon to
+bear upon them as well as the blundering backward through the mudholes
+of the dirty street would allow.
+
+That street seemed to be endless to us in our excitement, and the
+feeling that our guide must be taking us wrong began to grow upon me,
+for I made no allowances for the long distance we had gone over in the
+morning, while now it grew more and more plain, by the actions of our
+pursuers, that they were to be cheated no more.  The dummy had done its
+duty, and I felt that I might just as well throw it away and leave
+myself free, as expect the glass to scare the enemy away again.
+
+"We shall have to make a rush for it," said Barkins at last; "but it is
+hard now we have got so near to safety.  Shall I try the telescope
+again, Ching?"
+
+"No, no good," said our guide gloomily.  "Hi, quick all along here."
+
+He made a dash for the front of a house, which seemed to offer some
+little refuge for us in the shape of a low fencing, behind which we
+could protect ourselves; for all at once there was a new development of
+the attack, the mob having grown during the last few minutes more
+daring, and now began to throw mud and stones.
+
+Ching's sudden dash had its effect upon them, for when he ran they set
+up a howl of triumph, and as we dashed after our guide they suddenly
+altered their tactics, ceased stone-throwing, and, led by the swordsmen,
+charged down upon us furiously.
+
+"It's all over," groaned Smith, as we leaped over the low fence and
+faced round.
+
+And so it seemed to be, for the next minute we were stopping and dodging
+the blows aimed at us.  It was all one wild confusion to me, in which I
+saw through a mist the gleaming eyes and savage faces of the mob.  Then,
+above their howlings, and just as I was staggering back from a heavy
+blow which I received from a great sword, which was swept round with two
+hands and caught me with a loud jar on the side, I heard a familiar
+cheer, and saw the man who had struck me go down backwards, driven over
+as it were by a broad-bladed spear.  As I struggled to my knees, I saw
+the savage mob in full flight, chased by a dozen blue-jackets, who
+halted and ran back to where we were, in obedience to a shrill whistle.
+Then--it was all more misty to me--two strong arms were passed under
+mine; I saw Smith treated in the same way; and, pursued by the crowd
+howling like demons, we were trotted at the double down the street to
+the wharf, which was after all close at hand, and swung down into the
+boat.
+
+"Push off!" shouted a familiar voice, and the wharf and the crowd began
+to grow distant, but stones flew after us till the officer in command
+fired shot after shot from his revolver over the heads of the crowd,
+which then took to flight.
+
+"What are we to do with the prisoner, sir--chuck him overboard?"
+
+"Prisoner?" cried the officer in charge of the boat.
+
+"Yes, sir, we got him, sword and all.  He's the chap as come aboard
+yesterday."
+
+"Yes," I panted as I sat up, breathing painfully, "it's Ching.  He's our
+friend."
+
+"Yes, flend, evelibody fiend," cried Ching.  "Wantee go shore.  Fancee
+shop."
+
+"Go ashore?" said the officer.
+
+"Yes, walkee shore."
+
+"But if I set you ashore amongst that howling mob, they'll cut you to
+pieces."
+
+"Ching 'flaid so.  Allee bad man.  Wantee kill young offlicer."
+
+"And he fought for us, Mr Brown, like a brick," said Barkins.
+
+"Then we must take him aboard for the present."
+
+"Yes, go 'board, please," said Ching plaintively.  "Not my sword--b'long
+mandalin man."
+
+"Let's see where you're wounded," said the officer, as the men rowed
+steadily back towards the _Teaser_.
+
+"I--I don't think I'm wounded," I panted, "but it hurts me rather to
+breathe."
+
+"Why, I saw one of the brutes cut you down with his big sword," cried
+Smith.
+
+"Yes," I said, "I felt it, but, but--yes, of course: it hit me here."
+
+"Oh, murder!" cried Smith.  "Look here, Tanner.  Your glass has got it
+and no mistake."
+
+It had "got it" and no mistake, for the blow from the keen sword had
+struck it at a sharp angle, and cut three parts of the way through the
+thick metal tube, which had been driven with tremendous force against my
+ribs.
+
+"Oh, Gnat!" cried Barkins, as he saw the mischief, "it's quite spoilt.
+What a jolly shame!"
+
+"But it saved his life," said Smith, giving him a meaning nod.  "I
+wouldn't have given much for his chance, if he hadn't had that telescope
+under his arm.  I say, Mr Brown, why was the gun fired?"
+
+"To bring you all on board.  Captain's got some information.  Look,
+we've weighed anchor, and we're off directly--somewhere."
+
+"But what about Ching?"  I said to Barkins.
+
+"Ching!  Well, he'll be safe on board and unsafe ashore.  I don't
+suppose we shall be away above a day.  I say, Ching, you'll have to
+stop."
+
+"Me don't mind.  Velly hungly once more.  Wantee pipe and go sleepee.
+Velly tire.  Too much fightee."
+
+We glided alongside of the gunboat the next minute, where Mr Reardon
+was waiting for us impatiently.
+
+"Come, young gentlemen," he cried, "you've kept us waiting two hours.
+Up with you.  Good gracious, what a state you're in!  Nice addition to a
+well-dishiplined ship! and--here, what's the meaning of this?" he cried,
+as the boat rose to the davits.  "Who is this Chinese boy?"
+
+"Velly glad get 'board," said the man, smiling at the important officer.
+"All along big fight.  Me Ching."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+DOUBLE ALLOWANCE.
+
+No time was lost in getting out of the mouth of the river, and as soon
+as the bustle and excitement of the start was over, we three were sent
+for to the cabin to relate our adventures to the captain, the first
+lieutenant being present to put in a word now and then.
+
+"The brutes!" the captain kept on muttering from time to time, and Mr
+Reardon nodded and tightened his lips.
+
+"Well, young gentlemen," he said, when Barkins, who as eldest had been
+spokesman, finished his recital, "I can do nothing.  If you had all
+three been brutally murdered, of course the Government could have made
+representations to the authorities, and your families would have secured
+compensation."
+
+We glanced at one another.
+
+"But as, unfortunately--I mean fortunately--you have neither of you got
+a scratch, I can do nothing."
+
+"But they were so awfully savage with us, sir," said Smith.
+
+"Yes, Mr Smith, so I suppose.  It is their nature; but we cannot punish
+an unknown mob.  We must try and administer the castigation
+vicariously."
+
+"Please, sir, I don't understand you," said Smith.  "Do you mean--"
+
+"Set a vicar to talk to them, Mr Smith?  No, I do not.  I mean, as we
+have very good information about three or four piratical junks being in
+the straits between here and Amoy, we must come down heavily upon them,
+and administer the punishment there."
+
+Mr Reardon nodded, and rubbed his hands.
+
+"This scrape of yours, though, will be a most severe lesson to me,"
+continued the captain.  "It was very weak and easy of me to give you all
+leave for a run ashore.  I ought to have referred you to Mr Reardon.
+But you may take it for granted that I shall not err again in this way.
+You can return on deck."
+
+"Oh, what a jolly shame!" grumbled Barkins.  "And there was old Reardon
+chuckling over it, and looking as pleased as Punch.  Who'd be a middy?
+It's like being in a floating prison."
+
+But it was a very pleasant floating prison all the same, I could not
+help thinking, as we gradually got farther out from the land, over which
+the sun was sinking fast, and lighting up the mountain-tops with gold,
+while the valleys rapidly grew dark.  Every one on the clean white deck
+was full of eager excitement, and the look-out most thoroughly on the
+_qui vive_.  For the news that we were going up northward in search of
+some piratical junks sent a thrill through every breast.  It meant work,
+the showing that we were doing some good on the China station, and
+possibly prize-money, perhaps promotion for some on board, though of
+course not for us.
+
+We had been upon the station several months, but it had not been our
+good fortune to capture any of the piratical scoundrels about whose
+doings the merchants--Chinese as well as European--were loud in
+complaint.  And with justice, for several cruel massacres of crews had
+taken place before the ships had been scuttled and burned; besides,
+quite a dozen had sailed from port never to be heard of more; while the
+only consolation Captain Thwaites had for his trips here and there, and
+pursuit of enemies who disappeared like Flying Dutchmen, was that the
+presence of our gunboat upon the coast no doubt acted as a preventative,
+for we were told that there used to be three times as many acts of
+piracy before we came.
+
+And now, as we glided along full sail before a pleasant breeze, with the
+topgallant sails ruddy in the evening light, there seemed at last some
+prospect of real business, for it had leaked out that unless Captain
+Thwaites' information was very delusive, the Chinamen had quite a
+rendezvous on one of the most out-of-the-way islands off Formosa, from
+whence they issued, looking like ordinary trading-boats, and that it was
+due to this nest alone that so much mischief had been done.
+
+A good meal down below, without dog or rat, as Barkins put it, had, in
+addition to a comfortable wash and change, made us forget a good deal of
+our weariness; and, as we were still off duty, we three loitered about
+the deck, picking up all the information we could regarding the way in
+which the news had been brought, in exchange for accounts of our own
+adventures, to insure credence in which Barkins carried about the
+nearly-divided telescope which had stood us in such good stead.
+
+It was rapidly growing dark, when, close under the bulwarks, and in very
+near neighbourhood to one of our big bow guns, we came upon what looked
+in the gloom like a heap of clothes.
+
+"What's that?"  I said.
+
+"Chine-he, sir," said one of the sailors.  "We give him a good tuck-out
+below, and he come up then for a snooze.  Hi, John!  The gents want to
+speak to you."
+
+There was a quick movement, and a partly bald head appeared from beneath
+two loose sleeves, which had been folded over it like the wings of a
+flying fox, and Ching's familiar squeaky voice said--
+
+"You wantee me.  Go shore?"
+
+"No, no; not to-night," cried Smith.  "We shall set you ashore when we
+come back."
+
+"You go velly far--allee way Gleat Blitain?"
+
+"No, not this time, Ching," cried Barkins, as we all laughed.
+
+"No go allee way London?  Ching wantee go London, see Queen Victolia and
+Plince o' Wales."
+
+"Some other time, Ching," I said.  "But I say, how about the fancy
+shop?"
+
+"Allee light.  Ching go back."
+
+"And how are you after our fight to-day?"
+
+"Velly angly.  Allee muchee quite 'shame of mandalin men.  Big lascal,
+evely one."
+
+"So they are," said Barkins.  "But I say, Ching, are you a good sailor?"
+
+The Chinaman shook his head.
+
+"Ching velly good man, keep fancee shop.  Ching not sailor."
+
+"He means, can you go to sea without being sick?"  I said, laughing.
+
+He gave us a comical look.
+
+"Don'tee know.  Velly nicee now.  Big offlicer say jolly sailor take
+gleat care Ching, and give hammock go to sleep.  You got banjo, music--
+git-tar?"
+
+"One of the chaps has got one," said Smith.  "Why?"
+
+"You fetchee for Ching.  I play, sing--`ti-ope-I-ow' for captain and
+jolly sailor.  Makee Ching velly happy, and no makee sea-sick like
+coolie in big boat."
+
+"Not to-night, Ching," said Barkins decisively.  "Come along, lads.  I'm
+afraid," he continued, as we strolled right forward, "that some of us
+would soon be pretty sick of it if he did begin that precious howling.
+But I say, we ought to look after him well, poor old chap; it's precious
+rough on him to be taken out to sea like this."
+
+"Yes," I said; "and he behaved like a trump to us to-day."
+
+"That he did," assented Smith, as all three rested our arms on the rail,
+and looked at the twinkling distant lights of the shore.
+
+"You give Ching flee dollar," said a voice close behind us, and we
+started round, to find that the object of our conversation had come up
+silently in his thick, softly-soled boots, in which his tight black
+trouser bottoms were tucked.
+
+"Three dollars!" cried Smith; "what for?"
+
+"Say all give Ching dollar show way."
+
+"So we did," cried Barkins.  "I'd forgotten all about it."
+
+"So had I."
+
+"But you got us nearly killed," protested Smith.
+
+"That was all in the bargain," cried Barkins.  "Well, I say he came out
+well, and I shall give him two dollars, though I am getting precious
+short."
+
+"Flee dollar," said Ching firmly.  Then, shaking his head, he counted
+upon his fingers, "One, two, flee."
+
+"It's all right, Ching," I said.  "Two dollars apiece.  Come on,
+Blacksmith."  I took out my two dollars.  "Come, Tanner."
+
+"No, no," cried Ching; "tanner tickpence; two dollar tickpence won't do.
+Flee dollar."
+
+"It's all right," I said, and I held out my hand for my messmates'
+contributions, afterward placing the six dollars in the Chinaman's hand.
+
+His long-nailed fingers closed over the double amount, and he looked
+from one to the other as if he did not comprehend.  Then he unwillingly
+divided the sum.
+
+"No light," he said.  "Flee dollar."
+
+"The other for the fight," I said, feeling pleased to have met a
+Chinaman who was not dishonest and grasping.
+
+"You wantee 'nother fight morrow?" he said, looking at me sharply.
+"Don't know.  Not aflaid."
+
+"No, no; you don't understand," I cried, laughing.  "We give you six
+dollars instead of three."
+
+Ching nodded, and the silver money disappeared up his sleeve.  Then his
+body writhed a little, and the arm and hand appeared again in the loose
+sleeve.
+
+"Sailor boy 'teal Ching dollar?"
+
+"Oh no," I said confidently.
+
+"No pullee tail?"
+
+"Ah, that I can't answer for," I said.  "Twist it up tightly."
+
+"To be sure," said Barkins.  "It don't do to put temptation in the poor
+fellows' way.  I'm afraid," he continued, "that if I saw that hanging
+out of a hammock I should be obliged to have a tug."
+
+Ching nodded, and stole away again into the darkness, for night had
+fallen now, and we were beginning to feel the waves dancing under us.
+
+An hour later I was in my cot fast asleep, and dreaming of
+fierce-looking Chinamen in showy-patterned coats making cuts at me with
+big swords, which were too blunt to cut, but which gave me plenty of
+pain, and this continued more or less all night.  In the morning I knew
+the reason why, my left side was severely bruised, and for the next few
+days I could not move about without a reminder of the terrible cut the
+mandarin's retainer had made at me with his sword.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+CHING HAS IDEAS.
+
+Week had passed, during which we had cruised here and there, in the hope
+of falling in with the pirates.  Once in the right waters, it did not
+much signify which course we took, for we were as likely to come across
+them sailing north as south.  So our coal was saved, and we kept
+steadily along under canvas.
+
+But fortune seemed to be still against us, and though we boarded junk
+after junk, there was not one of which the slightest suspicion could be
+entertained; and their masters, as soon as they realised what our
+mission was, were only too eager to afford us every information they
+could.
+
+Unfortunately, they could give us none of any value.  They could only
+tell us about divers acts of horrible cruelty committed here and there
+within the past few months, but could not point out where the pirates
+were likely to be found.
+
+Ching, in spite of some rough weather, had never been obliged to leave
+the deck, and had proved to be so valuable an acquisition, that he was
+informed that he would have a certain rate of pay as interpreter while
+he stayed on board; and as soon as he was made aware of this, he
+strutted up to me and told me the news.
+
+"Captain makee interpleter and have lot dollar.  Muchee better keepee
+fancee shop."
+
+This was after, at my suggestion to Mr Reardon, he had been sent out in
+one of the boats to board a big junk, and from that time it became a
+matter of course that when a boat was piped away, Ching's pigtail was
+seen flying out nearly horizontally in his eagerness to be first in the
+stern-sheets.
+
+But it was always the same.  The boat came back with Ching looking
+disappointed, and his yellow forehead ploughed with parallel lines.
+
+"Ching know," he said to me one evening mysteriously.
+
+"Know what?"  I said.
+
+"Plenty pilate boat hide away in island.  No come while big ship
+_Teasler_ here."
+
+"Oh, wait a bit," I said; "we shall catch them yet."
+
+"No, catchee," he said despondently.  "Pilate velly cunning.  See Queen
+Victolia ship say big gun go bang.  'Top away."
+
+"But where do you think they hide?"
+
+"Evelywhere," he said.  "Plentee liver, plenty cleek, plenty hide away."
+
+"Then we shall never catch them?"  I said.
+
+"Ching wantee catchee, wantee plenty money; but pilate won't come.
+Pilate 'flaid."
+
+"And I suppose, as soon as we go away, they'll come out and attack the
+first merchantman that comes along the coast."
+
+"Yes," said Ching coolly; "cut allee boy float, settee fire junk, burnee
+ship."
+
+"Then what's to be done?"  I said.  "It's very disappointing."
+
+"Ching go back fancee shop; no catchee pilate, no plize-money."
+
+"Oh, but we shall drop upon them some day."
+
+"No dlop upon pilate.  Ching not captain.  Ching catchee."
+
+"How?"  I said.
+
+"Take big ship back to liver.  Put big gun, put jolly sailor 'board two
+big junk, and go sail 'bout.  Pilate come thinkee catchee plenty silk,
+plenty tea.  Come aboard junk.  Jolly sailor chop head off, and no more
+pilate."
+
+"That sounds well, Ching," I said; "but I don't think we could do that."
+
+"No catchee pilate?" he said.  "Ching velly tire.  No good, velly
+hungry; wantee go back fancee shop."
+
+I thought a good deal about what the Chinaman had said, for it was
+weary, dispiriting work this overhauling every vessel we saw that seemed
+likely to be our enemy.  It was dangerous work, too, for the narrow sea
+was foul with reefs; but our information had been that it was in the
+neighbourhood of the many islands off Formosa that the piratical junks
+had their nest, and the risk had to be run for the sake of the possible
+capture to be made.
+
+"Ching says he wants to get back to the fancee shop," sad Smith one
+morning.  "So do I, for I'm sick of this dreary work.  Why, I'd rather
+have another of our days ashore."
+
+"Not you," I said.  "But I say, look here, I haven't spoke about it
+before, but Ching says--hi, Tanner, come here!"
+
+"That he doesn't," cried Smith.
+
+"Hallo! what is it?" said Barkins, whom I had hailed, and he came over
+from the port side of the deck.
+
+"I was going to tell Blacksmith what Ching says.  You may as well hear
+too."
+
+"Don't want to.  I know."
+
+"What! has he been saying to you--"
+
+"No, not again."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"Ti-ope-I-ow!" cried Barkins, imitating the Chinaman's high falsetto,
+and then striking imaginary strings of a guitar-like instrument.
+"_Peng_--_peng-peng_."
+
+"I say, don't fool," I cried angrily.
+
+"Gnat!" said Barkins sharply, "you're a miserably-impudent little scrub
+of a skeeter, and presume upon your size to say insolent things to your
+elders."
+
+"No, I don't," I said shortly.
+
+"Yes, you do, sir.  You called me a fool just now."
+
+"I didn't."
+
+"If you contradict me, I'll punch your miserable little head, sir.  No,
+I won't, I'll make Blacksmith do it; his fists are a size smaller than
+mine."
+
+"Be quiet, Tanner!" cried Smith; "he knows something.  Now, then, Gnat:
+what does Ching say?"
+
+"That we shall never catch the pirates, because they won't come out when
+the gunboat is here."
+
+"Well, there's something in that.  Tell Mr Reardon."
+
+"Is it worth while?  He says we ought to arm a couple of junks, and wait
+for the pirates to come out and attack us."
+
+"Ching's Christian name ought to be Solomon," said Smith.
+
+"Thanky wisdom teeth," said Barkins sarcastically.  "I say, Gnat, he's
+quite right.  They'd be fools if they did come out to be sunk.  I
+daresay they're watching us all the time somewhere or other from one of
+the little fishing-boats we see put out."
+
+"Well, young gentlemen," said a sharp voice behind us; "this is contrary
+to dishipline.  You can find something better to do than gossiping."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, we are not gossiping," said Barkins.  "We were
+discussing the point."
+
+"Oh, indeed," said the first lieutenant sarcastically; "then have the
+goodness to--"
+
+Barkins saw breakers ahead, and hastened to say--
+
+"The Chinaman says, sir--"
+
+"Don't tell me what the Chinaman says, sir!" cried the lieutenant
+fiercely.
+
+"But it was about the pirates, sir."
+
+"Eh?  What?" cried our superior officer, suddenly changing his tone.
+"Has he some idea?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  No, sir."
+
+"Mr Barkins!  What do you mean, sir?"
+
+"He thinks we shall never catch them, sir," stammered my messmate, who
+could see punishment writ large in the lieutenant's face.
+
+"Confound the Chinaman, sir!" roared the lieutenant.  "So do I; so does
+Captain Thwaites."
+
+He spoke so loudly that this gentleman heard him from where he was
+slowly marching up and down, talking to the marine officer, and he
+turned and came towards us.
+
+"In trouble, young gentlemen?" he said quietly.  "Pray what does Captain
+Thwaites?" he added, turning to the chief officer.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir.  I was a little exasperated.  These young
+gentlemen, upon my reproving them for idling, have hatched up a
+cock-and-bull story--at least Mr Barkins has."
+
+"I beg pardon, sir; it was not a--not a--not a--"
+
+"Cock-and-bull story, Mr Herrick," said the captain, smiling at my
+confusion, for I had rushed into the gap.  "Then pray what was it?"
+
+I told him all that Ching had said, and the captain nodded his head
+again and again as I went on.
+
+"Yes," he said at last, "I'm afraid he is right, Reardon.  It is worth
+thinking about.  What do you say to my sending you and Mr Brooke in a
+couple of junks?"
+
+They walked off together, and we heard no more.
+
+"Oh, how I should like to punch old Dishy's head!" said Barkins between
+his teeth.
+
+"Don't take any notice," said Smith; "it's only because he can't get a
+chance to sink a pirate.  I don't believe there's one anywhere about the
+blessed coast."
+
+"Sail ho!" cried the man at the mast-head, and all was excitement on the
+instant, for after all the strange sail might prove to be a pirate.
+
+"Away on the weather bow, sir, under the land!" cried the man in answer
+to hails from the deck; and then, before glasses could be adjusted and
+brought to bear, he shouted--
+
+"She's ashore, sir--a barque--fore--topmast gone, and--she's afire."
+
+The _Teaser's_ course was altered directly, and, helped by a favouring
+breeze, we ran down rapidly towards the wreck, which proved to be
+sending up a thin column of smoke, and soon after this was visible from
+the deck.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+MY FIRST HORROR.
+
+I was in a great state of excitement, and stood watching the vessel
+through my spyglass, longing for the distance to be got over and what
+promised to be a mystery examined.  For a wreck was possible and a fire
+at sea equally so, but a ship ashore and burning seemed to be such an
+anomaly that the officers all looked as if they felt that we were on the
+high road to something exciting at last.
+
+In fact, we had been so long on the station for the purpose of checking
+piracy, but doing nothing save overhaul inoffensive junks, that we were
+all heartily sick of our task.  For it was not, as Smith said, as if we
+were always in some port where we could study the manners and customs of
+the Chinese, but for ever knocking about wild-goose chasing and never
+getting a goose.
+
+"Plenty on board," cried Barkins.  "I say, Gnat, isn't he a humbug?  Ha,
+ha!  Study the manners and customs!  Stuffing himself with Chinese
+sweets and hankering after puppy-pie, like the bargees on the Thames."
+
+"Oh, does he?" cried Smith.  "Who ate the fricassee of rats?"
+
+"Oh, bother all that!"  I said.  "Here, Blacksmith, lend me your glass a
+minute; it's stronger than mine."
+
+"Ho, ho!" laughed Barkins.  "His!  The wapping whacker!  Why, it's a
+miserable slopshop second-hand thing.  You should have had mine.  That
+was something like, before you spoiled it."
+
+"Here you are," said Smith, lending me his glass.  "It's worth a dozen
+of his old blunderbuss."
+
+I took the glass and had a good long inspection of the large barque,
+which lay heeled over on the outlying reef of one of the many islands,
+and could distinctly see the fine curl of smoke rising up from the deck
+somewhere about the forecastle.
+
+"Make out any one on board, Mr Herrick?" said a sharp voice behind me,
+and I started round, to find that my companions had gone forward, and
+the first lieutenant was behind me with his spyglass under his arm and
+his face very eager and stern.
+
+"No, sir; not a soul."
+
+"Nor signals?"
+
+"None."
+
+"No more can I," my lad.  "Your eyes are younger and sharper than mine.
+Look again.  Do the bulwarks seem shattered?"
+
+I took a long look.
+
+"No, sir," I said.  "Everything seems quite right except the
+fore-topmast, which has snapped off, and is hanging in a tangle down to
+the deck."
+
+"But the fire?"
+
+"That only looks, sir, as if they'd got a stove in the forecastle, and
+had just lit the fire with plenty of smoky coal."
+
+"Hah!  That's all I can make out.  We've come to something at last, Mr
+Herrick."
+
+"Think so, sir?"  I said respectfully.
+
+"Sure of it, my lad;" and he walked off to join the captain, while just
+then Ching came up softly and pointed forward.
+
+"Big ship," he said.  "Pilate; all afire."
+
+"Think so?"
+
+Ching nodded.
+
+"Hallo, Gnat, what does the first luff say?" asked Barkins, who joined
+us then.
+
+"Thinks it's a vessel cast ashore by the pirates."
+
+"Maybe.  I should say it's one got on the reef from bad seamanship."
+
+"And want of a Tanner on board to set them right," said Smith.
+
+"Skipper's coming," whispered Barkins; and we separated.
+
+For the next hour all was eager watchfulness on board, as we approached
+very slowly, shortening sail, and with two men in the chains heaving the
+lead on account of the hidden reefs and shoals off some of the islands.
+But, as we approached, nothing more could be made out till the man aloft
+hailed the deck, and announced that he could read the name on the stern,
+_Dunstaffnage, Glasgow_.  Another hour passed, during which the island,
+a couple of miles beyond, was swept by glass after glass, and tree and
+hill examined, but there was no sign of signal on tree or hill.  All was
+bare, chilly, and repellent there, and we felt that the crew of the
+vessel could not have taken refuge ashore.
+
+At last the crew of a boat was piped away, and, as I was gazing
+longingly at the men getting in under the command of Mr Brooke, a
+quiet, gentlemanly fellow, our junior lieutenant, Mr Reardon said, as
+he caught my eye--
+
+"Yes; go."
+
+I did not wait for a second order, you may be sure, but sprang in, and
+as the _Teaser_ was thrown up in the wind with her sails flapping, it
+being deemed unsafe to go any nearer to the barque, the little wheels
+chirrupped, and down we went, to sit the next moment lightly upon a
+good-sized wave which rose up as if to receive us; the falls were cast
+off, the oars dropped, and the next minute we glided away towards the
+stranded vessel.
+
+"Quite a treat to get a bit of an adventure, eh Herrick?" said Mr
+Brooke.
+
+"Yes, sir.  Been slow enough lately."
+
+"Oh, you need not grumble, my lad.  You did have one good adventure.  By
+the way, how are your sore ribs?"
+
+"My ribs, sir?  Oh, I had forgotten all about them.  But do you think
+this is the work of pirates, or that the ship has run ashore?"
+
+"I'm not sure, my lad, but we shall soon know."
+
+We sat watching the fine well-built barque, as the men pulled lustily at
+their oars, making the water flash and the distance grow shorter.  Then
+all at once my companion said shortly--
+
+"Pirates."
+
+"Where, where?"  I said eagerly, and my hand went to my dirk.
+
+Mr Brooke laughed, and I saw all the men showing their teeth.
+
+"No, no, my lad," he said.  "I meant this was the work of pirates."
+
+"How do you know, sir?"
+
+"Look at those ropes and sheets hanging loose.  They have been cut.  The
+barque has not been in a storm either.  She has just gone on to the
+rocks and the fore-topmast evidently snapped with the shock."
+
+"And the smoke?  Is that from the forecastle?"
+
+He shook his head, and stood up in the boat, after handing me the lines,
+while he remained scanning the vessel attentively.
+
+"Hail her, Jones," he said to the bowman; and the man jumped up, put his
+hands to his mouth, and roared out, "_Ship ahoy_!"
+
+This again and again, but all was silent; and a curious feeling of awe
+crept over me as I gazed at the barque lying there on the reef as if it
+were dead, while the column of smoke, which now looked much bigger,
+twisted and writhed as it rolled over and over up from just abaft the
+broken foremast.
+
+"Steady," cried the lieutenant; "the water's getting shoal.  Keep a good
+look-out forward, Jones."
+
+For all at once the water in front of us, from being smooth and oily,
+suddenly became agitated, and I saw that we had startled and were
+driving before us a shoal of good-sized fish, some of which, in their
+eagerness to escape, sprang out of the water and fell back with a
+splash.
+
+"Plenty yet, sir," said the man in the bows, standing up now with the
+boat-hook.  "Good fathom under us."
+
+"Right.  Steady, my lads."
+
+We were only about a hundred yards from the barque now, and the water
+deepened again, showing that we had been crossing a reef; but the bottom
+was still visible, as I glanced once over the side, but only for a
+moment, for there was a peculiar saddening attraction about the silent
+ship, and I don't know how it was, but I felt as if I was going to see
+something dreadful.
+
+Under the lieutenant's directions, I steered the boat so that we glided
+round to the other side, passing under the stern, and then ran
+alongside, with the bulwarks hanging over towards us, and made out that
+the vessel had evidently been in fairly deep water close by, and had
+been run on to the rocks where two reefs met and closed-in a deep
+channel.
+
+How are we going to get on board?  I asked myself, as I looked upward;
+but I was soon made aware of that, for right forward there was a
+quantity of the top-hamper of the broken mast with a couple of the
+square sails awash, so that there was no difficulty about scrambling up.
+
+"I don't think there is any one on board, Herrick," said Mr Brooke,
+"but sailors should always be on the _qui vive_.  Stay in the boat, if
+you like."
+
+"I don't like, sir," I said, as soon as he had given orders to four men
+to follow us, and the next minute we were climbing up to stand upon the
+deck.
+
+"No doubt about it," said Mr Brooke through his teeth.  "She has been
+plundered, and then left to drift ashore or to burn."
+
+For there from the forehold curled up the pillar of smoke we had seen,
+and a dull crackling noise came up, telling that, though slowly, the
+fire was steadily burning.
+
+We could not see much below for the smoke, and Mr Brooke led the way
+forward to the forecastle hatch, which lay open.
+
+"Below!  Any one there?" cried my officer, but all was silent as the
+grave.
+
+One of the men looked at him eagerly.
+
+"Yes, jump down."
+
+The man lowered himself down into the dark forecastle, and made a quick
+inspection.
+
+"Any one there?"
+
+"No, sir.  Place clear and the men's kits all gone."
+
+"Come up."
+
+We went aft, to find the hatches all off and thrown about anyhow, while
+the cargo had been completely cleared out, save one chest of tea which
+had been broken and the contents had scattered.
+
+"No mistake about it, Herrick," said Mr Brooke; and he went on to the
+after-hatch, which was also open and the lading gone.
+
+The next minute we were at the companion-way, and Mr Brooke hailed
+again, but all was still.  Just then the man peering over my shoulder
+sniffed sharply like some animal.
+
+The sound sent a shudder through me, and Mr Brooke turned to the man
+sharply--
+
+"Why did you do that?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," stammered the man; "I thought that--as if--there
+was--"
+
+He did not finish.
+
+"Come on," said Mr Brooke sternly, while I shuddered again, and
+involuntarily my nostrils dilated as I inhaled the air, thinking the
+while of a butchered captain and officers lying about, but there was not
+the faintest odour, and I followed my officer, and then for a moment a
+horrible sickening sensation attacked me, and I shuddered.
+
+But it all passed off, and, myself again directly, I was gazing with the
+others at the many signs which told us as plainly as if it had been
+written, that the crew of the unfortunate barque had barricaded
+themselves in here and made a desperate resistance, for her broken doors
+lay splintered and full of the marks made by axes and heavy swords.  The
+seats were broken; and bulkheads, cabin windows, and floor were horribly
+stained here and there with blood, now quite dry and black, but which,
+after it had been shed, had been smeared about and trampled over; and
+this in one place was horribly evident, for close up to the side, quite
+plain, there was the imprint of a bare foot--marked in blood--a great
+wide-toed foot, that could never have worn a shoe.
+
+"Rather horrid for you, Herrick," said Mr Brooke in a low voice, as if
+the traces of death made him solemn; "but you must be a man now.  Look,
+my lad, what the devils--the savage devils--have done with our poor
+Scotch brothers!"
+
+"Yes, I see," I whispered; "they must have killed them all."
+
+"But I mean this--there, I mean."
+
+I looked at him wonderingly as he pointed to the floor, for I did not
+understand.
+
+The next moment, though, I grasped his meaning, and saw plainly enough
+what must have happened, for from where we stood to the open stern
+windows there were long parallel streaks, and I knew that, though they
+were partially trampled out by naked feet, as if they had been passed
+over dozens of times since, the savage wretches must have dragged their
+victims to the stern windows and thrust them out; any doubt thereon
+being cleared away by the state of the lockers and the sills of the
+lights.
+
+Just then a peculiar hissing sound came to my ears, and I faced round
+quickly, as did Mr Brooke, for I felt startled.
+
+For there behind me was one of our men--a fine handsome Yorkshire lad of
+three or four and twenty--standing glaring and showing his set teeth,
+and his eyes with the white slightly visible round the iris.  His left
+fist was firmly clenched, and in his right was his bare cutlass, with
+the blade quivering in his strong hand.
+
+"Put up your cutlass, my lad," said Mr Brooke sternly; and the man
+started and thrust it back.  "Wait a bit--but I don't know how I am to
+ask you to give quarter to the fiends who did all this.  No wonder the
+place is so silent, Herrick," he added bitterly.  "Come away."
+
+He led us out, but not before we had seen that the cabins had been
+completely stripped.
+
+We did not stay much longer, but our time was long enough to show us
+that everything of value had been taken, and nothing left in the way of
+log or papers to tell how the barque had fallen in with the wretches.
+The crew had probably been surprised, and after a desperate resistance,
+when driven back into the cabin, fought to the last with the results we
+had seen.
+
+"But surely they must have killed or wounded some of the pirates?"  I
+said.
+
+"Possibly," replied Mr Brooke; "but there has been rain since; perhaps
+a heavy sea, too, has washed over the deck and swept away all traces
+here.  Let's hope they made some of them pay dearly for their work."
+
+A short inspection below showed that the barque's planking was crushed
+in, and that she was hopelessly damaged, even if she could have been got
+off, so soon after Mr Brooke gave the word to return to the boat.
+
+"I shall not touch the fire," he said.  "If the captain has any wishes
+the boat can return.  For my part I should say, let her burn."
+
+The captain listened with his brow contracted to Mr Brooke's recital,
+when we were back on board; I being close at hand, ready to answer a few
+questions as well.
+
+"Yes, let her burn," said the captain; and then he turned his back to
+us, but seemed to recollect himself directly, for he turned again.
+
+"Thank you, Mr Brooke," he said.  "Very clear and concise.  You could
+not have done better."
+
+Then turning to the first lieutenant, he said in a low voice--
+
+"Reardon, I'm at my wit's end.  The wretches are too cunning for us.
+What are we to do?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+BEING PRIMED.
+
+There was a consultation in the cabin that evening, as we lay there
+about four miles from the stranded barque.  It had fallen calm, and, as
+there was no urgency, the captain preferred to spare the coals, and we
+waited for a breeze.
+
+I heard afterwards from Mr Brooke all that took place during the
+discussion, during which the captain heard the principal officers'
+opinions, and then decided what he would do.
+
+There had been doubts before as to whether we were on the right track
+for the pirates, who might be carrying on their murderous business
+elsewhere, but the day's discovery had cleared away the last doubt; it
+was plain that the information which had sent us up in the neighbourhood
+of Amoy was perfectly correct, that the wretches were there, and that
+our presence had kept them quiet till now.
+
+The great difficulty, it was decided, lay in the manner of dealing with
+people who without doubt had plenty of spies out in native craft, who
+were passed unnoticed by us, and thus every movement was carefully
+conveyed to the enemy.  As, then, the appearance of the gunboat was
+sufficient to keep them in hiding, and also as the moment we were out of
+sight the pirates issued from their lair, only two ways of dealing with
+the fiends remained to us, and these means, after due consultation, were
+to be adopted--one or both.
+
+Then it had been arranged that the next morning at daybreak a couple of
+boats were to be despatched to the Scotch barque, for a more thorough
+investigation as to whether, in Mr Brooke's rather hurried visit, he
+had passed over any cargo worthy of salvage, and to collect material for
+a full report for the authorities and the owners.
+
+This had just been decided upon, when there was a shout from one of the
+look-out men.  It was quite unnecessary, for nearly every one on deck
+saw the cause of the cry.
+
+We three companions had been watching the wreck with its spiral of
+smoke, which in the calm air rose up like the trunk of a tall tree, and
+then all at once spread out nearly flat to right and left, giving it
+quite the appearance of a gigantic cedar.  Then, as one of the witnesses
+of the horrors on board, I had had to repeat my story again; and, while
+matters were being discussed below, we in a low tone had our debate on
+the question, and saw too how the men gathered in knots, and talked in
+whispers and watched the barque.  And to us all one thing was evident,
+that could our lads only get a chance at the pigtailed, ruffianly scum
+of the east coast, it would go pretty hard with them.
+
+"I'll bet many of 'em wouldn't go pirating again in a hurry," Barkins
+said; and we agreed.
+
+Then we fell to wondering how many poor creatures had been murdered by
+them in their bloodthirsty career, and why it was that there should be
+such indifference to death, and so horrible a love of cruelty and
+torture, in the Chinese character.  All at once came the shout, and we
+were gazing at the cause.
+
+For a bright, clear burst of flame suddenly rose from the direction of
+the ship--not an explosion, but a fierce blaze--and it was evident that
+the parts around the little fire had grown more and more heated and dry,
+and that the smouldering had gone on till some part of the cargo
+beneath, of an inflammable nature, had caught at last, and was burning
+furiously.
+
+We expected that orders would be given for boats to be lowered, but we
+had drifted in the current so far away that there was a risky row
+amongst shoals, so no orders were given, the men gathering on deck to
+watch the light glow which lit up the cloud of smoke hovering overhead.
+
+We three watched it in silence for some time, with the other officers
+near, and at last Smith said--
+
+"I don't think I'm a cruel sort of fellow, but I feel as if I should
+like to kill some one now."
+
+He did not say a Chinese pirate, but he meant it; and I must confess to
+feeling something of the kind, for I thought how satisfactory it would
+be to aim one of our big guns at a pirate junk taken in some cruel act,
+and to send a shot between wind and water that would sink her and rid
+the seas of some of the fiends.
+
+I quite started the next moment, for Barkins said, in a low, thoughtful
+voice--
+
+"How do you feel about it, Gnat?  Shouldn't you like to kill some of
+'em?"
+
+The question was so direct, and appealed to my feelings so strongly,
+that for some moments I was silent.
+
+"Not he," said Smith; "old Gnat wouldn't stick a pin in a cockroach."
+
+"Of course I wouldn't," I said stoutly, "but I'd crush it under my foot
+if I found one in the cabin."
+
+"One for you, Blacksmith," said Barkins.  "Look here, Gnat, you would
+like to kill some of the piratical beggars, wouldn't you?"
+
+I remained silent again.
+
+"There," said Smith, "I told you so.  If we caught a lot, Gnat would
+give them a lecture, and tell them they had been very naughty, and that
+they mustn't do so any more or he would be very angry with them indeed."
+
+"Punch his head, Gnat."
+
+I made no reply to their flippant remarks, for just then I felt very
+solemn and thoughtful.  I hope I was not priggish.  No, I am sure I was
+not; every word I uttered was too sincere, though they chaffed me
+afterwards, and I have thought since that they felt more seriously than
+they spoke.
+
+"You chaps didn't go on board that barque," I said quietly; "I did."
+
+"Yes; old Dishy's making a regular favourite of you, Gnat," said
+Barkins.
+
+But I went on without heeding, my eyes fixed on the burning vessel whose
+flames shone brightly in the clear air.
+
+"And when I saw the splintered wood and chopped doorway, and the smears
+and marks of blood, it all seemed to come to me just as it must have
+been when the poor fellows shut themselves up in the cabin."
+
+"Did they?" said Smith eagerly.
+
+"Yes, that was plain enough," I said; "and they must have fought it out
+there till the pirates got the upper hand."
+
+"I bet tuppence the beggars pitched stinkpots down through the cabin
+skylight, and half-smothered them," said Barkins excitedly.
+
+"I daresay they did," I replied thoughtfully, "for I did see one of the
+lockers all scorched and burned just by the deck.  Yes, it all seemed to
+come to me, and I felt as if I could see all the fighting, with the
+Chinamen hacking and chopping at them with their long swords, the same
+as those brutes did at us; and all those poor fellows, who were quietly
+going about their business, homeward bound with their cargo, must have
+had friends, wives or mothers or children; and it gets horrible when you
+think of how they must have been in despair, knowing that those wretches
+would have no mercy on them."
+
+"Yes, but how it must have made 'em fight," cried Smith.  "I think I
+could have done something at a time like that."
+
+"Yes, it would make any fellow fight; even you, Gnat."
+
+"I suppose so," I said, "for it made me feel as if there wasn't any room
+in the world for such people."
+
+"There ain't," said Barkins.  "Oh, if our chaps could only get a good go
+at 'em!"
+
+"And then I felt," I went on, "as if it couldn't all be real, and that
+it was impossible that there could be such wretches on the face of the
+earth, ready to kill people for the sake of a bit of plunder."
+
+"But it's just precious possible enough," said Smith slowly.  "Why, out
+here in China they do anything."
+
+"Right," said Barkins; "and I hope the skipper will pay them in their
+own coin.  My! how she burns."
+
+"Yes," assented Smith, as the barque, after smouldering so long, now
+blazed, as if eager to clear away all traces of the horrible tragedy.
+
+"You'll recollect all about that cabin, Gnat, if we do get at the
+beggars--won't you?"
+
+"Recollect?"  I said, with a shiver; "I shall never be able to forget
+it."
+
+Then we relapsed into silence, and stood resting our arms over the
+bulwarks, gazing at the distant fire, in which I could picture plainly
+all the horrors and suggestions of the wrecked cabin.  I even seemed to
+see the yellow-faced wretches, all smeared with blood, dragging their
+victims to the stern windows.  And my imagination then ran riot for a
+time, as I fancied I saw them seizing men not half-dead, but making a
+feeble struggle for their lives, and begging in agonising tones for
+mercy, but only to be struck again, and pitched out into the sea.
+
+I fancy that I must have been growing half hysterical as the scene grew
+and grew before me, till I had pictured one poor wretch clinging in his
+despair to the edge of the stern window, and shrieking for help.  There
+was a curious sensation as if a ball was rising in my throat to choke
+me, and I was forgetting where I stood, when I was brought back to
+myself by the voice of my messmate Smith, who said in a husky whisper--
+
+"Think we shall come across any of the poor fellows floating about?"
+
+"Not likely," replied Barkins.  "Too many sharks in these seas."
+
+My throat felt dry at this horrible suggestion, but I knew how true it
+was.  And then once more there was silence, and, like the rest--officers
+and men--we stood there watching the burning wreck hour after hour, not
+a soul on board feeling the slightest disposition to go below.
+
+It must have been quite a couple of hours later, when I started in the
+darkness, for something touched my arm, and, looking sharply to my
+right, I could just make out the figure of Ching close to me, while on
+looking in the other direction I found that I was alone, for Barkins and
+Smith had gone forward to a group close to the bows.
+
+"You, Ching?"  I said, "looking at the mischief your friends have done?"
+
+"Fliends burnee ship?  No fliends.  Velly bad men.  Ching feel allee
+shame.  Velly bad men evelywhere.  Killee, get dollar.  No velly bad
+men, London?"
+
+"I'm afraid there are," I said sadly.
+
+"Yes; velly bad men, London.  Killee get dollar.  You choppee off bad
+men head?"
+
+"No," I said; "but they kill them if they commit murder."
+
+"Commit murder?  You mean killee get dollar?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Allee light.  Plenty bad men evelywhere.  Captain going kill pilate?"
+
+"If we can catch them," I said.
+
+"Yes, velly hard catchee catchee.  Captain never catchee in ship.
+Pilate allee lun away.  'Flaid of big gun.  Get two big junk, put plenty
+sailor boy where pilate can't see.  Then pilate come along kill and
+burnee.  Junk steal all along.  Jolly sailor jump up and cut allee
+pilate head off."
+
+"Send that boy forward!" cried a stern voice, which made me jump again.
+"Who's that?"
+
+"Herrick, sir," I said, touching my cap, for the captain came forward
+out of the darkness.
+
+"Then you ought to know better, sir.  The scoundrel has no business in
+this part of the ship.  What does he want?"
+
+"I beg pardon, sir; he came up to propose a way of trapping the
+pirates."
+
+"Eh, what?" said the captain eagerly.  "Bah! absurd.  Send him below; I
+hate to see the very face of a Chinaman.  No; stop!  He ought to know
+something of their tricks.  What does he say?"
+
+I told him, and he stood there as if thinking.
+
+"Well, I don't know, Mr Herrick.  We might perhaps lure them out of
+their hiding-places in that way, with a couple of Chinese crews to work
+the junks.  But no; the wretches would be equally strong, and would
+fight like rats.  Too many of my poor lads would be cut down.  They
+would have us at a terrible disadvantage.  We must keep to the ship.  I
+can only fight these wretches with guns."
+
+He was turning away, when a thought struck me, and, forgetting my awe of
+the captain, and the fact that a proposal from a midshipman to such a
+magnate might be resented as an unheard-of piece of impertinence, I
+exclaimed excitedly--
+
+"I beg pardon, sir."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"I think I know how it could be done."
+
+"Eh?  You, Mr Herrick!  Pooh!  Stop," he said sharply, as, feeling
+completely abashed, I was shrinking away, when he laid his hand kindly
+on my shoulder.  "Let's hear what you mean, my boy.  The mouse did help
+the lion in the fable, didn't he?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Not that I consider myself a lion, Mr Herrick," he said
+good-humouredly, "and I will not insult you by calling you a mouse; but
+these Chinese fiends are too much for me, and I really am caught in the
+net.  Here, send that man forward, and come into my cabin."
+
+"Ching, go right up to the forecastle," I said.
+
+"No wantee go s'eep," he said angrily.  "Makee Ching bad see ship
+burned."
+
+"Never mind now; go and wait," I whispered; and he nodded and went off,
+while I walked hurriedly back to the captain, who led the way to his
+cabin.
+
+Before I had gone many steps I had to pass Smith, who came quickly up to
+me.
+
+"Hallo! old chap," he whispered, "what have you been up to now?  Wigging
+from the skipper?  I'll go and tell the Tanner, and we'll get clean
+handkerchiefs for a good cry."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+MY PLAN.
+
+"Shut the door, Mr Herrick," said the captain, as he threw himself into
+a chair, and I obeyed and remained standing there.
+
+"Come close up to the table, my lad, and I'll hear what you have to say,
+for I should be sorry to discourage a young officer who was in earnest
+about his profession, as I have noted that you seem to be."
+
+"Thank you, sir," I faltered, as I walked forward to where the swinging
+lamp cast its full light on my face, making my eyes ache, after being so
+many hours in the darkness, while I noticed that the captain sat in the
+shade.
+
+"Now, Mr Herrick," he said, "I talked of one fable, let me say a word
+about another.  I hope this is not going to be a case of the mountain in
+labour, and out crept a mouse."
+
+This put me quite out of heart, my hands grew damp, and I felt a
+tickling sensation of dew forming upon my temples and at the sides of my
+nose.  My throat felt dry, and my lips parted, but no words came.
+
+"There, there," he said kindly, "don't be afraid.  Speak out."
+
+"Yes, sir," I said hastily.  "It was only this.  I think I read
+somewhere once, in a paper, about a Malay prahu being taken by the
+captain of a ship pretending to be helpless, and this made the prahu,
+which could sail twice as fast as his ship, come close up to attack
+him."
+
+"Yes; and what then?"
+
+"The captain sunk the prahu, sir."
+
+"Humph!" said Captain Thwaites, frowning and leaning back in his chair.
+"That's what I should like to do to the piratical junks, Mr Herrick.
+But--"
+
+He stopped, and I saw that he was watching me keenly.  But he had not
+ordered me out of the cabin, nor called me an impertinent puppy, so I
+felt better.  The plunge had been made, and I waited not quite so
+nervously for his next words.
+
+"Yes--what I should like to do, Mr Herrick; but I am dealing with
+cunning Chinese, and not with bold Malays."
+
+"No, sir," I said; "but could not we--you--I mean we--I mean--" I
+stammered.
+
+"Come, come, Mr Herrick, there is no need for all this tremor.  Sit
+down, my lad."
+
+"Thank you, sir; I would rather stand, please.  I think I could talk
+better."
+
+"Very well, then," he said, smiling; "stand.  You have some notion in
+your head, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I said eagerly, for the nervousness all passed away in the
+excitement I felt.  "I thought that if I could do as I liked, I'd take
+the _Teaser_ up some creek where she couldn't be watched, and then I'd
+close all the ports, send the men over the side to paint out the streak,
+and I'd paint the funnel another colour, and get yards all anyhow, and
+hide all the guns.  I'd make her look like one of the tea-screws, and
+get a lot of Chinamen on board for sailors."
+
+I saw that he kept on bowing his head, and I was so excited that I went
+on.
+
+"No, I know.  If you tried to get some Chinese sailors on board, it
+would be talked about, and perhaps the pirates would get to know, for
+they must have friends in some of the ports."
+
+"Then down go some of your baits, my lad."
+
+"No, sir.  I know.  You could make Ching--"
+
+"That Chinese interpreter?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Make him do up some of our lads with pigtails made of
+blackened oakum, and in duck-frocks they'd do at a distance."
+
+"Heads not shaven?"
+
+"No, sir; but they could have their hair cut very short, and then
+painted white--I mean yellow, so that the pirates wouldn't know at a
+distance."
+
+"Humph! anything else?" said the captain drily, but I did not notice it;
+I was too much taken up by my ideas.
+
+"Yes, sir.  Ching could be going about very busily in all directions,
+showing himself a great deal, and there's no mistake about him."
+
+"No," said the captain, "there is no mistake about him."
+
+"And it wouldn't be a bad plan to be at anchor near the place where you
+thought they were, sir, with some of the spars down as if you were
+repairing damages.  That would make them feel sure that they were safe
+of a prize, and they'd come off in their boats to attack."
+
+"And then you would let them board us and find out their mistake?"
+
+"That I wouldn't, sir!"  I cried eagerly; and, oddly enough, my side
+began to ache where I had had that blow.  "I wouldn't risk any of our
+poor fellows being hurt.  I'd sink them before they got alongside."
+
+"Humph!  Well, you're pretty bloodthirsty for your time of life, young
+gentleman," said the captain quietly.
+
+"No, sir," I replied in confusion; "but I was with Mr Barkins and Mr
+Smith, and nearly killed by these people, and yesterday I saw what they
+had done aboard that barque."
+
+"There?  So you did, my lad.  Well," he said, "what more have you got to
+suggest?"
+
+"I think that's all, sir," I said, beginning to grow confused again, for
+my enthusiasm was dying out before his cool, matter-of-fact way of
+taking matters.
+
+"Then we will bring this meeting to an end, Mr Herrick."
+
+"Yes, sir," I said dolefully, for I was wishing intensely that I had not
+said a word.  "Shall I go now?"
+
+"If you please, Mr Herrick."
+
+"Good-night, sir."
+
+"Good-night, Mr Herrick; and the sooner you are in your berth the
+better."
+
+"Yes, sir," I said; and then to myself, as I reached the door, "and I
+wish I had gone there at once, instead of stopping on deck."
+
+"Stop!"
+
+I turned with the door-handle in my fingers.
+
+"You had better not say anything about the communication you have made
+to me--I mean to your messmates."
+
+"No, sir, I will not," I replied.
+
+"Nor to any one else, least of all to that Chinaman."
+
+"Oh no, sir, I'll be careful."
+
+He nodded, and I slipped out, feeling, to use an old expression,
+"horrid."
+
+"Tell anybody about what a stupid donkey I've been," I said
+angrily--"likely."  Then to myself, as soon as I was past the marine
+sentry, "Why, it would be nuts for Tanner and Blacksmith, and they'd go
+on cracking them for ever.  There was I all red-hot with what I thought
+was a good thing, and he was just like a cold codfish laughing at me."
+
+I could not help smiling at the absurdity of my idea, for I recalled
+that I had never seen a cold codfish laughing.
+
+I had no more time for musing then, for I received a sharp slap on the
+back from Barkins.
+
+"Never mind, Gnat; we all get it some time."
+
+I saw that Smith was hurrying up, for I caught sight of him by the light
+of one of the swinging lanterns, and had to be on my guard.
+
+I did not want to deceive my messmates nor to be untruthful, but I could
+not open my heart to them and tell them all that had passed.
+
+"What cheer, messmet?" whispered Smith.  "Had a wigging?"
+
+I nodded my head sulkily.
+
+"What had you been up to?  Skipper had you into the cabin, didn't he?"
+
+"Let him alone, will you," cried Barkins.  "What do you want to worry
+the poor chap for?  The skipper's had him over the coals."
+
+"Well, I know that, Bark.  But what for?"
+
+"What's that to you?  Let him alone."
+
+"But he might tell."
+
+"Well, he isn't going to tell.  If you must know, the Grand Panjandrum
+came and catched him talking to Squeezums, hanging over the bulwarks
+together."
+
+"Talking to who?"
+
+"Well then, to Teapot, old Chinese Ching, and snubbed him for having the
+Yellow-skin so far aft.  Didn't he, Gnat?"
+
+"Yes," I said, quite truthfully.
+
+"Then I say it's too bad," cried Smith.  "As the snob speakers say, are
+we--er--serlaves?  Besides, `a man's a man for a' that,' ain't he,
+Tanner?"
+
+"Chinamen have no business abaft the funnel," said Barkins.  "Did he
+give it to you very warmly, Gnat?"
+
+"Pretty well," I said, glad to escape Smith's examination.  "I wasn't
+sorry to get out of the cabin."
+
+"No, I should think not.  Why, what's come to the old boy--taking to
+bully us himself?  I thought he always meant to leave that to Dishy."
+
+"He's getting wild at not catching the pirates, I suppose," said
+Barkins.  "Then all that badger gets bottled up in him, and he lets it
+off at us.  Well, I don't see any fun in watching the fire; I'm going
+down for a snooze."
+
+"Wish I could," said Smith.  "The fellow who invented night-watches
+ought to have been smothered.  I daresay he was a man who had something
+the matter with him and couldn't sleep.  I hate it."
+
+"Pooh!" cried Barkins, laughing.  "You haven't got used to it yet, old
+chap.  It's an acquired taste.  After a bit you won't care a dump for a
+regular night's rest, but'll want to get up and take your turn.  Won't
+he, Gnat?"
+
+I laughed.
+
+"I haven't got the right taste yet," I said.
+
+"And never will," grumbled Smith, as we turned to have another look at
+the burning barque.
+
+"How long will a ship like that be burning, Jecks?"  I said to one of
+the watch.
+
+The man scratched his head, and had a good stare at the glowing object
+in the distance, as if he were making a careful calculation.
+
+"Well," said Barkins, "out with it, Tom Jecks; we don't want to know to
+two minutes and a half."
+
+"Well, sir," said the man very deliberately, "I should say as a wessel
+o' that size--"
+
+"There goes her mainmast!" some one shouted, as a portion of the fire
+fell off to our left, and lay in the sea.
+
+We stood gazing at this part for a few minutes, during which the light
+faded slowly out, quenched in the waves.
+
+Then Jecks began again, speaking very oracularly--
+
+"I should say as a wessel o' that size--"
+
+"Yes," said Barkins, imitating him; "a wessel o' that size--"
+
+"Yes, sir--might go on burning till 'bout eight bells."
+
+"Or perhaps a little longer, Tom?"
+
+"Well, yes, sir; little longer, perhaps.  'Morrow night, say."
+
+"Or 'morrow morning, Tom?"
+
+"Well, no, sir; because you see it's 'morrow morning now."
+
+"I meant t'other 'morrow morning, Tom.  Nex' day."
+
+"Well, yes, sir; she might last till then."
+
+"Or even next day?"
+
+"Well, sir, I hayve knowed 'em go on mouldering and smouldering for days
+and days."
+
+"A week, perhaps?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir, quite a week."
+
+"Thankye, Tom," said Barkins, giving me a nudge with his elbow.  "I
+thought you'd know.  Nothing like going to a man who has had plenty of
+experience."
+
+"No, sir, there ain't nothin' like it; and I should say as if you young
+gen'lemen was to stand here and watch, you'd finally see that there
+wessel give a bit of a roll to starboard and one to port, and then
+settle down and go out of sight all to oncet, like putting a stingwisher
+on a candle; and there! what did I tell yer?"
+
+For all at once the blaze rose quite high, as if it were driven upwards
+by some explosion below.  We saw what looked like tiny sparks falling
+all around, and some of them floating upon the sea, and then there was
+the sound as of a puff of wind--heavy and short; and, where the barque
+had lain blazing and sending up its great waving tongue of fire, there
+was now darkness, save here and there a few dull specks of light, which
+went out one by one.
+
+"The last act of a tragedy," said a voice close by us; and Mr Brooke,
+who had the watch, stood gazing at the dark waters for a few moments.
+Then in his quiet, decided tones--
+
+"Now, Mr Barkins--Mr Herrick, it is not your watch.  You had better go
+below."
+
+"Yes, sir; good-night, sir."
+
+"Good-morning, you mean," he replied; and we two went down and turned
+in.
+
+"I say, Gnat," cried Barkins in a sleepy voice; "old Tom Jecks'll be
+more chuckle-bumptious than ever."
+
+"Yes," I said; "that happened just right for him."
+
+"Yes, that's the luck that kind of bumble-head always gets.  He'll set
+up--now--for--_snore_--set up for--oh, how sleepy I am!  What say?"
+
+"I didn't speak," I replied drowsily.
+
+"Who said you did?  Oh, I remember now.  Tom Jecks'll set up for boss--
+know--all now.  Look here--you help me, and we'll gammon him into--be--
+believing--he ought to make an alma--alma--nick--nack,"--_snore_.
+
+Barkins was fast asleep, and I was just thinking how suddenly a drowsy
+person dropped off, when all at once I seemed to be back in the cabin of
+the burned ship, where I was searching the lockers for pirates, and then
+some one hauled me out of my berth by one leg, and I raised myself on my
+elbow to stare wildly at Smith.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+PREPARATIONS.
+
+"At last!" he cried.  "I began to think your eyelids were sewed up.
+Dress yourself, sir; do you hear?  Do you suppose that the junior
+officers of the _Teaser_ are kept here on purpose to set a bad example
+to the men?"
+
+"Breakfast ready?"  I said, yawning.
+
+"Of course it is, sir.  Kidneys and fried soles done to a
+shade.  Fresh water-cresses, hot rolls, and all kinds of
+don't-you-wish-you-may-get-'ems, waiting.  I say, look at old Tanner.
+Let's rouse him up."
+
+I rose slowly, and, with the customary malignity of one rudely wakened
+from sleep, began to feel a grim satisfaction in seeing my messmate
+robbed of his repose in turn.
+
+"Cold pig?" suggested Smith.
+
+"No, no; don't," I said.  "It makes the place so wet."
+
+"All right.  Come here, then."
+
+I was about to join him, when the peculiar vibration going on made me
+turn sharply to Smith.
+
+"Hallo!"  I said.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Under steam again?"
+
+"Yes.  Orders came soon after daylight, and we're going south with our
+tail between our legs.  Skipper seems to think it's of no use trying any
+longer; and you mark my words, as soon as we're gone those beggars will
+come out of their creeks and begin murdering and burning every trading
+vessel they can catch."
+
+"I am sorry," I said, as I recalled my interview with the captain.
+
+"Sorry!  I should think you are.  So are we all.  It's a shame, that's
+what it is, Gnat."
+
+"It seems to be a pity, because we might run against them some time."
+
+"Run against them!  Why, of course.  The scent's hot now.  Oh, I only
+wish I was captain of this ship!"
+
+"Wish you were, Smithy," said Barkins, yawning.
+
+"Oh, you're awake at last, are you?"
+
+"Of course I am.  Who's to sleep with you yelping about like that.  I
+say, if you were skipper, we'd share the cabin with you, and have a
+jolly time of it--eh?"
+
+"Oh, would you?" cried Smith.  "We'd see about that.  I tell you what,
+though, if I was skipper, this gunboat shouldn't leave the station while
+there was a pirate on the east coast."
+
+"Well, there won't be when we've done.  I say--oh dear me!--how is it
+the legs of your trousers will get tangled when you want to put 'em on
+in a hurry."
+
+"'Cause you put 'em on with your eyes tangled up.  Hear that?"
+
+"What, you gabbling?"
+
+"No; the screw at work."
+
+"Eh?  Yes.  What does it mean?"
+
+"We're going back."
+
+"No!"
+
+"We are--full speed."
+
+"Without yard-arming the beggars who took that ship."
+
+"Yes; ain't it a shame?"
+
+Barkins made no answer, but kept on dressing--snatching on his clothes,
+so to speak; and when we went on deck that bright, fine morning, there
+was a lowering look upon every face; and the officers were all snappish,
+the men discontented, and scowling at the two figures marching up and
+down the quarter-deck side by side.
+
+I felt disappointed, for we had been looking forward to the exciting
+moments when we should first overhaul some piratical junk.  Of course I
+knew that there might be some danger, but I foresaw very little: our
+well-armed ship, with its strong, highly-disciplined crew, would
+over-ride every opposition offered by the half-savage Chinamen, I felt
+sure; and, like most people in the service, I felt that, if any one was
+hurt, it would be some one else.  And now there was to be no further
+search for the pirates.  We were going south again, probably to
+Hong-Kong; and I was sick of hot Hong-Kong, and doing nothing but drill.
+
+I partook, then, of the general feeling of dissatisfaction that morning;
+and, feeling quite glum and vexed with myself, I leaned over the
+taffrail and gazed down at the bright, clear water in search of fish.
+
+"I wish I hadn't spoken as I did last night," I said to myself later on;
+and I was going over the whole scene in the cabin, and thinking of what
+a noodle I must have looked, when I heard my name uttered in the
+captain's short, sharp voice.
+
+I turned and saluted, to find that Mr Reardon had gone forward.
+
+"I only want to repeat my caution to you, Mr Herrick," said the
+captain.  "You will not say a word to any one about your visit to me
+last night."
+
+"No, sir," I said.
+
+"You have not spoken to your messmates?"
+
+"No, sir; not a word."
+
+"But they asked you why I summoned you to my cabin?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but they think it was to snub--reprove me, sir, for making so
+much of the Chinaman."
+
+"Oh, I see.  But snub would have done, Mr Herrick.  Reprove sounds
+pedantic.  That will do, but bear in mind my wishes."
+
+"Oh, there you are, Mr Herrick," said the first lieutenant, a few
+minutes later.  "I want you.  Find that Chinaman and the ship's tailor,
+and bring them both to my cabin."
+
+"Yes, sir," I said, wondering; and I hunted them out, told them to
+follow me, and led the way to Mr Reardon's cabin.
+
+"Shut the door," he said sharply.
+
+I obeyed, and the lieutenant consulted a scrap of paper upon which he
+had pencilled a few memoranda.
+
+"Now, tailor," he said, "you will have an order for a sufficiency of
+white duck."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And by this time to-morrow I want twenty loose frocks cut and made
+after the fashion of this man's blue cotton blouse thing."
+
+"Couldn't be done, sir, in the time," said the tailor respectfully.
+
+"They must be done, my man.  I don't care how roughly they are made, nor
+how badly sewn, but they must be cut to this pattern.  Get as many men
+as you require to sew, and begin work at once.  I'll send this boy to
+you soon, for you to get the pattern of his garment."
+
+The tailor saluted, and went off wondering; while I wondered no less, as
+I stood waiting with Ching for what was to come; but for some moments
+Mr Reardon sat there studying his notes.
+
+All at once he looked up sharply.
+
+"Now, Ching," he said, "can you understand all I say?"
+
+The Chinaman nodded.
+
+"Then look here: I have ordered twenty duck-frocks, as you heard."
+
+"Yes, sir.  Velly like Chinaman."
+
+"Exactly.  Well, these are for twenty of our men to wear.  I want them
+to look like Chinese."
+
+Ching shook his head.
+
+"Blue flock," he said; "all blue, no white."
+
+"We have no blue, and the white must do."
+
+"Velly well."
+
+"That point is settled, then.  Now, then, about their heads."
+
+"Cut hair all off, and glow pigtail."
+
+"That would take years, my man, and I wanted them ready to-morrow."
+
+"How glow pigtail one day?" cried Ching scornfully; and pulling round
+his own, he held it out, fully four feet in length--a long black plait,
+with a bit of ribbon tying it at the end.
+
+"Thi'ty yea' long," said Ching.  "No one day."
+
+"You must get some oakum, and dye it black.  Plait it up, and fasten
+that on the men's heads."
+
+"With bit o' stling," said Ching, nodding his head.  "Go act play--make
+fleatre 'board ship?"
+
+"Yes, we are going to act a play," said the lieutenant sternly; and I
+felt the blood come into my face with excitement.
+
+"Shave men's head--shave face; makee look allee same Chinaman."
+
+"Oh, we can manage that," said Mr Reardon, giving me a meaning look.
+"You can pick out men and boys enough, Mr Herrick, to make twenty
+smooth-faced ones."
+
+"Yes, sir, I think so," I said.
+
+"Then something must be mixed up, whiting and tallow ought to do it."
+
+"Yes, Ching see; makee head velly white."
+
+"That will do, then."
+
+"No," said Ching sharply.  "No tlouser, no boot?"
+
+"That will not matter, my man, so long as they are right in their upper
+rigging."
+
+"Light in upper ligging!" said Ching.  "Ah, you go cheat, gammon
+pilate?"
+
+Mr Reardon gave him an angry look.
+
+"You go and do--no, stop.  You are quite right, my man, but don't talk
+about it.  Get the work done."
+
+"Ching see.  Make nineteen twenty men look like Chinese boy.  Pilate
+come along, say, `Big tea-ship.  Come aboard,' and get catchee likee lat
+in tlap."
+
+"Yes, that's it, my man.  Do you think it a good plan, Mr Herrick?" he
+added drily.
+
+"Oh yes, sir," I cried excitedly.  "May we begin at once?"
+
+"Ye-es," said the lieutenant thoughtfully.  "I think that's all you can
+do.  Yes," he said decidedly; "take the job in hand, Mr Herrick, and
+help it along.  I want to have twenty men looking like a Chinese crew by
+to-morrow."
+
+"Come along, Ching."
+
+"Yes," he said.  "Do it velly well.  Chinese pilate velly cunning
+fellow.  You go gettee two junk, put men on board."
+
+"You go and get the men ready," said Mr Reardon shortly.  "That will
+do."
+
+Directly after I had Ching supplied from the purser's stores with plenty
+of fine oakum and a couple of bottles of ink.  This latter he made
+boiling hot and poured over the oakum, hanging it to dry by the cook's
+fire; and while he was doing this I arranged with the cook to have a
+bucket of tallow and whiting mixed ready for use when required, so that
+then all necessary would be to warm it up.
+
+I was just going aft again when "Herrick" was shouted, and I turned, to
+see Barkins and Smith coming after me.  But Mr Reardon heard the hail,
+and came striding after us.
+
+"You leave Mr Herrick to the business he is on, young gentlemen, and
+attend to your own," he cried.  "Go on, Mr Herrick.  This is no time
+for gossiping."
+
+I hurried off, and began my next task, that of selecting twenty men
+without beards; and there was no difficulty, for I soon picked sixteen
+and four big lads, upon whose heads the ship's barber was set to work to
+cut the hair pretty short, the men submitting with an excellent grace,
+Jack being ready enough to engage in anything fresh, and such as would
+relieve the monotony of shipboard life.
+
+They were ready enough to ask questions, but I had nothing to tell; and
+the preparations went merrily on, but not without my having learned that
+we were steaming right away out of sight of land.
+
+But long before we had reached this pitch, I found that orders had been
+given, and the men were busy up aloft, lowering down the main-topgallant
+mast, and then laying the maintop mast all askew, as if it were snapped
+off at the top.  After which the yards were altered from their perfect
+symmetry to hang anyhow, as if the ship were commanded by a careless
+captain.  The engine was set to work to squirt water thickened with
+cutch, and the beautiful white sails were stained in patches, and then
+roughly furled.
+
+Towards evening, when the sea appeared to be without a sail in sight, we
+lay-to; platforms were got over the side, and men hung over with their
+paint-pots and brushes, working with all their might to paint out the
+streak, while others smeared over the gilding and name at the stern, but
+with a thin water-colour which would easily wash off.
+
+Then came the turn of the great funnel, which was painted of a dirty
+black.  The bright brass rails were dulled, ropes hung loosely, and in
+every way possible the trim gunboat was disfigured and altered, so that
+at a short distance even it would have been impossible to recognise her
+as the smart vessel that had started from the neighbourhood of the
+burned ship so short a time before.
+
+But even then Mr Reardon did not seem to be satisfied, for he set the
+men to work hauling water casks from the hold, and make a pile of them
+amidships.  Lastly, a couple of the boats were turned bottom upward on
+improvised chocks placed over the deck-house and galley.
+
+I have not mentioned the guns, though.  These were completely hidden,
+the lesser pieces being drawn back, and spare sails thrown over the two
+big guns forward.
+
+"There," said Mr Reardon quietly to me; "what do you say to that, Mr
+Herrick?  Think this will deceive them?"
+
+"There's one more thing I should do, sir," I said, as I looked aloft.
+
+"One more?  Nonsense; there is nothing more to be done."
+
+"Yes, sir," I said, smiling; "I'd have some shirts and trousers hung up
+in the rigging to dry, just as if the men had been having a wash."
+
+"To be sure," he cried.  "What else?"
+
+"It wouldn't be bad if we could catch a few big fish, and let them be
+hanging over the stern rail as if to keep them fresh."
+
+"I'll set Mr Barkins and Mr Smith to try and catch some," he said
+eagerly.  "The idea's splendid, my lad; and if it turns out to be
+successful, I'll--there, I don't know what I won't do for you."
+
+Soon after, I had the pleasure of seeing a lot of the men's garments
+hung on a couple of lines in the rigging, and Barkins and Smith hard at
+work fishing, in which they were so wonderfully successful that I longed
+to go and join them; but I was too busy over my task of disguising the
+twenty sailors, and consequently my two messmates had all the sport to
+themselves, dragging in, every few minutes, an abundance of good-sized
+fishes, which were at last strung upon a piece of stout line and hung
+over the stern rail.
+
+That night the crew were all in an intense state of excitement, and
+roars of laughter saluted my party of sham Chinamen, some of whom were
+paraded in the newly-made frocks, two being in the full dress of
+whitened head and pigtail, and looked so exactly like the real thing at
+a short distance that no doubt was felt as to the success of this part
+of the proceedings.
+
+Officers and men had been a little puzzled at first, but in a very short
+time they were all talking about the cleverness of the "captain's
+dodge," as they called it; and the low spirits of the morning gave place
+to eager talk about the adventures which all felt sure must come now.
+
+The ship's head had been turned and laid for the islands we had so
+lately left; but our progress was purposely made exceedingly slow, the
+screw just revolving, and the water parting with a gentle ripple to
+right and left.
+
+Meanwhile the tailor and his mates were hard at work by the light of the
+swinging lanterns, and, upon my being sent by Mr Reardon to make
+inquiries, the tailor answered that he should be up to time with the
+twenty Chinee gownds, and went on stitching again as if for his very
+life.
+
+I was on the watch that night, and stood listening for long enough to
+the yarns of one of the men, who had not been in Chinese waters before,
+but "knowed a chap as had;" and he had some blood-curdling tales to tell
+of the cruelties perpetrated by the desperate gangs who haunted the
+coast in fast-sailing junks.
+
+"But they're an awfully cowardly lot, arn't they, Billy?" said another.
+
+"Well," said the man, "it's like this, messmet; they is and they arn't,
+if you can make that out.  They'll scuttle away like rats if they can;
+but if they can't, they'll fight that savage that nothing's like it; and
+if it is to come to a fight, all I've got to say is, as the chap as
+hasn't got his cutlash as sharp as ever it can be made 'll be very sorry
+for it."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said another; "there won't be much cutlashing;
+'tain't like it used to was in the old days.  Most everything's done
+with the big guns now; and if they do get alongside to board, why, a
+man's cutlash is always stuck at the end of his rifle, just as if it was
+a jolly's bag'net growed out o' knowledge, and then it's all spick and
+spike."
+
+"Maybe," said the man; "but you mark my words, they're a nasty lot when
+they gets wild, and you'll have to look pretty sharp if you don't want
+to get hurt."
+
+It was not cheering, after a very wearying day and a very short night
+before, to listen to such talk, and I began to wonder whether the
+captain would take sufficient precautions to keep the Chinese off, for I
+felt that to properly carry out the plan, the fighting men must be kept
+well out of sight till the very last; but I soon came to the conclusion
+that I need not worry about that, from the spirited way in which
+everything possible to disguise the ship had been done.
+
+Then, as I leaned over the side looking over the black water, in which a
+faint star could be seen from time to time, I began to smile to myself
+at the quiet, dry way in which my ideas had been taken up; but I frowned
+directly after, as I thought of what a little credit I was getting for
+it all, and that the captain or Mr Reardon might have said an
+encouraging word or two to show that they appreciated my efforts.
+
+It was laughable, too, the way in which I had heard the captain's dodge
+discussed by Barkins and Smith, who never once associated my summons to
+the cabin with all that had been done.
+
+The time was going along slowly, and I was beginning to feel very
+drowsy, so I had a walk up and down a few times, and then came suddenly
+upon something like a big bundle under the weather bulwark.
+
+"Why, Ching," I said, "you here?"
+
+"Yes; velly hot down below, no sleepee sleepee.  Come on deck, nicee
+cool.  You have fightee morrow?"
+
+"I hope so," I said; but asked myself the next moment whether I really
+did hope so.
+
+"Velly bad fightee, bad pilates come, and captain killee whole lot.
+Allee velly bad man, killee evelybody."
+
+"Do you think they will come out of hiding?"
+
+"Ching don'tee know.  Ching thinkee muchee so.  Now go sleepee.  Velly
+much tire."
+
+He curled himself up, drawing his tail round out of the way, and seemed
+to go off directly; while I rejoined the officer of the watch, who
+happened to be Mr Brooke, and we walked right forward to the bows, and
+saw that the men were keeping a bright look-out.
+
+"Well, Herrick," he said, "got your dirk sharp?"
+
+"No," I said.  "Don't laugh at me, please, Mr Brooke."
+
+"Oh no, I will not laugh at you, my lad," he said; "but as it is quite
+likely that we may have a bit of a scrimmage to-morrow, if the
+scoundrels are lured out of their holes, and grow desperate on finding
+that they have made a mistake, you had better keep out of the way."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Oh yes, I know what you are going to say; but you are very young yet,
+and what chance would you have against a great strong savage Chinaman--
+for there are plenty of powerful fellows among these scoundrels.  You
+must wait a bit before you take to fighting."
+
+I felt uncomfortable.  He seemed to be looking down upon me so, in spite
+of my being an officer; but I could not boast of my strength, and
+remained silent for a time.
+
+"Do you think they are likely to get on board, sir?"
+
+"Oh no," he said.  "We shall not give them a chance.  Once the captain
+is sure that they are the pirates, if we are lucky enough to lure them
+well out from the shore, the men will be ordered up to the guns, and we
+shall give them a few broadsides, and sink them."
+
+"It sounds horrid, sir," I said.  "Then they'll never have a chance to
+fight us?"
+
+"Not if we can help it, my lad.  But, as you say, it does sound horrid,
+and rather cowardly; but what would you do with a poisonous snake?  You
+would not give it a chance to strike at you first, if you met it and had
+a loaded gun in your hands?"
+
+"Of course not, sir," I said quickly.
+
+"Well, these wretches are as dangerous as venomous serpents, and, after
+what you saw on board that barque, you do not think we need be squeamish
+about ridding the earth of such monsters?"
+
+"No, sir, not a bit," I said quickly.
+
+"Neither do I, Herrick.  I should like to aim the gun that sends a shot
+through them between wind and water."
+
+"Light on the port bow!" announced the look-out forward; and, upon using
+his night-glass, Mr Brooke made out the vessel, which showed the light
+to be a large junk, with her enormous matting-sails spread, and gliding
+along faster than we were, and in the same direction.
+
+As we watched the light, it gradually grew fainter, and finally
+disappeared, while all through our watch the screw kept on its slow
+motion, just sending the gunboat onward.
+
+Toward what?  I asked myself several times; and, in spite of my
+determination to acquit myself manfully if we did go into action, I
+could not help hoping that the next night would find us all as safe as
+we were then.  But all the same the thoughts of our preparations were
+well in my mind, and never once did I hope that we should not encounter
+the enemy.
+
+All the same, though, when my watch was at an end and I went below,
+perhaps it was owing to its being so hot, as Ching said, for it was a
+long time before I could get off to sleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+THE ENEMY.
+
+"Oh, I say, do wake up and come on deck.  It's such a lark."
+
+"What is?"  I said, rolling out of the berth, with my head feeling all
+confused and strange, to stare at Barkins.
+
+"Why, everything.  You never saw such a miserable old rag-bag of a ship
+in your life."
+
+I hurriedly dressed and went on deck, to find the preparations complete,
+and I could not help thinking that, if the pirates mistook the _Teaser_
+for a man-of-war now, they must be clever indeed.
+
+For on the previous day I had only seen the alterations in bits, so to
+speak, but now everything was done, even to having a quantity of coal on
+deck, and the clean white planks besmirched with the same black fuel.
+The paint-pots had altered everything; the figure-head was hidden with
+tarpaulin; the rigging, instead of being all ataunto, was what Smith
+called "nine bobble square," and one sail had been taken down and
+replaced by an old one very much tattered, so that up aloft we looked as
+if we had been having a taste of one of the typhoons which visit the
+Chinese seas.  These preparations, with the men's clothes hanging to
+dry, the boats badly hauled up to the davits, and the fish hanging over
+the stern (after the fashion practised in west-country fishing-boats),
+completely altered the aspect of everything.  Then I found that the
+officers were all in tweeds, with yachting or shooting caps; the bulk of
+the crew below, and my twenty men and lads all carefully got up with
+painted heads and pigtails complete, under the charge of Ching, who was
+bustling about importantly, and he came to me at once and began
+whispering--
+
+"Captain say, Ching takee care allee men, and show himself evelywhere."
+
+"Yes, of course," I said.  "Yes.  You wanted to say something?"
+
+"Yes, Ching want say something."
+
+"Well, what is it?  Quick, I must go."
+
+"Ching want you tell sailor boy be velly careful.  Take care of Ching
+when pilate come."
+
+"All right," I said; "but they haven't come yet."
+
+"Think big junk pilate."
+
+"Which one? where?"  I said.
+
+He pointed forward to where, about five miles off the lee-bow, a great
+junk was slowly sailing in the same direction as we were.
+
+"Is that the one which passed us in the night?"  I said.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why do you think she is a pirate?"
+
+"Ching tink why she no sail light away and not stop while man-o'-war
+clawl along velly slow.  You tellee captain."
+
+I nodded, and found that there was no need, for the captain was
+carefully observing the junk from where he was hidden by a pile of
+casks, and Mr Reardon was with him.
+
+"Here, Mr Herrick," he cried, "your eyes are young.  Have a look at
+that junk.  Take your uniform cap off, my lad, and, as soon as you have
+done, take off your jacket and put on a coloured suit."
+
+I had a good look through the glass at the junk, and made my report.
+
+"I think it's only a big trader, sir," I said.  "Looks like the boats we
+saw at Amoy, and as if she were going up to Wanghai."
+
+"Yes, that's it, I think," said Captain Thwaites to Mr Reardon.  Then
+he sharply turned to me and gave me a dry look.  "Well, Mr Herrick, you
+see I have taken your advice, and put my ship in this disgraceful
+state."
+
+"Yes, sir," I said eagerly; "and I hope it will prove successful."
+
+"So do I," he said drily.  "That will do, Herrick.  Now, Mr Reardon, I
+think we will keep on just as we are, just about four knots an hour.  It
+gives the idea of our being in trouble; and if we keep on close outside
+the islands, it may draw the scoundrels--that is, if they are there."
+
+"Yes, sir, if they are there," said the lieutenant.
+
+"How long do you reckon it will take us to get abreast of the reef where
+that barque lay?"
+
+"We ought to be there by noon, sir, I should say."
+
+"That will do.  We shall seem to be making for Wanghai."
+
+I heard no more, but went below, and directly after breakfast reappeared
+in white flannels and a cricketing cap, a transformation which satisfied
+the first lieutenant, but displeased Barkins and Smith, who had orders
+to keep below in uniform.
+
+"I hate so much favouritism," grumbled Barkins.  "Who are you, Gnat?
+You're our junior; and here are we kept below, and my lord you parading
+about the deck, and seeing everything."
+
+"Why, you're in the reserve," I said banteringly, "and will have all the
+fighting to do."
+
+"Who wants all the fighting to do?" cried Smith.  "I don't.  I suppose
+if we do take a lot of pirate junks, you'll be promoted, and we shan't
+get a word."
+
+"Stuff!"  I said.  "How can I get promoted?"
+
+"But I want to know why you're to be picked out," cried Barkins.
+
+"Go and ask the skipper," I said.  "Now, look here both of you; if
+you're not civil, I won't come and report everything.  If you are, I'll
+come down as often as I can to tell you all that is going on."
+
+"Oh then, I suppose we must be civil, Smithy," said Barkins sourly, "but
+we'll serve the beggar out afterwards."
+
+I went up on deck again to find that our speed had been slightly
+increased, but we drew no nearer to the junk, which sailed on exactly in
+the same course as we were taking, and that seemed strange; but beyond
+watching her through the telescopes, and seeing that she had only about
+a dozen men on board--all blue-frocked Chinamen--no further notice was
+taken of her.
+
+Ching was seated right forward, with his blue frock showing well up
+against the grey white of one of the hanging-down sails, and he had been
+furnished with a pipe, which he smoked slowly and thoughtfully;
+half-a-dozen men were in the fore-rigging, making believe to repair
+damages up aloft; and soon after four more were sent up to begin
+tinkering at the topmast, which they made great efforts to lower down on
+deck, but of course got no further.
+
+They had orders from the first lieutenant to take it coolly, and coolly
+they took it, looking like a lazy, loafing set of Chinese sailors, whose
+intentions were to do as little as they could for their pay.
+
+Mr Reardon, in a shooting-suit and straw hat, went about giving orders,
+and the captain and Mr Brooke had cane seats on the quarter-deck, with
+a bottle and glasses, and sat sipping beer and smoking cigars, as if
+they were passengers.
+
+Then came long hours of patient--I should say impatient--crawling along
+over the same course as we had followed the previous day, with no sail
+in sight but the big junk, which took not the slightest notice of us,
+nor we of it.
+
+There was no doubt whatever, though, of her actions.  She kept sailing
+on at about the same rate as we steamed, evidently for the sake of being
+in company, and to have a European vessel close at hand to close up to
+in case of danger from the shores of the mainland, or one of the islands
+we should pass, for it was an established fact that the pirates seldom
+attacked ships that were in company.
+
+All through the early part of the morning the novelty of the affair
+interested the men, and there was a constant burst of eager conversation
+going on, but as noon came, and matters were in the same position, and
+we still far away from the spot where the barque had been burned, every
+one grew weary, and I fidgeted myself into a state of perspiration.
+
+"It will all turn out wrong," I thought, "and then they will blame me."
+
+With these fancies to worry me, I kept away from my messmates as much as
+I could; and when by accident I encountered either of my superiors, I
+saw that they looked--or I fancied they did--very stern.
+
+"All these preparations for nothing," I said to myself, as I saw the
+guns all ready, but covered over with tarpaulins, cartridges and shells
+waiting, and the crews armed and impatient.
+
+Dinner had been long over, and I need hardly say that I did not enjoy
+mine.  Some of the men were having a nap, and the heat below must have
+been very great, for it was scorching on deck.
+
+At last we were abreast of the rocky islands dotted here and there, and
+upon the reef I could just make out a few pieces of the burned vessel.
+
+But as I swept the rocky islets and channels and then the horizon, I
+could not make out a sail, only our companion the junk, with her bows
+and stern high out of the water, sailing easily along that fine
+afternoon.
+
+Another hour passed, and there were rocky islands on our starboard bow
+and two astern, but not a sign of inhabitant, only high bluffs, rugged
+cliffs, and narrow channels between reefs whitened by the constant
+breaking upon them of a heavy swell.
+
+"Rather slow work, Reardon," said the captain, as they two came by where
+I was at the bulwark, using a small glass.  "See anything, Mr Herrick?"
+
+"No, sir," I said.
+
+"No, sir, indeed; of course you don't," cried the captain impatiently.
+"Nice trick you've played me, sir.  Made me dress up my men and the ship
+in this tomfool way.  There you are using your glass.  What have you got
+to say for yourself, eh?"
+
+I could not tell whether he was speaking banteringly or really angrily,
+and, keeping my glass to my eye in the hope of seeing something to
+report, I mumbled out some excuse about meaning it for the best.
+
+"Best, indeed!" he said pettishly.  "Nice objects we look.  What do you
+think the First Lords of the Admiralty would say to me if they could see
+Her Majesty's gunboat--the finest clipper in the service--in this state?
+Eh?  Why don't you answer, sir?"
+
+"I suppose, sir," I cried desperately, "that they would say you were
+doing your best for the sake of trying to catch the pirates."
+
+"Humph! do you, indeed?  Well?  Anything to report?  What's the use of
+holding that glass to your eye if you can't see anything?  Anything to
+report, I say?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I cried breathlessly, and with my heart throbbing heavily,
+"the junk has run up a little pennon to her mast-head."
+
+"She has?" cried Mr Reardon excitedly, and he raised his own glass.
+"Yes, you're right.  Well done, Herrick!  There, sir, I told you the lad
+was right."
+
+"Right? when they are signalling to us for water or a bag of rice."
+
+"When they have only to heave-to and let us overhaul them, sir," cried
+Mr Reardon, swinging his glass round and narrowly missing my head.
+"No, sir, they're signalling to the shore; and before long we shall see
+another junk come swooping out from behind one of those headlands, to
+take us in the rear.  If they don't, I'm a Dutchman."
+
+"Then Dutchman you are, Reardon," said the captain, smiling.  "I only
+wish they would."
+
+"Here they come, sir," I cried excitedly--"one--two--yes, there are
+three."
+
+"What?  Where?"
+
+"You can only see the tops of their sails, sir, over that flat, low
+island this side of the big cliffs."
+
+"Eh! yes."
+
+Only those two words, as the captain sighted the slowly-moving objects
+just indistinctly seen, but they were enough to send a thrill all
+through the ship.
+
+For there was no mistaking the matter.  The junk that had been hanging
+by us all night was a pirate after all, and she had signalled to
+companions on shore.  I could see, too, that she was slightly altering
+her course.
+
+The enemy was at last in sight.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+THE FIGHT.
+
+"Oh, if I only dared hooray!"  I said to myself; and then a flush of
+pride rose to my cheeks, for the captain gave me a smart clap on the
+shoulder.
+
+"Bravo, Herrick!" he said in quite a whisper.  "I thought you were
+right, my lad, or I shouldn't have done all this.  Mr Reardon and I
+will make a fine officer of you before we have done."
+
+"Shall I pass the word down for the men to be on the _qui vive_?" said
+the lieutenant.
+
+The captain laughed, and nodded his head in the direction of the
+hatches, which were black with peeping heads.
+
+"No need, Mr Reardon; there is not a soul on board who does not know.
+It is no time for making fresh arrangements.  We'll keep exactly to our
+plans.  Don't let a man show on deck, for depend upon it they will have
+a look-out aloft ready to give warning of danger, and we must not give
+them an excuse for signalling to their confederates to sheer off."
+
+"Keep steadily on, then, sir?"
+
+"Yes, steadily and stupidly.  Let the men go on as before up aloft, and
+let the rest of the men show their white heads and pigtails at the
+bulwarks as if they were wondering who the strangers were.  Good
+pressure of steam below?"
+
+"Yes, sir, almost too much," said the lieutenant, after communication
+with the engine-room.
+
+"Not a bit," said the captain, rubbing his hands.  "We shall want it
+soon."
+
+My heart began to beat as they passed on, and I wondered what would be
+the first steps taken.  But I did not forget my promise.  My duties were
+about nil, and as soon as I had seen the men staring over the bulwarks,
+and noted that the sham repairs to the rigging were steadily going on, I
+ran down the companion-way, and breathlessly told Barkins and Smith.
+
+"Then there are four of them, Smithy," cried Barkins.  "Look here, Gnat;
+he stuck out that there were only three.  But well done, old chap, you
+are a good one to come and tell us.  Here, don't go yet; I want to--"
+
+I never heard what he wanted to, for there was too much exciting
+attraction on the deck, to which, being as it were licensed, I at once
+returned.
+
+The captain and Mr Reardon were on the quarter-deck, conscious that
+savages as the Chinese or Formosan pirates were, they probably did not
+despise the barbarian instruments known as telescopes, and that most
+likely every movement on board the _Teaser_ was being watched.  Any
+suspicious act would be quite sufficient to make them sheer off, and
+consequently the strictest orders were given to the men to play their
+parts carefully, and make no movement that was not required.
+
+Dressed as I was in flannels, my appearance was thoroughly in keeping
+with the assumed peaceful character of the ship, and hence I heard and
+saw nearly everything.
+
+Just as I went on the quarter-deck the captain was saying to the first
+lieutenant--
+
+"Don't be so excitable, man.  When I ask you a question, or give an
+order, take it deliberately, and dawdle off to see it done."
+
+"Right through, sir?" said Mr Reardon petulantly.
+
+"No," said the captain quietly.  "When I give the order, `Full speed
+ahead,' then you can act.  Till then you are mate or passenger,
+whichever you like, of this dirty-looking trader.  Ah, those three low
+junks, or whatever they are, can creep through the water pretty
+quickly."
+
+"Yes; and the big junk too," said Mr Reardon, using his glass.  "It is
+astonishing how rapidly those great heavily-sailed craft can go.  She's
+full of men, sir," he continued; "I can see more and more beginning to
+show themselves.  Not much appearance of dishipline, though."
+
+"So much the better for us," muttered Captain Thwaites, turning in his
+cane arm-chair, and looking in the direction of the islands again, from
+which the three smaller vessels were coming on rapidly.  "Yes,"--he
+said, as if to himself, "a head keeps showing here and there; they are
+full of men too."
+
+I was not experienced, of course, that only being my third voyage, but I
+knew enough of navigating tactics to grasp the fact that the four
+vessels were carefully timing themselves so as to reach us together, and
+this evidently was their customary mode of procedure, and no doubt
+accounted for ship after ship being taken and plundered.  I felt
+startled, too, as I realised the strength of the crews, and what a
+simultaneous attempt to board might mean.  With an ordinary merchantman,
+even with a strong crew, undoubtedly death and destruction, while even
+with our well-armed men and guns I began to have doubts.  A slip in the
+manoeuvres, ever so slight a mistake on Captain Thwaites' part, or a
+blunder in the carrying out of his orders, might give one vessel the
+chance to make fast, and while we were arresting their onslaught there
+would be time for the others to get close in and throw their scores of
+bloodthirsty savages upon our decks.
+
+Mr Reardon had strolled forward, and returned just as the captain said
+to me--
+
+"You may as well fetch me my sword and cap from the cabin, Mr Herrick."
+
+"Yes, sir," I said quickly, and I was off, but he stopped me.
+
+"Not now, boy," he cried impatiently; "when the first gun is fired will
+be time enough.  Well, Reardon, men all ready?"
+
+"Ready, sir? they want wiring down.  I'm only afraid of one thing."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"That they will jam one another in the hatches in their excitement."
+
+"Give fresh stringent orders, sir," said the captain sternly; "every man
+is to go quickly and silently to his post, as if on an ordinary drill.
+By George! they are coming on quickly; we shall have it all over by
+daylight."
+
+"And they'll plunder the ship by lamplight, eh?" said Mr Reardon drily.
+
+"Of course.  I think there is no need to feel any doubt now as to these
+being the men we want?"
+
+"I don't know, sir," said the lieutenant quietly; "but there is no doubt
+about their meaning to try and take this peaceful merchantman.  Look,
+they feel sure of us, sir, and are showing themselves.  Why, they swarm
+with men."
+
+"Poor wretches!" said the captain gravely.  "I don't like shedding
+blood, but we must do it now, to the last drop."
+
+The enemy were now less than a mile away, and coming on rapidly, the
+smaller vessels helping their progress with long, heavy sweeps; and as I
+stood behind the captain's chair, and looked round the deck from the
+wheel, where one of our sham Chinamen stood, with another seated under
+the bulwarks apparently asleep, but ready to spring up and join his
+messmate at a word; round by the bulwarks where four or five stood
+stupidly looking over the side; and then up aloft to the men making
+believe to work very hard at the damaged spar--all looked peaceful
+enough to tempt the wretches, without counting the most prominent figure
+of all, Ching, as he sat high up, smoking placidly, and looking as calm
+and contemplative as a figure of Buddha.
+
+"The men ought to be called up now, and the guns set to work," I said to
+myself, as every pulse throbbed with excitement, and in imagination I
+saw, from the captain's neglect or dilatoriness, our deck running with
+blood.
+
+But I had to master these thoughts.
+
+"They know better than I do when to begin," I said to myself, and, after
+a sharp glance at the coming vessels, I began to pity my two messmates
+who were cooped up below, and I thought of how excited they must be.
+Then I thought of Mr Brooke, and hoped he would not be hurt; and
+shuddered a little as I remembered the doctor, who would be all ready
+below, waiting to attend upon the first wounded man.
+
+"See that, sir?" said Mr Reardon quickly.
+
+"What?" said Captain Thwaites in the most unmoved way.
+
+"That smoke on board two of them."
+
+"On board all," said the captain.  "I noticed it a minute ago.  They are
+getting the stinkpots ready for us, I suppose."
+
+"Yes, that's it, sir.  Do you think it necessary to have the hose ready
+in case of fire?"
+
+"No; if any come on board, the firemen can be called up from the
+stokehole with their shovels.  I think we'll go now upon the bridge.
+You can come too, Mr Herrick.  I may want you to take an order or two."
+
+And as he walked quietly towards the bridge, where the speaking-tubes
+and signals joined with the engine-room were, he was as calm and
+deliberate as if there was not the slightest danger menacing the
+_Teaser_; while for my part I could not help feeling that the position
+there upon the bridge was a highly-exposed one, and that I should have
+been much safer in the shelter of the bulwarks, or down below.
+
+All this time we were gently forging ahead, and the junk was quietly
+manoeuvring so that we should pass her so close that she could just
+avoid our prow, and then close and grapple with us, for they were busy
+on her starboard quarter, and through my glass I could make out great
+hooks.
+
+"Won't they think we are taking it too coolly, and grow suspicious,
+sir?" whispered Mr Reardon excitedly.
+
+"I hope not," said the captain.  "Perhaps one might show fight now, but
+I am trusting to their believing that we are stupid, for I want to get
+them all, Reardon, if I can.  Now, silence, if you please."
+
+Mr Reardon drew back a step or two and waited during those terrible
+minutes which followed, and I gave quite a start, for the enemy suddenly
+threw off all reserve as a yell came from the junk, which was answered
+from the other vessels, and, with their decks crowded with
+savage-looking desperadoes, they swept down upon us literally from both
+sides, bow and stern.
+
+But still the captain did not make a sign; and, in the midst of the
+horrible silence on board, I saw the dressed-up men turning their heads
+to gaze at us anxiously, as if the suspense was greater than they could
+bear, and their eyes implored their commander to give the word before
+the wretches began swarming on board.
+
+I glanced at Mr Reardon, whose face was white, and the great drops of
+perspiration stood upon his cheeks, while his eyes, which were fixed
+upon the captain between us, looked full of agony; for the great junk
+with its wild crew was apparently only a hundred yards ahead, and the
+others not much farther, coming rapidly on.
+
+"It's all over," I thought, in my horror, "he will be too late;" and
+that I was not alone in my thoughts obtained confirmation, for, though
+the crew to a man stood fast, I saw Ching suddenly drop from his perch
+and look round for a place of retreat.
+
+At the same moment the captain moved his hand; there was a sharp tinging
+of the gong in the engine-room, which meant full speed ahead; and, as
+the vibration rapidly increased, he then gave a sharp order or two, and
+in an instant almost the men came pouring up from the various hatches
+upon deck, but so quickly and quietly that the transformation was almost
+magical.
+
+I don't think my eyes are peculiarly made, but I saw the various crews
+muster round the guns, and the marines range up, and the men with their
+rifles at their various posts, with each officer in his place, although
+all the time I was standing with my gaze fixed upon the great junk.
+
+I saw, too, my twenty pigtailed men come sliding down the ropes from
+above, and snatch up the cutlasses and rifles laid ready beneath a
+tarpaulin; but all the time I was seeing, in obedience to orders, two
+parties of the crew going forward at the double, and I knew that the
+captain was communicating with the two men at the wheel.
+
+Quick as lightning there was another order as we began to leave the
+three low vessels behind, and I involuntarily grasped the rail before me
+as all the men on board lay down--crews of the guns, marines, and those
+who had doubled forward under the command of Mr Brooke.
+
+Hardly was the evolution performed, when there, right before us, were
+the lowering mat-sails of the great junk, and then, crash! there was a
+wild despairing yell, and we were into her amidships, the ponderous
+gunboat literally cutting her down and going right over her; while at a
+second command every man sprang up again, and for the next minute or two
+bayonet and cutlass were flashing in the evening sunlight as the
+wretches who climbed on board were driven back.
+
+While this was going on, the bell in the engine-room rang out again and
+again, and we began to move astern to meet the three low junks, which,
+undismayed by the fate of their comrade, came at us with their crews
+yelling savagely.
+
+Then there was a deep roar as the first gun belched forth its flame and
+smoke, with the huge shell hurtling through the air, dipping once in the
+calm sea, and crashing through one of the junks, to explode with a
+report like the echo of the first, far beyond.
+
+Captain Thwaites turned quietly and looked at me.
+
+"Yes, sir?"  I stammered.
+
+"I said when the first gun was fired you could fetch my cap and sword,
+Mr Herrick," he said quietly, and I ran down just as the second big gun
+bellowed, but I did not see with what result.  I heard the sharp, short
+order, though, and another gun roared, and another, and another, as the
+junks came well into sight; for each gun I heard the crash of the shell
+hitting too, and the fierce yells of the men, as I dashed into the
+cabin, seized cap and sword, and then ran back to the bridge, eager to
+see the fight, and in my excitement forgetting to feel afraid.
+
+But a heavy smoke was gathering over us and the junks,--two were
+indistinct, though they were close aboard of us.  Then, as the _Teaser_
+glided astern, I saw that the third was smoking, while crash, crash, the
+others struck our sides, and their crews grappled, hurled their
+stinkpots on board, and began to swarm over the bulwarks.
+
+But the guns were being steadily served with terrible effect; the few
+poor wretches who reached the deck were bayoneted, and in how long or
+how short a time I cannot tell, for everything seemed to be swept away
+in the excitement; we steamed away out of the smoke into the ruddy
+sunset, and there I saw in one place a mass of tangled bamboo and
+matting, with men clustering upon it, and crowding one over the other
+like bees in a swarm.  There was another mass about a quarter of a mile
+away, and I looked in vain for the third junk; but a number of her crew
+clinging to bamboos, sweeps, spars, and what looked to be wicker crates,
+showed where she had been.  The last of the four, with her great
+matting-sails hauled up to the fullest extent, was sailing away toward
+the nearest island, and on either side they had sweeps over with two or
+three men to each, tugging away with all their might to help their
+vessel along.
+
+"The brutes!"  I thought to myself, as I watched the glint of the ruddy
+sun upon their shiny heads and faces, with their pig tails swinging
+behind, as they hung back straining at the great oars.  For their sole
+idea seemed to be escape, and not the slightest effort was made to pick
+up any of their comrades struggling in the water.
+
+It was wonderful how quickly they went, and I began to think that the
+junk would escape.  Three miles would be enough to place her all amongst
+the reefs and shoals, where the gunboat dare not follow; and I was
+thinking, as we glided rapidly in her wake, that the _Teaser_ would
+chase her swiftly for about half the distance, and then lower the boats
+to continue the pursuit, but I was wrong; I saw that the captain gave
+Mr Reardon some order, then the gong rang in the engine-room, the way
+of the _Teaser_ was checked, a turn of the wheel made her describe a
+curve, and she slowly came to a standstill broadside on to the flying
+junk.
+
+The next minute the crews were piped away to the boats with their
+complement of marines to each; and as they were lowered down a steady
+fire was maintained with shell upon the junk.
+
+I stood watching the shots, and saw the first of the broadside from one
+heavy and three smaller guns strike the water close to the junk's hull,
+fly up, dip again, and then burst over the cliffs.
+
+The second went wide to the left, while the third also missed; and I saw
+the captain stamp impatiently as the fourth went right over her.
+
+"She'll get away," I thought; and it seemed a pity for this junk to
+escape and form a nucleus for another strong pirate gang.
+
+The firing continued, another broadside being directed at the flying
+pirates, who seemed to be certain now of escape, for the junk was end-on
+to us, and moving rapidly, forming a very difficult object for our
+marksmen; the gunboat, of course, rising and falling all the time upon
+the heaving sea.
+
+In the intervals between the shots I had caught a glimpse of Barkins and
+Smith climbing into two of the boats, but it was only a glimpse; and
+then I was watching the effects of the fire again, as the boats pushed
+off to go to the help of the floating men.
+
+Shot after shot had been fired most ineffectively, and I heard
+expostulations and angry words used to the captains of the guns; while
+at every ineffective shell that burst far away a derisive yell rose from
+the crowded junk--the shouts increasing each time.
+
+"Another broadside, Reardon," cried the captain; "and then we must run
+in as far as we dare.  Pick out half-a-dozen of the best men with the
+rifle to place on the bows to pick off the steersman."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," cried Mr Reardon; then directly, "All gone in the boats,
+sir."
+
+Just then, as I was thinking that the junk must escape, one of our big
+guns was fired with a crash which made the deck vibrate.  There was a
+tremendous puff of smoke, which was drawn toward us so that I could not
+see the effect, but the shell seemed to burst almost directly with a
+peculiar dull crash, and another yell arose from the distant vessel.
+Only it was not a derisive cry like the last, but a faint startling
+chorus of long-continued shrieks, despairing and wild.
+
+"That's got her, sir," cried Mr Reardon; and we waited impatiently for
+the smoke to float by.  But it still shut out the junk from where we
+stood, while it passed away from the men forward at the gun, and they
+gave us the first endorsement of Mr Reardon's words by bursting out
+into a hearty cheer, which was taken up by the crews of the other guns.
+Then we were clear of the smoke, looking landward to see a crowd of men
+struggling in the water, swimming about to reach planks and pieces of
+the junk, which had been blown almost to pieces by our great shell, and
+had sunk at once, while yet quite a mile from the nearest rocks.
+
+"Ha!" ejaculated the captain, "a good evening's work!  Now, Reardon,
+down with the other two boats, and save every poor wretch you can."
+
+"Only one left, sir," cried Mr Reardon; and in a few minutes, fully
+manned, she was about to be lowered down, when I looked quickly at the
+captain, and he read my meaning.
+
+"Want to go?" he said, and then nodded sharply.
+
+I dashed down, climbed upon the bulwark, seized the falls just as they
+were about to be cast off, and slid down into the stern to take my
+place.  Then the oars fell with a splash, and away we went over the
+ruddy sea to try and save all we could of the wretches upon whom so
+terrible a retribution had come.
+
+One of the warrant officers was in command; he gave me a grim nod.
+
+"Want to see the fun?" he said.
+
+"I want to see the men saved," I replied; "I don't know where the fun
+comes in."
+
+"You soon will," he said.  "Look out for yourself, my lad; and don't be
+too eager to help them."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"You'll soon see," he said gruffly.  Then turning to the four marines in
+the stern-sheets--"fix bayonets, and keep a sharp look-out."
+
+I looked at him wonderingly, for fixed bayonets did not seem very
+suitable things for saving drowning men.  But I said nothing, only
+sheltered my eyes from the level rays of the sun as we rowed swiftly on,
+and gazed across the water at the despairing wretches fighting for their
+lives upon the blood-red surface of the water.
+
+It was very horrible after a time, for, as I looked with my heart
+feeling contracted, I saw a man, who had been swimming hard, suddenly
+throw up his hands and sink.
+
+It was too much for me.
+
+"Row, my lads, row," I cried; "we may catch him as he comes up."
+
+"No," said the warrant officer grimly, "we shall never see him again."
+
+"But try, try!"  I cried.
+
+"Yes, we'll try our best," said the officer sternly; "but it's their
+turn now.  Many a poor wretch have they seen drown, I know, and laughed
+at when he cried for help."
+
+I knew it was true; but all the same there was only one thought besides
+in my breast, and that was to save all the poor wretches who were
+clinging to the pieces of wreck.
+
+As we drew nearer, we came upon the first of quite thirty, clinging to a
+sweep which was under his left arm; while, to my horror, I had seen
+three more swimming without support go down without a cry, and not one
+rise again.
+
+"Easy there," said the officer; "ready there, coxswain; can you reach
+him with the hook?"
+
+The man who was standing in the bows reached out to hook the pirate, but
+just then the end of the floating sweep touched our boat, and turned
+right off, so that the coxswain missed his stroke, and the result was
+that the pirate glided aft.
+
+The officer by my side leaned over, reached out, and, to my intense
+satisfaction, caught the Chinaman by his left sleeve to draw him to the
+boat; but in an instant the wretch threw his right arm out of the water,
+and I saw the flash of a long knife in his fingers, as, with his teeth
+grinning, he struck at my companion with all his might.
+
+I was so taken by surprise that I sat as if paralysed; but I was
+conscious of a quick movement from behind, something red passed over me,
+and, all instantaneously, there was the flash of another blade, a
+horrible thud--the pirate was driven under water; and I wrenched, as it
+were, my eyes round from him to look up over my shoulder at the marine,
+who with a dexterous twist of his rifle withdrew his bayonet from the
+savage's chest.
+
+"Hurt, sir?" he said.
+
+"No thankye, marine.  Very quick and well done of you.  There, Mr
+Herrick; now you see why I told you to look out."
+
+"The brutes!"  I cried excitedly; "they're not worth trying to save."
+
+"No," he said; "but we must do it.  I suppose they don't believe much in
+the mercy they'll get from us; so there's no wonder.  Look at that!"
+
+I turned my head in the direction in which he pointed, and saw what he
+meant.  Five men were clinging to a piece of floating wreck about fifty
+yards away, and three more left the plank to which they had been
+clinging as we approached, and swam to join them.
+
+I looked at the first group, fully expecting to see them hold out their
+hands to help their comrades; but in place thereof, I saw one wretch,
+who occupied the best position on the floating mass of wreck, raise a
+heavy piece of bamboo with both hands, and bring it down with a crash
+upon the head of the first man who swam up.
+
+"Yah, you cowardly beggar!" roared one of the boat's crew.  "I've marked
+you."
+
+"Nice wild-beasts to save, Mr Herrick," said the warrant officer.  "I
+feel as if I should like to open fire on them with my revolver."
+
+"It's too horrible," I panted.  "Look, look, Mr Grey!"
+
+"I'm looking, my lad," said my companion.  "Give way, my boys; let's
+stop it somehow."
+
+For there was a desperate fight going on at the piece of wreck; three
+men, knife in hand, were trying to get upon the floating wood, and those
+upon it stabbing at them to keep them off.
+
+But, in their despair, the swimmers made a dash together, regardless of
+the blows, climbed on, and a terrible struggle began.
+
+"Starn all!" roared Mr Grey; and the boat's progress was checked.  We
+were backed away just in time, for the pirates were all now on one side
+of the piece of wreck, thinking of nothing but destroying each other's
+lives, and heaped together in what looked like a knot, when the side
+they were on slowly sank, the far portion rose up and completely turned
+over upon them, forcing them beneath the water, which eddied and boiled
+as the struggle still went on below the surface.
+
+"Give way, my lads," said the officer sternly; "let's try and save some
+of the others."
+
+"Ay, ay," cried the man who had shouted before.  "These here arn't worth
+saving."
+
+The boat swept round in a curve, and we pulled off for another group,
+kneeling and crouching upon what seemed to be a yard and a mass of
+matting-sail.
+
+Mr Grey stood up.
+
+"Now, my lads," he shouted, "surrender."
+
+For answer they bared their knives and defied us to come on, yelling and
+striking at us with them.
+
+Mr Grey looked round at me half-laughingly.
+
+"Cheerful sort of prisoners to make.  If we go close in, some of us will
+get knifed."
+
+"You can't go close," I said.
+
+"If I don't they'll drown," he cried; "and the captain will ask me what
+I've been about."
+
+"Hadn't you better let the jollies put 'em out of their misery, Mr
+Grey, sir?" cried one of the men.  "They arn't fit to live."
+
+"No," cried another fiercely.  "They arn't men; they're tigers."
+
+"Silence!" said the officer sternly.  "There is a man yonder about to
+sink; give way," he cried.
+
+This man had left a barrel, to which he had vainly tried to cling, but
+it kept on turning round; and at last, in his despair, he had left it to
+try and swim to the nearest rocks.
+
+His strength was failing, though, and he began to paddle like a dog, too
+much frightened to try and swim.
+
+A few strokes of the oar took us within reach, and this time the
+coxswain succeeded in hooking his loose cotton jacket, and drawing him
+to the side.
+
+Hands seized him directly, and he was hauled in to lie down trembling,
+and looking wildly from one to the other.
+
+"Come; he's a quiet one," said the coxswain.  "Mind, sir!"
+
+"Mind! look out!" roared the boatswain.
+
+But he was too late.  One moment the Chinaman crouched, limp and
+helpless, in the bottom of the boat forward, with his hands hidden in
+his wet sleeves, the next he had made a frog-like leap at the coxswain,
+driven a sharp knife in the muscles of his back, and leaped overboard.
+Not into safety, though; for one of the men stood ready, and, as the
+wretch rose, brought down the blade of his oar with a tremendous chop
+across the head, and the pirate went down to rise no more.
+
+I heard the boatswain utter a low fierce growl as he crept forward, and
+I followed to try and help, for the injured man had sunk upon his knees,
+with the boat-hook across the bows, and began to wipe the perspiration
+from his forehead.
+
+"Much hurt, my lad?" cried Mr Grey.
+
+"Tidy, sir, tidy; makes one feel a bit sicky-like.  Any one like to have
+the next turn with the boat-hook?  I'm going to miche a bit.--Do it
+bleed?"
+
+All thought of saving the pirates was given up till the wound, which
+bled sharply, was carefully bandaged, and the man laid down in the
+bottom of the boat.  Then the crew looked at their officer.
+
+"Hadn't we better polish 'em off, sir?" growled one of the men.
+
+"The captain's orders were to pick up all the drowning men we could,"
+said the boatswain sternly.
+
+"But they won't be picked up, sir."
+
+"Give way."
+
+The men rowed to another floating group of four, and I stood up and
+called to them to surrender.
+
+For answer they sprang into the water, and began to swim to some of
+their comrades on the next piece of wreck.
+
+"This is a puzzling job, Mr Herrick," said the boatswain.  "I'm not a
+brute; I'd jump overboard to save any of the wretches, but it would be
+like giving my life, or the lives of any of the crew, to set them the
+job.  Those wretches will begin upon their mates, you'll see."
+
+He was quite right, for the possessors of the next floating piece of
+wreck yelled to their comrades to keep off, and, as they still swam on,
+a fresh fight began of the most bloodthirsty nature, and one of our men
+said drily--
+
+"Take it coolly, sir.  If we lay on our oars a bit, there won't be none
+to fish up."
+
+The feeling of horror and pity for the drowning men began to wear off,
+and I was glad when Mr Grey suddenly ordered the men to row hard, and I
+saw him steer shoreward to cut off a little party of four, who, with a
+thick bamboo yard between them, were swimming for the rocks.
+
+"They must be saved as prisoners or not at all," he said sternly; "not a
+man of them must land."
+
+As soon as this last party saw us coming, we noticed that they drew
+their knives to keep us off, but energetic measures were taken this
+time.  We got between them and the shore; and then a rope was made
+ready, one of the men stood up and dexterously threw it right over a
+pirate's head, snatched it tightly to him, dragged him from his hold,
+and he was at last drawn to the side half-drowned, hauled aboard, and
+his hands and feet tied.
+
+This successful plan was followed out with the others, with the result
+that we had four prisoners lying safely in the bottom, and then turned
+to capture some more in the same way.
+
+But we had been so excited and taken up by this work that we had not
+seen what was going on seaward, where a gun was fired for our recall.
+
+"Where's the next of them?" said Mr Grey.
+
+I did not answer, as I stood up looking round to see a few fragments of
+wreck floating here and there, but there was not another pirate left to
+save.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+REPAIRING DAMAGES.
+
+For some moments I could not believe it true, and I stood on the thwart
+and gazed carefully round, scanning every fragment of the wreck in the
+expectation of seeing some trick to deceive us--men lying flat with only
+their faces above the surface of the water, and holding on by sweep or
+bamboo with one hand.  But in a very short time we were all certain that
+not a living being was near; of the dead there were several, as we found
+on rowing here and there.  One, as he was turned over, seemed to be
+perfectly uninjured, but the others displayed ghastly wounds in face,
+neck, and breast, showing how horribly fierce had been the encounter in
+which they had been engaged.
+
+Satisfied at last that our task was at an end, the word was given, and
+the men began to row back to the _Teaser_, which still lay so
+transformed in appearance, as seen from a distance, that I was thinking
+that it was no wonder that the pirates had been deceived, when one of
+the men, forgetful of all the horrors through which we had passed, of
+his wounded comrade, and the dangerous prisoners under his feet, burst
+out into a merry fit of laughter.
+
+"Say, lads," he cried, "we shall have a nice job to-morrow, to wash the
+old girl's face."
+
+The rest of the crew laughed in chorus, till the boatswain sternly bade
+them give way.
+
+"I doubt it," he said in a low voice to me.  "I should say that the
+captain will do a little more to make her less ship-shape, ready for the
+next lot."
+
+"But you don't think there are any more pirates, do you?"
+
+"More!" he said, looking at me in surprise.  "Why, my lad, the coast
+swarms with them.  We never hear a hundredth part of the attacks they
+make.  It is not only European vessels they seize, but anything that
+comes in their way.  It strikes me, Mr Herrick, that we have only just
+begun what may turn out a very successful cruise."
+
+Ten minutes later we were nearing the _Teaser_, and I saw the reason why
+we could not see either of the other boats.  They were swinging to the
+davits, and we were therefore the last.
+
+Just then Mr Reardon hailed us.
+
+"How many men hurt?" he shouted between his hands.
+
+"Only one, sir; Barr--coxswain."
+
+"Badly?"
+
+"Oh no, sir," shouted the sufferer.  "Bit of a scrat on the back."
+
+"How many prisoners?"
+
+"Four, sir."
+
+Then we were alongside, the boat was run up, and, after our wounded man
+had been lifted out, I stepped on board, eager to know the result of the
+action on the part of the other boats, and to learn this I went below,
+and found Barkins alone.
+
+"Well," I cried, "how many prisoners?"
+
+"Round dozen," he cried.
+
+"Any one hurt?"
+
+"Round dozen."
+
+"I know, twelve prisoners," I said impatiently.  "I asked you how many
+were hurt."
+
+"And I told you, stupid," he replied, "a round dozen."
+
+"What! a man wounded for every prisoner?"
+
+"That's it; and we shouldn't have taken any, the beggars were game for
+fighting to the last, if Mr Brooke hadn't given the word for them to be
+knocked on the head first with the thick end of the oars."
+
+"To stun them?"
+
+"Yes; and our lads got so savage after seeing their mates stabbed when
+trying to save the brutes' lives, that they hit as hard as they could.
+They killed two of 'em, or we should have had fourteen."
+
+"How horrid!"
+
+"Horrid?  Why, I enjoyed it," said my messmate.  "When I saw poor old
+Blacksmith--"
+
+"What!"  I cried excitedly, "he isn't hurt?"
+
+"Not hurt? why, one yellow-faced savage, when poor old Smithy held out
+his hand to pull him aboard, took hold of his wrist, and then reached up
+and stuck his knife right through the poor old chap's arm, and left it
+there."
+
+"Poor old Smithy!"  I cried huskily, and a choking sensation rose in my
+throat.  "I must go and see him."
+
+"No, you mustn't.  I've just been, and they sent me away."
+
+"But where is he?"
+
+"Doctor's got him, and been mending him up.  He has gone to sleep now."
+
+"Was he very bad?"
+
+"Stick a stocking-needle through your arm, and then square it, cube it,
+add decimal nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and
+then see how you feel."
+
+"Poor old boy!"  I said; "I am sorry."
+
+"Well, so am I," said Barkins sourly; "but I don't keep on howling."
+
+"Did they take the blackguard prisoner?"
+
+"Well, they did, and hauled him aboard, but he was no good, and they
+pitched him overboard again."
+
+"Why?"  I said wonderingly.
+
+"Why! because he was dead.  Bob Saunders, that red-haired chap, was in
+the stern-sheets helping to catch the beggars with hitches, and as soon
+as he saw the big yellow-faced wretch stick his knife into poor old
+Blacksmith, he let drive at the brute with the boat-hook, twisted it in
+his frock, and held him under water.  He didn't mean to, but he was
+savage at what he had seen, for the lads like Smithy, and he held the
+beggar under water too long."
+
+I shuddered, and thought of the man being bayoneted from our boat, and
+Mr Grey's narrow escape.
+
+"Your fellows behaved better, I s'pose?" said Barkins.
+
+"Not a bit," I said.  "We've got a man stabbed just in the same way--"
+and I told him of our adventures.
+
+"They're nice ones," said Barkins sourly.  "I don't think our chaps will
+want to take many prisoners next time.  But I say, what a crusher for
+them--all four junks, and not a man to go back and tell the tale."
+
+"It's glorious," I cried, forgetting the horrors in our triumph.
+
+"For you," said Barkins sourly.
+
+"Why for me?  You and poor old Smith did your part.  Don't be so jolly
+envious."
+
+"Envious?  Come, I like that," he cried.  "If you felt as if something
+red-hot was being stuck in your leg you'd feel envious too.  You're the
+luckiest beggar that ever was, and never get hurt or anything."
+
+"No more do you," I said, laughing.
+
+"Oh, don't I?  What do you call that, then?" he cried, swinging his legs
+round, for he was sitting with one of them under the table.
+
+To my horror and astonishment, I saw that his leg was bandaged, and a
+red stain was showing through.
+
+"Why, Tanner, old chap," I cried, catching his hand as my eyes were
+blurred; "I didn't know you were hurt."
+
+He looked quite pleased at my weakness, and the emotion I showed.
+
+"Oh, it ain't much," he said, smiling and holding on to my hand very
+tightly; "but it pringles and sticks a bit, I mean stingles--no, I
+don't!  My tongue's getting all in a knot, it tingles and pricks a bit.
+I say, Gnat, old chap, you don't think those chaps carry poisoned
+knives, do you?"
+
+"What, like the Malays?  Oh no."
+
+"I'm glad of that, because it made me feel a bit funky.  I thought this
+stinging might mean the poison spreading."
+
+"Oh no, don't think that," I cried; "and some one told me a Malay prince
+said it was all nonsense about the knives being poisoned."
+
+"He did?"
+
+"Yes; he laughed, and said there was no need to poison them, they were
+quite sharp enough to kill a man without."
+
+"That depends on where you put it in," said Barkins grimly.
+
+"Yes," I said; "but what did the doctor say?"
+
+"What about?"
+
+"Your leg."
+
+"He hasn't seen it yet."
+
+"Why, Tanner," I cried, "you haven't had it properly bandaged."
+
+"No; I felt so sick when I got on board, that I sneaked off here to lie
+down a bit.  Besides, he had poor old Blacksmith to see to, and the
+other chaps."
+
+"But didn't he see the bandage when you went there?"
+
+"No; there was no bandage then.  It's only a bit of a scratch; I tied it
+up myself."
+
+"How was it?"
+
+"I don't hardly know.  It was done in a scuffle somehow, when we had got
+the first prisoner in hand.  He began laying about him with a knife, and
+gave it to two of our lads badly, and just caught me in the leg.  It was
+so little that I didn't like to make a fuss about it.  Here, stop, don't
+leave a chap.  I want to talk to you."
+
+"Back directly," I cried, and I hurried on deck so quickly that I nearly
+blundered up against Mr Reardon.
+
+"Manners, midshipman!" he said sharply.  "Stop, sir.  Where are you
+going?"
+
+"Doctor, sir."
+
+"What, are you hurt, my lad?" he cried anxiously.
+
+"No, sir, but poor Barkins is."
+
+"Bless my soul, how unfortunate!  Mr Smith down too!  Where is he?"
+
+I told him, and he hurried with me to the doctor, who was putting on his
+coat, after finishing the last dressing of the injured men.
+
+"Here, doctor," cried Mr Reardon sharply, "I've another man down--boy,
+I mean."
+
+"What, young Smith?  I've dressed his wound."
+
+"No, no; Barkins has been touched too."
+
+"Tut, tut!" cried the doctor, taking up a roll of bandage.  "Are they
+bringing him?"
+
+"No, sir; he's sitting by his berth.  He tied up the wound himself."
+
+Without another word the doctor started off, and we followed to where
+Barkins sat by the table with his back leaning against the side of his
+berth, and as soon as he caught sight of us he darted a reproachful look
+at me.
+
+"Oh, I say, Gnat," he whispered, "this is too bad."  For the doctor had
+raised the leg, and, after taking off the handkerchief, roughly tied
+round just above the knee, made no scruple about slitting up the lad's
+trousers with an ugly-looking knife, having a hooky kind of blade.
+
+"Bad?" said Mr Reardon anxiously.
+
+"Oh dear, no," replied the doctor.  "Nice clean cut.  Sponge and water,
+youngster.  Ha, yes," he continued, as he applied the cool, soft sponge
+to the bleeding wound, "avoided all the vessels nicely."
+
+"Gnat, old chap," whispered Barkins, as I half supported him, "pinch me,
+there's a good fellow."
+
+"What for?"  I whispered back.
+
+"Feel sicky and queer.  Don't let me faint before him."
+
+"Here, hallo!  Barkins, don't turn like a great girl over a scratch--
+lower his head down, boy.  That's the way.  He'll soon come round.  Ever
+see a wound dressed before?"
+
+"No, sir," I said, repressing a shudder.
+
+"Don't tease the boys, doctor," said Mr Reardon sharply; "get the wound
+dressed."
+
+"Well, I am dressing it, arn't I?" said the doctor cheerily, and as if
+he enjoyed his task.  "I must draw the edges together first."
+
+He had taken what seemed to be a pocket-book from his breast and laid it
+open, and as I looked on, feeling sick myself, I saw him really put in
+three or four stitches, and then strap up and bandage the wound, just as
+Barkins came to and looked about wonderingly.
+
+"I didn't faint, did I?" he said anxiously.
+
+The doctor laughed.
+
+"There, lie down in your berth," he said.  "Let me help you."
+
+He assisted my messmate gently enough, and then said laughingly--
+
+"One can dress your wound without having three men to hold you.  I say,
+Reardon, isn't it waste of good surgical skill for me to be dressing the
+prisoners' wounds, if you folk are going to hang them?"
+
+"I don't know that we are going to hang them," said the lieutenant
+quietly.  "Perhaps we shall deliver them over to the Chinese authorities
+at Wanghai."
+
+"What?  My dear fellow, go and beg the captain to hang 'em at once out
+of their misery.  It will be a kindness.  Do you know what a Chinese
+prison is?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then I do.  It would be a mercy to kill them."
+
+"The Chinese authorities may wish to make an example of them so as to
+repress piracy."
+
+"Let 'em make an example of some one else.  Eh?  Bandage too tight, my
+lad?"
+
+"No, sir," said Barkins rather faintly.  "The wound hurts a good deal."
+
+"Good sign; 'tis its nature to," said the doctor jocosely.
+
+"But--er--you don't think, sir--"
+
+"`That you may die after it,' as we used to say over cut fingers at
+school.  Bah! it's a nice clean honest cut, made with a sharp knife.
+Heal up like anything with your healthy young flesh."
+
+"But don't these savage people sometimes poison their blades, sir?"
+
+"Don't people who are wounded for the first time get all kinds of
+cock-and-bull notions into their heads, sir?  There, go to sleep and
+forget all about it.  Healthy smarting is what you feel.  Why, you'll be
+able to limp about the deck with a stick to-morrow."
+
+"Do you mean it, sir?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+Barkins gave him a grateful look, and Mr Reardon shook hands, nodded,
+and left us to ourselves for a moment, then the doctor thrust in his
+head again.
+
+"Here, lads," he said, "Smith's all right, I've made a capital job of
+his arm.  Your turn next, Herrick.  Good-bye."
+
+This time we were left alone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+A WILD-BEASTS' CAGE.
+
+All doubts as to our next destination were set at rest the next morning,
+for it was generally known that we were making for Tsin-Tsin, at the
+mouth of the Great Fo river, where the prisoners were to be delivered
+over to the Chinese authorities.
+
+I had been pretty busy all the morning with Barkins and Smith, going
+from one to the other, to sit with them and give them what news I could,
+both looking rather glum when I went away, for they were feverish and
+fretful from their wounds.  But I promised to return soon with news of
+the men, who were all together in a cool, well-ventilated part of the
+'tween-decks, seeming restful and patient, the doctor having been round,
+and, in his short, decisive way, given them a few words of
+encouragement.
+
+I saw their faces light up as I went down between the two rows in which
+they were laid, and stopped for a chat with those I knew best, about the
+way in which they had received their wounds, the coxswain of our boat
+being the most talkative.
+
+"They all got it 'bout the same way, sir," he said.  "It all comes of
+trying to do the beggars a good turn.  Who'd ever have thought it, eh,
+sir?  Trying to save a fellow from drownding, and knives yer!"
+
+They were all very eager to know what was to become of the prisoners,
+and upon my telling the poor fellows what I knew, I heard them giving
+their opinions to one another in a lying-down debate.
+
+"Seems a pity," said one of the men.  "Takes all that there trouble, we
+does; captivates 'em; and then, 'stead o' having the right to hang 'em
+all decently at the yard-arm, we has to give 'em up to the teapots."
+
+"How are you going to hang 'em decently?" said another voice.
+
+"Reg'lar way, o' course, matey."
+
+"Yah, who's going to do it?  British sailors don't want turning into
+Jack Ketches."
+
+"'Course not," said a third.  "Shooting or cutting a fellow down in fair
+fight's one thing; taking prisoners and hanging on 'em arterwards, quite
+another pair o' shoes.  I says as the skipper's right."
+
+"Hear, hear!" rose in chorus, and it seemed to be pretty generally
+agreed that we should be very glad to get rid of the savage brutes.
+
+I was on my way back to where Smith lay, when I encountered the doctor,
+who gave me a friendly nod.
+
+"At your service, Mr Herrick," he said, "when you want me; and, by the
+way, my lad, your messmate Barkins has got that idea in his head still,
+about the poisoned blade.  Try and laugh him out of it.  Thoughts like
+that hinder progress, and it is all nonsense.  His is a good, clean,
+healthy wound."
+
+He passed on, looking very business-like, and his dresser followed,
+while I went on to see Smith.
+
+"Good, clean, healthy wound!"  I said to myself; "I believe he takes
+delight in such things."
+
+I turned back to look after him, but he was gone.
+
+"Why, he has been to attend to the prisoners," I thought, and this set
+me thinking about them.  To think about them was to begin wishing to
+have a look at them, and to begin wishing was with me to walk forward to
+where they were confined, with a couple of marines on duty with loaded
+rifles and fixed bayonets.
+
+The men challenged as I marched up.
+
+"It's all right," I said.  "I only want to have a look at them."
+
+"Can't pass, sir, without orders," said the man.
+
+"But I'm an officer," I said testily.  "I'm not going to help them
+escape."
+
+The marine grinned.
+
+"No, sir, 'tain't likely; but we has strict orders.  You ask my mate,
+sir."
+
+"Yes, sir; that's it, sir," said the other respectfully.
+
+"What a bother!"  I cried impatiently.  "I only wanted to see how they
+looked."
+
+"'Tain't my fault, sir; strict orders.  And they ain't very pretty to
+look at, sir, and it'd be 'most as safe to go in and see a box o'
+wild-beasts.  Doctor's been in this last hour doin' on 'em up, with
+depitty, and two on us inside at the `present' all the time.  They'd
+think nothing o' flying at him, and all the time he was taking as much
+pains with them as if they were some of our chaps.  They have give it to
+one another awful."
+
+"Well, I am sorry," I said.  "I should have liked to see them."
+
+"So'm I sorry, sir; I'd have let you in a minute, but you don't want to
+get me in a row, sir."
+
+"Oh no, of course not," I said.
+
+"My mate here says, sir--"
+
+"Get out!  Hold your row," growled the other, protesting.
+
+"Yes, what does he say?"  I cried eagerly.
+
+"That if we was to shut 'em up close in the dark and not go anigh, sir,
+till to-morrow morning, there wouldn't be nothing left but one o' their
+tails."
+
+"Like the Kilkenny cats, eh?"  I said, laughing; and I went back on deck
+with the desire to see the prisoners stronger than ever.
+
+Captain Thwaites was on the quarter-deck, marching up and down, and the
+men were hard at work cleaning up, squaring the yards, and repainting.
+The spars were up in their places again, and the _Teaser_ was rapidly
+resuming her old aspect, when I saw Mr Reardon go up to the captain.
+
+"I'll ask leave," I said.  "He has been pretty civil;" and I made up my
+mind to wait till the lieutenant came away.
+
+"No, I won't," I said.  "I'll go and ask the captain when he has gone."
+
+The next moment I felt that this would not do, for Mr Reardon would be
+sure to know, and feel vexed because I had not asked him.
+
+"I'll go and ask leave while they are both together," I said to myself.
+"That's the way."
+
+But I knew it wasn't, and took a turn up and down till I saw Mr Reardon
+salute and come away, looking very intent and busy.
+
+I waited till he was pretty close, and then started to intercept him.
+
+His keen eye was on me in an instant.
+
+"Bless my soul, Mr Herrick!" he cried, "what are you doing?  Surely
+your duty does not bring you here?"
+
+"No, sir," I said, saluting.  "I beg your pardon, sir; I've been going
+backward and forward to Mr Barkins and Mr Smith."
+
+"Ho!  Pair of young noodles; what did they want in the boats?  Getting
+hurt like that.  Well?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; would you mind giving me permission to see the
+prisoners?"
+
+"What! why?"
+
+"I wanted to see them, sir, and go back and tell my messmates about how
+they looked."
+
+"Humbug!" he cried.  "Look here, sir, do you think I have nothing else
+to do but act as a wild-beast showman, to gratify your impertinent
+curiosity?  Let the miserable wretches be."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And be off to your cabin and study your navigation, sir.  Your
+ignorance of the simplest matters is fearful.  At your age you ought to
+be as well able to use a sextant as I am."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, I am trying."
+
+"Then be off and try more, and let me see some results."
+
+I touched my cap, drew back, and the lieutenant marched on.
+
+"Jolly old bear!"  I muttered, looking exceedingly crestfallen.
+
+"Herrick!" came sharply, and I ran up, for he was walking on, and I had
+to keep up with him.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You behaved very well yesterday.  I'm horribly busy.  Here, this way."
+
+"Thank you, sir," I said, wondering what he was going to set me to do,
+and thinking that he might have given me the permission I asked.
+
+"Now then, quick," he said; and, to my surprise, he led the way to the
+hatchway, went down, and then forward to where the two marines were on
+duty, ready to present arms to the officer who always seemed of far more
+importance in the ship than the captain.
+
+"Let Mr Herrick pass in, marines," he said.  "Keep a sharp eye on your
+prisoners."
+
+I gave him a look of thanks, and then felt disappointed again.
+
+"Stop," he said; "fetch up two more men and a lantern, Herrick."
+
+I gladly obeyed; and then the door was opened.  After a look in through
+the grating, and followed closely by three of the marines with their
+rifles ready, we walked in to where the prisoners were squatted upon
+their heels all round close up against the bulkheads, bandaged terribly
+about the faces and necks, and with their fierce eyes glowering at us.
+
+I had expected to find them lying about like wounded men, but, bad as
+several were, they all occupied this sitting position, and glared at us
+in a way that told us very plainly how unsafe it would be to trust our
+lives in their keeping even for a minute.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," whispered the corporal of marines, who was carrying a
+lantern; "better be on the look-out."
+
+"Oh yes," said Mr Reardon.  "We shall not stay.  I only wanted a look
+round.  Look sharp, Mr Herrick, and see what you want of them."
+
+"Doctor was dressing that farthest chap's head, sir," whispered the
+corporal to me; "and as soon as he was about done, the fellow watched
+his chance and fixed his teeth in the dresser's arm, and wouldn't let go
+till--"
+
+"Well?  Till what?" said Mr Reardon, gazing fixedly at the brutal
+countenance of one of the men right before us.
+
+"We had to persuade him to let go."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated the lieutenant.  "Wild-beast."
+
+"How did you persuade him?"  I whispered.
+
+"With the butt-end of a rifle, sir; and then we had to wrench his teeth
+open with bayonets."
+
+I looked round from face to face, all ghastly from their wounds, to see
+in every one a fierce pair of eyes glaring at me with undying hatred,
+and I was wondering how it was that people could think of the Chinese as
+being a calm, bland, good-humoured Eastern race, when Mr Reardon said
+to me--
+
+"Nearly ready, Herrick?  The sight of these men completely takes away
+all compunction as to the way we treat them."
+
+"Yes, sir; and it makes one feel glad that they are not armed."
+
+"Ready to come away?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I said; "quite."
+
+"Come along, then."
+
+He took a step towards the door, when the corporal said, "Beg pardon,
+sir; better back out."
+
+"Eh? oh, nonsense!" said the lieutenant, without changing his position,
+while I, though I began to feel impressed with the glaring eyes, and to
+feel that the sooner we were out of the place the pleasanter it would
+be, thought that it would be rather undignified on the part of officers
+to show the wretches that we were afraid of them.
+
+Just then Mr Reardon glanced sidewise to where one of the men on our
+left crouched near the door, and said quickly--
+
+"The surgeon saw all these men this morning?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the corporal, "not half an hour ago."
+
+"He must be fetched to that man.  The poor wretch is ready to faint."
+
+"Yes, sir; he shall be fetched."
+
+Mr Reardon bent down to look at the prisoner more closely.
+
+"Hold the lantern nearer," he said.
+
+The corporal lowered the light, which shone on the pirate's glassy eyes,
+and there was a fixed look in his savage features which was very
+horrible.
+
+"Get some water for him," said Mr Reardon.
+
+But hardly had the words left his lips when I was conscious of a rushing
+sound behind me.  I was dashed sidewise, and one of the prisoners, who
+had made a tremendous spring, alighted on the lieutenant's back, driving
+him forward as I heard the sound of a blow; the corporal was driven
+sidewise too, and the lantern fell from his hand.  Then came a terrible
+shriek, and a scuffling, struggling sound, a part of which I helped to
+make, for I had been driven against one of the prisoners, who seized me,
+and as I wrestled with him I felt his hot breath upon my face, and his
+hands scuffling about to get a tight grip of my throat.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+THE SEQUEL.
+
+If ever I was active it was at that moment.  I struck out with my
+clenched fists, throwing all the power I possessed into my blows, and
+fortunately for me--a mere boy in the grasp of a heavily-built man--he
+was comparatively, powerless from loss of blood consequent upon his
+wounds, so that I was able to wrest myself free, and stand erect.
+
+At that moment the corporal recovered the lantern, and held it up,
+showing that fully half the prisoners had left the spots where they were
+crouching the minute before, and were making an effort to join in the
+fray initiated by one of the savages of whom we had been warned.
+
+It is all very horrible to write of, but I am telling a simple story in
+this log of what takes place in warfare, when men of our army and navy
+contend with the uncivilised enemies of other lands.  In this case we
+were encountering a gang of bloodthirsty wretches, whose whole career
+had been one of rapine and destruction.  The desire seemed to be innate
+to kill, and this man, a prisoner, who since he had been taken had
+received nothing but kindness and attention, had been patiently watching
+for the opportunity which came at last.  Just as Mr Reardon was
+stooping to attend to his fellow-prisoner, he had made a tremendous
+cat-like bound, driving me sidewise as he alighted on Mr Reardon's
+back, making at the same time a would-be deadly stroke with a small
+knife he had managed to keep hidden in the folds of his cotton jacket.
+
+As I rose up I could see the knife sticking in the lieutenant's
+shoulder, apparently driven sidewise into his neck, while he was
+standing with his eyes dilated, looking in horror at his assailant, who
+now lay back, quivering in the agonies of death, literally pinned down
+to the deck.
+
+My brain swam, and for a few moments everything looked misty, but that
+horrid sight forced itself upon me, and I felt as if I must stare hard
+at the pirate, where he lay bayoneted and held down at the end of the
+rifle by the strong arms of the marine sentry, who was pressing with all
+his might upon the stock.
+
+The struggling went on for a few moments, then grew less and less
+violent, while a low hissing sound came from the prisoners around.  Then
+the quivering entirely ceased, and the marine gave his bayonet a twist,
+and dragged it out of the wretch's chest, throwing himself back into
+position to strike again, should it be necessary.  But the last breath
+had passed the pirate's lips; and, while the sentry drew back to his
+place by one side of the door and stood ready, his comrade fell back to
+the other, and the corporal and the fourth man seized the pirate, and
+rapidly drew him forth through the doorway; we followed, the place was
+closed and fastened, and I stood panting, as if I had been running hard,
+and could not recover my breath.
+
+The next moment I was clinging to Mr Reardon, trying to hold him up,
+but he misinterpreted my action, and seized and gave me a rough shake.
+
+"Don't, boy," he cried in an angry, excited tone.  "Stand up; be a man."
+
+"Yes, yes," I gasped; "but quick, corporal! never mind--that wretch--
+run--the doctor--fetch Mr Price."
+
+"Bah!" cried Mr Reardon roughly, and trying to hide his own agitation,
+"the man's dead."
+
+I stared at him in horror.
+
+"He don't know!"  I gasped.  "Mr Reardon--sit--lie--lay him down, my
+lads.  Don't you know you are badly hurt?"
+
+"I! hurt?" he cried.  "No; I felt him hit me, but it was nothing."
+
+I reached up my trembling hand, but he caught it as it touched his
+shoulder, and was in the act of snatching it away, when his own came in
+contact with the handle of the knife.
+
+"Great heavens!" he ejaculated, as he drew it forth from where it was
+sticking through the stiff collar of his coat; "right through from side
+to side--what a narrow escape!"
+
+"I--I thought he had killed you," I cried faintly, and a deathly
+sensation made me feel for the moment as if I must fall.
+
+"No, not a scratch," he said firmly now.  "A little memento," he
+muttered, as he took out his handkerchief and wrapped it round the blade
+before thrusting the knife in his breast-pocket.  "I must keep that for
+my private museum, Herrick.  Here, my lads, throw something over that
+wretch.  Sentry, I'll talk to you later on.  You saved my life."
+
+"Officer's orders, sir," said the man, looking uncomfortable and stiff
+as he drew himself up.
+
+"What, to save my life?" said Mr Reardon, smiling, and trying to look
+as if everything had been part of the ordinary business of life.
+
+"No, sir; to keep my eye on the Chinees.  I had mine on that chap, for
+he looked ugly at you, and I see him pull himself together, shuffle in
+his blue jacket, and then make a jump at you, just like a cat at a rat."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said the man awkwardly; "I don't mean to say as you
+looked like a rat."
+
+"I hope not, my lad."
+
+"I meant him jumping like a cat."
+
+"Yes; and you saw him springing at me?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, what then?"
+
+"Only bayonet practice, sir--point from guard, and he came right on it."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Then I held him down, sir."
+
+I saw Mr Reardon shudder slightly.
+
+"That will do, sentry," he said shortly.  "I will see you another time.
+Come, Mr Herrick."
+
+I followed him on deck, and saw him take off his cap and wipe his
+forehead, but he turned consciously to see if I was looking.
+
+"Rather warm below," he said drily.  "I'd better have kept to my first
+answer to you, my lad.  You see it's dangerous to go into a wild-beasts'
+cage."
+
+"Yes, sir, I'm very sorry," I said; then, anxiously, "But you are sure
+you are not hurt, sir?"
+
+"Tut, tut!  I told you no, boy.  There, there, I don't mean that.  Not
+even scratched, Mr Herrick.  You can go to your messmates now with an
+adventure to tell them," he added, smiling; "only don't dress it up into
+a highly-coloured story, about how your superior officer relaxed the
+strict rules of dishipline; do you hear?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I hear," I said, and I left him going to join the captain,
+while I went down and told Barkins what had been going on, but I had not
+been talking to him five minutes before I heard a heavy splash as if
+something had been thrown over the side.
+
+"What's that?" said Barkins, turning pale.
+
+I did not answer.
+
+"Sounds like burying some one," he whispered.  "Don't say poor old
+Blacksmith has gone?"
+
+"No no," I said.  "I know what it is.  Wait till I've told you all I
+have to tell, and then you'll know too."
+
+He looked at me wonderingly, and I completed my account of the scene in
+the black-hole place.
+
+"Oh, I see," he cried; "it was the Chinaman?"
+
+I nodded carelessly, but I felt more serious than ever before in my
+life, at this horrible sequel to a fearful scene.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+A DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+"Very jolly for you," said Barkins, as we cast anchor off Tsin-Tsin a
+couple of mornings later.  "You'll be going ashore and enjoying
+yourself, while I'm condemned to hobble on deck with a stick."
+
+"I say, don't grumble," I cried.  "Look how beautiful the place seems in
+the sunshine."
+
+"Oh yes, it looks right enough; but wait till you go along the narrow
+streets, and get some of the smells."
+
+"Hear that, Smithy?"  I said to our comrade, who was lying in his berth.
+"Grumbles because he can't go ashore, and then begins making out how
+bad it is.  How about the fox and the grapes?"
+
+"If you call me fox, my lad, I'll give you sour grapes when I get
+better.  Where's your glass?"
+
+I took down my telescope, adjusted it for him, and pushed his seat
+nearer to the open window, so that he could examine the bright-looking
+city, with the blue plum-bloom tinted mountains behind covered with
+dense forest, and at the shipping of all nations lying at the mouth of
+the river.
+
+"S'pose that tower's made of crockery, isn't it?" said Barkins, whose
+eye was at the end of the telescope.
+
+I looked at the beautiful object, with its pagoda-like terraces and
+hanging bells, and then at the various temples nestling high up on the
+sides of the hills beyond.
+
+"I say," said Smith, "can't you tell Mr Reardon--no, get the doctor to
+tell him--that I ought to be taken ashore for a bit to do me good?"
+
+"I'll ask him to let you go," I said; but Smith shook his head, and then
+screwed up his white face with a horrible look of disgust.
+
+"Oh, what a shame!" he cried.  "He gets all the luck;" for a message
+came for me to be ready directly to go ashore with the captain in the
+longboat.
+
+It meant best uniform, for the weather was fine, and I knew that he
+would be going to pay a visit to some grand mandarin.
+
+I was quite right; for, when I reached the deck a few minutes later,
+there was Mr Brooke with the boat's crew, all picked men, and a strong
+guard of marines in full plumage for his escort.
+
+The captain came out of his cabin soon after, with cocked hat and gold
+lace glistening, and away we went for the shore soon after; the last
+things I saw on the _Teaser_ being the two disconsolate faces of my
+messmates at the cabin window, and Ching perched up on the hammock-rail
+watching our departure.
+
+I anticipated plenty of excitement that day, but was doomed to
+disappointment.  I thought I should go with the escort to the mandarin's
+palace, but Mr Brooke was considered to be more attractive, I suppose,
+and I had the mortification of seeing the captain and his escort of
+marines and Jacks land, while I had to stay with the boat-keepers to
+broil in the sunshine and make the best of it, watching the busy traffic
+on the great river.
+
+Distance lends enchantment to the view of a Chinese city undoubtedly,
+and before long we were quite satiated with the narrow limits of our
+close-in view, as well as with the near presence of the crowd of
+rough-looking fellows who hung about and stared, as I thought, rather
+contemptuously at the junior officer in Her Majesty's service, who was
+feeling the thwarts of the boat and the hilt of his dirk most
+uncomfortably hot.
+
+"Like me to go ashore, sir, to that Chinesy sweetstuff shop, to get you
+one o' their sweet cool drinks, sir?" said one of the men, after we had
+sat there roasting for some time.
+
+"No, thank you, Tom Jecks," I said, in as sarcastic a tone as I could
+assume.  "Mr Barkins says you are such a forgetful fellow, and you
+mightn't come back before the captain."
+
+There was a low chuckling laugh at this, and then came a loud rap.
+
+"What's that?"  I said sharply.
+
+"This here, sir," said another of the men.  "Some 'un's been kind enough
+to send it.  Shall I give it him back?"
+
+"No, no!"  I cried, looking uneasily shoreward; and at that moment a
+stone, as large as the one previously sent, struck me a sharp blow on
+the leg.
+
+"They're a-making cockshies of us, sir," said Tom Jecks; "better let two
+of us go ashore and chivvy 'em off."
+
+"Sit still, man, and--"
+
+_Whop_!
+
+"Oh, scissors!" cried a sailor; "who's to sit still, sir, when he gets a
+squad on the back like that?  Why, I shall have a bruise as big as a
+hen's egg."
+
+"Oars! push off!"  I said shortly, as half-a-dozen stones came rattling
+into the boat; and as we began to move away from the wharf quite a burst
+of triumphant yells accompanied a shower of stones and refuse.
+
+"That's their way o' showing how werry much obliged they are to us for
+sinking the pirates," growled Tom Jecks.  "Oh, don't I wish we had
+orders to bombard this blessed town!  Go it!  That didn't hit you, did
+it, sir?"
+
+"No, it only brushed my cap," I said, as the stones began to come more
+thickly, and the shouting told of the keen delight the mob enjoyed in
+making the English retreat.  "Pull away, my lads, and throw the grapnel
+over as soon as we are out of reach."
+
+"But we don't want to pull away, sir.  They thinks we're fear'd on 'em.
+There's about a hundred on 'em--dirty yaller-faced beggars, and there's
+four o' us, without counting you.  Just you give the word, sir, and
+we'll row back in spite o' their stones, and make the whole gang on 'em
+run.  Eh, mates?"
+
+"Ay, ay!" said the others, lying on their oars.
+
+"Pull!"  I cried sharply, and they began rowing again; for though I
+should have liked to give the word, I knew that it would not only have
+been madness, but disobedience of orders.  My duty was to take care of
+the boat, and this I was doing by having it rowed out beyond
+stone-throwing reach, with the Union Jack waving astern; and as soon as
+the stones fell short, and only splashed the water yards away, I had the
+grapnel dropped overboard, and we swung to it, waiting for the captain's
+return.
+
+The men sat chewing their tobacco, lolling in the sun, and I lay back
+watching the crowd at the edge of the water, wondering how long the
+captain and his escort would be, and whether the prisoners would be
+given up.
+
+"Hope none o' them pigtailed varmint won't shy mud at the skipper," said
+one of the men, yawning.
+
+"I hope they will," said Tom Jecks.
+
+"Why, mate?"
+
+"'Cause he'll order the jollies to fix bayonets and feel some o' their
+backs with the p'ints."
+
+The conversation interested me, and I forgot my dignity as an officer,
+and joined in.
+
+"Bayonets make bad wounds, Jecks," I said.
+
+"Yes, sir, they do; nasty three-side wounds, as is bad to get healed up
+again.  They aren't half such a nice honest weapon as a cutlash.  But I
+should like to see them beggars get a prod or two."
+
+"It might mean trouble, Jecks, and a big rising of the people against
+the English merchants and residents."
+
+"Well, sir, that would be unpleasant for the time, but look at the good
+it would do!  The British consul would send off to the _Teaser_, the
+skipper would land a lot on us--Jacks and jollies; we should give these
+warmint a good sharp dressing-down; and they'd know as we wouldn't stand
+any of their nonsense, and leave off chucking stones and mud at us.
+Now, what had we done that we couldn't be 'lowed to lie alongside o' the
+wharf yonder?  We didn't say nothing to them.  Fact is, sir, they hates
+the British, and thinks they're a sooperior kind o' people altogether.
+Do you hear, mates?--sooperior kind o' people; and there ain't one as
+could use a knife and fork like a Chrishtian."
+
+"And goes birds'-nestin' when they wants soup," said another.
+
+"Well, I don't fall foul o' that, matey," said Jecks; "'cause where
+there's nests there's eggs, and a good noo-laid egg ain't bad meat.
+It's the nastiness o' their natur' that comes in there, and makes 'em
+eat the nest as well.  What I do holler at, is their cooking dog."
+
+"And cat," said another.
+
+"And rat," cried the third.
+
+"Yes, all on 'em," said Jecks; "and I don't want to use strong language
+afore one's orficer, who's a young gent as is allers thoughtful about
+his men, and who's beginning to think now, that with the sun so precious
+hot he'll be obliged to order us ashore soon for a drop o' suthin' to
+drink."
+
+I laughed, and Tom Jecks chuckled.
+
+"But what I do say about their eatin' and cookin' is this, and I stands
+by what I says, it's beastly, that's what it is--it's beastly!"
+
+"Ay, ay," was chorussed, "so it is;" and then there was silence, while
+we all sat uneasily in the broiling sun.
+
+"Wish I was a gal," growled one of the men at last.
+
+"Ain't good-looking enough, matey," said Jecks.  "Why?"
+
+"'Cause then I s'ould have a sunshade to put up."
+
+"Ay, 'tis warm--brylin', as you may say.  Any on you know whether the
+Chinese is cannibals?  You know, sir?"
+
+"I have heard that they cook very strange things now and then," I said,
+laughing.
+
+"Then they is," said Jecks; "and that being so, they'll have a fine
+chance to-day.  Hadn't you better send word to some on 'em to lay the
+cloth, sir?"
+
+"What for?"
+
+"'Cause I'm nearly done, sir; and Billy Wakes looks quite.  Billy ought
+to eat nice and joocy, messmates."
+
+"And old Tom Jecks tough as leather," cried Wakes.
+
+"That's so, matey," growled Jecks, who began to pass his tongue over his
+lips, and to make a smacking sound with his mouth.
+
+"My hye, matey, you do seem hungry," said one of the others.  "Look out,
+Billy, or he won't leave John Chinaman a taste."
+
+"Get out!" growled Jecks; "that don't mean hungry, messmate--that means
+dry.  Beg pardon, sir, we won't none on us try to slope off; but a good
+drink o' suthin', if it was on'y water, would be a blessin' in disguise
+just now."
+
+"Yes, Jecks, I'm thirsty too," I said.
+
+"Then why not let us pull ashore, sir, and get a drink at one o' them
+Chinee imitation grog-shops yonder?"
+
+"Because it would be a breach of discipline, my man," I said, trying to
+speak very sternly.  "I should look nice if the captain came back and
+found me with the boat and no men."
+
+"Hark at that now!" cried Jecks.  "Just as if we'd be the chaps to get a
+good-natured kind young orficer into a scrape.  Look here, sir, put
+Billy Wakes ashore to go and fetch some drink.  My hye, what we would
+give for half-a-gallon o' real good cool solid old English beer."
+
+"Ha!" came in a deep sigh, and I could not help feeling that a glass
+just then would be very nice.
+
+"Will you give the order, sir?" said Jecks insinuatingly.  "Billy Wakes
+is a werry trustworthy sort of chap."
+
+"Yes," I said; "but he'd forget to come back, and then I should have to
+send you to find him, and then the others to find you.  I know.  There,
+you can light your pipes if you like."
+
+"And werry thankful for small mussies," said the old sailor, taking out
+his pipe.  "You won't want no matches, lads.  Fill up and hold the bowls
+in the sun."
+
+They lit up, and began smoking, while I watched the long narrow street
+down which the captain and his escort must come.
+
+"Think we shall have to land the prisoners, sir?" said Jecks, after a
+smoky silence.
+
+"I suppose so," I replied.  "I expect that is what the captain has gone
+ashore about."
+
+"Don't seem much good, that, sir.  We takes 'em, and they'll let 'em go,
+to start a fresh lot o' plundering junks."
+
+"Thundering junks, matey?" said Billy Wakes.
+
+"I said plundering, Billy, and meant it.  Your eddication ain't what it
+oughter be."
+
+"No, Jecks," I said; "if the pirates are given up, they'll be executed
+for certain."
+
+"Who says so, sir?"
+
+"First lieutenant," I said.
+
+"Well, he ought to know, sir.  Been on the Chinee station afore.  P'raps
+it's best, but I don't want 'em to be hung."
+
+"Don't hang 'em here, Tommy," growled one of the two silent men.
+
+"What do they do, then, old know-all?"
+
+"Chops their heads off, I've heerd."
+
+"Oh, well, I don't want 'em to have their heads chopped off.  How should
+we like it if we was took prisoners?"
+
+"Oh, but we arn't Chinees," growled Billy Wakes.
+
+"Nor arn't likely to be, mate; but we've got heads all the same.  I know
+how I should like to be executed if it was to-day."
+
+The others looked up, and I could not help turning my head at the
+strangely-expressed desire.
+
+"I'll tell yer," said Jecks, looking hard at me.  "I should like it to
+be same as they did that young chap as we reads of in history.  They
+drowned him in a big tub o' wine."
+
+"Grog would do for me," said Billy Wakes.
+
+"Or beer," cried the others.
+
+"Ask the captain to let you have some tea," I cried, "Quick, haul up the
+grapnel!  Here they come!"
+
+Pipes were knocked out on the instant, the grapnel hauled up, and oars
+seized; but, in spite of urging on the men, I saw to my vexation that
+the captain had reached the landing-place first, and I kept him waiting
+nearly five minutes in the broiling sun.
+
+He did not say anything, only glared at me as he stepped in, followed by
+his escort.  The oars were dropped, and, as we began to row back to the
+_Teaser_, I saw that his face was scarlet with the heat, and he looked
+in a regular temper.
+
+"I shall catch it," I thought to myself; but the very next moment my
+attention was taken to the shore, where a yell of derision arose from
+the crowd gathered to see the officers embark.
+
+"Brutes!" muttered the captain; and then he sprang up in a rage, for a
+shower of stones came pattering into the boat, and splashing up the
+water all round.
+
+He was so enraged by the insult, that he ordered the marines to load,
+and a volley of twelve rifles was fired over the people's heads.
+
+The result was that they all ran helter-skelter, tumbling over each
+other, and by the time they returned and began throwing again we were
+out of their reach, but they kept on hurling stones and refuse all the
+same, and shouting "Foreign devils!" in their own tongue.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+AN INTERVIEW.
+
+"Mr Herrick!  Come to my cabin," said the captain as he stepped on
+deck, and I followed him.
+
+"You stupid fellow," whispered Mr Brooke as I passed him, "why didn't
+you keep the boat by the wharf?"
+
+I gave him a comical look, and followed the captain; but I was kept
+waiting for a few moments at the door while the servant was summoned,
+and when I did go in my officer was lying back in his chair, with ice on
+the table, and a great glass of what seemed to be soda-water and brandy
+before him, but which proved by the decanter to be sherry.
+
+"Oh," he cried angrily, "there you are, sir!  Why didn't you come at
+once, sir?"
+
+"I did, sir; but was kept waiting till you were ready."
+
+"Well, sir, don't answer in that pert way.  It sounds like insolence.
+That will not do, Mr Herrick, if you wish to get on in your profession.
+Now, sir, your orders were to stop by the landing-place, with the boat
+in charge, ready for my return, were they not?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but--"
+
+"Silence, sir!  How dare you interrupt me?  I go up through the broiling
+heat to have an interview with that wretched, stolid, obstinate
+mandarin, with his confounded button and peacock-feather; and when I do
+get back, perfectly exhausted by the heat, half-dead, I find no boat."
+
+"No, sir; but--"
+
+"Silence, sir!  Will you let me speak?  The consequence is that, because
+you choose to disobey orders, and take the men off to indulge in some of
+the disgusting drinks of this wretched country--"
+
+"I beg pardon, sir," I cried; "I--"
+
+"Mr Herrick! am I to place you under arrest?  Be silent, sir.  I say, I
+return with my escort from an important diplomatic visit, arranged so as
+to impress the people, and when I return, almost fainting with the heat,
+there is no boat, because you have allowed the men to impose upon you;
+and you are away drinking with them, I suppose?"
+
+"No, sir; I--"
+
+"Mr Herrick!" he roared, "I will not bear it.  I say there was no boat;
+and not only am I forced to submit to the indignity of waiting, and
+listening to the gibes of the low-class Chinese, and to see their
+scowls, but our delay there--through you, sir--results, I say results,
+in the miserable wretches taking advantage thereof, and, thinking me
+helpless, working themselves up to an attack.  When at last you do come
+crawling up with those four men, they are purple-faced from drinking,
+every one threatened by apoplexy--why, your own face is crimson, sir;
+and I could smell the men when I stepped on board."
+
+"No, sir--the dirty harbour, sir," I said.  "Smells horrid."
+
+"You are under arrest, sir.  Go!  No; stop and hear me out first, sir.
+I say that, through your delay, I am kept there on that wretched wharf;
+and when I do push off, I have--I, Her Majesty's representative, in the
+sight of these Chinese scoundrels--I have, I say, to suffer from the
+insult and contumely of being pelted, stoned, of having filth thrown at
+me.  Look at my nearly new uniform coat, sir.  Do you see this spot on
+the sleeve?  A mark that will never come out.  That was a blow, sir,
+made by a disgusting rotten fish's head, sir.  Loathsome--loathsome!
+While the insult to Her Majesty's flag called upon me to fire upon the
+mob.  Do you know what that means, sir?"
+
+"Yes, sir; a good lesson.  They won't be so saucy again."
+
+"You ignorant young puppy!" he cried; "it may mean a serious
+international trouble--a diplomatic breach, and all through you.  There,
+I was hot and bad enough before, now you have made me worse."
+
+He stretched out his hand for the glass, but did not drink; and the
+sight of the cool liquid half-maddened me, for the heat and emotion had
+made my throat very dry.
+
+"Now, sir," he cried, "I am your commanding officer, and no one on board
+Her Majesty's cruiser shall ever say that I am not just.  Now then,
+speak out; what have you to say?  How came you to let the men go away to
+drink?"
+
+"I didn't, sir," I said huskily.  "They wanted to go, for they were
+choking nearly, but I wouldn't let them."
+
+"What?  Don't seek refuge in a lie, boy.  That's making your fault ten
+times worse.  Didn't I see you returning to the wharf?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I cried indignantly; "but the men had not been to drink."
+
+"Then how dared you disobey my orders, and go away?" he roared, furious
+at being proved wrong.
+
+"I went, sir, because it was my duty."
+
+"What!"
+
+"We stayed till the stone-throwing grew dangerous for us, and then I had
+the boat rowed out and anchored."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"But I kept watch till you came in sight, sir; and we were as quick as
+we could be."
+
+"The mob pelted you too, Mr Herrick?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I said; "and we couldn't fire over their heads, nor yet row
+right away."
+
+He looked at me angrily, and then his countenance changed.
+
+"Pert, Mr Herrick," he said, "but very apt.  You have me there on the
+hop.  Dear me!  I've made a great mistake, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I said hoarsely.
+
+"And you sat out there in the broiling sun, and the miserable savages
+pelted you as they did me?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Tut, tut, tut! and the heat was maddening.  Terribly irritating, too; I
+felt excessively angry.  I really--dear me, Mr Herrick, I'm afraid I
+spoke very unjustly to you, and--I--ought a captain to apologise to a
+midshipman?"
+
+"I really don't know, sir," I said, feeling quite mollified by his tone.
+
+"Well, I think I do," he said, smiling.  "Decidedly not.  As Mr Reardon
+would say, it would be totally subversive of discipline.  It couldn't be
+done.  But one gentleman can of course apologise to another, and I do so
+most heartily.  My dear Mr Herrick, I beg your pardon for being so
+unjust."
+
+"Pray don't say any more about it, sir," I cried.
+
+"Well, no, I will not.  But all the same I am very sorry--as a
+gentleman--that I--as your superior officer--spoke to you as I did."
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+"And, dear me, my lad, you look terribly hot and exhausted.  Let me
+prescribe, as Mr Price would say."
+
+He quickly placed a lump of ice in a tumbler, and, after pouring in a
+little sherry, filled it up with soda-water.
+
+I grasped the glass, and drank with avidity the cool, refreshing draught
+to the last drop.
+
+"Humph! you were thirsty."
+
+"I was choking, sir," I said, with a sigh, as I placed the glass upon
+the table.
+
+"And now, Mr Herrick, perhaps it would be as well not to talk about
+this little interview," he said quietly.  "I rely upon you as a
+gentleman."
+
+"Of course, sir," I replied; and feeling, in spite of the severe wigging
+I had had, that I never liked the captain half so well before, I backed
+out and hurried to my own cabin.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+WE LOSE OUR PRISONERS.
+
+"Here he is," cried Barkins, who was resting his leg; while Smith was
+sitting by the open window so as to catch all the air he could.  "Got
+your promotion?"
+
+"Got my what?"  I cried.
+
+"Promotion.  I never saw such favouritism.  Always being sent for to the
+skipper's cabin.  I wonder Reardon stands it."
+
+"Don't talk nonsense," I cried.  "Phew, isn't it hot?"
+
+"Yes, for us.  Regular prisoners, while you have all the fun--"
+
+"Of being roasted, and then stoned by the Chinese."
+
+"That's right," said Smith sulkily, "make as little as you can of it.
+Did the skipper consult you about our next movement?"
+
+"He gave me a good bullying for not having the boat ready when he wanted
+to come on board."
+
+"Was that why you went in the cabin?" cried Barkins.
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Oh then, if that's the case, we'll let you off.  Eh, Blacksmith?"
+
+"Well, I suppose so."
+
+"Let me off what?"
+
+"We had been discussing the matter," said Barkins, "Smithy and I, and
+come to the conclusion that as you were such a swell you were too good
+for us, and we were going to expel you; but, under the circumstances, I
+think we'll let you off this time.  Oh!"
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"My leg!  There's that horrible tingling and aching again.  I'm sure
+that knife was poisoned."
+
+"Hi! look here," cried Smith just then; "here are two big row-boats
+coming out to us."
+
+We both made for the window, and there, in the bright sunshine, were two
+large barges, gay with gilding and showy ensigns, coming pretty swiftly
+in our direction, while, as they drew nearer, we could see that their
+occupants were in brilliant costumes and fully-armed, swords and spears
+flashing, and gold and silver embroidery lending their glow to the
+general effect.
+
+"Why, those must be all the big pots of the city," said Barkins--"these
+in the first boat."
+
+"And the second is full of soldiers."
+
+"I know," I cried; "they're coming to fetch the prisoners.  I must go on
+deck."
+
+"And we shall see nothing of the fun again," cried Barkins.
+
+"Why not?"  I said; "I'll help you on deck."
+
+"Come on, then," cried Barkins eagerly.  "Oh, hang this wound!"
+
+He caught hold of my shoulder, and with a little pulling and hauling I
+got him on deck, hurting him a good deal, I'm afraid, but he bore it
+like a martyr, till I had him seated upon a place near the starboard
+gangway.
+
+I then turned to go and help up Smith, but found he had called in the
+aid of a couple of the sailors, and the next minute he too was seated by
+Barkins.
+
+Meanwhile the drum had called the men to quarters, the officers were on
+deck in uniform, and the marines drawn-up to form a guard of honour,
+sufficiently smart and warlike, with the white-ducked Jacks, and big
+guns bright as hands could make them, to impress the barbaric party
+coming on board.
+
+The boats were rowing very near now, and the captain came on deck, to
+stand under the awning which had been stretched out since the _Teaser_
+had been restored to order.  Then the gangway was opened, the steps were
+lowered, and half-a-dozen Jacks descended to help the visitors to mount,
+while the marines stood at attention.
+
+The boatmen managed to fall foul of the side, and nearly upset the
+barge, but our lads saved them from that disaster; and the mandarin and
+his suite, who had come off, soon mounted to the deck, to stand
+haughtily returning the salutes of the officers.
+
+Then there was an awkward pause, for our officers only knew a few words
+of Chinese, while the mandarin's party, although they had had Englishmen
+in their city for nearly a hundred years, could not speak a word of our
+tongue, and they had brought no interpreter.
+
+There was an awkward pause, broken by a high-pitched voice just outside
+the gorgeous-looking throng.
+
+"You wantee Ching?"
+
+"Yes," cried the captain; "tell these gentlemen that they are heartily
+welcome on board Her Majesty's ship."
+
+Ching nodded, and, bowing down humbly, gazed at the white deck, and
+squeaked out a long speech to the contemptuous-looking Chinese official,
+who stood in front of his attendants, each in his long, stiff,
+embroidered silk dressing-gown; and what seemed the most comically
+effeminate was that the gorgeous officers, with rat-tail moustachios and
+armed with monstrous swords, each carried a fan, which he used
+constantly.
+
+"He's putting an awful lot of fat in the captain's speech," whispered
+Barkins, who was just behind me.
+
+Then the chief of the party said a few words, without condescending to
+notice the interpreter, and Ching backed away, to turn to the captain.
+
+"His most noble excellency the big-buttoned mandalin has come on board
+the gleat fine ship with his genelals, and blavest of the blave, to
+fetch the most wicked and double-bad plisoners whom the gleat sea
+captain of the foleign devils--"
+
+"Eh! what?" said Captain Thwaites.  "Did he say that?"
+
+"Yes.  Come fetch allee bad bad plisoners velly much all together."
+
+"Very well," said the captain; "tell him he can have them, and welcome."
+
+Ching approached the mandarin again, in his former humble form, and made
+another long speech; after which the great official turned to one of his
+attendants and said something; this gorgeous being turned and spoke to
+another; and he went to the gangway and stood fanning himself as he
+squeaked out something to the soldiers in the second boat.
+
+Then an order was given, and in a curious shambling way about forty
+soldiers came up the steps, and ranged themselves in a double row,
+something after the fashion of our drilling.
+
+I was watching these men with their heavy swords and clumsy spears, when
+there was a clanking sound, and a dozen more men came on deck with quite
+a load of heavy chains, which at a word of command they banged down with
+a crash upon the deck, and then stood waiting.
+
+At the same moment the captain gave an order, and our marine officer
+marched off with a strong detachment of his men right forward; and after
+a pause, during which Englishmen and Chinamen stood staring at each
+other and the grandees used their fans, the first prisoner was brought
+forward by a couple of marines, strolling along in a heavy, careless way
+till he was abreast of his fellow-countrymen.
+
+Then at a word from an officer four soldiers seized the unfortunate
+wretch and threw him heavily down upon his face; two knelt upon him, and
+in a trice heavy chains were fitted to his legs and wrists, the latter
+being dragged behind his back.  Then, by one consent, the four Chinamen
+leaped up, and waited for the prisoner to follow their example, but he
+lay still.
+
+"If he has any gumption he won't move," whispered Barkins, who like
+myself was an interested spectator.
+
+Mr Reardon walked to us.
+
+"Silence, young gentlemen," he said sternly.  "Let us show these
+barbarians what dishipline is.--Brute!"
+
+This last applied to one of the Chinamen, who said something to the
+prisoner, who merely wagged his tail, and then received a tremendous
+kick in the ribs.
+
+He sprang up then like a wild-beast, but he was seized by as many as
+could get a grip of him, bundled to the gangway, and almost thrown down
+into the barge, where other men seized him and dragged him forward to
+where some spearmen stood ready on guard.
+
+By this time another had been thrown down and chained.  He made no
+scruple about rising and walking to the side to be bundled down.
+
+Another followed, and another, the grandees hardly glancing at what was
+going on, but standing coolly indifferent and fanning away, now and then
+making some remark about the ship, the guns, or the crew.
+
+Seven had been chained, and the eighth was brought forward by two
+marines, seized, thrown down, and fettered.  Then, instead of allowing
+himself to be bundled into the boat as apathetically as the others, he
+gazed fiercely to right and left, and I saw that something was coming.
+
+So did the indifferent-looking Chinese, for one of the most gorgeously
+dressed of the party whipped out a heavy curved sword, whose blade was
+broader at the end than near the hilt, and made for him; but, active as
+a cat, and in spite of the weight of his chains, the man made a series
+of bounds, knocked over two of the soldiers, and leaped at the gangway
+behind them, reached the top, and fell more than jumped over, to go down
+into the water with a heavy splash.
+
+Half-a-dozen of the men leaped on to the rail, and stood looking down,
+before the captain could give an order; while a few words were shouted
+from the barge below.
+
+The officer returned his sword, and began fanning himself again; the
+soldiers seized the next prisoner and began chaining him, but no one
+stirred to save the man overboard, and we all grasped the reason why,--
+twenty pounds of iron fetters took him to the bottom like a stone.
+
+I saw the captain frown as he said something to Mr Reardon, who merely
+shook his head.
+
+"Ain't they going to lower a boat, sir?"  I whispered to Mr Brooke.
+
+"We could do no good," he said.  "There are twenty fathoms of water out
+there, Herrick, and the man could not rise."
+
+The incident did not seem to discompose the Chinese, who disposed of the
+next prisoner.  And then I saw that the marines had charge of another,
+who suddenly made an attempt to escape, and our men only having one
+hand, at liberty, the other holding a rifle, he would have succeeded,
+had not six or seven of the soldiers rushed at and seized him, dragging
+him to the lessening heap of chains, when he suddenly threw up his hands
+and dropped upon his knees, throwing them off their guard by making
+believe to resign himself to his fate.
+
+But before the first fetter could be dragged to where he knelt, he
+sprang up with the fire of fury in his eyes, and made a rush at the
+mandarin, seized him, and it would have gone ill with his gaudy costume,
+had not a couple of the officers dragged out their swords.
+
+What followed took only a moment or two.  I saw the blades flash, heard
+a sickening sound, and saw the prisoner stagger away, while the second
+of the two officers followed him, delivering chop after chop with his
+heavy blade, till the unfortunate wretch dropped upon the deck, where he
+was at once seized and pitched overboard without the slightest
+compunction.
+
+"Here, interpreter, tell the chief I cannot have my deck turned into a
+butcher's shamble like this," cried the captain angrily.
+
+Ching shuffled forward, and advanced towards the mandarin, spoke at
+length; the mandarin replied with a haughty smile, and Ching backed away
+again.
+
+"Gleat big-button mandalin say he velly much 'blige captain big fine
+ship, and he allee light, no hurtee 'tall by killee badee bad men."
+
+"Bah!" ejaculated the captain, turning angrily away; and I saw Mr
+Reardon's face grow fixed, as if carved in wood, in his efforts to keep
+from smiling.
+
+The last of the prisoners had been brought out of confinement, thrown
+down, chained, and bundled into the barge, half the soldiers followed,
+orders were given, and the second barge pushed off, when the captain
+once more had recourse to Ching's help.
+
+"Ask the mandarin if he will come into the cabin and take a glass of
+wine."
+
+But this was declined, and Ching communicated the fact that the great
+man "would not eatee dlinkee, but wantee velly much see ship."
+
+He was taken round, the whole following keeping at his heels, and his
+officers and soldiers scowling fiercely, or looking about with supreme
+contempt, as they made a great display of their weapons, and acted
+generally as if they were condescending to look round, so as to be civil
+to the Western barbarians.
+
+At last they went over the side, and the gorgeous barge was rowed away.
+
+"Thank goodness, Reardon," I heard the captain say; and directly after,
+as I was passing, Tom Jecks' voice was heard in the midst of a group of
+the Jacks.
+
+"Say, messmate," he said, "fancy, stripped and fists only, how many
+Chinese could you polish off?"
+
+"Dunno," said a voice, which I knew to be that of Billy Wakes, a big
+manly-looking young Plymouth fellow.  "'Course I could do one, and I
+think I could doctor two on 'em; I'd have a try at three; and I'm blest
+if I'd run away from four.  That is about as fair as I can put it,
+messmate."
+
+I was helping Barkins to the companion-way, and Smith was walking very
+slowly by us.  But as we heard this we stopped to laugh, just as Mr
+Brooke came up and asked what amused us.  We told him, and he laughed
+too.
+
+"That means one of our fellows would try at four Chinamen.  He's too
+modest.  Four to one, lads! why, if it came to real righting, ten of
+them would follow me against a hundred of the enemy.  Ten to one.--News
+for you."
+
+"News, sir; what?"  I said.
+
+"We sail again directly.  There is another gang at work south, and we
+have a hint of the whereabouts of their nest."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+IN A TRAP.
+
+"Ever feel at all uncomfortable about--that--Chinaman, Morris?"  I said
+one day, after we had been coasting along the shore southward for about
+a week.  I had not encountered that marine sentry alone since the
+terrible scene in the place where the prisoners were confined; and now,
+as soon as I saw him, the whole affair came back with all its shuddering
+horrors, and I felt quite a morbid desire to talk to him about it.
+
+"What, bayoneting him, sir?" said the man quietly.  "Well, no, sir, it's
+very odd, but I never have much.  I was so excited when I see him with
+his knife ashining by the light o' the corporal's lantern, that all the
+bayonet practice come to me quite natural like, and, as you know, I give
+point from the guard, and he jumped right on it, and I held him down
+after as you would a savage kind of tiger thing, and felt quite pleased
+like at having saved the first luff's life.  After you'd gone all the
+lads got talking about it, and I felt as proud as a peacock with ten
+tails.  And I got wondering, too, about what Mr Reardon would do, for
+he said he would see me again.  It was all very well then, but that
+night when I turned in I felt quite sick, and I couldn't sleep a wink.
+The more I turned about in my hammock, the hotter and worser I got.
+There it all was before me, I could see myself holding that pirate chap
+pinned down, and there was his eyes rolling and his teeth snapping as he
+twisted about.  Ugh! it was horrid, sir; and I felt as I was in for it,
+and began to understand what one has read about chaps as commits murder
+always being haunted like with thoughts of what they've done, and never
+being happy no more.  Then it got worse and worse, and I says to myself,
+`If it was as bad as that for just doing your duty, and saving your
+officer's life, what must it be when you kills a man out o' sheer
+wickedness to get his money?'"
+
+The man stopped then, and looked round to see if any one was within
+hearing, but we were quite alone, and he went on quietly--
+
+"You won't laugh at me, sir, will you?"
+
+"Laugh?"  I cried wonderingly.  "It's too horrible to laugh about."
+
+"Yes, sir; but I meant, feel ready to chaff about it, and tell the other
+young gentlemen, and get thinking me soft."
+
+"Of course not, Morris."
+
+"No, sir, you ain't that sort.  You've got a mother, too, ain't you?"
+
+"Yes; but I shouldn't have liked her to see all we saw that day."
+
+"No, sir, you wouldn't.  I haven't got no mother now, sir, but I did
+have one once."
+
+I felt ready to smile, but I kept my countenance.
+
+"Seems rum of a big ugly fellow like me talking about his mother, sir;
+but, Lor' bless you! all us chaps has got a bit of a soft spot somewhere
+insides us for our old woman, even them as never talks about it; and do
+you know, sir, that night just when I felt worst as I rolled about in my
+hammock, and was going to get out and find the bucket of water for a
+drink, I got thinking about my old mother, and how she used to come and
+tuck me up in bed of a night, and kiss me and say, Gawd bless me, and
+then of how she used to talk to me and tell me always to do what was
+right, and, no matter what happened, I should feel at rest.  And then I
+got thinking as I must have done very wrong in killing that Chinee, to
+feel as bad as I did.  And I got arguing it over first one way and then
+the other for a minute or two, and the next thing I remember is it being
+tumble-up time, and till you spoke to me about it just now, I've never
+hardly thought about it since.  It was doing my duty, sir, of course;
+now, warn't it?"
+
+"Of course, Morris," I said importantly; and the man nodded, looked
+satisfied, and then glanced to right and left again before unbuttoning
+his jacket and cautiously pulling out an old-fashioned gold watch.
+
+"Why, hallo, Morris!"  I cried.
+
+"Hush, sir; keep it quiet.  Mr Reardon give it to me the day afore
+yesterday, and said I wasn't to talk about it, for it was just between
+ourselves."
+
+"It's a fine old watch," I said, feeling glad that the man we lads
+looked upon as such a stem tyrant could show so warm and generous a side
+to his nature.
+
+"Said, sir, he gave it to me for attending so well to dishipline, as he
+called it, for he said if I had not attended well to my drill, there
+would have been no first lieutenant to give me a watch out of gratitude
+for saving his life."
+
+"You must take care of that, Morris," I said.
+
+"Yes, sir," he said dolefully.  "That's the worst of it.  Gold watch is
+an orkard thing for a marine, but I mean to try."
+
+"And be very careful to wind it up regularly every night."
+
+He looked at me with his face all wrinkled up.
+
+"Would you, sir--would you wind it up?"
+
+"Why, of course; what's a watch for?"
+
+"Well, that depends, sir.  It's all right for a gentleman, but don't
+seem no good to me.  We allus knows how many bells it is, and the
+sergeants takes good care that we're in time for everything.  It's
+rather in my way, too.  Look here, sir; s'pose you took care of it for
+me to the end of the voyage?"
+
+"Oh no, Morris.  You'll soon get used to having a watch," I said.  "Take
+care of it yourself."
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"I don't know as I can, sir," he said.  "If it had been a silliver one,
+I shouldn't so much have minded.  I was thinking of sewing it up in the
+padding of my jacket."
+
+"No, no; keep it in your pocket and never part with it," I said.  "It's
+a watch to be proud of, for it was earned in a noble way."
+
+"Thankye, sir," he cried, as I stood wondering at my own words; "that's
+done me good;" and he buttoned his jacket up with an intense look of
+satisfaction.
+
+"I'm beginning to think the doctor was right, Gnat," said Barkins one
+morning.
+
+"What about?"  I said.
+
+"My wound; I don't think the knife was poisoned."
+
+"Why, of course it wasn't; you fancied it all."
+
+"Well, I couldn't help that, could I?  You wait till you get your wound,
+and then see how you'll begin to fancy all sorts of things.  I say,
+though, Smithy's getting right pretty quick.  The doctor's pitched him
+over.  I should have sent him back to his duty before, if I'd been old
+Physic.  He was all right yesterday."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because he was so nasty tempered.  Nothing was good enough for him."
+
+"Oh, come, I like that," cried Smith, who overheard him.  "Why, I was as
+patient as could be; I appeal to the Poet.  Did I ever go fussing about
+telling people I was wounded by a poisoned knife?"
+
+"No," I said; "you were both magnificent specimens of brave young
+midshipmen, and behaved splendidly."
+
+"Oh, did we?" cried Barkins.  "Look here, Blacksmith, we'll remember
+this, and as soon as we're strong enough we'll punch his head."
+
+"Agreed.  He's been growing as cocky as a bantam since we've been ill.
+We must take him down."
+
+"Why, what for?"  I cried.
+
+"Making game of your betters.  Sarce, as Tom Jecks calls it."
+
+We had something else to think of three days later, and in the
+excitement both my messmates forgot their wounds, save when some quick
+movement gave them a reminder that even the healing of a clean cut in
+healthy flesh takes time.
+
+For we overhauled a suspicious-looking, fast-sailing junk, which paid no
+heed to our signals, but was brought to after a long chase, and every
+man on board was chuckling and thinking about prize-money.
+
+But when she was boarded, with Ching duly established as interpreter,
+and all notion of returning to the "fancee shop" put aside for the
+present, the junk turned out to be a peaceful trader trying to make her
+escape from the pursuit of pirates, as we were considered to be.
+
+Ching soon learned the cause of the captain's alarm.  The day before he
+had come upon a junk similar to his own, with the crew lying murdered on
+board, and, judging from appearances, the wretches who had plundered her
+could not have gone long.
+
+Mr Brooke was the officer in charge of the boat, and he told Ching to
+ask the master of the junk whether he had seen any signs of the pirates.
+
+The man eagerly replied that he had seen three fast boats entering the
+Ayshong river, some thirty miles north of where we then were, and as
+soon as he found that we really were the boat's crew of a ship working
+for the protection of the shipping trade, his joy and excitement were
+without bounds, and showed itself in presents,--a chest of tea for the
+crew, and pieces of silk for Mr Brooke and myself; parting with us
+afterwards in the most friendly way, and, as Ching afterwards told me,
+saying that we were the nicest foreign devils he ever met.
+
+Our news when we went on board made the captain change our course.  We
+were bound for a river a hundred miles lower down, but it was deemed
+advisable to go back and proceed as far up the Ayshong, as a fresh nest
+of the desperadoes might be discovered there.
+
+By night we were off the muddy stream, one which appeared to be of no
+great width, but a vast body of water rushed out from between the rocky
+gates, and from the desolate, uninhabited look of the shores it seemed
+probable that we might find those we sought up there.
+
+It was too near night to do much, so the captain contented himself with
+getting close in after the boat sent to take soundings, and at dark we
+were anchored right in the mouth, with the watch doubled and a boat out
+as well to patrol the river from side to side, to make sure that the
+enemy, if within, did not pass us in the darkness.
+
+All lights were out and perfect silence was maintained, while, excited
+by the prospect of another encounter, not a man displayed the slightest
+disposition to go to his hammock.
+
+It was one of those soft, warm, moist nights suggestive of a coming
+storm, the possibility of which was soon shown by the faint quivering of
+the lightning in the distance.
+
+"Storm before morning," whispered Barkins.
+
+"Yes," said Smith; "storm of the wrong sort.  I want to hear our guns
+going, not thunder."
+
+From time to time the boat which was on the patrol duty came alongside
+to report itself, but there was no news; in fact, none was expected, for
+such a dark night was not one that would be chosen by vessels wishing to
+put to sea.
+
+I had been disposed to ask for permission to go in the boat, but Mr
+Reardon's countenance looked rather stormy, so I had given up the idea,
+and contented myself with stopping on board with my two messmates, to
+watch the dark mouth of the river.
+
+It soon grew very monotonous, having nothing to see but the shapes of
+the distant clouds, which stood out now and then like dimly-seen
+mountains high up above the land.  But by degrees the distant flickering
+of the lightning grew nearer, and went on slowly growing brighter, till
+from time to time, as we leaned over the bulwarks, listening to the
+faint rushing sound of the river, sweeping past the chain cable, and
+dividing again upon our sharp bows, we obtained a glimpse of the shore
+on either side.  Then it glimmered on the black, dirty-looking stream,
+and left us in greater darkness than ever.
+
+Once we made out our boat quite plainly, and at last there came so vivid
+a flash that we saw the river upward for quite a mile, and I made out
+the low shores, but could see no sign of house or vessel moored anywhere
+near where we lay.
+
+Another hour must have passed, during which we made out that the country
+on either side was flat and marshy, but we could see no sign of human
+habitation.  As far as could be made out, the river was about three
+hundred yards broad, and about this time we became aware that it must be
+very nearly low tide, for the stream which passed us was growing more
+and more sluggish, till at last it ceased ebbing, and the _Teaser_ began
+to swing slowly round, a sufficient indication that the tide had turned.
+
+We had swung to our anchor till we were right across the stream, when
+from higher up a shot was fired, and, as if caused by the report, a
+dazzling flash cut right across the heavens, lighting up the river with
+its muddy sides, and there, not five hundred yards away, we made out two
+large junks that had come down with the tide, which had now failed them,
+just as they were close to the mouth.
+
+All had been perfectly silent so far, but as the intense darkness
+succeeded the brilliant flash, there was a loud gabbling and shouting
+from the direction of the junks, then came the splashing of great oars,
+followed by their regular beating, and, as we swung further round with
+the men hurrying to their quarters, the boat came alongside, and was
+hoisted.
+
+"Well, Mr Brooke?"
+
+"Two large junks, sir; come down with the tide; they've put about, sir,
+and are going back."
+
+"Sure?"
+
+"Yes, sir, certain.  Hark!"
+
+The hissing sound of the tide had recommenced, and above it we could
+hear the splash, splash of great sweeps, sounding hurried and irregular,
+as if the men at them were making all the haste they could.  Every now
+and then, too, came a curious creaking sound, as wood was strained
+against wood.
+
+"Tide's setting in very hard, sir," said Mr Brooke.
+
+"Yes," said the captain.  "Come on board; ha!"
+
+There was another vivid flash, and we distinctly saw the great
+matting-sails of two junks for a moment, and again all was black.
+
+"Come on board, Mr Brooke; they could not sweep those great craft out
+against such a tide as this, and there is no wind to help them even if
+they wished."
+
+Then the falls were hooked on, after the coxswain had with some
+difficulty drawn the cutter up to where the light of a lantern was
+thrown down for his guidance, the men stamped along the deck, and the
+cutter rose to the davits for the men to spring on board.
+
+Daylight found us lying head to sea, with the tide rushing up, a
+beautifully verdant country spreading out on either side, but no
+habitation in sight, and our men in great glee, for it was pretty
+evident that unless the junks should prove to be merchantmen, we had
+come upon a little-known river, up which we had trapped the pirates, who
+had been to land plunder at their nest, and were about to make their way
+again to sea.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+UP THE RIVER.
+
+The threatening of a storm had passed away, and the sun rose upon us,
+showing distant mountains of a delicious blue, and the river winding
+inland broader than at its mouth, and, as far as could be seen, free of
+additional entrances through which an enemy could escape to sea.
+
+Steam was got up, the _Teaser's_ head swung round, and, after the lead
+had shown great depth and a muddy bottom, we began to glide steadily up
+with the tide.
+
+Our progress was very slow, for, as you will easily understand, and must
+have noted scores of times in connection with some wreck, a ship is of
+immense weight, and, even if moving ever so slowly, touching a rock at
+the bottom means a tremendous grinding crash, and either the vessel
+fixed, perhaps without the possibility of removal, or a hole made which
+will soon cause it to sink.  Navigation, then, is beset with dangers for
+a captain.  If he is in well-known waters, matters are simple enough;
+every rock will be marked upon his chart, every mile near shore will
+have been sounded, and he will know to a foot or two how much water is
+beneath his keel.  But as soon as he ventures up some strange creek or
+river, paradoxically speaking, "he is at sea."  In other words, he would
+be journeying haphazard, if the greatest precautions were not taken.
+
+These precautions were soon taken, a couple of boats being sent on ahead
+with a man in each taking soundings, while we had this advantage--we
+were journeying with a rising tide, and the river naturally grew deeper
+and deeper.
+
+But we encountered no difficulty; we steamed on just fast enough to give
+the vessel steerage way, while the boats went on, the leads were heaved,
+and the result was always the same; plenty of water, and so soft and
+muddy a bottom, that even if we had gone aground, all that would have
+happened would have been a little delay while we waited for the tide to
+lift us off.
+
+The course of the river was so winding that we could not see far ahead.
+Hence it was that a careful look-out was kept as we rounded each bend,
+expecting at every turn to see a kind of port to which the piratical
+junks resorted, and with a village, if not a town, upon the shore.  But
+we went on and on without success, the river, if anything, growing
+wider, till all at once, as we were slowly gliding round a bend, leaving
+a thick track of black smoke in the misty morning air, one of the men in
+the top hailed the deck.
+
+"Sail ho, sir!"
+
+"Where away?"
+
+"Dead astarn, sir!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Dead astarn, sir!"
+
+Two of the men near me burst into a laugh, which they tried to hide as
+the first lieutenant looked sharply round.  But there, sure enough, were
+the tops of the junk's masts dead astern, for the course of the river
+proved to be just there almost exactly like that piece of twisted flat
+wire which ladies fasten on the backs of their dresses, and call an eye;
+the great stream forming first a small circle, and then going right away
+to form the large loop of the eye, while the junks were lying at the far
+side of the loop, so that to reach them where they lay, right across an
+open plain about two miles in width, we had to sail for some distance
+right away, apparently leaving them right behind.
+
+A little use of the telescope soon showed that we were going quite
+right, though, and we went steadily on with the boats ahead sounding,
+and the men waiting to be called to quarters.
+
+"I don't believe it's going to be a fight, Gnat!" cried Smith.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Can't smell anything like prize-money in it.  They're only a couple of
+big trading junks."
+
+"Then why did they run away from us as they did?"
+
+"Same reason as the one did last time.  Thought we meant mischief.  How
+stupid it is taking all this trouble to crawl up a muddy river."
+
+"What's he talking about?" said Barkins, stepping over to our side for a
+moment before every one would have to be in his place, and unable to
+stir.
+
+"Says they're trading junks."
+
+"Then it's all up.  He knows.  Either his wound or the doctoring has
+made him go better.  He's awfully sharp now.  I'll go and tell the
+skipper to turn back."
+
+"That's right; chaff away," cried Smith.  "Look at the place we're in!
+There isn't a sign of a town.  What would bring pirates up here?"
+
+"Pirates don't want towns, do they, stupid?" cried Barkins; "they want a
+place to lay up their ships in, and here it is.  I'll bet anything those
+are pirates, but we shan't catch 'em."
+
+"Why?"  I asked.  "Think they'll go up higher where we can't follow?"
+
+"Could follow 'em in the boats, couldn't we, clever?  Hi! look! they're
+on the move!  They're pirates, and are going up higher because they see
+us.  But we shan't catch 'em.  If they are getting the worst of it,
+they'll run themselves aground, and get ashore to make a dash for it."
+
+Barkins was right; they were on the move, as we could distinctly see
+now, and my messmate said again--
+
+"Yes, it's all over; they'll follow this river right away to the other
+side, and come out in the Black Sea, or somewhere else.  We draw too
+much water to follow them farther."
+
+But we did follow them a great deal farther, and found that on the
+whole, in spite of our careful progress, we gained upon the junks,
+getting so near them once from their position across a bend of the river
+that a discussion took place as to whether it would not be advisable to
+open fire at long range.
+
+But no gun spoke, and we kept on slowly, carried by the tide, and with
+the screw revolving just sufficiently for steering purposes, till once
+more the course of the river grew pretty straight, and the junks were in
+full view, our glasses showing the men toiling away at the long sweeps,
+and that the decks were crowded.
+
+This last was intensely satisfactory, for it swept away the last doubts
+as to the character of the vessels.  Up to this point it was possible
+that they might have been trading junks whose skippers had taken alarm,
+but no mercantile junks would have carried such crews as we could see,
+with their bald heads shining in the sun.
+
+Just about that time Smith and I passed Tom Jecks, who gave me a
+peculiar look.
+
+"What is it?"  I said, stopping to speak.
+
+"Can't you put in a word to the skipper, sir, and get him to stir up the
+engyneers?"
+
+"What for, Tom?"
+
+"To go faster, sir.  It's horrid, this here.  Why, I could go and ketch
+'em in the dinghy."
+
+"Do you want the _Teaser_ stuck in the mud?"  I said.
+
+"No, sir, o' course not; but I say, sir, do you think it's all right?"
+
+"What do you mean, Jecks?"
+
+"This here river, sir.  I ayve read in a book about Chinee Tartars and
+magicians and conjurors.  There was that chap in `Aladdin' as left the
+boy shut up down below.  He were a Chinee, wasn't he?"
+
+"I think so, Tom; but what have the _Arabian Nights_ got to do with our
+hunting these pirates?"
+
+"Well, that's what I want to know, sir.  If there was magic in them days
+in China, mayn't there be some left now?"
+
+"No, Tom," I said.  "We've got more magic on board the _Teaser_ in the
+shape of steam, than there is of the old kind in all China."
+
+"Well, sir, you've had more schooling than ever I've had, but if it
+ain't a bit magicky about them boats, I should like to know what it is."
+
+"What's he talking about?" said Smith.  "What do you mean?"
+
+"They're will-o'-the-wispy sort o' boats, sir," replied Jecks.  "Don't
+you see how they keep dodging on us?  Just now they was in easy shot,
+now they're two mile away.  What does that mean?"
+
+"Physical conformation of the road," said Smith importantly.
+
+"Oh, is it, sir?" said Jecks, scratching his head, with a dry smile on
+his face.  "Well, I shouldn't have thought as physic had anything to do
+with that, but I daresay you're right, sir.  Wish we could give them
+junks physic."
+
+"I don't believe we shall get near enough to give them a dose," said
+Smith discontentedly.  "If I were the skipper, I'd--"
+
+Smith did not say what he would, for just then there was a shout from
+the boat, the man with the lead giving such shallow soundings that we
+heard the gongs sound in the engine-room, and the clank of the machinery
+as it was stopped and reversed.
+
+Then orders were given for soundings to be taken right across the river,
+but the result was always the same; the stream had suddenly shallowed,
+and it was at first supposed to be a bar; but sounding higher up proved
+that the shoal water was continuous, and though the lighter-draft junks
+had gone on, they had now come to a standstill, which suggested that
+they too had been stopped.
+
+"Told you so," grumbled Barkins, joining us.  "All this trouble for
+nothing.  Why didn't the skipper open fire and blow 'em out of the water
+when he had a chance?"
+
+"Go and ask him, Mr Barkins," said Mr Brooke, who overheard his
+remark.  "And if I were you, I'd ask him at the same time why it is
+amateurs can always manage better than the leader."
+
+Mr Brooke nodded, and I saw that he looked very serious as he walked
+aft, and a minute later I knew why.
+
+"Bah!" growled Smith, as soon as he was out of hearing.  "Shouldn't have
+listened."
+
+"No," said Barkins.  "It isn't quite manly to play the spy.  Talk about
+snubbing, why is it officers should think it so precious fine to be
+always dropping on to their juniors?  Now, then, look out! there's
+orders coming.  The old _Teaser's_ going to waggle her tail between her
+legs, and we're going back again.  More waste of Her Majesty's coals."
+
+"If we don't lie-to till the tide turns," I said.  "Oh, I say, you two
+look sharp and get quite well again; I didn't know that having wounds
+would make fellows so sour."
+
+"Who's sour.  Here, let's get aft; quick, or we shall be out of the
+fun."
+
+For the whistles were going, and the men springing to the boats, three
+of which were manned, and the one lying alongside being filled with a
+strong, well-armed crew.
+
+We all three did press forward, in the full hope of being sent as well,
+and made ourselves so prominent that I saw Mr Reardon frown.  But no
+orders came; and at last, in a great state of excitement, Barkins seized
+the opportunity to speak.
+
+"May I go in the longboat, sir?"
+
+"You--lame still from your wound, sir?  Absurd!  No, nor you neither,
+Mr Smith."
+
+He caught my eye just then, but turned away, and I could not help
+feeling disappointed, though I knew well enough that the risk would have
+been great.
+
+"Oh, I do call it a shame," grumbled Barkins, as the order was given,
+the men cheered, and, under the command of Mr Brooke, the four boats
+pushed off, the oars dropped, the oily water splashed in the bright
+sunshine, and each boat with its colours trailing astern glided rapidly
+up-stream.
+
+"Yes, it's too bad," grumbled Smith in turn, who unconsciously began
+nursing his arm as if it pained him.
+
+"Why, it's worse for me," I cried.  "I'm quite strong and well.  I ought
+to have gone."
+
+Barkins exploded with silent laughter, laid his hand on Smith's
+shoulder, and said huskily, as if he were choking with mirth--
+
+"I say, hark at him!  What for?  There'll be plenty of mosquitoes up
+there to sting the poor fellows; they don't want a gnat to tickle them
+and make them fight."
+
+"No," said Smith.  "Never mind, little boy, be good, and we'll take you
+on an expedition some day."
+
+"All right," I replied; "I don't mind your chaff, only you needn't be so
+nasty because you are disappointed."
+
+"Mr Herrick!  Where's Mr Herrick?" cried the first lieutenant.
+
+"Here, sir," I shouted; and I could not help giving my companions a look
+full of triumph as I dashed aft.
+
+"Oh, there you are, sir.  Now look here, I'm going to mast-head you.
+Got your glass?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Then up with you, right to the main-topgallant cross-trees.  Notice
+everything you can."
+
+My heart began to beat before I reached the main shrouds, and it beat
+more heavily as I toiled up the rattlins, reached the top, and then went
+on again, too much excited to think of there being any danger of
+falling, my mind being partly occupied with thoughts of what Barkins and
+Smith were saying about my being favoured in this way.
+
+"Just as if they could have come up," I said half-laughing; "one with a
+game leg, the other with a game arm."
+
+My thoughts ran, too, as much upon what I was about to see, so that
+beyond taking a tight hold, and keeping my spyglass buttoned up in my
+jacket, I paid little heed to the height I was getting, I reached the
+head of the topmast, and then began to mount the rattlins of the
+main-topgallant mast, whose cross-trees seemed to be a tremendous height
+above my head.
+
+But I was soon there, and settled myself as comfortably as I could,
+sitting with an arm well round a stay, and one leg twisted in another
+for safety; but the wood did not feel at all soft, and there was a
+peculiar rap, rap, rap against the tapering spar which ran up above my
+head to the round big wooden bun on the top of all, which we knew as the
+truck.
+
+For a moment or two I couldn't make out what the sound was.  Then I saw
+it was caused by the halyards, the thin line which ran up through the
+truck and down again to the deck, for hoisting our colours.  This
+doubled line, swayed by the breeze, was beating against the tall pole,
+but I checked the noise by putting my arm round it and holding the thin
+halyard tight.
+
+I looked down for a moment or two at the deck which lay beneath, giving
+me a bird's-eye view through the rigging of the white decks dotted with
+officers and men, and the guns glistening in the sunshine.  There were
+several faces staring up at me, and I made out Barkins and Smith, and
+waved my hand.  But these were only momentary glances; I had too much to
+see of far more importance.  For there, spread out round me, was a grand
+view of the low, flat, marshy country, through which the river wound
+like a silver snake.  Far away in the distance I could see villages, and
+what seemed to be a tower of some size.  Beyond it, cultivated land and
+patches of forest; behind me, and to right and left, the shimmering sea,
+and straight in front the two junks; while almost at my feet, in spite
+of their hard rowing, there were our four boats, with the oars dipping
+with glorious regularity, and making the water flash and glitter, but
+not so brightly as did the bayonets of the few marines in each, as they
+sat in the stern-sheets with their rifles upright between their legs,
+and the keen triangular blades at the tops of the barrels twinkling at
+every movement of the boats.
+
+It was a sight to make any one's heart throb, and in spite of my
+splendid position for seeing everything I could not help wishing I was
+there to help make a part of the picture I saw, with the men in their
+white ducks and straw hats, the marines glowing like so many patches of
+poppies, and the officers with their dark blue coats faintly showing a
+lace or two of gold.
+
+How I longed to be with them bound upon such an exciting trip, and all
+the time how glad I was to be up there in so commanding a position, as,
+after watching the progress of the boats for a few moments, I opened and
+focussed my glass, rested it against a rope, and fixed it upon the
+junks.
+
+The first thing I noticed was that one of them lay a little over to
+port, as if from being too heavily laden on one side; while, as I gazed,
+the other was evidently settling in the other direction.
+
+I wondered what they were doing to them, and whether it meant changing
+heavy guns over to one side, when I grasped the fact,--they had gone as
+high up-stream as they could, and then run aground, and were fixed in
+the sticky mud of which the bottom of the river was composed.
+
+"Ahoy! there aloft," shouted Mr Reardon.  "What do you make out?"
+
+I did not take the glass from my eye, but shouted down to him--
+
+"Both junks fast aground, sir.  Chinese crews running backwards and
+forwards, trying to work them off, sir."
+
+An eager conversation ensued between Mr Reardon and the captain, during
+which I carefully scanned the two Chinese vessels, and could see the men
+swarming here and there, as if in an intense state of agitation, but
+they soon ceased trying to rock the junks, and, as I judged, they were
+waiting for the tide to rise higher and float them off.
+
+There was nothing between to hinder my having a thoroughly good view of
+where they lay, just round a slight bend, but I felt certain that they
+could not see our boats, and I had proof that this was the case, on
+noticing that a group of men had landed, and were running towards a
+clump of tall trees, where they disappeared amongst the growth.
+
+"Cowards!"  I said to myself, for I felt that they were deserters, and,
+after watching for their reappearance, I was about to turn the glass
+upon the junks again, when I noticed a peculiar agitation of the
+branches of one tree, which stood up far above the others.
+
+"Well, Mr Herrick, I am waiting for your reports," cried the first
+lieutenant.
+
+"Yes, sir," I shouted.  "Half-a-dozen men landed from one of the junks,
+and ran across to a patch of wood."
+
+"Deserters?  Any more leaving the ship?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Ah, they saw the boats coming, I suppose?"
+
+"No, sir, but they soon will.  One of them is climbing a big tree, much
+higher than the junk's masts."
+
+"For a look-out, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I think so," I shouted; and then to myself, "Oh, bother!
+It's hard work talking from up here.  There he is, sir, right up at the
+top.  You could see him from the deck."
+
+"No, I can see nothing from here.  Well, what is he doing?"
+
+"Making signals with his hands, sir, and now he's coming down again."
+
+"Then you think he has seen the boats?"
+
+"No, sir; they are following one another close in under the bank."
+
+"Then they can't see them," cried Mr Reardon, "and Mr Brooke will take
+them by surprise."
+
+He did not shout this, but said it to the captain.  Still the words rose
+to where I sat watching, till the Chinamen ran out from among the bushes
+at the foot of the trees, and I saw them making for the junks again.
+
+I could not see them climb on board, but I felt that they must have
+jumped into a boat and rowed off to their friends, and, fixing my glass
+upon the deck of first one and then the other, I began to make out more
+and more clearly the actions of the crews, and, judging from the
+glittering, I saw some kind of arms were being distributed.
+
+I announced this at first as a supposition, telling Mr Reardon what I
+thought it was.
+
+"Yes, very likely," he replied; and a few minutes after I saw something
+else, and hailed.
+
+"Yes," he said, "what now?" and I saw that, though he did not speak, the
+captain was listening attentively.
+
+"They're burning something, sir."
+
+"Confound them!  Not setting fire to the junks?"
+
+"I don't know, sir; I think so," I replied, still watching intently;
+and, as I gazed through my glass, I saw black smoke rising in little
+coils from both junks, at first very thick and spreading, then growing
+smaller.
+
+"I think, sir, they've set fire to the junks in several places," I said.
+
+He asked me why, and I told him.
+
+"Watch attentively for a few minutes."
+
+I did so, and felt puzzled, for it seemed so strange that the fire
+should grow smaller.
+
+"Well," he said, "are the junks burning?"
+
+"The little curls of smoke are rising still, sir."
+
+"Have the men left the decks?"
+
+"Oh no, sir!  They're running here and there, and seem very busy still."
+
+"Then they have not set fire to the vessels," he cried decisively.
+"Pirates, without a doubt.  Those are stink-pots that they have been
+getting ready.  Go on watching, and report anything else."
+
+A noise below, familiar enough, with its rattle and splash, told me that
+an anchor had been dropped from the bows; and as the _Teaser_ slowly
+swung round from the force of the tide, I also had to turn, so as to
+keep the telescope fixed upon the enemy, who were as busy as ever,
+though what they were doing I could not make out.  The flashes of light
+came more frequently, though, as the sun played upon their weapons; and
+now I had something else to report--that they had both assumed a
+different position, being lifted by the tide and floated upon an even
+keel.
+
+My first idea was, that now they would sail on beyond our reach; in
+fact, one moved a good deal, but the other stopped in its place, so that
+at last they were so close together that they seemed to touch.
+
+"Make out the boats?" came from the deck.
+
+"No, sir; they're close under the bank."  Yes, I caught a glimpse of the
+marines' bayonets just then.
+
+"How far are they away from the junks, do you think?"
+
+"I can't tell, sir; about a quarter of a mile, I think."
+
+Mr Reardon was silent while I gazed intently at a patch of open water
+just beyond a curve of the bank, hoping to see the boats there, though I
+felt that as soon as they reached that spot, if the enemy had not seen
+them before, they would be certain to then, for beyond that the junks
+lay clearly to be seen from where I sat.
+
+"Well?  See the boats?" came from the deck.
+
+"No, sir, not yet."
+
+I glanced down to answer, and could see that every one who possessed a
+glass was gazing anxiously aft, the only face directed up to me being
+the first lieutenant's.  Then my eye was at the glass again.
+
+"More smoke from the junks, sir," I cried; but there was no sign of
+fire, and I felt that Mr Reardon must be right, for if they had set a
+light to the inflammable wood of the vessels, they would have blazed up
+directly.
+
+"Can't you see the boats yet?" cried the first lieutenant impatiently,
+and his voice sounded as if he were blaming me.
+
+"No, sir, but the junks are more out in the middle of the stream.  I can
+see them quite clearly now, away from the trees.  They are crowded with
+men, and--"
+
+"The boats--the boats?"
+
+"No, sir;--yes, hurrah!  There they go, sir, all abreast, straight for
+the junks."
+
+"Ha!" came in one long heavy breath from below, as if all left on board
+had suddenly given vent to their pent-up feelings.
+
+"How far are they away from the junks?" cried Mr Reardon.
+
+"About two hundred yards, sir; you'll see them directly."
+
+"Yes, I see them now, sir," cried Barkins, who was a little way up the
+mizzen-shrouds, where I had not seen him before.
+
+"Silence!" cried the captain sternly.  "Go on, Mr Herrick; report."
+
+"Smoke from the junks, sir--white," I cried, and the words were hardly
+out of my mouth when there came the report of guns--first one and then
+another; then two together; and I fancied that I could see the water
+splashing up round about the boats, but I could not be sure.
+
+"Boats separating," I shouted.
+
+"Go on."
+
+"Pulling hard for the junks."
+
+"Yes, go on; report everything."
+
+I needed no orders, for I was only too eager to tell everything I saw.
+
+"Two boats have gone to the right; two to the left.--More firing from
+the junks.--Boats separating more.--Two going round behind.--Both out of
+sight."
+
+By this time, in addition to the sharp reports of the small guns on
+board the junks, the sharper crackle of matchlocks and muskets had
+begun; but so far I had not seen a puff of smoke from our boats.
+
+"Are our men firing?"
+
+"No, sir; the two boats I can see are pulling straight now for the
+junks.--Now the water splashes all about them."
+
+"Yes?  Hit?"
+
+"Don't think so, sir.--Now.--Ah!"
+
+"What--what is it, boy?"
+
+"Can't see anything, sir; they've rowed right into the smoke."
+
+My hands which held the telescope were quite wet now with the excitement
+of the scene I had tried to describe to my superior officer, and I
+thrust the glass under my left arm, and rubbed them quickly on my
+handkerchief, as I gazed at the distant smoke, and listened to the
+crackle of musketry alone, for the guns had now ceased from fire.
+
+This I felt must be on account of the boats coming to closer quarters,
+and then to the men boarding.  But I could see nothing but the smoke,
+and I raised the glass to my eye again.
+
+Still nothing but smoke.  I fancied, though, that the firing was
+different--quicker and sharper--as if our men must have begun too.
+
+"Well, Mr Herrick?" now came from below.  "Surely you can see how the
+fight is going on?"
+
+"No, sir, nothing but smoke,--Yes," I cried excitedly, "it's lifting
+now, and floating away to the left.  I can see close up to the junks.
+Yes; now the decks.  Our right boat is empty, and there is a great fight
+going on upon the junk."
+
+"And the other?"
+
+"There are two boats close up, and our men are firing.  There is black
+smoke coming out of one boat.  Now the men are climbing up, and--now,
+the smoke is too thick there."
+
+"Go on, boy; go on," shouted the first lieutenant, stamping about, while
+the captain stood perfectly still, gazing at the rising smoke, from the
+bridge.
+
+"They seem to be fighting very hard, sir," I said, trembling now like a
+leaf.  "I can see quite a crowd, and that some of the people are in
+white."
+
+"But who is getting the best of it?"
+
+"I can't see, sir," I said sadly.
+
+"Then for goodness' sake come down, and let some one else come up,"
+roared Mr Reardon.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"No, no; stay where you are, boy.  But use your glass--use your glass."
+
+I tried my best, but I could only make out a blurred mass of men on
+board both junks.  They seemed to be swaying to and fro, and the smoke,
+instead of passing off, once more grew thicker, and in place of being
+white and steamy, it now looked to be of a dirty inky black, completely
+enveloping the vessels and our boats.
+
+This I reported.
+
+"They surely cannot have set them on fire?" said Mr Reardon.
+
+"I can't see any flames, sir."
+
+Silence again; and we found that the firing had ceased, all but a sharp
+crack from time to time, sounds evidently made by rifles.  But there was
+nothing more to see, and, in spite of the angry appeals of the
+lieutenant, I could report no more than that the black smoke was growing
+thicker, and hanging down over the water, hiding everything, to the
+bushes and trees upon the bank.
+
+And now, as I gave one glance down, I saw that the captain was walking
+to and fro upon the bridge, evidently in a great state of excitement,
+for there was not a sound now; the firing had quite ceased; the black
+cloud seemed to have swallowed up our four boats and men; and a chilly
+feeling of despair began to attack me, as I wondered whether it was
+possible that our poor fellows had been beaten, and the boats burned by
+the stink-pots the pirates had thrown in.
+
+The thought was almost too horrible to bear, and I stared hard through
+the glass again, trying to make out the junks beyond the smoke, and
+whether it was really our boats which where burning, and raising the
+black cloud which hid all view.
+
+"I can see a boat now, sir," I cried excitedly, as one of them seemed to
+glide out of the end of the cloud; but my heart sank as I made the
+announcement, for I saw only that which confirmed my fears.
+
+"Well, go on, lad," cried Mr Reardon, stamping with impatience, "what
+are they doing in her?"
+
+"She's empty, sir, and floating away, with a cloud of black smoke rising
+from her."
+
+"Ah!" he exclaimed, with quite a savage snarl, and I saw the captain
+stop short and raise his glass again, though I knew that from where he
+stood he could see nothing.
+
+"We're beaten," I said to myself.  "Oh, our poor lads--our poor lads!"
+
+A mist rose before my eyes, and I nearly dropped the glass, but I passed
+my hand across my face and looked again, sweeping the telescope from the
+left side, where the boat was gliding up-stream smoking more than ever,
+to the right and the shore.
+
+"Hooray!"  I yelled.
+
+"Yes! what?" roared the captain and Mr Reardon together.
+
+"Chinese running in a regular stream away from the shore; making for the
+woods.  One down--another down."
+
+At the same moment almost came a couple of volleys, then several men
+went down, and the crackle of firing commenced again.
+
+"Go on, Herrick!" cried Mr Reardon.
+
+"Our fellows ashore, and running Jacks and jollies together, sir.
+Stopping to fire.  Running again."
+
+"And the enemy?"
+
+"Running like deer, sir.  More of them down.  Making for the wood."
+
+"One man stopped, sir, and returning."
+
+"Yes, yes, that's good.  What now?"
+
+"Boat out from the smoke, rowing after the other one, sir.  They've got
+it.  Yes, I can see.  They're throwing something out that smokes--now
+something more."
+
+"Bah! stink-pots!" roared Mr Reardon.  "Now then, quick!--quick!
+Don't, go to sleep, sir.  What next?"
+
+"I'll shy the spyglass at you directly," I muttered; and then aloud,
+"Fire, sir; both junks blazing."
+
+"Hurrah!" came from the deck as the rest of the crew set up a tremendous
+cheer, for the smoke had suddenly grown less dense; and the junks
+gradually grew visible as it floated away; while even in the bright
+sunlight the flames were visible, and I could now make out that they
+were two floating furnaces with the great tongues of fire licking the
+broad matting-sails: and, best news of all, there, quite plainly, were
+our four boats, with the men just visible above their sides.
+
+I reported this, and cheer after cheer rose again.  After which there
+was dead silence once more, so that my reports could be heard.
+
+"Now, Mr Herrick, what now?" cried Mr Reardon.
+
+"Two boats lying in mid-stream, sir; the others are rowing to the side."
+
+"To pick up the men who were sent ashore, I suppose.  Good."
+
+"Junks burning very fast, sir; and they're floating across to the other
+side.  The wind's taking them straight, for the smoke floats that way."
+
+"Very likely," said Mr Reardon; and there was a long pause.
+
+"One junk has taken the ground, sir," I said, "and--"
+
+"Yes, well, what?"
+
+"Her masts and sails have fallen over the side."
+
+"And our boats?"
+
+"Lying-to, sir, doing nothing."
+
+But that was as far as I could see, for they were doing a good deal, as
+we afterwards heard.
+
+"Other junk has floated over, sir, nearly to the same place."
+
+"Good; burning still?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir--very fast."
+
+He need not have asked; for, as Barkins told me afterwards, they could
+see the flames from the deck, though our boats were invisible.
+
+"Well, what now?" cried Mr Reardon, as I saw the captain quietly pacing
+to and fro on the bridge.
+
+"Other two boats pushed off from the shore, sir."
+
+"Ha! that's right.  See anything of the Chinamen?"
+
+"No, sir; the forest goes right away for miles.  There isn't one to be
+seen."
+
+"And the boats?"
+
+"All rowing back, sir, close under the left bank."
+
+"Can you see them?"
+
+"Only three of them, sir," I replied.  "Now another is out of sight."
+
+"Then, as soon as they are all invisible, you can come down," cried Mr
+Reardon.
+
+"Yes, sir; all out of sight now."
+
+"Then come down."
+
+"Thankye for nothing," I muttered; and then aloud, "Yes, sir;" and I
+closed my glass, and wiped my wet forehead, feeling stiff and sore, as
+if I had been exerting myself with all my might.
+
+"I suppose I'm very stupid," I said to myself, as I began to descend
+slowly, "but I did try my best.  What a height it seems up here!  If a
+fellow slipped and fell, he would never have another hour up at the
+mast-head."
+
+I went on downward, with my legs feeling more and more stiff, and a
+sense of heavy weariness growing upon me.  My head ached too, and I felt
+a pain at the back of my neck, while mentally I was as miserable and
+dissatisfied as ever I remember being in my life.
+
+"I hope he'll send old Barkins up next time," I thought.  "He wouldn't
+feel so precious jealous then.  Nice job, squinting through that glass
+till one's almost blind, and nothing but bullying for the result."
+
+It seemed to be a very long way down to the deck, but I reached the
+remaining few rattlins at last, and I was nearly down to the bulwarks,
+meaning to go below and bathe my head, if I could leave the deck, when I
+was stopped short, just in my most gloomy and despondent moments, by the
+captain's voice, his words sounding so strange that I could hardly
+believe my ears.
+
+For, as I held on to the shrouds, and looked sharply aft at the mention
+of my name, he said--
+
+"Thank you, Mr Herrick; very good indeed;" while, as I reached the
+deck, Mr Reardon came up--
+
+"Yes, capital, Mr Herrick.  A very arduous task, and you have done it
+well."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+AFTER THE FIGHT.
+
+"Bravo, Gnat!  Well done, little 'un!" whispered Barkins the next
+minute, as I walked aft, feeling quite confused, while my headache and
+sensation of misery passed off as if by magic.  "Blacksmith would have
+done it better, of course; wouldn't you, Smithy?"
+
+"Done it as well as you would," said my messmate sulkily; and there was
+a heavy frown on his brow; but, as he met my eyes, it cleared off, and
+he smiled frankly.  "I say: Well done our side!" he whispered.  "What
+would they do without midshipmen!"
+
+"I say, though," said Barkins, "we've given John Pirate another
+dressing-down; but what about the plunder?"
+
+"Ah, of course," said Smith.  "Junks both burned, and no swag.  What
+about our prize-money?  Eh, Gnat?"
+
+"I wasn't thinking about that, but about our poor lads.  They must have
+had a sharp fight.  I hope no one is hurt."
+
+My companion were silent for a moment or two.  Then Barkins said
+quietly--
+
+"I thought it would be only the teapots that were broken.  Think our
+chaps were hurt?  You couldn't see?"
+
+"I could see that there was a big fight going on; and look here!"
+
+I nodded in the direction of one of the companion-ways, from which the
+doctor suddenly appeared with his glasses on, and an eager, expectant
+look in his eyes as he bustled up to us.
+
+"I'm all ready," he said.  "Boats in sight yet?"  I shuddered, and I
+noticed that Smith looked white.  "Well, why don't you answer?  What's
+the matter, my lads?  Oh, I see."  He laughed.
+
+"Horrible sort of person the doctor, eh?  But you didn't look like that
+when I tackled your wounds the other day.  But if you people will fight,
+the surgeon must be ready.  Oh, let's see: you were up at the
+cross-trees, Mr Herrick, with your glass, and saw all.  Will there be
+much work for me to do?"
+
+"I don't know, sir," I said, trying hard to speak quietly.  "I couldn't
+see much for the smoke.  I hope not."
+
+"So do I, boy, heartily.  I don't mind the wounds so long as they're not
+too bad.  It's painful to have fine strong lads like ours slip through
+one's fingers.  But we must do our best.  Any Chinese prisoners?  Sure
+to be, I suppose."
+
+"I should think so, sir."
+
+"And wounded.  Well, if there are, you three lads ought to come and be
+my body-guard with your dirks.  Like to see the operations, I daresay?"
+
+"Ugh!"  I said, with a shudder.
+
+"Bah!  Don't act like a great girl, Herrick," said the doctor
+scornfully.  "You would never have done for a doctor, sir.  I never
+shudder at the worst cases."
+
+"But then you are hardened, sir," said Barkins.
+
+"Hardened be hanged, sir!" cried the doctor indignantly.  "A clever
+surgeon gets more and more softened every time he operates, more
+delicate in his touches, more exact in his efforts to save a limb, or
+arrange an injury so that it will heal quickly.  Hardened, indeed!  Why,
+to judge from your faces, any one would think surgery was horrible,
+instead of one of the greatest pleasures in life."
+
+"What, cutting and bandaging wounds, and fishing for bullets?" blurted
+out Smith; "why, sir, I think it's hideous."
+
+"And I think you are an impertinent young coxcomb, sir," cried the
+doctor indignantly.  "Hideous, indeed!  Why it's grand."
+
+He looked round at us as if seeking for confirmation of his words, but
+neither spoke.
+
+"Hideous? horrible?" he said, taking off his glasses and thrusting his
+hand into his pocket for his handkerchief to wipe them, but bringing out
+something soft and white, which proved to be a piece of lint.  "Oh, I do
+call it cool.  If there's anything hideous it's your acts, sir; having
+those thundering guns fired, to send huge shells shivering and
+shattering human beings to pieces for the doctor to try and mend; your
+horrible chops given with cutlasses and the gilt-handled swords you are
+all so proud of wearing--insolent, bragging, showy tools that are not to
+be compared with my neat set of amputating knives in their mahogany
+case.  These are to do good, while yours are to do evil.  Then, too,
+your nasty, insidious, cruel bayonets, which make a worse wound than a
+bullet.  Oh, it's too fine to call my work horrible, when I try to put
+straight all your mischief."
+
+"Here they are," cried Barkins excitedly, as a hail came from the top.
+
+We ran aft to see the first boat come steadily along close in shore,
+which was being hugged so as to avoid the full rush of the tide.
+
+Directly after the others came in sight, and glasses were all in use
+from the bridge and quarter-deck.
+
+I adjusted mine directly, and saw at the first glance that there was
+plenty of work for Dr Price, for men were lying in the stern-sheets
+with rough bandages on limbs and heads, while several of those who were
+rowing had handkerchiefs tied round their foreheads, and others had
+horrible marks upon their white duck-frocks, which told tales of injury
+to them as well as to their enemies.
+
+The third boat was given up to men lying down or sitting up together,
+leaving only just room for the rowers, while the fourth and largest boat
+was being towed; the thwarts, that in an ordinary way would have been
+occupied by rowers, now holding the marines, who sat with their rifles
+ready, and fixed bayonets, while the stern-sheets were filled
+with Chinamen, seated in three groups, and all in the most
+uncomfortable-looking way.  I could see that their hands were tied
+behind their backs, and it was horribly plain that several of them were
+wounded; but why they should have formed these three groups, and sat
+there with their heads laid close together, was what puzzled me.
+
+A loud cheer rose from our deck as the boats came near; and this was
+taken up directly by the returning party, the men rowing harder as they
+shouted, and the little triumphant procession reached the side.
+
+The first hail came from the captain.
+
+"Mr Brooke--where's Mr Brooke?"
+
+"Here, sir," cried that officer, standing up with a stained handkerchief
+about his head, and his uniform all black and scorched.
+
+"Any fatalities?"
+
+"No, sir; not one."
+
+I saw the captain's lips move, but no one heard him speak.  I guessed,
+though, what he said, and I felt it.
+
+Then as quickly as possible the boats were run up to the davits, and the
+uninjured men leaped on deck.  Next the wounded, such as could stir,
+descended from the boats, one poor fellow staggering and nearly falling
+as soon as he reached the deck.  After which the badly wounded were
+carefully lifted out and carried below, to be laid in a row to wait the
+doctor and his assistant make their first rapid examination, to apply
+tourniquets and bandaged pads to the most serious injuries.
+
+"Good heavens, Mr Brooke, what a condition you are in!  The doctor must
+take you first."
+
+"Oh no, sir," said the young lieutenant quietly.  "I'm not very bad; a
+cut from a heavy sword through my cap.  It has stopped bleeding.  My
+hands are a little bruised."
+
+"But how was this?"
+
+"As we advanced to board, they threw quite a volley of stink-pots
+fizzing away into us.  I burned myself a little with them."
+
+"Chucking 'em overboard, sir," cried the boatswain.  "Splendid it was."
+
+"Nonsense!" cried Mr Brooke.  "You threw ever so many.  But it was hot
+work, sir."
+
+"Hot! it is horrible.  How many prisoners have you there?"
+
+"Eighteen, sir; the survivors escaped."
+
+"But you shouldn't have fired the junks, man," said the captain testily.
+"There may have been wounded on board."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Mr Brooke, with his brow puckering; "wounded and dead
+there were, I daresay, thirty; but the enemy set fire to their vessels
+themselves before they leaped overboard, and it was impossible to save
+them: they burned like resin.  We saved all we could."
+
+"I beg your pardon; I might have known," cried the captain warmly.
+"Come to my cabin.  Mr Reardon, be careful with those prisoners; they
+are savage brutes."
+
+"Enough to make 'em, Gnat.  Look!  What a shame!"
+
+I looked, but I could not see any reason for Smith's remark.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," growled one of the men, who had a bandage round his
+arm; "you wouldn't ha' said so if you'd been there.  They was all alike.
+The junk we took was burning like fat in a frying-pan, and me and my
+mate see one o' them chaps going to be roasted, and made a run for it
+and hauled him away--singed my beard, it did; look, sir."
+
+Half of his beard was burned off, and his cheek scorched.
+
+"Then my mate gets hold of his legs, and I was stooping to get my fists
+under his chest, when he whips his knife into my arm 'fore I knowed what
+he was up to.  But we saved him all the same."
+
+"Here," cried Mr Reardon, as the marines descended from the third boat,
+and stood at attention in two parties facing each other; "who was
+answerable for this?  Why, it is an outrage.  Brutal!"
+
+"S'pose it was my doing, sir," said the boatswain, touching his cap;
+"but I asked leave of Mr Brooke first, and he said yes."
+
+"What, to tie the poor wretches up like that, sir, and half of them
+wounded!"
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; there was no other way handy.  We lashed their arms
+behind 'em to keep 'em from knifing us, and then they kept on jumping
+overboard, and trying to drown themselves.  We haven't hurt them."
+
+"Cast them loose at once."
+
+"Yes, sir; I should like half-a-dozen strong chaps in the boat, though."
+
+"Well, take them," said Mr Reardon, who was speaking less severely now.
+"I'll have the uninjured men in irons this time.  Be careful."
+
+"And if I'd my way, I'd have 'em all in iron boxes, 'cept their hands."
+
+The boatswain said this to me, with a nod, as the first lieutenant
+turned away, and, unable to control my curiosity, I sprang up on the
+bulwark to look into the boat.
+
+"Let's have a look too," cried Smith, and he jumped up to gain a
+position much closer than mine, but quitted his hold and dropped back on
+deck, lost his footing, and came down sitting; for, as he leaned over
+the boat's gunnel, one of the prisoners made a sudden snap at him, after
+the fashion of an angry dog, and the marines burst into a roar of
+laughter.
+
+Smith got up scowling and indignant.
+
+"My hands slipped," he said to me aloud.  And then, to carry off his
+confusion, "How many are there, Herrick?"
+
+"Three lots of six," I said, as I now saw plainly enough how it was that
+the prisoners were in such a strange position.  For they had been
+dragged together and their pigtails lashed into a tight knot, a process
+admirably suited to the object in hand--to render them perfectly
+helpless; and their aspect certainly did not excite my anger.
+
+Meanwhile the boatswain had stepped into the swinging boat, and he
+turned to me, but looked at Smith as he spoke.
+
+"Like to try whether either of the others will bite, Mr Herrick?" he
+said.
+
+Smith coloured and frowned.
+
+"No, thank you," I replied; "I'm satisfied."
+
+"Now then, you two," said the boatswain, "stand by with your bayonets;
+and you, my lads, be ready as we cast them loose.  Get a good grip of
+each fellow by the tail; he'll be helpless then."
+
+I stood looking on at the curious scene, and the next minute was
+conscious of the fact that the first lieutenant had returned to
+supervise the putting of the prisoners in irons himself; and, as the
+tails were unlashed, he took note of the men who were injured, and had
+them lifted out and laid on deck.
+
+The others made no attempt to escape, for they were too firmly held;
+but, as the armourer fitted on the irons, I could see their
+wild-beast-like eyes rolling in different directions, and then become
+fixed with a look of savage hate on our men, who were certainly none too
+tender with a set of wretches who only waited an opportunity to destroy
+life without the slightest compunction.
+
+At last they were all lying on the deck--nine with serious wounds, the
+other half for the most part injured, but only to a very slight extent,
+and these were soon after taken one by one between a file of marines to
+the place in the hold appointed once more for their prison.
+
+Then the doctor came up for ten minutes, and, after a few words with the
+sergeant of marines, examined the nine prisoners, passing over six to
+the sergeant with orders, and having three laid aside for his own
+ministrations.
+
+We three lads stood watching the sergeant, who had evidently had some
+practice in ambulance work, and skilfully enough he set to work sponging
+and bandaging injuries.  But all the time a couple of marines stood, one
+on either side, ready to hold the prisoners down, for each seemed to
+look upon the dressing of his wounds as a form of torture which he was
+bound to resist with all his might.
+
+"Nice boys, Mr Herrick," said the boatswain drily.  "Do you know why we
+are taking all this pains?"
+
+"To save their lives and give them up to the authorities at Tsin-Tsin, I
+suppose."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"For them to be put on their trial for piracy on the high seas."
+
+"Yes, sir, that's it; but it would be a greater kindness to let the
+wretches die out of their misery."
+
+"But some of them mayn't be guilty," I said.
+
+The boatswain laughed.
+
+"I don't think there's much doubt about that, sir," he said.  Just then,
+as the last man was treated by the sergeant, the doctor came on deck
+with his assistants, both in white aprons and sleeves--well, I'm a
+little incorrect there--in aprons and sleeves that had been white.
+
+"I've no business here," said the doctor hurriedly; "but these men
+cannot be left.  Keep an eye on them, my men, and don't let them do me
+any mischief.  I can't be spared just now."
+
+The next moment he was down on his knees by the side of one of the
+prisoners, who, in his eyes for a few minutes, was neither enemy nor
+piratical Chinaman, but a patient to whom he devoted himself to the full
+extent of his skill, performing what was needful, and leaving his
+assistant to finish the bandaging while he went on to the next.
+
+In another ten minutes he had finished, and rose from his knees.
+
+"There, Mr Herrick," he said; "do you call that horrible? because I
+call it grand.  If those three ill-looking scoundrels had been left
+another hour they would have died.  Now, with their hardy constitutions,
+they will rapidly get well, perhaps escape and begin pirating again.
+Possibly, when we give them up--oh my knees! how hard that deck is!--the
+authorities will--"
+
+"Chop off all head.  Velly bad men--velly bad men indeed."
+
+The doctor laughed, and hurried away while the last prisoner was carried
+down below.
+
+"There," said the boatswain, when all was over, "that job's done, Mr
+Herrick.  Nice fellows your countrymen, Ching."
+
+"Not allee nice fellow," replied Ching seriously.  "Pilate velly bad
+man.  No use.  Why captain save him up?"
+
+"Ah, that's a question you had better ask him.  But I say, Ching, those
+fellows came up here with cargo, didn't they?"
+
+"Calgo?" said Ching.
+
+"Yes; plunder out of the ships they took."
+
+"Yes," said Ching.
+
+"Then where is it?  There was none on board the junks."
+
+"Ching know," said the interpreter, laying his finger to the side of his
+nose.  "You likee Ching show?"
+
+"Yes, of course.  Prize-money, and you'd share."
+
+"Ching likee plize-money.  You bling ship along, and Ching show."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+IN THE CREEK.
+
+Ching's announcement cleared up what had been somewhat of a mystery.  It
+had appeared strange to everybody that the junks had been up this river
+apparently for no purpose, and more strange that they should have been
+light, and not laden with the plunder of the vessels they had taken.
+And now, as without any need for taking soundings the _Teaser_ slowly
+steamed back, Ching pointed out a kind of landing-place in a little
+creek hidden amongst dense growth, so that it had been passed unnoticed
+on our way up.
+
+The country here on both sides of the river was wild, and no trace of a
+dwelling could be seen; but about half a mile from the shore there was a
+low ridge, round one end of which the creek wound, and toward this ridge
+Ching pointed, screwing his eyes up into narrow slits, and wrinkling up
+his face in all directions.
+
+"Velly bad man live along-along there.  Plenty plize-money; plenty tea,
+lice, silk; plenty evelyting.  Come and see."
+
+The _Teaser_ was moored, and a couple of boats manned with well-armed
+crews, Ching looking on the while and cunningly shaking his head.
+
+"No wantee big piecee sword gun.  Pilate all lun away and hide."
+
+"Never mind," said Mr Reardon, who was going in command of the
+expedition; "we may find somebody there disposed to fight."
+
+"Takee all along big empty boat; cally tea, silk, lice, plize-money?"
+
+"Better see first," said the captain; "there may not be anything worth
+carriage.  Go with them," he said to Ching.  "They may want an
+interpleter."
+
+"Yes, Ching interpleter.  Talk velly nice Inglis."
+
+"You can come if you like in my boat, Mr Herrick," said the lieutenant;
+and I jumped at the opportunity, but before I reached the side I turned,
+and saw Barkins and Smith looking gloomily on.
+
+"Well, what are you waiting for?" said Mr Reardon.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," I said; "I was only thinking that Mr Barkins and Mr
+Smith would be very glad to go ashore."
+
+"Of course they would, but I suppose you don't want to give up your
+place to them?"
+
+"No, sir," I said; "but I will."
+
+"Oh, very well.  Here, Mr Barkins, Mr Smith; do you feel well enough
+to go in my boat?"
+
+"Yes, sir," they cried together eagerly.
+
+"Jump in, then."
+
+"Thank you, sir," cried Smith, and he mounted into the first boat; but
+Barkins hesitated a moment.
+
+"Thank you, old chap," he whispered, "but I don't like to go."
+
+"Off with you," I said, and I hurried him forward.  "Shall I give you a
+leg up?"  I added, for he limped a good deal still.
+
+"No, no; I don't want to let them see I'm lame.  But I say, Gnat, you
+go."
+
+"Be off," I whispered.  "Quick!" and I helped him in.
+
+"Here, Ching, you had better go in the second boat," said Mr Reardon
+sharply; and, as the Chinaman rolled out of the first boat, blinking and
+smiling, orders were given to lower away, and the first boat kissed the
+water.
+
+I was looking down at my two messmates, feeling a little disappointed,
+but glad that they had a chance at last, when Mr Reardon looked up.
+
+"Here, Mr Herrick," he cried.  "You had better come on in the other
+boat, and take charge of the interpreter.  Look sharp."
+
+I did look sharp, and a few minutes later I was sitting in the
+stern-sheets, being rowed ashore.
+
+"Plenty loom in littlee liver," said Ching, pointing to the creek.
+"Pilate take allee plize-money in sampan up littlee liver."
+
+"Ching thinks the boats could go up the creek, sir, and that the pirates
+go that way."
+
+"Try, then; go first, Mr Grey," cried the first lieutenant; and,
+ordering his boat's crew to lie on their oars, he waited till we had
+passed, and then followed.
+
+"Ching going showee way," whispered the Chinaman to me.
+
+"But how do you know there is a place up there?"  I said.  "Have you
+ever been?"
+
+Ching shook his head till his black tail quivered, and closed his eyes
+in a tight smile.
+
+"Ching interpleter," he said, with a cunning look.  "Ching know
+evelyting 'bout Chinaman.  Talkee Chinee--talkee Inglis--velly nicee."
+
+"But talking English velly nicee doesn't make you understand about the
+pirates."
+
+"Yes; know velly much allee 'bout pilate," he said.  "Velly bad men--
+velly stupid, allee same.  Pilate get big junk, swordee, gun, plenty
+powder; go killee evelybody, and hide tea, silk, lice up liver.  One
+pilate--twenty pilate--allee do same.  Hide up liver."
+
+"Perhaps he's right," said Mr Grey, who sat back with the tiller in his
+hand, listening.  "They do imitate one another.  What one gang does,
+another does.  They're stupid enough to have no fresh plans of their
+own."
+
+By this time we were in the creek, which was just wide enough for the
+men to dip their oars from time to time, and the tide being still
+running up we glided along between the muddy banks and under the
+overhanging trees, which were thick enough to shade as from the hot sun.
+
+The ride was very interesting, and made me long to get ashore and watch
+the birds and butterflies, and collect the novel kinds of flowers
+blooming here and there in the more open parts, the lilies close in to
+the side being beautiful.
+
+But we had sterner business on hand, besides having the first lieutenant
+in the following boat, so I contented myself with looking straight ahead
+as far as I could for the maze-like wanderings of the creek, and I was
+just thinking how easily we could run into an ambuscade, and be shot at
+from the dense shrubby growth on the bank, when Mr Reardon called to us
+from his boat.
+
+"Let your marines be ready, Mr Grey," he said, "in case of a trap.  If
+the enemy shows and attacks, on shore at once and charge them.  Don't
+wait to give more than one volley."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," said the boatswain; and the marines seized their pieces,
+and I looked forward more sharply than ever.
+
+But Ching shook his head.
+
+"No pilate," he whispered to me.  "Allee too velly much flighten, and
+lun away from foleign devil sailor and maline."
+
+"But they might have come down to their place here," I said.
+
+Ching smiled contemptuously.
+
+"Pilate velly blave man, fight gleat deal when allee one side, and know
+sailor can't fightee.  When plenty sailor can fightee, pilate lun away
+velly fast, and no come back."
+
+"Can you understand him, Mr Grey?"  I said.
+
+"Oh yes, I understand him, and I daresay he's right, but there's no harm
+in being on the look-out;" and, to show his intention of following out
+his words, the boatswain took his revolver from its case, and laid it
+ready upon his knees.
+
+"How much farther is this village, or whatever it is?" said Mr Reardon
+from behind.
+
+"Do you hear, Ching?"  I said.
+
+"Ching hear; Ching don'tee know; not velly far," was the unsatisfactory
+reply.
+
+"I'm afraid we've come on a cock-and-bull hunt," said the boatswain,
+looking to right and left as he stood up in the boat, for the creek now
+grew so narrow that the men had to lay in their oars, and the coxswain
+also stood up and drew the boat onward by hooking the overhanging
+boughs.
+
+"Do you think they do come up here, Ching?"  I said.
+
+He nodded, and looked sharply about him.
+
+"There can be no big traffic up here, Mr Grey," said the lieutenant.
+"What does the interpreter say?"
+
+"Do you hear, Ching?"  I whispered; "what do you say?"
+
+"Allee light," he replied.  "Pilate come along in littlee sampan; cally
+silk, tea, lice."
+
+"Oh, bother!"  I said.  Then aloud to Mr Reardon, whose boat was half
+hidden by the growth overhead, "He seems quite sure they do come up
+here, sir."
+
+"Well, then, go a little farther, but I feel far from sure.  Push right
+in at the next place where there's room for the boat, and climb up the
+bank."
+
+"Yes, sir," I cried; and we went on again for another hundred yards,
+when all at once I caught sight of an opening where I could land, and
+pointed it out to Mr Grey.
+
+"Yes," said Ching, "allee light.  That place where pilate land allee
+plize-money."
+
+I laughed, and Mr Grey told the coxswain to draw the boat close to the
+bank, when, to my intense surprise, I found there was a broadly-trampled
+path, beaten into soft steps, and I turned in my glee and shouted--
+
+"Here's the place, sir."
+
+The boat glided rustling in; two men sprang out, and then we followed.
+The second boat came alongside, and five minutes later our sturdy little
+force was tramping along through a dense patch of wood by a well-beaten
+path, and in about ten minutes more were out at the foot of a low ridge
+which hid the river from our sight, and in face of a couple of dozen or
+so low bamboo huts, two of which were of pretty good size.
+
+"Steady! halt! form up!" cried the lieutenant, and skirmishers were sent
+forward to feel our way, for no one was visible; but open doors and
+windows, suggested the possibility of danger in ambush.
+
+A few minutes settled all doubts on that score, and the word to advance
+was given.  We went up to the front of the huts at the double, and
+examination proved that the places must have been occupied within a few
+hours, for the fire in one hut was still smouldering; but the people had
+fled, and we were in possession of the tiny village so cunningly hidden
+from the river.
+
+Our men were pretty quick, but Ching surpassed them.
+
+"Look at him running!" cried Barkins, as, with his tail flying, Ching
+ran from hut to hut, and finally stopped before the two more pretentious
+places, which were closely shut.
+
+"Hong--warehouse," he cried to me, and an attempt was made to enter, but
+the doors of both were quite fast.
+
+"Steady!" said Mr Reardon; "there may be some of the enemy inside;" and
+our men were so placed that when the door was burst in, any fire which
+we drew would prove harmless.
+
+One of the sailors came forward then with a heavy flat stone, which
+looked as if it had been used to crush some kind of grain upon it, and,
+receiving a nod from the lieutenant, he raised it above his head, dashed
+it against the fastening, and the door flew open with a crash, while the
+sailor darted aside.
+
+But no shot issued from within, and Mr Reardon stepped forward, looked
+in, and uttered an ejaculation.
+
+"Look here, Grey," he cried; and the boatswain stepped to his side.
+Then my turn came, and there was no doubt about Ching's idea being
+correct, for the place was literally packed with stores.  Chests, bales,
+boxes, and packages of all kinds were piled-up on one side; bags,
+evidently of rice, on the other; while at the end were articles of all
+kinds, and crates which seemed to be full of china.
+
+"Sentry here," said the lieutenant sternly; and, leaving a marine on
+guard, he led the way to the other store, whose door was burst in, and
+upon our entering, without hesitation now, this place proved to be
+choked with the cargo of different junks which the pirates had rifled,
+for everything of value had been packed in tightly, and the pirates'
+treasure-houses were no doubt waiting for some favourable opportunity
+for disposing of the loot.
+
+"Sentry here," cried Mr Reardon again; and the man having been planted,
+we stood together in one of the huts, while the lieutenant made his
+plans.
+
+"You wantee big empty boat?" said Ching suddenly.
+
+"Yes, my man, and I wish we had brought one."  Then, after a few
+minutes' consideration, Mr Reardon decided what to do.
+
+"Now, Mr Herrick," he said, "take a marine and one man with the signal
+flags, and go up to the ridge yonder.  Place your marine where he can
+command the plain, and he will fire if he sees the enemy approaching.
+The man is to signal for two more boats."
+
+I started for the ridge after getting my two men, which was about two
+hundred yards away, the ground rising in a slope; and, as we went off at
+the double, I heard orders being given, while, by the time we were up on
+the top, I looked back to see our men going in a regular stream down to
+the boats, laden with bales of silk, the white frocks of the Jacks
+showing through the thick growth from time to time.
+
+My sentry was soon posted in a position where he could command the plain
+for miles, and the Jack hard at work waving flags till his signal was
+answered from the ship, which seemed from where we stood to be lying
+close at hand.
+
+Then we two returned, to find that one boat was already packed as full
+as it would hold; and Barkins and Mr Grey went off with it back to the
+river, while the second was rapidly laden, and in half an hour followed
+the first.  Then Smith and I followed the lieutenant into the store,
+with its low reed-thatched roof, and gazed about wonderingly at the
+richness of the loot upon which we had come.
+
+"I say, Gnat, we shan't go home without prize-money this voyage,"
+whispered Smith; and then, nothing more being possible, the sentries--
+four, posted at different distances--were visited, and we all sat down
+in the shade to rest, and partake of the refreshments in the men's
+haversacks.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+FRESH DANGER.
+
+"They're a long time sending those boats, Herrick," said the lieutenant
+to me soon after we had finished our meal.
+
+"It's rather a long way, sir," I ventured to suggest.
+
+"Oh yes, it's a long way; but with the state of dishipline to which I
+have brought the _Teaser_ they ought to have been here by now.  Suppose
+we were surrounded by the enemy, and waiting for their help to save us!"
+
+"We should think it longer than we do now, sir."  Mr Reardon turned to
+me sharply, and looked as if in doubt whether he should treat my remark
+as humorous or impertinent.  Fortunately he took the former view, and
+smiled pleasantly.
+
+"So we should, Herrick, so we should.  But if they knew it was to fetch
+all this loot on board, they'd make a little more haste."
+
+"They know it by this time, sir," I said.  "They must have met the first
+boat."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," he said rather sourly.  "The men are very slow when
+I am not there."
+
+"Here they are, sir!"  I cried; for the marine sentry down by the river
+challenged, and then there was a loud cheering, and soon after Mr
+Brooke appeared, followed by a long train of fully-armed Jacks.
+
+"Why, I thought when we started that we had come to fight," cried Mr
+Brooke as he reached us.  "We met the two loaded boats.  Is there much
+more?"
+
+"Come and look," said Mr Reardon; and we went first into one and then
+the other store, while our party of Jacks communicated our luck to the
+newcomers, the result being that, as we came out of the second long hut,
+the men cheered again lustily.
+
+Then no time was lost; and the way in which the crew attacked those two
+stores of loot was a sight to see.  It was tremendously hot, but they
+laughed and cheered each other as those returning met the laden ones
+going down to the boats.  They would have liked to make a race of it to
+see which crew could load up their boat first, but Mr Reardon stopped
+that; and the strength of all was put to work to load one boat and get
+it off, so that there were two streams of men going and coming; and the
+first boat was deeply laden in an incredibly short space of time, the
+men leaving themselves no room to row, but placing the chests amidships
+to form a platform, and two smaller ones in the bow and stern.
+
+They would have laden the boat more deeply still but for Mr Brooke, who
+superintended at the side of the creek, while Mr Reardon was at the
+stores.
+
+Then the first of the boats Mr Brooke had brought was sent off, and by
+the time the next was loaded one of those we had previously sent off
+returned.
+
+"Velly plime lot of plize-money," Ching said to me every time we met;
+and he toiled away with the rest, his face shining, and while our men
+grew red he grew more and more yellow.  But, in spite of the
+tremendously hard work of carrying down those loads, the men took it all
+as a party of pleasure; and when, later on in the day, after boatload
+after boatload had gone down the creek for hours, I had to go up to Mr
+Reardon with a message from Mr Brooke, I was astonished to see how the
+contents of the stores had disappeared.
+
+It was getting close upon sundown when the last load was packed into the
+longboat.  Silk bale, tea-chest, rice-bag, crate, and box, with an
+enormous amount of indescribable loot, including all kinds of weapons,
+had been taken aboard; and the men who had come up for fresh burdens
+began cheering like mad as they found the task was done.
+
+"That will do, my lads; steady--steady!" cried Mr Reardon.  "Fall in."
+
+_Bang_!
+
+It was not a loud report, only that of the rifle fired by the sentry on
+the ridge; and immediately the men stood to their arms, and were ready
+for what promised to be an interruption.
+
+"See the sentry, Mr Herrick?" cried the lieutenant.
+
+"Yes, sir," I said; "he's running in fast."
+
+The next minute the man came up, breathless.
+
+"Strong body of John Chinamans, sir, coming across from over yonder."
+
+"Time we were off, then," said Mr Reardon; and, giving the word, we
+started away at the "double" from before the empty stores and huts,
+toward the creek.
+
+Our run through the wood, though, was soon brought to a walk, for we
+overtook the last laden men, and had to accommodate our pace to theirs.
+But they hurried on pretty quickly, reached the boat just as another
+empty one returned; the loading was finished, and as soon as the boat
+was ready, an addition was made to her freight in the shape of a dozen
+Jacks and marines, and she pushed off just as a loud yelling was heard
+from the direction of the empty stores.
+
+"They'll be down on us directly," muttered Mr Reardon; and we all
+crowded into the empty boat and pushed off after the loaded one, but had
+not descended the creek far before we were stopped by the loaded boat,
+and had to arrange our pace by hers.
+
+"Now for a slow crawl," I thought, "and they'll be after us directly."
+
+A loud bang behind us told that I was right, and the handful of rough
+slugs in the heavy matchlock flew spattering amongst the leaves
+overhead, cutting off twigs which fell into the boat.
+
+"Lie down all who can," cried the lieutenant; and we waited for the next
+shot, which, to be rather Irish, was half-a-dozen in a scattered volley.
+
+But though the twigs and leaves came showering down, no one was hit; and
+the coxswain steadily poled us along as fast as the progress of the
+other boat would allow.
+
+I saw that Mr Reardon was on the _qui vive_ to order a return of the
+fire; but so far we could not see from whence it came, and it seemed as
+if nothing could be done but keep steadily on with our retreat.
+
+"They might have given us another half-hour, Herrick," he said.  "I
+should like to get the boys on board unhurt."
+
+"Think they can get on ahead, sir?"  I whispered.
+
+"I hope not.  The forest on each side is so dense that I don't fancy
+they can get along any faster than we do.  Make haste, my lads, make
+haste," he said, almost in a whisper; "we shall have it dark here under
+these trees before long."
+
+Crash came another volley, accompanied by a savage yelling, but we were
+so low down between the muddy banks that again the slugs went pattering
+over our heads.
+
+"Would you mind passing the word to the other boat, messmate," said a
+familiar voice.  "Tell 'em not to hurry themselves, as we're very
+comfortable."
+
+"Who's that?  Silence!" cried Mr Reardon.
+
+No reply came to his question, but I could hear the men chuckling.
+
+The next minute they were serious enough, for there was a burst of
+voices from very near at hand.
+
+"Aim low, my lads," said Mr Reardon.  "You six in the stern-sheets, as
+near to where the shooting is as you can."
+
+The rifles were levelled, three of the barrels being passed over our
+shoulders.  Then came the usual orders, and the pieces went off like
+one.
+
+This silenced our pursuers for a few minutes, during which we continued
+our progress, snail-like at the best, for the boat in front looked like
+a slug.
+
+"I'd give the order to them to draw aside and let us pass, Herrick,"
+whispered the lieutenant, who now, in this time of peril, grew very warm
+and friendly; "but--ah, that's getting dangerous."
+
+For another volley from very near at hand rattled over us, and was
+answered by our men.
+
+"What was I going to say?" continued the lieutenant coolly, "Oh, I
+remember!  If we tried to get by them they might take the ground with
+all that load, and be stuck."
+
+"And it would be a pity to have to leave that load, sir," I said.
+
+"Velly best load--allee best silk!" cried Ching excitedly, "Good, velly
+good plize-money!"
+
+There was a roar of laughter at this, and Mr Reardon cried--
+
+"Silence!"
+
+Then, sharply, "Fire, my lads, if you see any one following."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Yes, it would be a pity," said the lieutenant thoughtfully; "but it's
+tempting.  If we could get in front, Herrick, we could tow the load, and
+it would shelter us all from the firing."
+
+"Unless they got to be level with us, sir," I said.
+
+"And--quick! right and left, my lads.  Fire!" cried the lieutenant; for
+there was the breaking of undergrowth close at hand on either side, and
+a savage yelling commenced as our pursuers forced their way through.
+
+The men, who had been like hounds held back by the leash, were only too
+glad to get their orders; and in an instant there was quite a blaze of
+fire from both sides of the boat, the bullets cutting and whistling
+through the thick trees and undergrowth; and the movement on the banks,
+with the cracking and rustling of the bushes and tufts of bamboo,
+stopped as if by magic.
+
+"Cease firing!" cried Mr Reardon; and then, as if to himself, "Every
+shot is wasted."
+
+I did not think so, for it had checked the enemy, who allowed us to go
+on slowly another hundred yards or so.
+
+"Allee velly dleadful," whispered Ching to me, as he crouched in the
+bottom of the boat.  "You tinkee hit Ching?"
+
+"I hope not," I said.  "Oh no; we shall get out into the river
+directly."
+
+"No," he said; "velly long way yet."
+
+"But who are these?"  I said--"some village people?"
+
+"Pilate," he cried.  "Allee come home not kill, and findee plize-money
+gone.  Makee velly angly.  Wantee chop off sailor head."
+
+"Like to catch 'em at it," growled Tom Jecks, who had been very silent
+for some time.
+
+"Silence there!" cried Mr Reardon sternly.  Then to me, "We seem to
+have checked them, Herrick."
+
+At that moment there was a sudden stoppage in front, and our coxswain
+growled--
+
+"Starn all!"
+
+"What is it?" cried Mr Reardon, rising.
+
+There was a rattle of matchlocks from our right, and Mr Reardon fell
+sidewise on to me.
+
+"Hurt, sir?"  I cried in agony.
+
+"Yes, badly--no--I don't know," he cried, struggling up with his hand to
+his head.  "Here! why has that boat stopped?"
+
+His voice was drowned by the reports of our men's rifles, as they fired
+in the direction from which the shots had come; and just then a voice
+from the laden boat came through the semi-darkness--
+
+"Ahoy!"
+
+"Yes; what is it?"  I said, as I saw that a man had crawled over the
+stack-like load.
+
+"There's a gang in front, sir; and we're aground."
+
+"And the tide falling," muttered Mr Reardon.  "Herrick, I'm a bit hurt;
+get our boat close up; half the men are to come astern here, and check
+the enemy; the other half to help unload and get enough into our boat to
+lighten the other."
+
+"Yes, sir," I said; and I gave the orders as quickly and decisively as I
+could.
+
+The men responded with a cheer; and, with scarcely any confusion, our
+boat's head was made fast to the other's stern, and the men swarmed on
+to the top of the load, and began to pass down the bales rapidly from
+hand to hand.
+
+Crash came a ragged volley from right ahead now; but this was answered
+by three rifles in the stern of the laden boat, and repeated again and
+again, while the strong party in the stern of ours kept up a fierce fire
+for a few minutes.
+
+It was a perilous time, for we knew that if the enemy pushed forward
+boldly we should be at their mercy.  They could come right to the edge
+of the bank unseen, so dense was the cover; and, working as our men were
+at such a disadvantage in the gloom, which was rapidly growing deeper,
+there was no knowing how long it would be before the first boat was
+sufficiently lightened to float again; it even seemed to be possible
+that we might not keep pace with the fall of the tide, and then perhaps
+we should also be aground.
+
+"Hurt much, sir?"  I said to Mr Reardon, who was now seated resting his
+head upon his hand.
+
+"Don't take any notice of me, my lad," he said, pressing my hand.  "Hit
+by a bullet.  Not very bad; but I'm half stunned and confused.  The men
+and boats, Herrick; save them."
+
+"If I can," I thought, as I hurried forward again, and gave orders to
+the men to pass the silk bales that were nearest to the bows.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," they shouted, as readily as if I had been the captain.
+
+From here I went back to the stern, where I found that Mr Reardon was
+seated now in the bottom of the boat, supported by Ching, while the men
+were keeping up a steady fire at every spot from which a shot or yell
+came.
+
+"We're hard at it, sir," said Tom Jecks, who was handling his rifle as
+coolly as if it had been a capstan bar; "but I don't think we're hitting
+any of 'em.  How's the first luff seem?"
+
+"I don't know," I said excitedly.
+
+"Well, sir, we're all right," said the man, "and are doing our best.
+You needn't stop if you can hurry the boys on forward."
+
+It was a fact; I could do no good at all, so I hurried forward again.
+But even here I could do nothing; the men had their task to do of
+lightening the first boat, and they were working as hard as if they had
+been lying down in the shade all day, and just as coolly, though every
+now and then the rough slugs the pirates fired from their clumsy
+matchlocks went spattering through the trees overhead and sent down
+fresh showers of leaves and twigs.
+
+But I was obliged to say something, and I shouted first one order and
+then another.
+
+"That's your sort, lads," cried a cheery voice.  "Down with 'em, and
+I'll stow.  It's like bricklaying with big bricks."
+
+"Who's that?"  I said sharply, for the man's back was towards me, and it
+was getting quite dark where we were.
+
+"Me it is, sir--Bob Saunders, sir.  Beg pardon, sir."
+
+"Yes; what is it?"
+
+"Tide's going down very fast, sir, arn't it?"
+
+"Yes; why?"
+
+"'Cause we don't seem to get no forrarder.  Hi! steady there!  D'yer
+want to bury yer orficer?"
+
+"Never mind me, man.  Stow away; she must soon be lightened enough to
+make her float."
+
+"Then we'll lighten her, sir; but don't you go and give orders for any
+of the stuff to be chucked overboard.  It's too vallerble for that."
+
+"Only as a last resource, Bob," I replied.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir."
+
+"Don't," I cried to the man who touched me.  "Never mind ceremony now;
+go on firing."
+
+"Yes, sir; but Tom Jecks says, sir, would you like six on us to land and
+have a go at the beggars?"
+
+"No," I cried.  "Keep together; we may be afloat at any moment."
+
+"Right, sir; on'y we're all willing, if you give the word."
+
+"I know that," I cried.  "But be careful, my lads.  It's a terrible
+position, with our chief officer down like this."
+
+"So it is, sir," said the man, taking careful aim at a part of the bank
+where he thought that he saw a movement.  Then, almost simultaneously,
+there was a flash from the place, and another from his rifle muzzle.
+
+"Either on us hit?" he said coolly, as I clapped my hand to my ear,
+which felt as if a jet of cold air had touched it.  "Don't think I
+touched him, sir, but he has cut off.  I can hear him going.  Not hurt,
+are you, sir?"
+
+"No; a bullet must have gone close to my ear," I said.
+
+"Oh yes; I felt that, sir.  It went between us.  But it's no use to take
+no notice o' misses."
+
+"Well?"  I said; for one of the men behind me now touched my arm, and I
+found it was Bob Saunders.
+
+"We're getting dead down at the head, sir; hadn't we better begin
+stowing aft?"
+
+"Yes, yes, of course," I said excitedly, and feeling annoyed that I had
+not thought of this myself.
+
+"Then, if you'll make the lads ease off to starboard and port, sir,
+we'll soon pack a row of these here little bales between 'em.  Or look
+here, sir! how would it be to bring 'em a bit amidships, and let us
+begin right astarn, and build up a sort o' bulwark o' bales?  They could
+fire from behind it when we'd done."
+
+"Yes, capital!"  I cried, once more annoyed with myself because I, a
+mere boy, had not the foresight of an experienced man.
+
+"No, no," I cried the next moment.  "How could we get at the tiller?"
+
+"You won't want no tiller, sir; we can row aboard easy enough, once we
+get out o' this fiddling little drain."
+
+"You are right, Saunders," I said.  "Go on."
+
+All the while the men astern were keeping up a steady fire, which
+certainly had one effect, that of checking the enemy's advance.  And now
+Saunders came aft with a bale on his head, keeping his balance
+wonderfully as he stepped over the thwarts.
+
+"Mind yer eye, Pigtail," he cried.
+
+"Keep back!  Where are you coming?" growled a man who was loading.
+
+"Here, matey," cried Saunders; and he plumped the bale down right across
+the stern.
+
+"Hooroar!" cried Tom Jecks, stepping behind it, and resting his rifle on
+the top.
+
+No more was said, the men easing off out of the way as bale after bale
+was brought and planted in threes, so that when six had been placed
+there was a fine breast-work, which formed a splendid protection for
+those in the stern, and this was added to, until we were fairly safe
+from enemies behind.  But once more we could hear them creeping nearer
+through the bushes on our right; the firing grew more dangerous, and
+there was nothing for it, I felt, but to order every man in the two
+boats to take his piece, shelter himself behind the bales, and help to
+beat the enemy back.
+
+It was a sad necessity, for I knew that the tide was falling very fast,
+and that before long we should be immovable; but to have kept on
+shifting the load and allow the enemy to get close in over our heads on
+the densely-clothed sides of the stream would, I knew, be madness; and
+the men showed how they appreciated the common-sense of the order by
+getting at once under cover, and then the sharp rattle of our fire was
+more than doubled.
+
+But, enraged by their defeat, and doubly mortified to find that we had
+discovered their treasure, the pirates seemed now to have cast aside
+their cowardice, and were creeping in nearer and nearer, yelling to each
+other by way of encouragement; and, in addition to keeping up an
+irregular fire, they strove, I suppose, to intimidate us by beating and
+making a deafening noise on gongs.
+
+"They will be too much for us," I thought, when we seemed to have been
+keeping up the struggle for hours, though minutes would have been a more
+correct definition; and, with the longing for help and counsel growing
+more and more intense, I was about to kneel down and speak to Mr
+Reardon, and ask him to try and save himself.
+
+But I started to my feet, for there was a louder yelling than ever, and
+the pirates made quite a rush, which brought them abreast of us.
+
+"Cutlasses!"  I cried; and there was the rattle made in fixing them,
+bayonet fashion, on the rifles, when--_boom_!--_thud_!--came the roar of
+a heavy gun; there was a whistling shrieking in the air, and then
+somewhere overhead an ear-splitting crash, followed by the breaking of
+bushes and trampling down of grass and bamboo.
+
+Then perfect silence, followed by a cheer from our men.
+
+"Well done, _Teaser_!" shouted Tom Jecks.
+
+It was a diversion which, I believe, saved us, for the enemy fled for
+some distance, and gave us time to go on lightening the foremost boat.
+
+But before we had been at work many minutes there was a cheer from close
+at hand, and upon our answering it, another and another, with splashing
+of oars, and the next minute I heard Mr Brooke's voice from beyond the
+first boat.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+SAVED.
+
+"Look sharp, sir," I said, after going forward, and in a few words
+explaining our position.
+
+"Right, my lad.  Get your men together in the stern of your boat, and
+keep up the fire, while we make fast and try and tow you off.  Hi! quick
+there!" he roared; and a cheer told us that another boat was close at
+hand.
+
+But my work was cut out, the men placed well under cover, and we waited
+listening for the first sounds of the returning enemy, while from time
+to time Mr Brooke's clear, short orders came out of the darkness behind
+us, and we knew that he had sent a party into the fixed boat to rock it
+from side to side.  Then came a cheer, as the water rolled hissing and
+whispering among the reeds; there was the simultaneous plash of oars,
+and a creaking sound.
+
+Then another sound from the bank of the creek, which I knew well enough.
+
+"Say when, sir," whispered Tom Jecks.  "They're a-coming on."  To our
+astonishment, for the enemy had crept forward so silently that we had
+hardly heard a sound, there was a hideous yell, and a crashing volley,
+the bullets hissing over our heads again, and once more the gong-beating
+began.
+
+"Fire!"  I said.
+
+"Yes, fire, my lads, steady--where you see the flashes of their
+matchlocks."
+
+The voice came from close to my ear.
+
+"Mr Reardon!"  I cried in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, Herrick; that bullet quite stunned me for a minute or two.  I'm
+better now.  But hasn't it grown dark rather suddenly?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I said; for I felt in my excitement as if it would be
+impossible to enter into explanations then.
+
+"But we're in motion."
+
+"Hooray!"
+
+Every one took up that cheer; for the combined efforts of the men who
+rowed the laden craft, and the tugging of two boats' crews of men
+straining with all their might at their stout ashen blades, had the
+required effect.  We were indeed in motion, and going steadily down the
+stream.
+
+"Ahoy, there: Mr Reardon!"
+
+"Answer him, Herrick," said Mr Reardon; and I hailed again.
+
+"Can you keep them off with your fire?"
+
+"Say, yes."
+
+"Yes; all right," I cried.
+
+"Then we'll tow you out as fast as we can."
+
+"Thank Heaven," I heard Mr Reardon whisper, as he crouched there,
+listening to the yelling, gong-beating, and firing, and with our men
+replying from time to time whenever there seemed a chance.
+
+And now the bullets from the matchlocks began to patter upon the bales;
+for the banks were growing lower and lower, and the trees more open, but
+not a man was hit; and after another quarter of an hour's sharp replying
+we heard fresh cheering, the overshadowing trees on the banks suddenly
+began to grow distant.  Then it became lighter still, with the stars
+twinkling over head and the lights of the _Teaser_ apparently close at
+hand.
+
+But the enemy, enraged at our escape, now crowded down to the bank and
+began to fire rapidly, while the men replied till the _crack crack_ and
+_ping ping_ of the rifles was silenced,--the men stopping as if by
+mutual consent.  For there was a flash from the side of the _Teaser_
+right in front of us, a shell whistled over our heads and crashed in
+among the trees where the petty firing of the matchlocks was kept up.
+Then--_crash_! the shell sent shrieking amongst them exploded, and all
+was still but the steady beating of our oars.
+
+"Are you much hurt, sir?"  I said to Mr Reardon; but Ching took the
+inquiry to himself.
+
+"Velly stiff; velly hungly," he said.
+
+"I wasn't speaking to you," I cried angrily; for my temper seemed to
+have suddenly grown painfully acid, and a titter rose from among the
+men.
+
+"No, Mr Herrick, scarcely at all.  The bullet struck my cap-band, just
+above my temple, and glanced off.  I can think more clearly now.  How
+many men are hurt in this boat?"
+
+There was no reply; and as we at the same moment glided alongside, the
+question seemed to be echoed from the _Teaser's_ side high above our
+heads.
+
+Still no reply, and the captain said sharply--
+
+"Who is below there, Mr Reardon--Mr Brooke?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," cried the latter.
+
+"How many men did you find they had lost?"
+
+"None, sir."
+
+"Brought all off safely?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+A tremendous cheer arose from the deck.
+
+"I felt too giddy to speak just then, Herrick," said Mr Reardon.  "Not
+one man injured except myself.  It is marvellous, my lad.  But there; we
+had plenty of poor fellows wounded aboard."
+
+Ten minutes later two of the boats were swinging at the davits, and our
+two were being towed astern, as the head of the _Teaser_ once more swung
+round, and we went down with the tide.  We anchored off the mouth of the
+muddy river till morning, to which time was put off the hoisting on deck
+of the rest of the loot, the account of whose amount and probable value
+did more, they said, toward helping on the wounded than any of Dr
+Price's ministrations.
+
+But he had serious work with two of the wounded men, who tried very
+hard, as he put it, to go out of hand; but he wouldn't let them.  Two of
+the pirates did die, though, and were cast overboard, sewn up decently
+in hammocks, and with shot at their heels.
+
+Seven days later we came to an anchor again off Tsin-Tsin, by which time
+Mr Reardon's right eye and temple were horribly discoloured, but in
+other respects he was quite well, and was present at what he called our
+second gaol delivery, for he came on deck to see the prisoners, wounded
+and sound, handed over to the Chinese authorities; but there was no such
+display of pomp as on the first occasion, one row-boat only coming
+alongside, with a very business-like officer, who superintended the
+chaining of the pirates, and bundled them down.
+
+"Just as if they had been so many sacks," Barkins said; and he was very
+apt in his comparison.
+
+I only said one word in allusion to the Chinese soldiery and their
+officers.  That word was--
+
+"Brutes!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+A SURPRISE.
+
+I don't think the Chinese authorities were very grateful to us of the
+_Teaser_,--there, you see, I say _us_, for I did do something to help in
+routing out and destroying two nests of pirates; but the merchants, both
+Chinese and English, feted us most gloriously, and if it had not been
+for Mr Reardon we three middies might have always been ashore at
+dinners and dances.
+
+"But," cried Barkins, "so sure as one gets an invitation he puts his
+foot down."
+
+"Yes," said Smith; "and it is such a foot."
+
+"But it's such a pity," grumbled Barkins; "for Tsin-Tsin is after all
+rather a jolly place.  Mr Brooke says the ball at the consul's last
+night was glorious, no end of Chinese swells there, and the music and
+dancing was fine."
+
+"Don't be so jolly envious, Tanner," sneered Smith.  "You couldn't have
+danced if you had gone."
+
+"Dance better than you could," cried Barkins hotly.
+
+"No, you couldn't.  Fancy asking a young lady to waltz, and then going
+dot-and-go-one round the room with your game leg."
+
+"You've a deal to talk about, Smithy; why, if you asked a lady to dance
+you couldn't lift your right arm to put round her waist."
+
+"Couldn't I?" cried Smith.  "Look here."
+
+He swung his arm round me, took three steps, and dropped on to the
+locker, turning quite white with pain.
+
+"Told you so," cried Barkins, springing up.  "Waltz?  I should just
+think!--oh, murder!"
+
+He sat down suddenly to hold his leg tightly with both hands, giving
+Smith a dismal look.
+
+"Oh dear!" he groaned; "what a long time it does take a wound to get
+well in this plaguey country.  I know that knife was poisoned."
+
+"Nonsense!"  I cried, unable to restrain my mirth.  "Why, you are both
+getting on famously."
+
+"But Dishy might have let us go to the ball last night."
+
+"Play fair," I said; "we've been out to seven entertainments."
+
+"Well, what of that?  They've been to a dozen.  It's all old Dishy's way
+of showing his authority.  I'm sure we all work hard when we're on duty,
+and run risks enough."
+
+"Go on, you old grumbler.  Aren't we to go up the river shooting on
+Thursday with Mr Brooke and the doctor?"
+
+"Yes, that's right enough; but we shall be off again soon on another
+cruise, and get no more fun for long enough."
+
+"I say, let's ask for a run ashore to-day."
+
+"And get chivvied by the pigtails, same as we did down at that other
+place."
+
+"Oh, but perhaps they'll be more civil here," I said.
+
+Smith burst out laughing.
+
+"Why, didn't they pelt you, and shy mud at the skipper?"
+
+"Oh, if you're afraid, you can stop," I said.  "Tanner and I can go."
+
+"Afraid!" cried Smith, doubling his fist and holding it within an inch
+of my nose.  "Say afraid again, you miserable insect, and I'll flatten
+you."
+
+"Couldn't with that hand," I said, and I caught his wrist.
+
+"Oh, don't!  Murder!" he roared.  "I say, you shouldn't.  It's like
+touching one's arm with red-hot iron."
+
+"Then be civil," I said.
+
+"Ah, only wait.  I say, Tanner, our day's coming.  As soon as we're both
+quite strong he has got to pay for all this, hasn't he?"
+
+"Oh, bother!  I say, the skipper and Dishy are both going ashore to-day
+with an escort of Jacks and marines."
+
+"Are they?"  I said eagerly.
+
+"Yes; there's some game or another on.  Let's ask leave, and take old
+Ching with us."
+
+"Want to try puppy-pie again?" said Smith, grinning.
+
+"I want to do something for a change.  I know!  I'll go and see the
+doctor, and tell him we want a walk in the country to collect flowers,
+and ask him if he'll name them."
+
+"Well, he can't give us leave."
+
+"No; but he'll ask Dishy to let us off."
+
+"Bravo!" cried Smith.  "Off you go.  I say, though, we must have old
+Ching too.  You see if he don't come out in his new gown!"
+
+"What new gown?"  I said.
+
+"Hallo! didn't you know?  He went ashore yesterday and bought himself a
+new blue coat.  Not a cotton one, but silk, real silk, my boy, and
+beckoned me to come and see it,--beckoned with one of his long claws.
+He's letting his fingernails grow now, and getting to be quite a swell."
+
+"Oh yes; old Ching's getting quite the gentleman.  He says he wrote home
+to his broker to sell the fancee shop.  What do you think he said,
+Gnat?"
+
+"How should I know?"  I replied.
+
+"That it wasn't proper for a gentleman in Queen Victolia's service to
+keep a fancee shop."
+
+"Murder!  Look at that!" cried Smith.  "Why, you yellow-skinned old
+Celestial, you were listening!"
+
+Barkins and I picked up each something to throw at the round, smooth,
+smiling face thrust in at the door, which was held close to the neck, so
+that we saw a head and nothing more.
+
+"No flow thing at Ching," the Chinaman said softly.  "Offlicer don't
+flow thing.  Ching come in?"
+
+"Yes," said Barkins, "come in.  What is it?"
+
+Ching entered looking very important, and gave his head a shake to make
+his tail fall neatly between his shoulders, and drew the long blue
+sleeves of his gown over the backs of his hands till only the tips of
+his fingers, with their very long nails, were visible.
+
+He advanced smiling at us each in turn, and bowing his round head like a
+china mandarin.
+
+"You all velly good boy?" he said softly.
+
+"Oh yes; beauties," said Barkins.  "What's up?"
+
+"You likee ask leave go for bit walkee walkee?"
+
+"Don't!" roared Smith.  "Don't talk like a nurse to us.  Why don't you
+speak plain English?"
+
+"Yes; Ching speak ploper Inglis.  No speakee pigeon Englis.  All ploper.
+Interpleter.  You likee go shore for walkee, see something?"
+
+"You beggar, you were listening," cried Barkins.  "How long had you been
+there?"
+
+"Ching just come ask young genelman likee walkee walkee."
+
+"Yes, allee likee walkee walkee velly much," said Barkins, imitating the
+Chinaman's squeak.  "Why?  Can you give us leave?"
+
+Ching shook his head.
+
+"Go ask offlicer.  Go for walkee walkee, take Ching; you likee see
+something velly nice ploper?"
+
+"Yes," I cried eagerly.  "Can you take us to see a Chinese theatre?"
+
+Ching closed his eyes and nodded.
+
+"You come 'long o' Ching, I showee something velly nice ploper."
+
+"All right," I cried.  "Now, Tanner, go and try it on with the doctor."
+
+"No, no.  Ask offlicer.  Doctor only give flizzick.  Velly nastee.
+Ugh!"
+
+Ching's round face was a study as he screwed it up to show his disgust
+with the doctor's preparations.
+
+Barkins went off and returned directly.
+
+"Well," we cried; "seen Price?" and Ching, who was squatted on the
+floor, looked up smiling.
+
+"No."
+
+"Not seen him?"
+
+"No; I ran against Dishy, and thought I'd ask him plump."
+
+"And you did?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"I know," cried Smith; "that we were always going out."
+
+"That's it exactly."
+
+"And he won't let us go?"  I said in a disappointed tone.
+
+"Who says so?" cried Barkins, changing his manner.  "The old chap was in
+splendid fettle, and he smiled,--now, now, don't both of you be so jolly
+full of doubts.  On my honour as an officer and a gentleman, he smiled
+and clapped me on the shoulder."
+
+"Yes, my lad, of course," he said.  "We shall be off again soon, and
+then it will be all work and no play again, and we mustn't make Jack a
+dull boy, must we?"
+
+"He's going off his head," said Smith.
+
+"Let him go, then," I cried, "if it makes him like this."
+
+"Don't chatter so, Gnat," cried Smith.  "I say, did he really say we
+might go?"
+
+"Yes; and that we ought to start at once before the day grew hotter, and
+that we were to take great care of ourselves."
+
+"Hurra!"
+
+"And be sure and wash our faces and our hands before we started," added
+Barkins.
+
+"Get out; I can see where it joins," I cried.  "But did he say any
+more?"
+
+"Only that we were to mind and not get into any trouble with the people,
+and that we had better take Ching."
+
+"Yes," said that individual gravely.  "Much better take Ching.  Velly
+useful take care."
+
+"To be sure," I cried, full of excitement at the idea of a run through
+the mazes of the quaint town, and the prospect of seeing a Chinese
+performance.  "I say, Ching," I cried, striking an attitude, "take us
+where you can give us a tune, `Ti--ope--I--ow.'"
+
+"Yes; velly nicee music," he said, nodding and smiling.  "Ching takee
+see something velly good.  You leady?"
+
+"In five minutes," cried Barkins.  "Gnat, go and tell them to have the
+boat ready.  Mr Reardon said we were to be rowed ashore."
+
+"Ching leady in five minutes," said the interpreter, running towards the
+door.
+
+"Eh?  Why, you are ready," said Smith.
+
+"No.  Go put on new blue silk flock.  Leady dilectly."
+
+Ten minutes later we were being rowed ashore, to be landed at the wharf
+where we met with so unpleasant an attack a short time before.  But
+there was no mob of idlers there now, and we stepped ashore, leaving the
+good-natured-looking crew smiling at us, and giving the shops many a
+longing look, as they pushed off and began to row back at once.
+
+"Plenty time," said Ching.  "You likee fust go lestaulant--eatee,
+dlinkee, spend plize-money?"
+
+"Can't spend what we haven't yet got, Ching," said Barkins.  "What do
+you say, lads?  I'm hungry again, aren't you?"
+
+Smith sighed.
+
+"I'm always hungry," he said.
+
+"Of course you are.  I believe he's hollow all through, Gnat.  How do
+you feel?"
+
+"As if I haven't had any breakfast," I said earnestly.
+
+Ching smiled.
+
+"Velly much nicee bleakfast all along o' Ching."
+
+He led the way in and out among the narrow streets, apparently again as
+much at home as in his own city; and it was hard work to keep from
+stopping to gaze at the hundreds of objects which attracted and set me
+longing to make purchases to take home for curiosities.  But Ching
+bustled us along.
+
+"No time now.  Come along get good bleakfast.  Wantee good bleakfast
+before go to see gland show."
+
+"Here, what is it you are going to take us to see, Ching?" cried
+Barkins--"all right; I wasn't talking to you," he added, as a couple of
+Chinamen turned round to gaze at the young outer barbarian.
+
+"You waitee," cried Ching, smiling; "all velly ploper gland.  You likee
+see the show."
+
+"Oh, all right.  Where's the restaurant?"
+
+"Nex' stleet," said Ching; and after a few minutes he turned into a
+showy-looking eating-house, where his blue silk gown and long nails
+seemed to command the most profound respect from the attendants; and
+where, after laying down the law very stringently to Ching, that we were
+to have neither dog, cat, nor rat, we resigned ourselves to our fate,
+and ate birds'-nest soup, shark-fin, and a variety of what Barkins
+called messes, with midshipmen appetites.
+
+Ching smiled, and seemed to be very proud of our performance.
+
+"You all eat dlink velly much," he said, as we gave up, defeated.  "You
+all velly quite full?" he said, rubbing his hands carefully, so as not
+to injure his long nails.
+
+"Yes, full up, and the hatches battened down," cried Barkins.  "Now
+then, ask for the bill.  How much apiece?"
+
+Ching smiled and nodded his head.
+
+"You come have bleakfast 'long o' Ching.  Ching velly glad to see you;
+Ching pay."
+
+"What? nonsense!" cried Smith, while we others stared.
+
+"Yes; Ching plenty money.  Captain gave Ching plenty plize-money; make
+him velly happy to see young offlicer to bleakfast."
+
+"Oh, but we can't let him pay for us, Smithy," cried Barkins.
+
+"No, of course not," we chorussed.
+
+"Ching velly much hurt you want to pay," he said, with dignity.
+
+"But--" I cried.
+
+"You ask Ching bleakfast like Chinese genelman another time, make Ching
+velly glad.  Come along, makee haste, see gland show."
+
+"But the bill isn't paid," I cried.
+
+"Ching pay long time 'go," he said, rising; and there was nothing for it
+but to follow him out and along three or four streets to where there was
+a dense crowd in front of a gateway in a high mud wall.
+
+There were some soldiers there too, and Ching walked up full of
+importance, showed them some kind of paper, when one, who appeared to be
+their officer, spoke to those under him, and they cleared a way for us
+to pass to the gate.
+
+Here Ching knocked loudly, and the gate was opened by another soldier;
+the paper was shown; and an important-looking official came up, looked
+at us, and made way for us to enter.
+
+"It's all right," said Smith.  "Ching knows the manager.  It will be a
+private box."
+
+The official pointed to our left, and Ching led the way behind a kind of
+barricade where there were seats erected, and, selecting a place, he
+smilingly made us sit down.
+
+"Ching know gleat mandalin," he said.  "Askee let come see gland show."
+
+"But what's it going to be?"  I asked, as I looked curiously round the
+square enclosure surrounded by a high wall, and with seats and pens on
+three sides.  "I thought we were coming to a theatre!"
+
+"No," said Ching, smiling.  "Velly gland show; wait."
+
+We waited, and saw that the space in front of us was neatly sanded, that
+posts stood up here and there.  In other places there were cross bars,
+and in two there were ropes hanging.
+
+"I know!" cried Barkins; "he needn't make such a jolly mystery of it.
+It's Chinese athletic sports.  Look, there's the band coming."
+
+He pointed to a military-looking party marching in with drums, gongs,
+and divers other instruments; and almost at the same time quite a crowd
+of well-dressed people entered, and began to take the different places
+reserved behind the barriers.
+
+Then a body of soldiers, with clumsy spears and shields, marched in and
+formed up opposite the band, the place filling up till only the best
+places, which were exactly opposite to us, remained empty.
+
+"You're right, Tanner," said Smith just then; "but they're military
+athletic sports.  I say, here come the grandees."
+
+For in procession about twenty gorgeously-arrayed officials came
+marching in, and the next moment I gave Barkins a dig in the ribs.
+
+"Look," I said.
+
+"All right; I see.  Well, we needn't mind.  But I say, what a game if we
+hadn't got leave!"
+
+"I say," whispered Smith, "look over there.  The skipper and old Dishy!
+This was where they were coming, then; they'll see us directly."
+
+"Let 'em," said Barkins, as the party settled themselves.  "Now then,
+we're all here.  All in to begin.  We ought to have a programme.  Here,
+Ching, what's the first thing they do?"
+
+"Ching no quite sure; p'laps lichi."
+
+"Lichi?"  I said.
+
+"You don't know?  You see velly gland--velly ploper for bad, bad man."
+
+He turned away to speak to a Chinese officer close at hand, while we
+began to feel wondering and suspicious, and gazed at each other with the
+same question on our lips.
+
+Ching turned to us again, and I being nearest whispered--
+
+"I say, what place is this?  What are they going to do?"
+
+"Bring out allee wicked men.  Choppee off head."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+THE ENTERTAINMENT.
+
+I felt as it were a sudden jar run through me when I heard Ching's
+words.  It was as if I had been awakened by a sudden revelation.  This,
+then, was the grand show he had contrived for us as a treat!  It was all
+clear enough: our officers had been invited to the execution of the
+pirates we had taken, and conceiving, with all a Chinaman's indifference
+to death, that we three lads, who had been present at their capture,
+would consider it as a great treat to be witnesses of the punishment
+awarded by the Government, Ching had contrived to get permission for us
+to be present.
+
+I glanced at the Tanner, who had grasped the situation, and was screwing
+his face up so as to look perfectly unconcerned; but it was a dismal
+failure, for I could see a peculiar twitching going on at the corners of
+his eyes, and he passed his tongue rapidly over his lips and went
+through the action of swallowing as if his mouth and throat were dry.
+
+I next looked at Smithy, whose eyes showed more white than usual, and
+whose complexion was of a sickly-green, just as I had seen it during
+some very rough weather we had going down the Channel on first starting
+for this voyage.
+
+How I looked I have only Barkins' word for, and he told me afterwards
+that I seemed as if I was waiting for my turn to suffer with the
+pirates.
+
+After the sharp glance I gave at my fellows neither of us stirred, but
+sat there as if petrified.  I was horror-stricken, and there was a
+strong impulse upon me to jump up and run out, but shame and the dread
+of being considered cowardly kept me in my place.  In fact, as
+after-confessions made clear, we were absolutely stunned, and I don't
+think we could have stirred had we made up our minds to go.
+
+Then I felt dizzy, and the brilliant group of officials and military
+magnates and judges opposite to where we sat grew blurred and
+strange-looking in the bright sunshine.
+
+At last I felt as if I must argue out the question, and with my teeth
+set firm, and my eyes fixed upon the sandy ground of the enclosure, some
+such thoughts as these ran through my brain--"It is only just that these
+men should suffer for their horrible crimes, for they are more dangerous
+than venomous serpents, and I suppose that Captain Thwaites and
+Lieutenant Reardon are obliged to come as a kind of duty; but we three
+came under the idea that we were to see some kind of exhibition, and old
+Ching did it out of kindness, not knowing of what kind of stuff we were
+made.  I shan't stop."
+
+There I paused to fight with other ideas.
+
+"Tanner and Blacksmith will laugh at me and think I am a coward.  Well,
+let them," I said to myself at last.  "It isn't cowardice not to wish to
+see such a horror as this.  I didn't feel cowardly when they were
+shooting at us down in the creek, and it would be far more cowardly to
+sit here against my will without speaking.  I will tell them I want to
+go."
+
+I should think that every lad of the age I then was, will pretty well
+understand my feelings, and what a bitter thing it was to turn and
+confess what they would jeer at and call "funk."  It was hard work
+indeed.
+
+"I don't care," I muttered.  "I know they'll protest and say they don't
+want to come, but be very glad to come away all the time.  I will
+speak."
+
+Just then that horrible Chinaman turned to me with his round fat face,
+all smiling and delighted.
+
+"You velly glad you come?" he said.  "You feel velly happy?"
+
+My mind was made up at this, and I spoke out.
+
+"No," I said in a husky whisper.  "I didn't know we had come to see
+this.  I shall go."
+
+"What?" said Barkins, with a forced laugh.  "Look here, Blacksmith, he's
+showing the white feather."
+
+"Ho! ho!" laughed Smith.  "Come, Gnat, I thought you had a little more
+spirit in you.  Serve the beggars right."
+
+"Yes, I know that," I said firmly enough now, as I looked at their
+faces, which, in spite of the masks they had assumed, looked ghastly;
+"and I daresay I haven't pluck enough to sit it out.  But I don't care
+for your grins; I'm not ashamed to say that I shall go."
+
+"Oh, well, if you feel that it would upset you," said Barkins, in a tone
+of voice full of protest, "I suppose that we had better see you off, and
+go somewhere else."
+
+"Poof!" ejaculated Smith in a low tone.  "Look at him, Gnat; he's in
+just as much of a stew as you are.  Well, it's too bad of you both, but
+if you must go, why, I suppose we must."
+
+"You beggar!" snarled Barkins angrily.  "Why, you're worse than I am.
+Look at him, Gnat!  There, I will own it.  I felt sick as soon as I knew
+what was going to happen, but I won't be such a bumptious, bragging
+sneak as he is.  Look at his face.  It's green and yellow.  He wants to
+go worse than we do."
+
+Smith did not seem to be listening, for his starting eyes were fixed
+upon the far right-hand gate, over which there was a kind of pagoda, and
+he rose from his seat.
+
+"Come on at once," he whispered, "they're going to begin."
+
+"Confessed!" whispered Barkins, pinching my knee.  "Come on then quick,
+Gnat, old man; it's too horrid."
+
+We all rose together, and were in the act of turning when a low hoarse
+murmur rose from behind, and we saw that a crowd of angry faces were
+gazing at us, and that they were nearly all armed men.
+
+But before we had recovered from our surprise, Ching had caught my arm
+and pressed me to my seat.
+
+"No go now," he whispered, with a look of alarm in his face, and he
+leaned over me and dragged my companions down in turn.  "No can go now.
+Allee gate fasten.  Makee blave velly angly and dlaw sword; fightee
+fightee.  Ching velly solly.  Must stop now."
+
+There was a low hissing noise all about us, and threatening looks, while
+a fierce man in embroidered silk said something in his own tongue to
+Ching, who answered humbly, and then tamed to us and whispered--
+
+"Small-button mandalin say make big-button peacock-feather mandalin
+velly angly.  You no sit still.  Sh! sh!"
+
+"We must sit it out, boys," I said, with a shudder; "but we need not
+look."
+
+My words were quite correct to a certain extent, but as my companions,
+who now looked more ghastly than ever, sank back in their seats, I felt
+compelled to gaze across to where I could now see a red table exactly
+facing me.  Then a movement to the right caught my attention, and
+through the far gateway, and lowering it a little as he passed under the
+archway, rode an officer with a yellow silk banner, upon which were
+large black Chinese characters.  Behind him came some more
+showily-dressed officials; and then, in a kind of sedan chair, one whom
+I at once saw to be the chief mandarin, for whom we had been waiting.
+
+He was carried across to the front, where he alighted and walked slowly
+across to the red table, followed by sword, spear, and matchlock men,
+who, as he took his place at the table, ranged themselves on either side
+facing us, and completing a spectacle that, seen there in the bright
+light, strongly suggested the opening of some grand pantomime.
+
+I remember thinking this, and then shuddering at the horrible thought,
+and at the same time I began wondering at the intense interest I could
+not help taking in what was going on.
+
+Two more grandees in chairs of state followed, and then there was a
+pause.  I could see that our officers were politely saluted, and that
+care was taken that no one should be in front of them.  And now came the
+more exciting part of the terrible exhibition.
+
+Suddenly there was the loud booming of a gong, and the head of an escort
+of spearmen marched through the gateway, followed by a group of men in
+twos, each pair bearing a long bamboo pole, from which, hanging in each
+case like a scale, was a large basket, and heavily chained in each
+basket was a man, whom we knew at once to be one of the pirates we had
+captured, without Ching whispering to us--
+
+"Velly bad men, killee evelybody.  They killee now."
+
+My eyes would not close.  They were fascinated by the horrible
+procession; and I now saw, just in front of the bearers, a tall-looking
+bare-headed man carrying a large bright sword, curved in the fashion we
+see in old pictures of the Turkish scimitar, a blade which increases in
+width from the hilt nearly to the end, where it is suddenly cut off
+diagonally to form a sharp point.
+
+Behind this man marched five more, the procession moving right to the
+front between us and the brilliant party whose centre was the principal
+mandarin.
+
+I now saw, too, that every one of the miserable culprits was ticketed or
+labelled, a bamboo upon which a piece of paper was stuck being attached
+to his neck and head.
+
+A low murmur ran round among the spectators, as, at a signal from the
+man with the great sword, who I saw now must be the executioner, the
+bearers stopped, and with a jerk threw the poles off their shoulders
+into their hands, bumped the baskets heavily down upon the ground, and
+shot the malefactors out as unceremoniously as if they had been so much
+earth.
+
+I heard Barkins draw a deep breath, and saw Smith leaning forward and
+gazing wildly at the scene, while I felt my heart go _throb throb_
+heavily, and found myself wishing that I had not shared in the capture
+of the wretched men.
+
+The chief mandarin then turned to the officer on horseback, who carried
+the imperial yellow flag, said a few words in a low tone, and he in turn
+pushed his horse a little forward to where the executioner was waiting,
+and evidently conveyed the mandarin's orders.
+
+Then suddenly the pirates, as if moved by one consent, struggled to
+their feet and began shouting.
+
+Ching placed his lips close to my ear--
+
+"Say, please no choppee off head.  Velly bad men, killee lot always;
+velly bad."
+
+And now I felt that the time had come to close my eyes, but they
+remained fixed.  I could not avert my gaze from a scene which was made
+more horrible by a struggle which took place between the first pirate of
+the long row in which they stood and the executioner.
+
+The man shouted out some words angrily, and Ching interpreted them in my
+ear, his explanation being in company with a strange surging noise--
+
+"Say he come back and killee him if he choppee off head.  Oh, he velly
+bad man."
+
+But quickly, as if quite accustomed to the task, two of the
+executioner's assistants rushed at the pirate; one of them forced him
+down into a kneeling position; they then seized his long tail, drew it
+over his head and hung back, thus holding the pirate's neck
+outstretched; lastly, I saw the executioner draw back, the sword
+flashed, I heard a dull thud--the head fell, and the body rolled over on
+one side.
+
+Before I could drag my eyes from the horror there was the same terrible
+sound again, and another head fell upon the ground, while, with a
+rapidity that was astounding, the assistants passed from one culprit to
+the other in the long row, the miserable wretches making not the
+slightest resistance, but kneeling patiently in the position in which
+they were thrust, while _whish, whish, whish_, the executioner lopped
+off their heads at one blow.
+
+"Allee done," said Ching.  "Execution man have velly much plactice."
+
+He said this to me, but I made no reply, for the whole place seemed to
+be going round and round.
+
+"You thinkee they all come back again and have junk?  Go kill shoot
+evelybody, pilate ghost-man?"
+
+"No," I said hoarsely; "can we go now?"
+
+"Velly soon.  Gleat clowd all along gate.  Lookee, Mis' Tanner go
+s'eep."
+
+These words roused me, and I turned to Barkins, who was lying back with
+his eyes nearly closed and looking ghastly, while Smith sat staring
+straight before him, with his hands grasping the seat on either side, in
+a stiff, awkward position.
+
+"Here, Smithy," I said, "quick, Tanner has fainted;" but he took no
+notice, and I whispered to him angrily--
+
+"Get up.  It's all over now.  Come and help me.  Don't let these
+horrible people see Tanner like this."
+
+He turned to me then, and let his eyes fall on our messmate.
+
+"Can you get me a drink of water, Ching?" he murmured.
+
+"Yes, d'leckly; wait lit' bit.  Po' Mr Barki' Tanner leg velly bad,
+makee sick.  You' alm velly bad still?"
+
+"Very bad; it throbs," murmured Smith.
+
+"Ah, yes!  Wait lit' bit and no clowd.  Ching take you have cup flesh
+tea, and quite well d'leckly.  You not likee execution?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"Velly good job cut allee head off.  No go killee killee, burn ship no
+more."
+
+"We're not used to seeing such things," I said weakly, as I supported
+Barkins to keep him from slipping to the ground.
+
+"You no go see execution when Queen Victolia cut off bad men's head?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"Ah, I see," said Ching.  "Me tink you have velly gleat tleat.  But I
+see, not used to see.  Velly blave boy, not mind littlee bit next time."
+
+"What's the matter?  Don't, doctor.  It's getting well now."
+
+It was Barkins who spoke, and his hands went suddenly to his injured
+leg, and held it, as he bent over towards it and rocked himself to and
+fro.
+
+"Throbs and burns," he said, drawing in his breath as if in pain.  "I--
+I--"
+
+He looked round wildly.
+
+"I remember now," he said faintly.  "Don't laugh at me, you chaps.  I
+turned sick as a dog as soon as that butchering was over.  I never felt
+like this over the fighting.  I say, Gnat, did I faint right away?"
+
+"Yes, dead!"  I said; "I was nearly as bad."
+
+"Enough to make you.  But oh, my leg, how it does sting!  I say, isn't
+it queer that it should come on now?  Did the fainting do it?"
+
+"I dunno," said Smith hastily, "but my arm aches horribly.  I say, do
+let's get away from here, or I shall be obliged to look over yonder
+again."
+
+"Yes, I'm all right again now," said Barkins quietly.  "Let's get away.
+I say, lads, it's of no use to be humbugs; we did all feel precious bad,
+eh?"
+
+We looked at each other dolefully.
+
+"Yes, let's get away," I said.  "I thought we were coming out for a
+jolly day."
+
+Barkins shuddered and now stood up.
+
+"Yes," he said; "I hope the skipper liked it.  Can you see him now?"
+
+"Skipper?  Cap'n?" said Ching, whose ears were always sharp enough to
+catch our words.  "Gone along, Mr Leardon.  Make gland plocession all
+away back to palace.  You go sail, soon catch more pilate."
+
+"I hope, if we do," said Smith, "that we shall not bring back any
+prisoners."
+
+The enclosure was thinning fast now, as we walked toward the gateway by
+which we had entered, where a strong body of soldiers had been on guard
+over the barricades, in case of an attempt being made by the pirates'
+friends to rescue them, and we saw plainly enough that had we wanted
+there would have been no getting away.
+
+"You likee go in and see plison?" said Ching insinuatingly.  "Plenty bad
+men lock up safe."
+
+"No, thank you," I said eagerly.  "Let's get out of this, and go and
+have some tea."
+
+"Yes, plenty tea.  Ching show way."
+
+The Chinese soldiers stared at us haughtily as we walked by, and I drew
+myself up, hoping that no one there had witnessed our weakness, for if
+they had I knew that they could not feel much respect for the
+blue-jackets who hunted down the scoundrels that infested their seas.
+
+Both Barkins and Smith must have felt something after the fashion that I
+did, for they too drew themselves up, returned the haughty stares, and
+Barkins stopped short to look one truculent savage fellow over from head
+to foot, especially gazing at his weapons, and then, turning coolly to
+me, he said, with a nod in the man's direction--
+
+"Tidy sort of stuff to make soldiers off, Gnat, but too heavy."
+
+The man's eyes flashed and his hand stole toward his sword hilt.
+
+"'Tention!" roared Barkins with a fierce stamp, and though the order was
+new to the guard, he took it to be a military command and stepped back
+to remain stiff and motionless.
+
+"Ha! that's better," cried Barkins, and he nodded and then passed on
+with us after Ching, whose eyes bespoke the agony of terror he felt.
+
+"Come long quickee," he whispered excitedly.  "Very big blave that
+fellow.  Killee--fightee man.  You no 'flaid of him?"
+
+"Afraid?  No," said Barkins shortly.  "There, let's have this tea."
+
+Ching glanced round once, and we were about to imitate his example, but
+he said excitedly--
+
+"No, no, don't lookee.  Big blave talkee talkee soldier, and tink Inglis
+offlicer 'flaid.  Walkee past."
+
+He led us as quickly as he could get us to go towards the tea-house he
+sought, and I must own that I was only too anxious about the Chinese
+guards to help feeling in a good deal of perturbation lest they should
+feel that they had been insulted, and follow us so as to take revenge.
+Hence I was glad enough to get within the tea-house's hospitable walls,
+and sat there quite content to go on sipping the fragrant infusion for
+long enough.
+
+I suppose we were there quite an hour and a half drinking tea, until we
+were satisfied, and then passing a look round to draw attention to our
+interpreter, who sat back with his eyes half closed, sipping away cupful
+after cupful, till Smith whispered to me that he thought he had kept
+correct account.
+
+"How many do you think Ching has had?" he whispered.
+
+"Don't know; nearly a dozen?"
+
+"Fifty-three, or thereabouts," whispered Smith.
+
+But I did not believe him, and I do not think he believed himself.
+
+"Now, you likee go 'long see somethin' else?" said Ching, when he had
+really drunk tea enough.
+
+"Yes," said Barkins, "I feel ready.  What do you say to going to see the
+_Teaser_, lads?" he continued.
+
+"I'm willing," said Smith.  "I want to lie down."
+
+"You ready, Gnat?"
+
+"Oh yes," I replied.  "I don't feel as if I could enjoy anything
+to-day."
+
+"Right, then.  No, Ching; back on board ship."
+
+"You go velly soon?  Now?"
+
+"Yes, directly."
+
+Ching smiled--he had a habit of smiling at everything nearly, and we
+paid our reckoning and followed him down to the landing-place, to arrive
+there just in time to see the barge with the captain and his escort
+gliding rapidly away toward the ship.
+
+"Too soon findee boat," said Ching.  "Tellee man come when sun go out of
+sight."
+
+"Yes, and that means two hours good," said Barkins.  "Look here, Ching,
+hire a boat cheap.  Get a fellow with a sailing-boat, if you can."
+
+"Yes," said the Chinaman, nodding his head in a satisfied way, "Good
+boat--velly nice boat--boat with velly big sail fly over water, eh?"
+
+"Yes, that's it," said Barkins.  "And look sharp, for there are a lot of
+low blackguardly-looking fellows coming up, and we don't want another
+row."
+
+Barkins was quite right, for, as in our own seaports, there were plenty
+of roughs about, and whether in blue frocks and pith boots or British
+rags, the loafer is much the same.  Ching saw at a glance that the
+sooner we were off the better, and hurried us a little way along the
+wharf till he saw a boat that seemed suitable.
+
+"You all get in velly quick," he said.
+
+"But we must make a bargain with the man."
+
+"Plesently," he replied, as we hurried in, and he ordered the man in
+charge to put off.
+
+The man began to protest volubly, but Ching rose up, and with a fierce
+look rustled his new coat and sat down again, with the result that the
+man loosened the rope which held his boat to the side, and the swift
+tide began to bear us away directly, the man hoisting up a small
+matting-sail and then meekly thrusting an oar over, with which to steer.
+
+"Why, what did you say to him, Ching?"  I asked; and the interpreter
+smiled, and wrinkled up his eyes till he resembled a piece of old china
+on a chimney-piece.
+
+"Ching say velly lit' bit; only shake his new coat till common man see
+it silk.  He feel velly much flighten all a same, as if big-button
+mandalin get in him boat."
+
+"And what shall we have to pay him?"
+
+"P'laps nothing 'tall."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!"  I said.  "We must pay him the proper fare."
+
+"Velly well, pay him ploper money."
+
+I anticipated trouble, but when we got to the side and a dollar was
+handed to the man, his heavy round face lit up with pleasure, and he
+said something aloud.
+
+"What does he say, Ching?"  I asked.
+
+"Say velly glad, and didn't tink he get anything 'tall."
+
+We made the best of our way below, fully expecting that, if the captain
+and Mr Reardon saw us, they would take us to task for being at the
+execution, and ask; us how we dared to follow them there.  But, as luck
+had it, they had been too much occupied by the horrible affair in
+progress, and our presence had escaped them.  But it was a long while
+before I could get the scene out of my head or think of our trip ashore
+that day as anything but a horrible mistake.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+"MAN OVERBOARD."
+
+It was a great relief to us all to find that our visit to the Chinese
+prison had not been noticed.  We of course kept silence about it, not
+even telling Mr Brooke, who was the most friendly of our officers, and
+we had the satisfaction of finding that Ching obeyed our orders, and
+kept his peace.
+
+I used to be rather sorry for him, his position being so solitary on
+board.  For he could not make himself at home with the sailors in the
+forecastle, and though as frank, good-hearted fellows as ever lived,
+they seemed to look upon him only in one way, that of being a butt for
+their sharp witticisms, an object upon whom they were to play practical
+jokes.
+
+Consequently I used often, when I found him standing alone by the
+bulwarks watching the shore, to edge up to him, and stop to talk; our
+conversation being directed by me toward some little unpleasantry in the
+forecastle, which if he had complained about to the first lieutenant,
+there would have been a severe reprimand.
+
+I remember one of these occasions, when Ching came flying up out of the
+hatch, followed by a roar of laughter, and as he reached the deck,
+_clang-clang_ went something against the sides of the hatch; but Ching
+paid no heed, running forward till he was right up by the side of the
+bowsprit.
+
+I followed quickly, feeling angry on the man's behalf.
+
+"What's the matter?"  I cried.  "What have they been doing?"
+
+"No know," he said rather pitifully, as he stood there trembling.  "Done
+something.  Thlow tin-kettle after."
+
+"But what for?  What were you doing?"
+
+"Doing? fass 'sleep, dleam 'bout big fly come and bite leg.  Jump up and
+lun.  Then thlow kettle after."
+
+"Here, let's look," I said; for as he shook his head there was the same
+hollow sound again, just like that made by a tin sheep-bell.
+
+"Why, they've tied it to you," I said sharply.
+
+"Tie to Ching flock?  Don't matter.  Not bess blue silkee."
+
+"Here, let me see," I cried.  "Turn round."
+
+He turned sharply, and something banged against the bulwark.
+
+"What a shame!"  I cried.  "They've tied the old canister to your tail."
+
+"Tie canny all along Ching tow-chang?" he cried.
+
+"Yes, and it's a rascally shame."
+
+"Yes, allee lascally shame," he said, nodding his head.  "Not hurt
+velly.  Only flighten velly much, makee lun fass."
+
+"Stand still, and I'll soon have it off," I cried, whipping out my
+knife.
+
+"No, no," he cried, dragging the long plait from my hand; "mightee cut
+tow-chang, and that velly dleadful.  Take long time glow."
+
+"Very well, then.  I'll unfasten it, and show it to Mr Reardon."
+
+"What for? make Mis' Leardon velly angly, scold jolly sailor boy.  Then
+they not like Ching 'tall."
+
+"But it's too bad; treating you just as if you were a dog."
+
+"Jolly sailor boy tie tin-pot dog tow-chang?  No.  Mr Hellick make
+laugh.  Dog not got tow-chang."
+
+"No," I said, trying very hard to get the pot off, "but dogs have got
+tails."
+
+"Yes, got tails.  Don't tellee, make no good.  Didn't hurt Ching."
+
+"But it's an insult to you," I said.  "Any one would think they were a
+pack of boys."
+
+"Yes, jolly sailor boy.  You no makee come off?"
+
+"No," I said.  "They've made a big hole through the bottom of the
+canister, pushed the end of the tail--"
+
+"Tow-chang."
+
+"Well, tow-chang, if you like to call it so--through into the inside,
+and then hammered the tin back round it and made it as fast as fast.
+Here, I shall have to cut it, Ching."
+
+"No, no," he cried, seizing the canister.  "No cuttee piece of
+tow-chang."
+
+"Then how are we to get it off?"
+
+"Don't know, Mr Hellick; look velly bad?"
+
+"Horrible--absurd; every one will laugh at you."
+
+"Yes, velly bad.  Ching put it in pocket."
+
+"Oh, you're there, are you?"  I cried, as Tom Jecks came cautiously on
+deck.  "I should have thought that a man of your years would have known
+better than to help torment this poor Chinaman."
+
+"Not velly poor," he whispered.  "Ching got fancee shop.  Plenty
+plize-money now."
+
+"Didn't have nought to do with it," growled Tom Jecks.
+
+"Then who did, sir?"
+
+"Dunno, sir; some o' the boys.  I was caulking till they wakened me wi'
+laughing."
+
+"But you saw it done?"
+
+"No, sir; it was all done aforehand.  They'd turned his tail into a
+bull-roarer, and if you was to swing it round now like a windmill, it
+would make no end of a row."
+
+"Silence, sir," I cried.  "It's disgraceful."
+
+"Lor', sir, they on'y meant it for a bit of a lark."
+
+"Then they should lark among themselves, and not take advantage of a
+poor foreigner whom they ought to protect."
+
+"Yes, sir, that's right enough.  But he were asleep, and it didn't hurt
+him till one on 'em stuck a pin in his leg to waken him up."
+
+"Ah!"  I cried.  "Who did?"
+
+"Well, sir," said Tom Jecks.  "Now you do puzzle me above a bit.  It was
+one o' the lads, because the pin must have gone into his leg, for he
+squeaked out and then run up the ladder with the tin-pot banging about
+right and left, but who it was stuck that pin in, it were so dark that I
+couldn't say."
+
+"You mean that you won't say, Tom?"
+
+"Well, sir, you're orficer, and I'm on'y AB, and I shan't contradict
+you; have it that way if you like."
+
+"I shall say no more, but we'll see what Mr Reardon says when he hears
+about it."
+
+"Why, Mr Herrick, sir, yo' wouldn't go and tell upon the poor lads,
+would you?  It were on'y a bit of a game, were it, Mr Ching?"
+
+"No, only bit game," said the Chinaman.
+
+"There, you hear, sir.  There wasn't no bones broke."
+
+"Hold your tongue, sir."
+
+"Cert'n'y, sir."
+
+"And come here."
+
+Tom Jecks stepped forward obsequiously.
+
+"Look, the tin sticks all round fast into the tail as if it were a
+rabbit trap."
+
+"Ay, sir, it do; and if I might say so, they managed it very cleverly."
+
+"Cleverly?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  If I'd been doing it, I should on'y have thought of tying it
+on with a bit o' spun-yarn; but this here tin holds it wonderful tight."
+
+"How are we to get it off?"
+
+"Oh, I can soon get it off," cried Tom Jecks, who seemed to be imbued
+with the same notion as Alexander of old, who unsheathed his sword to
+cut the Gordian knot.  For he hauled out his knife by the lanyard,
+opened the blade with his teeth, and took a step forward, but Ching held
+the canister behind him and dodged round me.
+
+"Steady, my lad," growled Tom Jecks, "it arn't a operation.  Stand by."
+
+"No, no, no!" shrieked Ching.
+
+"Steady, my lad, I'll soon have it off.  I won't cut down to the bone."
+
+"No, no!" cried Ching, who was excited and alarmed, and who now began
+chattering in his own tongue, all _pang ang nong wong ong_, and a series
+of guttural sounds, while I could do nothing for laughing, but had to
+stand like a post for Ching to dodge behind.
+
+"Why don't you stand by, messmate?" growled Tom Jecks.  "You can't go
+through life with that there tin-kettle tied to your tail.  Fust one as
+see yer will be calling, `Mad dog.'"
+
+By this time the watch had come to see what was going on, and I now
+began to feel sorry for the Chinaman.
+
+"Here, Ching," I said.  "Come down below."
+
+But he was too much alarmed for the moment to listen to my words,
+expecting every moment as he was that some one would make a snatch at
+his tail, to obviate which accident he was now holding the canister
+tightly beneath his arm, and looking wildly round for a way to escape.
+
+"Hadn't we better have it took off, sir?" said Tom Jecks, and there was
+a roar of laughter.  "Let's ketch him and take him to the doctor."
+
+"No, no!" cried Ching, dodging round me again, for Tom Jecks, to the
+delight of the others, made a snatch at him.
+
+"You'll be a deal more comfortable, messmate--you know you will.  Here,
+let's have it?"
+
+Tom Jecks made another snatch at him, but Ching avoided it, and to save
+him from further annoyance I too made a snatch.
+
+Poor fellow, interpreter though he was, he misinterpreted my intentions.
+He tore away from my grasp and made a rush forward, but several men
+were coming in that direction, and he dashed back to find himself faced
+by Tom Jecks again.  In his desperation he charged right at the sailor,
+lowering his head as he did so, and striking him with so much force that
+Tom Jecks went down sprawling, and Ching leaped over him.
+
+There was no way open to him for escape, as it seemed, and he made a
+rush for the side, leaped up, was on the bulwarks in an instant, and
+made a snatch at the foremast shrouds as if to climb up into the
+rigging, when either his foot slipped or his long loose cotton jacket
+caught in something, I don't know how it was, but one moment I saw him
+staggering, the next there was the terrible cry of "Man overboard"
+raised as I rushed toward the side, heard the splash, and got upon the
+bulwark in time to see the agitated water.
+
+That was all.
+
+It was rapidly getting dark, the tide was running swiftly seaward, and
+even if the Chinaman could swim it seemed very doubtful whether he could
+maintain himself long, hampered as he was by his loose clinging clothes.
+
+But at the raising of the cry, "Man overboard," there is not much time
+lost on board a man-of-war.  A crew leaped into the boat; the falls were
+seized; and in a minute the keel touched the water, and I found myself,
+as I stood on the bulwark holding on by a rope, called upon to direct
+those who had gone.
+
+"Which way, sir?  See him?"
+
+I could only answer no, and then reply to Mr Reardon, who came up
+panting.
+
+"Who is it?" he cried.  "Mr Herrick?"
+
+"No, sir, I'm here," I shouted.  "It's the interpreter."
+
+"And what business had he up on the hammock-rail?" roared the lieutenant
+as he climbed up there himself.  "Steady, my lads, he can't be far."
+
+At that moment there was a flash, and a brilliant blue-light burst out
+on the surface of the black water, sending a glare all round from where
+it floated on the trigger life-buoy, which had been detached and glided
+away astern, while directly after a second blue-light blazed out from
+the stern of the boat, showing the men dipping their oars lightly, and
+two forward and two astern shading their eyes and scanning the flashing
+and sparkling water.
+
+"Can't you see him?" roared the lieutenant.
+
+"No, sir."
+
+We leaped downward, hurried right aft where the captain and the other
+officers were now gathered, and the orders were given for a second boat
+to be lowered and help to save the poor fellow.
+
+"He ought to float, sir," said Mr Reardon in answer to some remark from
+the captain.  "He's fat enough."
+
+Then he began shouting orders to the men to row to and fro; and my heart
+sank as I vainly searched the lit-up water, for there was no sign of the
+unfortunate Chinaman.
+
+"What a horrible ending to a practical joke!"  I thought, and a bitter
+feeling of disappointment assailed me, as I asked myself why I had not
+gone in the second boat to help save the poor fellow.
+
+Perhaps it was vanity, but in those exciting moments I felt that if I
+had been there I might have seen him, for it never occurred to me that I
+had a far better chance of seeing him from my post of vantage high up on
+that quarter-deck rail.
+
+"See him yet?"
+
+"No, sir!"--"No, sir!"
+
+The first hail loudly from close by, the other from far away where the
+blue-lights shone.
+
+"Bless my soul!" cried Mr Reardon, with an angry stamp.  "I can't
+understand it.  He must have come up again."
+
+"Unless his pockets were heavily laden," said the captain, going to
+where Mr Reardon stood.  "These men carry a great deal about them under
+their long loose clothes.  Some heavy copper money, perhaps.  A very
+little would be enough to keep a struggling man down."
+
+"Ha!" ejaculated Mr Reardon, while I shivered at the idea of poor old
+Ching coming to so terrible an end.
+
+"A glass here!" cried Mr Reardon, and one was handed up to him.
+
+"Try the life-buoy," cried the captain.
+
+"Bless me, sir, I was going to," retorted the lieutenant irritably; "but
+the idiot who uses this glass ought to be turned out of the service for
+being short-sighted.  I shall never get it to the right focus."
+
+The captain gave a dry cough, and I turned round sharply, expecting to
+hear some angry exclamation.
+
+"No," cried Mr Reardon, "he is not clinging to the life-buoy.  I
+wouldn't for anything that it should have happened.  Poor fellow!  Poor
+fellow!"
+
+"Ay, poor fellow!" muttered Captain Thwaites.  "Any use to lower another
+boat, Reardon?"
+
+"No, sir, no," cried the lieutenant, "or I would have had one down.
+Ahoy there!" he roared.  "Light another blue!"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" came from far away, for the tide ran hissing by our sides
+in full rush for the sea, and the third blue-light which blazed out
+looked smaller and smaller, while those of the first boat and the
+life-buoy began to show faint, and then all at once that on the buoy
+seemed to go out.
+
+"That blue-light ought to have burned longer on the buoy," cried Mr
+Reardon.
+
+"They've picked up the buoy and laid it across the bows of the boat,"
+said Mr Brooke, who was watching through his night-glass, and at that
+moment the light blazed out again like a star.
+
+And still the halos shed by the lights grew fainter and fainter.  Then
+one light burned out, and the lieutenant stamped with anger, but there
+was no cause for his irritation.  Another flashed out directly.
+
+The boats were too far away now for us to see much of what was going on,
+the heads of the men growing blurred, but we saw that they were
+zig-zagging across the tide, and we listened in vain for the hail and
+the cheer that should accompany the words--
+
+"Got him, sir!"
+
+The buzz of conversation among the men, who clustered on deck, in the
+shrouds and tops, grew fainter, and I was thinking whether I was very
+much to blame, and if I could in any way have saved the poor fellow.
+Then I began thinking of the men in the forecastle, and their punishment
+for being the cause, in their boyish way of playing tricks, of the poor
+Chinaman's death.
+
+I wouldn't be Tom Jecks for all the world, I muttered, and then I turned
+cold and shuddered, as the hope, faint though it was, of Ching being
+picked up went out like one of the lights that now disappeared; for
+Captain Thwaites said sadly--
+
+"I'm afraid we must recall the boats, Mr Reardon."
+
+"Yes, sir," said the lieutenant in a husky voice.  "I don't think any
+one is to blame about the attempt to save the poor fellow, sir.  The
+life-buoy was let go, and the boat lowered promptly; the dishipline of
+the men was good."
+
+"Excellent, Mr Reardon.  I have nothing to say there.  It would have
+been better perhaps to have lowered down the second boat sooner.  But I
+think we have done our best.  Can you make them hear from this
+distance?"
+
+"Yes, I think so; a voice will travel far over the smooth water on a
+still night like this.  Shall I recall them?"
+
+Captain Thwaites was silent for a full minute, and we all stood gazing
+aft at the faint stars on the black water, while to right and left were
+those that were more dim and distant, being the paper lanterns of the
+house-boats moored a short distance from the bank.
+
+Then the captain spoke again, and his words re-illumined the parting
+light of hope which flashed up like an expiring flame.
+
+"Do you think he has struck out straight for the shore?"
+
+"He may have done so, sir," replied Mr Reardon, as we all stood in a
+knot together on the quarter-deck, "but he could never have reached it."
+
+"Not in this mill-race of a tide!" said Captain Thwaites.  "Recall the
+boats."
+
+But Mr Reardon made no sign.  He stood there gazing through the
+night-glass for some moments, and the captain spoke again.
+
+"Recall the boats, Mr Reardon."
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," said the lieutenant, with quite a start.
+"Aloft there!  Who's in the foretop?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir; Jecks, sir."
+
+I shivered.
+
+"Hail the boats to come back."
+
+The man did not answer for a moment, and Mr Reardon made an angry
+gesture, but just then Tom Jecks, with his hands to his mouth, sent
+forth a hoarse deep-toned roar.
+
+Then there was a pause and a faintly-heard hail came from far away, the
+zig-zagging movement of the boats ceased, and we saw one of them, that
+is to say one of the lights, glide slowly toward the other, till one was
+apparently only a short distance in front, and the other following.
+
+"Let me know when the boats come alongside, Mr Reardon," said the
+captain quietly.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And, by the way, I'll trouble you for my night-glass."
+
+Mr Reardon gave a violent start.
+
+"Your night-glass, sir?" he said.
+
+"Yes, mine; you borrowed it."
+
+The lieutenant handed the telescope without a word, and at another time
+we should all have had to turn away to smother the desire to burst out
+laughing, as we recalled the irritable remarks about the idiot to whom
+the glass belonged, and the wretchedness of his eyesight, coupled with
+an opinion that he ought to be dismissed the service.
+
+But it was not a time for mirth: we were all too sad, and Barkins
+contented himself with whispering--
+
+"I say, I'm jolly glad it wasn't I who said that.  Don't the skipper
+take it coolly now?  But he'll give old Dishy a talking-to for it when
+he gets him alone."
+
+Mr Reardon's face was not visible to us, but we could see his
+movements, which were, so to speak, fidgety, for he began to walk up and
+down hastily, and once or twice I heard him mutter--
+
+"How could I be such a fool?"
+
+A dead chill had settled down upon the ship, and I felt as I stood there
+as if eight or nine years had suddenly dropped away from me--that I was
+a little child again, and that I should like to creep below somewhere
+out of sight, or sit down and cry and sob.
+
+For it was such a horrible lesson to me of the nearness of death, and I
+felt as if it was impossible for it all to be true--that it must be some
+terrible dream.
+
+And now for the first time it dawned upon me that I had a liking for the
+strange, simple-hearted Chinaman, who had always shown himself to be
+frank, honest, and brave in our service.  He had been comic and
+peculiar, but always devoted to me as a faithful servant; and now, just
+too as I was joining in the mirth against him, instead of being
+indignant on behalf of one who had been insulted by the men's horseplay,
+he was as it were snatched from life to death.
+
+I was brought back to the present by a voice at my ear--
+
+"Poor old Ching!  I am sorry, Gnat."
+
+"Yes, and so am I."
+
+I had not seen my messmates all through the trouble, and now they
+appeared close to me in the darkness in a way which made me start.
+
+I turned to them, and I don't know how it was, but as we three stood
+there in the darkness, which was hardly relieved by a lantern here and
+there, Barkins held out his hand and shook mine, holding it tightly
+without letting go.  Directly after, Smith took my other hand to give it
+a warm, strong pressure; and then we three parted without a word more,
+Barkins going one way, Smith another, while I went to the stern rail and
+leaned my arms upon it, and then rested my chin upon my arms to gaze out
+over the rushing water at the two blue stars.
+
+But they were not there now.  They had burned out some time before, and
+I could see nothing, only take it for granted that the boats were being
+slowly rowed back against the heavy tide, our anchor-lights acting as
+their guide.
+
+"Is it possible that they have found him after all?"  I thought, and for
+a minute I was hopeful.  But once more the hope died out, for I knew
+well enough that if they had picked the poor fellow up they would have
+cheered.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+A SURPRISE.
+
+That night had set in very dark.  The clouds were heavy overhead, and
+the river now looked intensely black, but toward the shore there were
+the dull lights of the Chinese town glimmering in the water, while from
+some building, whether on account of a religious ceremony or a festival,
+a great gong was being beaten heavily, its deep, sonorous, quivering
+tones floating over the place, and reaching my ears like the tolling of
+a church bell.
+
+It only wanted that depressing sound to make my spirits at the lowest
+ebb, and set me thinking of home, the perils of the career in which I
+was engaged, and wondering whether I should ever see England again.
+
+The watch had been set, and from time to time Mr Reardon came aft to
+look anxiously astern.
+
+The last time Mr Brooke was with him, and they stopped near where I was
+standing.
+
+"But they ought to be back by now," Mr Reardon said.
+
+"It's a long pull," Mr Brooke replied, "and the tide is terribly sharp
+at this time."
+
+"Yes, yes--it is; but I want to see them back.  Who's that?"
+
+"Herrick, sir."
+
+"Oh!  Looking out for the boats?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"That's right.  I like to see a young officer take an interest in the
+men."
+
+They moved away to walk forward, while my face burned, for I did not
+deserve the praise, and my words had not been quite so honest as I could
+have wished.
+
+All at once, from out of the blackness astern, I heard the regular dip
+of oars, and at the same moment one of the watch challenged and received
+an answer.  A minute later they were close up, and I shouted--
+
+"Found him?"
+
+"No, sir; not a sign of him anywhere."
+
+I uttered a low groan, and the boats separated, one going to starboard
+and the other to port, to be hauled up to their quarters, and there was
+the customary trampling of the men going to their positions to run them
+up.
+
+"Poor old Ching!"  I said aloud; and then I started back as if I had
+received a stroke, for my name was uttered from below in a sharp
+whisper.
+
+"Mister Hellick!  Mister Hellick!"
+
+"Ching!"  I cried, leaning over as far as I could reach, and gazing down
+at the water.  "Help!--help!"  I shouted.  "Here he is!"
+
+Mr Brooke ran to me.
+
+"What do you mean, my lad?"
+
+"He's down here," I cried, "clinging to the chains."
+
+"Nonsense! the boats would have seen him."
+
+"But he is," I cried.  "He has just called me.  Below there!  Ching!"
+
+"Yes; help!  Velly cold," came up in a piteous wail.
+
+"Hold hard there!" shouted Mr Brooke.  "Port boat back here under the
+counter."
+
+The falls were unhooked, and the boat drawn back by the coxswain till
+she passed round close to the rudder.
+
+"Any one there?" cried Mr Brooke.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" and a cheer broke out from the men hurrying aft.
+
+"Help! help!" came in a sharp wail.  "No cut tow-chang!  No cut
+tow-chang!"
+
+"Nobody's going to cut it, my lad.  All right, we've got you," came up
+from close under the stern windows, where even if it had been light we
+could not have seen.
+
+"Found him?" cried the captain, who now came up.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!  Will you lower us down a lantern, sir?  He's tied up
+somehow to the chain and a ring-bolt.  We can't quite lee."
+
+The next minute, as I stood there longing to lower myself down into the
+boat, a lantern was swung over to them; while the men came swarming up
+the hatchway, for the news had soon spread, and they came running as far
+aft as they dared.
+
+"Now then, steady," came from beneath us.  "Let go; we've got you, I
+say."
+
+"No cuttee tow-chang!  No cuttee tow-chang!"
+
+"Then he must have caught at the rudder-chains as he was swept along the
+side," said the captain.  "Why didn't the fellow hail us, instead of
+letting the boats go on such a fool's errand?"
+
+"Too much scared, sir," replied Mr Reardon.  "Below there!  Got him in
+the boat?"
+
+"Got him, sir, and we can't get him," said one of the men.  "He's all
+twissen up round the chain in a knot somehow."
+
+"What?"
+
+"He's tied hisself up somehow."
+
+"Well, then, cut him loose, man," cried Mr Reardon.
+
+"No cuttee tow-chang!  No cuttee tow-chang!" cried Ching in a piteous
+wail.
+
+"Not cut his toe?" said the captain in a tone full of disgust.  "What
+does he mean?  He can't have tied his foot to the chain."
+
+"Hold still, will yer!" growled a deep voice; "I'm only untwisten on it.
+Nobody wants to cut yer pigtail."
+
+"Oh, no cuttee tow-chang!" wailed Ching piteously.
+
+"Tow-chang?" said the captain.
+
+"Yes, sir; his tail," I said.
+
+"Oh, I see!  They're very proud of the length."
+
+"Well, I'm blessed if ever I see such a snarl," cried the man below.
+"That's it.  There you are.  Here, cut this hankychy thing."
+
+"Got him now?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir! all right," came from the boat; and at this the men burst
+out cheering again like mad, while the boat was drawn along the side
+with difficulty till the falls were reached, hooked on, and with a stamp
+and a run she was hauled up, and I was close up to the side as she was
+swung in, and Ching lifted out dripping, and sank down in a heap as soon
+as the men tried to set him on his feet.
+
+"Here, let me have a look at him," said the doctor.
+
+"But first of all, why did you cling there instead of calling for help?"
+cried Mr Reardon angrily.
+
+"Bah! don't worry the man, sir," said the doctor sharply.  "He's nearly
+insensible.  What's this canister doing at the end of his tail?"
+
+"Bah!" ejaculated the captain angrily, and he said something to Mr
+Reardon, and then went down to the cabin.
+
+"Look here," cried the lieutenant angrily, "I want the names of the men
+who played this blackguardly trick upon the poor fellow."
+
+"Yes, afterwards," said the doctor.  "He's insensible, poor fellow.
+Here, one of you, a knife?"
+
+Half-a-dozen jack-knives were opened and presented to the doctor, but I
+sprang forward.
+
+"Don't do that, sir, please!"  I cried excitedly.
+
+"Eh?  Not cut off this absurd thing?"
+
+"No, sir.  The poor fellow went overboard to escape having the pigtail
+cut, and it would break his heart."
+
+Mr Reardon turned upon me sharply, and I anticipated a severe reproof,
+but he only gave me a nod.
+
+"Carry him below," he said.  And I walked beside the men to save the
+poor fellow from any fresh indignity, while half-an-hour later he had
+had a good rubbing and was lying in hot blankets fast asleep, partly
+from exhaustion, partly consequent upon having had a tumbler of mixture,
+steaming and odorous, which the doctor had administered with his own
+hands.
+
+"Not to be taken every three hours, Herrick," he said, with a curious
+dry smile.  "Fine mixture that, in its proper place.  Know what it was?"
+
+"It smelt like grog, sir," I replied.
+
+"Oh, did it?  Now, do you for a moment suppose that when a
+carefully-trained medical man of great experience is called in to a
+patient suffering from shock and a long immersion he would prescribe and
+exhibit such a commonplace remedy as grog?"
+
+"Don't know, sir," I said.  "But I should."
+
+"Then, my good lad, as soon as you get back from this unpleasant voyage,
+the best thing you can do will be to go straight to your father and tell
+him that you have made a mistake in your vocation, and that he had
+better enter you for a series of terms at one of the universities, and
+then as a student at one of the hospitals."
+
+"But I'm going to be a sailor, sir."
+
+"Yes, a bad one, I daresay, my lad, when you might become a good doctor
+or surgeon."
+
+"But I don't want to be one," I replied, laughing.
+
+"Of course not, when it is the grandest profession in the world."
+
+"But do you think he will come round all right, sir?"  I said anxiously.
+
+"Oh yes, of course.  But you are not going to let that absurd thing stop
+on the end of his tail?"
+
+"No, sir," I replied.  "I'm going to try and get it off directly."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Lay it on a stool and stamp upon it."
+
+"Good! that will flatten it and make the opening gape."
+
+It did, after the exercise of a fair amount of pressure; and then, by
+the help of Tom Jecks, who was wonderfully penitent now, and eager to
+help with a tool he brought--to wit, a marlinespike--the star-like
+points of tin were one by one forced out, and the tail withdrawn
+uninjured, except that the silk ribbon at the end was a good deal
+frayed.
+
+"Ha!" ejaculated Tom.  "We've made an end of it at last.  My word, Mr
+Herrick, sir, it's truly-thankful-Amen I am that the poor chap's all
+right again."
+
+"And so am I, Tom Jecks," I replied.
+
+"O' course you is, sir; I never meant to cut his tail, only to frighten
+him a bit; but, poor heathen, he took it all as serious as seas.  Shall
+I go and chuck the tin-can overboard?"
+
+"No; leave it here for him to find when he wakes up."
+
+"Right it is, sir.  But what a fuss for a man to make about a bit o'
+hair.  He never howls about having his head shaved."
+
+"No," I said; "but you see he would have given anything sooner than have
+his tail touched."
+
+"And most got drownded, sir.  Well, that all come o' the lads
+skylarking.  If ever I'm skipper of a ship, no skylarking then.  I
+s'pose there'll be a reglar hooroar in the morning, and Mr Reardon
+wanting to know who started the game."
+
+"And you'll tell him, Tom?"  I said.
+
+"O' course, sir," he replied, with a solemn wink.  "I'm just the man to
+go and split upon my messmates."
+
+"But you'll be punished if you don't tell.  You can't get out of it,
+because it's known that you were teasing him; and it wouldn't be fair
+for you to be punished and for them to escape."
+
+"No, sir, it wouldn't; but sech is life.  Wrong chap generally gets the
+kick as some one else ought to have ketched, but 'tarn't your fault, and
+it's no use to grumble."
+
+"But it is your fault, if you know who were the offenders and will not
+tell."
+
+"Is it?  Humph!  S'pose it is, sir.  You're right.  That's where you
+gents as is scholards gets over the like of me.  I see it now; you are
+right, sir.  What a wonderful head you've got for arguing, sewerly!"
+
+"Then you'll tell Mr Reardon in the morning?"
+
+"I didn't say as I would, sir."
+
+"No; but you will?"
+
+"No, sir, but I won't!" he said emphatically.  "But I say, sir, do you
+think if I was to go overboard, and then hitch myself on to the
+rudder-chains till I was took aboard, the doctor'd give me a dose of
+that same physic as he give him?"
+
+"Very likely, Tom," I said.  "But you'd rather be without, wouldn't
+you?"
+
+He smiled.
+
+"But it was physic?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir, it was physic.  But then you see there's physic as he
+takes out of one of his little bottles with stoppers, and there's physic
+as he makes out of the ship's rum, hot with sugar.  I could take a dose
+now easy, and it would do me good."
+
+"Nonsense!"  I said, after a glance at the sleeping Chinaman.  "But I
+say, Jecks, how did he manage?"
+
+"Oh, easy enough, sir.  Tide would suck him right along the side, and
+he'd catch the chains."
+
+"But how did he get in such a tangle?"
+
+"Tied hisself on, sir, with a handkerchy round his left arm, to the
+chain; and then Dick Spurling says he twissened his tow-chang, as he
+called it, round and round, and tucked the canister in at the neck of
+his frock and buttoned it.  Dick had no end of a job, as you know, to
+get him undone."
+
+"Yes," I said thoughtfully, "I know that; but a man couldn't hang by his
+hair."
+
+Tom Jecks laughed softly.
+
+"Oh yes, he could, sir.  There's no knowing how little a man can hang by
+when he's obliged.  Why, ain't you heard how we men hangs on to the
+yards when we're aloft?"
+
+"Oh yes, I've heard," I said; "by your eyelids."
+
+"That's it, sir," he said, with a dry grin; "and that's harder than a
+man hanging on by his hair."
+
+Ching was still sleeping heavily, and our conversation did not disturb
+him, and after a few moments' thought I said--
+
+"But I don't feel at all sure why he did not hail the boats when they
+were going off."
+
+"Oh, I do, sir," replied Tom Jecks.  "I wouldn't ha' thought it
+possible, but the poor fellow was regularly scared, and wouldn't speak
+at first, because he thought that if he was hoisted on board the first
+thing we would do would be to go for his tail."
+
+"Yes," I said, "that sounds likely; but he did hail after all."
+
+"And enough to make him, sir; poor chap.  Do you know why?"
+
+"Well, not exactly," I said.
+
+"A'cause the first fright had gone, and the bigger one had come.  At
+first he was all in a squirm about losing his tail, but after a bit he
+got wacken up to the fact that if he didn't get took aboard he'd
+precious soon lose his life."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+CHING HAS A NOTE.
+
+I suppose that Mr Reardon thought better of his threat, or probably he
+came to the conclusion that the expectation of punishment would prove as
+effective as the punishment itself.  At all events nothing was said, and
+the routine of the ship went on as usual.  The decks were scrubbed, the
+guns polished, and the marines drilled, till, as Barkins said, they
+could walk up to the top of a ladder and down the other side without
+touching.
+
+The Jacks, too, had their gun drill and sword exercise, till their
+cutlasses flashed about with an exactness that promised to shave a head
+without cutting off an ear--promised: the performance might have been
+another thing.
+
+As soon as I had an opportunity I started to go below and see Ching, but
+before I was half-way there I ran against Smith.
+
+"Where are you going in such a hurry?"
+
+"To see how Ching's getting on."
+
+"Did you put on a clean shirt?"
+
+"No," I said innocently.  "I can't stand one every day."
+
+"Oh, come, this won't do!" cried Smith.  "Here, hi, Barkins!"
+
+"What's the row?" said our messmate, coming up.
+
+"Row enough.  Look here, this won't do.  The Gnat's going below to see
+His Excellency Ching Baron fancee shop, and Knight of the Tow-chang,
+without putting on a clean shirt."
+
+"Go and report him to the captain.  Why, worse and worse, he hasn't
+shaved!"
+
+"No, that he hasn't."
+
+"Well, I haven't got any razors like you fellows have," I retorted.  "I
+say, Tanner, have you stropped yours up lately?  Smithy's are getting
+rusty with the sea air."
+
+"You're getting rusty with the sea air," grumbled Smith, who was very
+proud of the possession of a pair of razors with Sunday and Monday
+etched on the blades.  He had once or twice shown them to me, saying
+that they were a present from his father, who was going to leave him the
+other five, which completed the days of the week, in his will.
+
+I remember how I offended him at the time by saying--
+
+"Well, that will be quite as soon as you want them."
+
+"Look here," said Smith rather haughtily, after a look at Barkins;
+"we've been talking this business over, and it is time it was stopped."
+
+"What do you mean?"  I said.
+
+"Oh, you know well enough.  You came on board the _Teaser_ to take your
+place as an officer and a gentleman, and we your seniors received you in
+a gentlemanly way."
+
+"Yes, you were right enough," I said.  "A bit cocky and bounceable at
+first, till you found that I wouldn't stand it, and then you were both
+civil."
+
+"Well, I _am_ blessed!" cried Barkins, blowing out his cheeks and
+looking down at me.  "Of all the impudent little cockboats of boys you
+are about the most cheeky.  Pretty strong turn that for a Gnat, Smithy."
+
+"Yes; we shall have to put him down, and the sooner the better.  Will
+you speak to him, or shall I?"
+
+"Oh, I'm just in the humour for it," said Barkins; "so I'll give him his
+dose at once.  Look here, young fellow: as aforesaid, when you
+interrupted, we received you as gentlemen should, and have taken great
+care of you, and tried to smooth you down into something like a budding
+officer."
+
+"Thank you," I said humbly; "I'm so grateful."
+
+"And so you ought to be, sir.  But look here, what in the name of
+thunder do you mean by forsaking us and taking to bad company?"
+
+"Who does?"
+
+"Why, you do, sir.  Smithy and I talked it over last night, and we both
+agreed that you're never happy unless you're along with the forecastle
+Jacks, or sneaking about with old Ching."
+
+"Get out!"  I said indignantly.
+
+"None of your impudence, sir, because that won't do.  It's come to this:
+either you've got to give up low society, or high."
+
+"Which is which?"  I said.
+
+"What?"
+
+"I said which is which?  Do you mean you two fellows are high society?"
+
+"Do you hear this beggar, Smithy?"
+
+"Oh yes, I hear him.  Isn't it awful to find so much depravity in such a
+small body?  But keep him to it, and make him speak.  He has got to
+choose."
+
+"Yes, you've got to choose, Gnat.  We can't have a brother officer
+always associating with the low Chinee."
+
+"Do you mean that I oughtn't to go and see the poor fellow now he's
+below ill?"
+
+"Something of the sort: you're not a doctor.  Of course he ought to
+visit the men."
+
+"So ought an officer when his men are in trouble."
+
+"Yes; but not to make friends of them.  It won't do, Gnat, and we've
+made up our minds not to stand it.  That will do now.  You have heard
+what I had to say, and I hope you will profit by it."
+
+I burst out into a roar of laughter, for Barkins' assumption of dignity
+was comic.
+
+"What do you mean by that, sir?" he cried in an offended tone.
+
+"Second-hand captain's rowing!"  I cried.  "Why, I heard him say those
+very words to you."
+
+"Hi! stop!" cried Smith, as Barkins turned red with annoyance.  "Where
+are you going, sir?"
+
+"Down below to see Ching," I replied coolly; and I descended the
+companion-ladder to where the man lay.
+
+He was looking very yellow and gloomy, but as soon as he caught sight of
+me his face lit up.
+
+"You come along see Ching?" he said in his high voice; and upon my
+nodding--"Velly glad.  Doctor say stop along, velly much, not gettee up
+to-day."
+
+"But you are ever so much better?"
+
+"Yes, quite well.  Not velly wet now.  Captain velly closs Ching tumb'
+overboard?"
+
+"No, he hasn't said anything."
+
+"Ching velly glad.  You go tell captain something?"
+
+"What about?"  I said.
+
+"Ching get lettee flom fliend."
+
+"That's right," I said.  "How is he?"
+
+"Velly glad you catchee pilate."
+
+"Oh, he is, is he?"
+
+"Yes, velly muchee glad, and send lettee."
+
+"Yes, you said so."
+
+"Allee 'bout pilates."
+
+He took a piece of paper from somewhere and handed it to me.
+
+"You no lead lettee?"
+
+I shook my head as I glanced at the queer Chinese characters.
+
+"No; what does he say about the pirates?"
+
+"Say two muchee big junk in river going to sail, catchee tea-ship,
+lice-ship, silkee-ship."
+
+"Going to sail from here?"  I cried.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But how does he know?"
+
+"Know evelyting.  Muchee big man.  Wantee catchee more pilate."
+
+"But do you mean your friend knows of these junks sailing?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"When did you get the letter?"
+
+"Chinese coolie bling lettee in flesh-vegetable boat."
+
+"What, this morning?"
+
+"Yes, bling lettee."
+
+"When are the junks going to sail?"
+
+"No know.  Keepee watchee and catchee."
+
+I sat thinking for a few moments, and I made up my mind to go and tell
+the first lieutenant, but found the Chinaman looking at me smiling the
+while.
+
+"You likee this?" he said, holding out a tiny thin stoppered bottle,
+covered with Chinese characters.
+
+"Like it?  No.  What for?"
+
+"Velly good.  Headache: lub lit' dlop here.  Toothache: lub lit' dlop
+there.  Got pain anywhere, lub lit' dlop."
+
+I took out the stopper and smelt it.
+
+"Smell velly good; all nicee."
+
+"Why, it smells of peppermint drops," I said carelessly.
+
+"Yes, smell beautiful, all peppimint.  Velly gleat stlong.  Muchee lit'
+dlop, so."
+
+He took the bottle, drew out the stopper, and covered the neck with one
+finger, turned the vial upside down, and then rubbed the tiny drop of
+moisture upon his temples, replaced the stopper, and gave it back to me.
+
+"Thank you, Ching," I said, placing it in my pocket, but without valuing
+the gift in the slightest degree.  "I'm going now to tell the first
+lieutenant what you say."
+
+"Yes, tell Mr Leardon watchee watchee, killee allee pilate."
+
+"Yes," I said; and I hurried away, muttering, "Watchee watchee, killee.
+What stuff they do talk!  Any one would think they were all big babies,
+who had been taught to speak English by a nurse."
+
+As I reached the deck I saw Barkins and Smith standing by the first
+lieutenant, and he was nodding his head.
+
+"Why, they've been telling him about me," I thought as I went aft.  "No;
+they wouldn't be such sneaks."
+
+But all doubt was at an end directly, for they came down to meet me, and
+Smith cried--
+
+"Mr Reardon wants to speak to you directly, Herrick;" while, as I
+looked up and caught Barkins' eye, he coloured a little, and hurriedly
+avoided my gaze.
+
+"Thank you, tale-bearer," I said to Smith.
+
+"Don't you be insolent, sir, unless you wish me to give you a severe
+thrashing."
+
+"With fists?"  I said.
+
+"Yes, sir, with fists.  I suppose the rules of the service will not
+allow us to use such weapons as officers are accustomed to."
+
+"Do you mean officers like you?"  I said contemptuously.
+
+"Yes, sir; officers like me."
+
+"Oh, you mean knives and forks, then," I said carelessly.  "I say,
+Barkins, I didn't think you could have been such a jerry sneak."
+
+He turned upon me with an apologetic look, but his lips began to
+bluster.
+
+"What do you mean, sir?"
+
+"Oh, nothing; I am not going to quarrel with old Barkins.  He wouldn't
+have done this, if it had not been for Blacksmith."
+
+"Go and obey the first lieutenant's orders, sir," said Smith haughtily.
+"We will talk to you later on."
+
+"You go and show Doctor Price your arms and legs," I said contemptuously
+and spitefully; for, to use a common phrase, my monkey was up.  "Fight?
+With fists?  Where are your muscles?  Why, I could upset you both with a
+swab."
+
+I hurried aft, and ran up the steps to the quarter-deck in time to
+encounter the first lieutenant, who was coming from the wheel with an
+angry look upon his face.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+A QUEER QUARREL.
+
+"I sent a message to you, Mr Herrick," he cried angrily, and I could
+then guess that he had been coming to see why I had delayed.  "I have
+something to say to you, sir, respecting the company you keep, and the
+society you affect, which I am given to understand is not that which
+conduces to good dishipline."
+
+"Oh, that's what Mr Smith thinks, sir," I said coolly.
+
+"Oh, indeed!" he cried sarcastically.
+
+"Yes, sir; he said something about it to me this morning, but he does
+not know."
+
+"Indeed!" he cried, growing black as a thundercloud; "then I am to take
+it, sir, that you do?"
+
+"I hope so, sir; I try to know."
+
+"Then you know, sir, possibly why it was that when I sent you a summons
+I am kept waiting?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I was delayed a little--"
+
+"Oh, thank you.  I am glad to hear that, Mr Herrick.  Perhaps you have
+something else of importance to communicate?"
+
+"Yes, sir, very."
+
+"Thank you.  I am sorry I cannot ask you to sit down."
+
+"Don't name it, sir," I said quietly, while he began to breathe very
+hard.
+
+"I was down with Ching the interpreter, sir, this morning--"
+
+"Were you really, Mr Herrick?" he said sarcastically.  "Dear me, I hope
+he is much better?"
+
+"Yes, sir, he's nearly all right.  I was coming to you when I met Mr
+Barkins, and Smith."  I couldn't say Mr Smith, I felt so exasperated
+against him.
+
+"What a curious coincidence, Mr Herrick!  If I had known I might have
+spared myself the trouble of sending."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And pray, may I know for what reason I was to be honoured?"
+
+"Of course, sir," I said coolly enough, for I was enjoying the way in
+which he was working himself up for an explosion to fall upon my
+unfortunate head.  "The fact is, sir--"
+
+"Oh, it is a fact, is it?"
+
+"Yes, sir--Ching has friends ashore."
+
+"And wants leave of absence?  Are you his envoy?"
+
+"Oh no, sir.  One of his friends sent him an important letter this
+morning by the vegetable boat."
+
+"Eh? letter?" said Mr Reardon, beginning to grow interested.
+
+"Yes, sir.  This friend is a kind of a merchant or something; and he has
+news of two big junks--piratical junks--lying in this very river."
+
+"The dickens he has!  Here, Herrick, come down to my cabin."
+
+He took my arm and marched me quickly to the ladder and down to his
+cabin.  On the way I caught sight of Barkins and Smith watching us, and
+I gave them a nod.
+
+"Now, my lad, sit down," cried Mr Reardon excitedly.  "Let's hear."
+
+I sat down, and he walked to and fro--two steps and turn.
+
+"There's very little more to tell you, sir," I said; "but there are two
+very large junks assuming to be merchantmen.  They are anchored close by
+here somewhere."
+
+"You don't know which two?"
+
+"No, sir; but we shall know them by their sailing at once, and I should
+say by boats coming off to them with extra men directly after."
+
+"Yes, that's good, Herrick--very good.  But you have no other
+information about them?"
+
+"Only, sir, that they are just off on a cruise, and if we could catch
+them--"
+
+"We will catch them, my lad.  But is that all?"
+
+"Yes, sir, that's all; I thought it rather big news."
+
+"So it is, Herrick--very big news.  Just what we wanted.  It's time we
+made another capture.  And to Ching has a friend on shore who sent this
+information?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Not a trap, is it--to get us away?"
+
+"Oh no, sir; Ching is as honest as the day."
+
+"Humph, yes," said Mr Reardon, with his fingers to his lips.  "I think
+he is, for he seems to have taken to us and to be working hard in our
+service.  But he may have been deceived.  He is cunning enough; but so
+are his countrymen, and they would glory in tricking the man who has
+taken up with the English.  I don't know what to say to it, Herrick."
+
+"But suppose we see two big junks setting sail, watch them with a boat,
+sir, and find that they take others on board, there could be no mistake
+then."
+
+"Oh yes, there could, my boy.  We might follow these junks, seize them,
+and spend a long time in their capture and bringing back into port.
+Then we should apply to the authorities, and find that we had got into
+sad trouble, for we had seized two vessels which the occupants could
+prove were intended for peaceable pursuits.  We could not contradict
+them possibly, and all the time the scoundrels we wanted to take had
+sailed off upon a piratical expedition, consequent upon our absence.
+Now, sir, what do you say to that?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"I think Ching ought to know best," I said.
+
+"Perhaps so," he replied.  "We shall see.  Come on now to the captain."
+
+He opened the door, and I followed.  I had forgotten all about Barkins
+and Smith for the time, but now all that had passed occurred to my mind,
+and I felt certain that they would be waiting somewhere to meet me and
+make sport of the tremendous setting-down which I had had.
+
+I was not wrong: they were talking together amidships, just where they
+could command the companion-way, and as soon as we appeared I saw
+Smith's features expand into a malicious grin, while Barkins remained
+perfectly stolid.
+
+As we passed to the ladder Smith looked after us wonderingly, and I saw
+him turn and whisper something, which I felt sure was--
+
+"Taking him to the skipper."
+
+For the captain was not in his cabin, but walking up and down the
+quarter-deck with his hands clasped behind him, and the telescope which
+had made Mr Reardon so angry under his left arm.
+
+As we reached the deck he was going aft, so we followed him, and timed
+our pace so that when he turned we had only a step or two to take to be
+facing him.
+
+"Yes, Mr Reardon," he said in response to our salute, "anything fresh?"
+
+"Yes, sir, something very fresh.  Will you listen to what Mr Herrick
+has to say?"
+
+"Certainly," he replied, and he made room for me on his right Mr
+Reardon placed himself on my right, and as I narrated all I had said
+before as nearly as I could, they marched me up and down between them,
+from the binnacle to the end of the quarter-deck, turned and marched me
+back again.
+
+As we approached the rail I could see Barkins and Smith watching us with
+all their eyes, and as we came in sight again they were still watching
+intently, evidently in the full belief that I was being, as we should
+have called it, wigged tremendously.  And certainly they had some excuse
+for this idea, for I had been summoned by the first lieutenant, taken
+into his cabin, talked to, and then marched off to the captain.  It
+almost looked like being dismissed from the ship in their eyes, and now
+I could see them scanning my features with intense interest for sight of
+my breaking down.
+
+The captain heard me out, and then listened to Mr Reardon's objections.
+
+"Yes," he said quietly at last, "that's very true, Mr Reardon, but we
+must not let an opportunity slip.  I was intending to sail to-morrow for
+the north; now we will sail which way the junks lead.  That will do for
+the present, Mr Herrick, and I thank you for your diligence in Her
+Majesty's service."
+
+I touched my cap and went to the ladder, and as I descended there were
+my two messmates coming towards me.
+
+Trying to make my face as mobile as possible, I stretched it here and
+there into wrinkles, and was walking straight along the deck looking the
+image of despair, when they stopped me.
+
+"Serve you right!" said Smith exultantly.  "There, be off below, and
+don't let the men all see what a setting-down you have had."
+
+I gave each of them a piteous look, turned as they had suggested, and
+hurried down to our cabin to have a good laugh all to myself.
+
+To my surprise, though, they followed me, Barkins to seat himself on the
+table, and Smith to lean up against the door.
+
+"Well, Skeeter," said the latter, "you've had it pretty hot.  Serve you
+right for being sarcy; you'll behave better next time."
+
+"I hope so," I said meekly.
+
+"Dishy gave you his lecture, then, and walked you off to the skipper,
+eh?"
+
+"Yes," I said.
+
+"Well, it's of no use for you to be grumpy.  You've had your lesson, and
+now you've got to behave yourself."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And I am very glad to see you are so humble.  Aren't you, Tanner?"
+
+"Yes," said Barkins gruffly.
+
+"You see it won't do for a little gnat of a fellow to think he is going
+to do what he likes on board one of Her Majesty's ships.  It was quite
+time you were taken down a few pegs--wasn't it, Tanner?"
+
+"I suppose so," said Barkins.
+
+"Then I don't see that it's any use for us to jump upon him, and show
+bad blood."
+
+"No, not a bit," cried Barkins, with more animation.  "We won't."
+
+"No, I said we wouldn't; so look here, youngster: we're going to forgive
+you, if you promise to behave better and do as you're bid.  This isn't
+school, you know, where a boy can set himself up against his elders, but
+the Queen's service, where every one has his place, and has to keep it
+too--mind that.  There, that's all I've got to say."
+
+"And very nicely said too," I replied.
+
+He looked at me sharply, but my face was like marble, and he concluded
+that I had spoken seriously, for he turned to Barkins--
+
+"There, Tanner, I've done; now it's your turn."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To give him a few words."
+
+"Oh, I don't think I want to say anything," said Barkins slowly.  "I'm
+sorry the poor little beggar got into such a row."
+
+"It'll do him good."
+
+"I hope so," said Barkins slowly and reluctantly, and there was rather a
+mournful look in his eyes as he spoke.
+
+"You'd better give him a few words of advice," said Smith in an off-hand
+tone.
+
+"Oh no, he's had enough jawing.  I shan't say anything."
+
+"Thank you, Tanner," I said.
+
+"Oh, all right," he cried, and he held out his hand and shook mine,
+brightening up the next moment, and looking as pleased as if he had just
+got a great trouble off his mind.
+
+"You needn't be in such a jolly hurry to forgive him," said Smith in a
+remonstrant tone; "he has been a cheeky little beggar, and deserved all
+he got."
+
+"But it isn't nice to be wigged, all the same," said Barkins sharply.
+
+"No, but it don't matter if you deserved it.  Now then, Gnat, tell us
+what Dishy said."
+
+"What about?"  I asked innocently.
+
+"What about?  Why, your associating with Ching so much."
+
+"Oh, that!"  I cried.
+
+"Oh, that!" he said, mocking my way of speaking.  "Why, what did you
+think I meant?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Well, what did he say?"
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+"What! no lies now."
+
+"Who's telling lies?  He didn't say a word about it.  We had something
+of more consequence to talk about."
+
+"Now, Tanner, hark at that.  Did you ever hear such a miserable cheeky
+little beggar in your life?  It's of no use; we must give him a regular
+good towelling."
+
+"Better tell us what the luff said, Gnat," growled Barkins, in so
+strange an accession of gruffness that I began to laugh.
+
+"Why, what's the matter with you?"  I said.  "Don't gruff and grow
+hoarse like that."
+
+"Can't help it; got a cold, I s'pose," he cried.  "But I say, stop it
+now; we want to be friends.  Tell us what the luff said."
+
+"Precious little," I replied.  "I did all the speaking till we went up
+on the quarter-deck."
+
+"Don't listen to him," cried Smith, growing wroth with me.  "I never saw
+such cheek.  One tries to be friends with him, but it's of no use;
+directly you open your mouth he jumps down your throat."
+
+"Then you shouldn't have such a big mouth, Smithy," I said sharply, and
+then the storm burst.
+
+Tanner roared with laughter, for the width of Smith's mouth had often
+been food for our mirth; and, as Barkins afterwards said, my remark came
+out so pat.
+
+"Look here," cried Smith, "I'm not going to stand this sort of thing.
+You may be fool enough to put up with it, but I won't."
+
+"If you call me a fool I'll punch your head, Smithy," growled Barkins.
+
+"No, you won't," was the retort; "and that's the way you take sides
+against me, and encourage the miserable little beggar in his impudent
+ways?  Now then, you Herrick, you've got to go down on your knees and
+beg my pardon, and then tell me everything the skipper and the first
+luff said."
+
+"When?"  I asked coolly.
+
+"When?  Why, now, directly," cried Smith fiercely.  "Now then, no
+nonsense," he cried, seizing me by the collar; but I wrested myself
+away, and in the slight struggle sent him staggering against Barkins.
+
+"Now then, keep off me, please," growled Barkins.
+
+"Keep off yourself; why don't you get out of the way?"
+
+"How was I to know that a blundering idiot was coming up against me?"
+
+"It'll tell you when I've done with the Gnat," said Smith angrily; for I
+had unintentionally hurt his arm.  "Now you, Skeeter."
+
+"Let him alone," said Barkins gruffly.
+
+"When I've done with him," said Smith; "you could have had first go at
+him if you had liked."
+
+"I don't want to hit the little fellow, I'm not overbearing like you
+are.  Let him alone, I say."
+
+"I shall let him alone when I choose," retorted Smith fiercely.  "I'm
+not going to let our junior ride roughshod over me, if you're fool
+enough to."
+
+"I shall be fool enough to kick you out of the cabin if you touch him,"
+cried Barkins angrily.  "I won't have him bullied; and it was a mean
+sneaking thing to go telling tales as you did to old Dishy."
+
+"Look here," cried Smith, "if any one is a sneak it's you, for harking
+back and taking the miserable little beggar's side."
+
+"Never mind about that; you let him alone."
+
+"Oh, I say, Tanner," I said, "don't quarrel with him about me.  What he
+said did no harm.  Mr Reardon was as friendly as could be."
+
+"That's a cracker," cried Smith sharply.
+
+At that moment a marine came to the door.
+
+"First lieutenant wants to see Mr Herrick directly."
+
+"Yes; where is he?"  I said, smiling--purposely, of course.
+
+"With the cap'n, sir, on the quarter-deck."
+
+"All right; I'll be there directly."
+
+The man saluted and marched off, while I followed to the door, where I
+turned, thrust in my head, and said banteringly--
+
+"Now be good boys and don't fight while I'm gone."
+
+_Bang_!
+
+A book off the table, flung by Smith, struck the door which I was
+holding half open, for I saw the missile coming, and dodged it.  Then I
+popped my head in again.
+
+"Don't take any notice of him, Tanner," I cried; "he's bilious.  Thankye
+for sticking up for me.  Can I say a word for you to the captain?"
+
+"Here, get up," cried Smith, with a snarl.  "Touch your hat to him.
+He's promoted; and they'll send poor old Brooke a step lower.  All hail,
+Lieutenant Skeeter!"
+
+"All right!"  I cried, and I hurried away, leaving Barkins looking as if
+he could not believe his ears.
+
+The next minute I was facing the captain and Mr Reardon.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+A FRESH START.
+
+"Mr Herrick," said the captain, as I saluted, "I have decided that, as
+you know so much about this business, you shall go with Mr Brooke in
+one of the boats; but I wish you to observe what I say: the success of
+our expedition depends a great deal upon secrecy, so do not chatter
+anything about your mission in the hearing of the men."
+
+"No, sir, certainly not," I said, wondering what the mission might be,
+and whether we were going to cut out the junks.
+
+"That's right; you had better take the interpreter with you."
+
+"To search for the junks, sir?"
+
+"Hush; guard your tongue, sir.  You are ostensibly going up the river
+with Mr Brooke upon a little shooting expedition for wild-fowl, so get
+rid of your uniform.  I daresay we can lend him a gun, Mr Reardon?"
+
+"If he'll take care of it, he can have mine, sir," said Mr Reardon.
+
+"Then off with you, my lad, and be as observant as you can.  Mr Brooke
+will tell you, I daresay, all about his instructions."
+
+I saluted, and darted away in time to see that Smith had been watching
+me, for he drew back as I approached, and I found him standing by where
+Barkins sat, looking exceedingly glum.
+
+I daresay it was very petty, but Smith had been so malicious, and had so
+often made himself disagreeable, that I could not help feeling a
+delicious sensation of triumph as I bustled into the cabin and rushed to
+my locker, without taking any notice whatever of Smith, while I felt
+sorry for big burly Barkins, who I felt would not say an unkind word if
+it were not for Smith's influence.
+
+I remember Charles Dickens saying in one of his tales something about it
+being hard enough to live with any one who had a bad temper in a large
+house, but to be shut up with the said person in a cart or travelling
+van was terrible.  Of course I am not giving his exact words, only
+making the allusion to illustrate the fact that it is quite as bad to
+exist with an ill-tempered person in the small cabin of a vessel at sea.
+For you may depend upon it there is no better--or worse--way of finding
+out a companion's peculiarities than that.
+
+I acted pettily, but then I was only a boy; and now I am a man, getting
+on in years, I don't know that I am much better.  But it was very comic
+all the same to see those two fellows try to ignore my proceedings, poor
+old Barkins following Blacksmith's lead once more.  They did not want to
+know what I was going to do--not a bit.  And I laughed to myself as I
+hurriedly kicked off my shoes and put on a pair of strong boots,
+carefully took off my uniform jacket and replaced it by a thin tweed
+Norfolk, after which I extricated a pith helmet from its box, having to
+turn it upside down, for it was full of odds and ends.
+
+Smith had taken up a book and pretended to read, while Barkins sat back
+on a locker with his hands in his pockets, and his lips thrust out and
+screwed as if he were whistling, but no sound came, and he stared hard
+at the bulkhead facing him.
+
+But try how he would he could not keep his eyes fixed there--they would
+follow my movements; and twice over I caught Smith peeping round the
+side of the book with which he was screening his face.
+
+I began to whistle as I rapidly made my preparations, and at last Smith
+could bear it no longer.
+
+"What's the idiot dressing himself up for?" he cried contemptuously.
+
+That started Barkins, and he burst out with--
+
+"What's up, Gnat?  Shore leave?"
+
+"Eh!  Didn't you know?"  I said coolly.  "Shooting."
+
+"What!" they exclaimed in a breath, and Smith's eyes were more wide open
+than I had ever seen them.
+
+"Shooting," I said coolly.  "Brooke and I are going after ducks."
+
+"Gammon!" cried Barkins.  "Why, you have no gun."
+
+"No," I said.  "Reardon is going to lend me his double breech-loader,
+central fire, number twelve."
+
+Barkins gave his leg a sharp slap.
+
+"We're going up the river; plenty of sport up there among the marshes."
+
+"Going to walk?" said Barkins.
+
+"Oh no; we're to have a crew and one of the cutters."
+
+"Don't you believe him, Barkins, it's all gammon.  The little humbug
+can't deceive me."
+
+"All right, call it gammon," I said, stooping to tighten my boot-laces.
+"Roast duck for dinner, Tanner, to-morrow."
+
+Barkins rushed on deck, leaving me with Smith, and the next minute he
+was back again.
+
+"It's all right, Smithy," he cried; "and they're shoving in a basket of
+prog for the beggars."
+
+"What!" yelled Smith.  "Do you mean to say that Brooke and this--this--
+thing are going off wasting Her Majesty's time shooting?"
+
+"Yes; I saw Brooke, and he said it was so."
+
+"Then I shall resign.  Hang me if I'll stop in a service where such
+beastly favouritism is shown.  Profession for gentlemen's sons, is it?
+I call it a mockery!"
+
+"Oh, don't be so snaggy, Smithums," I said banteringly; "wait till his
+poor old wing's all right again, and he shall go a shooting too."
+
+That was too much.  He made a rush at me, but Barkins flung an arm round
+his waist, and as they struggled together I dodged to the other side of
+the table and escaped from the cabin, but popped my head in again.
+
+"Don't hit him, Tanner," I cried; "he ain't got no friends.  Good-bye,
+old chap, I wish you were coming too."
+
+Our eyes met, and I suppose my tone and the look I gave him seemed
+sincere, for, as he held Smith, his arms tightly round him from behind,
+and his chin resting upon our messmate's shoulder, he gave me a friendly
+nod.
+
+"All right, old chap," he said; "I hope you'll enjoy yourself."
+
+"And I hope the John Teapots 'll get hold of you, you miserable little
+cad!" cried Smith.  "I shan't be there to help you this time."
+
+I burst out laughing and ran on deck, to find the men mustered ready,
+and Mr Brooke standing there in sun helmet and gaiters, looking as
+unlike a naval officer as he could be.
+
+"Oh, there you are, Herrick," he said, giving me a look over.  "Yes,
+that will do."
+
+"But the men," I whispered.  "Oughtn't they to be armed?"
+
+"All right, my lad; plenty of tackle in the boat under the thwarts."
+
+"But my gun--I mean Mr Reardon's?"
+
+"In the stern-sheets, with plenty of cartridges.  Where's Ching?"
+
+"I don't--down below, I suppose."
+
+"Fetch him up; we're off at once."
+
+There was no need, for the interpreter appeared smiling and happy,
+looking as if he had not passed through such a terrible ordeal a short
+time before.
+
+The captain and Mr Reardon came up then.
+
+"Ready, Mr Brooke?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Order the crew into the boat, Mr Reardon."
+
+As the men sprang in, the captain came close to us.
+
+"You'll keep up the appearance of a sporting expedition, Mr Brooke," he
+said in a low voice.  "I expect you'll find the junks in the river off
+some village.  The rest I must leave to you."
+
+"Take them, sir, if I feel pretty certain?"
+
+Captain Thwaites knit his brows, and stood as if thinking for a few
+moments.
+
+"No," he said at last; "but that I leave all to your discretion.  Don't
+risk your men, if they are strong.  I'm afraid some of these mandarins
+are mixed up with the piratical expeditions, and share in the plunder,
+and I am certain that every movement we make is watched.  There, off
+with you; don't let Mr Herrick get hurt.  I trust you to do your best."
+
+We sprang into the boat, which was lowered down; the falls were
+unhooked; and as Tom Jecks, who was coxswain, gave us a shove off, the
+tide, which was running up, bore us right aft; then the oars dropped
+with a splash, the rudder lines were seized, and away we went up-stream
+on as glorious a day as ever made a dirty Chinese city look lovely.
+
+I looked back, and there were Barkins and Smith leaning over the side
+watching us, but I hardly noticed them, for something else caught my
+eye.
+
+"Why, they're getting up steam, Mr Brooke!"  I said.
+
+"Yes, my lad, they're getting up steam, and I hope your information may
+mean some good active service for us.  Here, Ching," he whispered, "you
+have not told the men anything about our business?"
+
+Ching shut his eyes and shook his head solemnly.
+
+"Velly muchee keepee mouf shut," he said, with the addition now of a few
+nods of the head.  "Nobody but Ching an' officer know."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+GETTING WARM.
+
+The men were in high glee, and, had they not been checked, would have
+sent the boat spinning up the river, in their delight to escape from the
+monotony of harbour-life, and the natural love there is in Englishmen
+for a bit of sport.
+
+"Steady, my lads," said Mr Brooke quietly.  "Just give her headway, and
+back water the moment I speak."
+
+I did not hear what one of the men whispered to his messmate, but I saw
+his face as he leaned forward, and it certainly suggested to me that he
+said--
+
+"They mean some of the tame ducks to make sure."
+
+"No, we do not, my man," said Mr Brooke, and I stared at him in
+astonishment, that he should have taken the same idea as I had.
+
+The man coloured through his tan, and Mr Brooke; said in a low voice to
+me--
+
+"Our work's cut out, Herrick; how are we to pick out the right two junks
+from all this crowd?"
+
+"I don't know, sir," I said.  "But I don't fancy they would be down here
+where other people might talk about them.  I should think they would be
+up the river."
+
+"Well, we must find them, my lad, so use our brains as much as you can,
+and if you see a junk with a very evil-looking lot aboard, just give me
+a hint as we pass."
+
+"I'll ask Ching what he thinks, sir."
+
+Mr Brooke nodded, and I turned to the interpreter, who was squatting in
+the bottom of the boat right aft, his eyes half shut, and apparently
+taking no heed of anything.
+
+"How are we to know which are the junks we want, Ching?"  I said.
+
+"Oh, velly soon find," he said.  "Ching look along.  Not these.  Pilate
+boat big and tall.  Empty.  No got big calgo aboard.  Stand high up now.
+Velly full and low down when full of plize-money."
+
+"Then you don't think they are down here?"
+
+He shook his head as he glanced at the various forms of trading-boat
+moored off the town, from the tiny sampan to the heavy, clumsy
+mat-sailed vessel, whose stern towered up, and whose great bamboo yards
+looked as if they must be perfectly unmanageable.
+
+"What do you think we had better do, then--row about here and watch?"
+
+"No good," he said; "makee men low fast light up liver, findee, pilate
+junk."
+
+"But suppose we pass them?"  I said.
+
+"No pass pilate boat: Ching here."
+
+"And so you think you will know them?"
+
+The Chinaman screwed his face up into a curiously comic smile.
+
+"Ching know pilate when he see him."
+
+"And you think it better to go right up the river?" said Mr Brooke,
+turning suddenly to join in the conversation.
+
+"Yes; pilate junk long way."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+He gave a cunning smile at us both, his little eyes twinkling in a
+singularly sly manner.
+
+"You see vegetable boat come along mo'ning?"
+
+"Yes, I saw the boat come alongside."
+
+"Blought Ching 'nothee lettee, allee same fliend.  Say pilate boat long
+way uppee liver in big cleek, waitee come down along lunning water in
+the dalk."
+
+"Then you pretty well know where they are?" said Mr Brooke.
+
+"No; far uppee liver; in cleek."
+
+"I suppose this is right?" said Mr Brooke to me.
+
+"Yes, quite light.  Ching likee see Queen Victolia ship killee catch
+pilate."
+
+"Give way, my men," said Mr Brooke, and the boat shot forward, while,
+relieved for the moment from the task of scanning the different boats, I
+sat gazing at the beautiful panorama of quaint houses, narrow streets
+debouching on the river, and the house-boats all along the edge of the
+river, while smaller boats were swinging here and there wherever there
+was room.
+
+It was a wonderfully interesting sight, for, in addition to the curious
+shapes of the buildings, there was plenty of brilliant colour, and every
+now and then patches of brightest blue and vivid scarlet were heightened
+by the glistening gilding which ornamented some particular building.
+Then there were temples dotted about amongst the patches of forest,
+which fringed the high ground at the back of the city, and away beyond
+them the steep scarps of rugged and jagged mountains, which stood up
+looking of so lovely a pinky-blue, that I could for the moment hardly
+believe they were natural, and was ready to ask whether it was not some
+wonderful piece of painting.
+
+The house-boats took my fancy greatly, for, in endless cases, they were
+of a variety of bright colours, pretty in shape, and decorated with
+showy flowers in pots and tubs; some had cages containing
+brightly-plumaged birds, and in most of them quaint bald-headed little
+children were playing about or fishing.
+
+Higher up we saw men busy with nets which were attached to the end of a
+great bamboo pole, balanced upon a strong upright post fixed in the
+river's bottom, and by means of this balanced pole the net was let down
+into the depths of the river, and hoisted from time to time, sometimes
+with a few glittering little fish within the meshes, sometimes having
+nothing but weed.
+
+"Yes, catchee fish; catchee velly big fish some time."
+
+About ten minutes after, Ching pulled my sleeve and pointed to the other
+side of the river, where I caught sight of a very familiar old friend
+sitting in his boat, just as I had seen him in an old picture-book at
+home.
+
+There he sat with a big umbrella-like sunshade fixed up over him on a
+bamboo pole, in front of him a kind of platform spread across the front
+of his moored boat, and upon it sat perched eight or nine of my old
+friends the cormorants, one of which dived into the river from time to
+time, and soon after emerged and made its way back to the boat with a
+fish in its beak.
+
+"See that, Mr Brooke?"  I cried eagerly.  "I suppose we can't stop to
+watch them?"
+
+"Not when on Her Majesty's service, Herrick," he said, with a smile, and
+we glided rapidly on, till the houses, which had long been growing
+scattered, finally disappeared, and we were following the windings of
+the river in company with a few small junks and sampans, which seemed
+bound for one of the cities higher up the great waterway.
+
+"Shoot bird now," said Ching, in answer to an inquiring look from Mr
+Brooke.
+
+"Yes; but do you think the junks are up here?"
+
+"Oh yes, velly quite su'e.  Plenty eye in boat watchee see what Queen
+Victolia offlicer going to do uppee river."
+
+"What does he mean?" said Mr Brooke, who was puzzled by this last
+rather enigmatical speech.  "Of course we have watchful eyes in our
+boat, but I don't see anything yet worth watching."
+
+"He means that very likely there are friends of the pirates in one of
+these boats, and that we had better begin shooting, so as to take off
+attention from our real purpose."
+
+"Yes, allee same; p'laps pilate fliend in lit' boat go and tell Queen
+Victolia foleign devil sailor boy come catchee."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Mr Brooke.  Then, turning to me, "You do understand a
+little French, don't you?"
+
+"Well, sir, I used to learn some at school," I replied, feeling very
+doubtful about my proficiency.
+
+"I daresay you can understand my Stratford-atte-Bow French," said Mr
+Brooke, laughing.
+
+"I'll try, sir," I said; and he said to me directly in excellent
+French--
+
+"I feel doubtful about this man.  You have seen more of him than I have.
+Do you think he is honest, or leading us into a trap?"
+
+"Honest, sir," I said, "I feel certain."
+
+"Well, then, we will trust him fully; but if he betrays us, and I can
+get a last shot--well, then--"
+
+"He'll be sorry for it, sir," I said, for Mr Brooke did not finish his
+remark.
+
+"Exactly; get out your gun and put on your cartridge belt."
+
+I followed his example, and Ching smiled.
+
+"Velly good thing," he said.  "Now pilate fliend, see jolly sailor boy,
+and say--Come killee duck-bird, goose-bird to make nicee dinner, not
+come catchee catchee pilate."
+
+"You hear what this man says, my lads?" said the young lieutenant,
+addressing the men.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Then you understand now that we have not only come up to shoot?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Keep your rifles and cutlasses quite handy in case they are wanted.  No
+confusion, mind, but at the word be ready."
+
+Mr Brooke's words seemed to send a thrill through the men, who pulled
+on now with a more vigorous stroke, while, with our guns charged, and
+the butts resting on our knees, we gave place to the coxswain, who took
+the tiller.
+
+"We'll go forward, Herrick," said my companion; and he stepped over the
+thwarts into the coxswain's place, and I sat by him, watching
+alternately for birds, junks, and creeks, up which the latter might lie.
+
+"Begin shootee soon," said Ching rather anxiously.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Velly muchee sail boat behind think why we come."
+
+"There goes something, Herrick," said Mr Brooke just then, and I looked
+up and saw a bird flying over the river at a tremendous rate.
+
+I raised my piece quickly, fired, and as soon as I was a little clear of
+the smoke, fired again.
+
+"You hit him, sir!" said our stroke-oar.  "I see him wag his tail."
+
+"It was a miss," I said quietly.
+
+"Velly good," whispered Ching.  "Allee men in other boat look see;"
+while I replaced the cartridges in my gun, and looked shoreward, to see
+that the land was level for miles, and that little flocks of duck or
+other birds were flying here and there.  Soon after a wisp of about a
+dozen came right over head, and as they approached the men rested upon
+their oars till Mr Brooke had fired, without result.
+
+He looked at me and smiled, while the men pulled again, and we went
+merrily along, getting a shot now and then, but the result for the
+game-bag was very meagre indeed, at which I was not surprised on my own
+account, but I fully expected Mr Brooke to have done some good.
+
+And still we went on along the great river, with the country, save for
+the distant mountains, looking wonderfully English, and making it hard
+to believe that we were in China.  In places where we were close to the
+shore I could see forms of growth different to our own, but at a little
+distance the trees, shrubs, and reeds looked much the same as those we
+should have encountered at home, and I confess to feeling a little
+disappointed.  Then all at once, as if he too were suffering from the
+same sensation, Mr Brooke spoke.
+
+"They will laugh at us when we get back, Herrick," he said, "as far as
+our birds are concerned, but I am beginning to think that we shall find
+the pirate junks are somewhere up here."
+
+"You think so, sir?  Look, a flock coming this way!"
+
+"Of pirate junks?" he said drily.
+
+"No, sir, ducks."
+
+"Give it them, then, my lad--both barrels."
+
+I took aim and fired both barrels quickly one after the other, but as I
+drew trigger I felt that I had done wrong, for I had aimed right in
+front of the swiftly-flying flock.
+
+"Umbrellas up!" shouted one of the men.  "Rains geese!" and there was a
+cheer and a roar of laughter, as one by one five geese fell with a
+splash in the river, two to lie perfectly still while they were
+retrieved--the others, poor birds, to make desperate efforts to swim
+broken-winged away, but to be shot one by one by Mr Brooke, and after a
+sharp row dragged into the boat.
+
+"Velly nicee," said Ching, smiling.
+
+"Yes, I must take lessons in shooting from you, Mr Herrick," said the
+young lieutenant, smiling.  "It's my turn next."
+
+I felt hot and uncomfortable, for my success seemed to be the result of
+pure accident, and I said so, but Mr Brooke laughed and shook his head.
+
+"Never mind the birds, Herrick," he said; "I feel sure our other game is
+close by somewhere."
+
+"Yes, up cleek somewhere," said Ching.
+
+"Why do you say that?"
+
+"No pointee--no look.  I tell you," said the Chinaman, taking up and
+pretending to examine the mottled brown wing of the goose he opened out.
+"Boat come behind, pilate fliend come see which way we go."
+
+"Yes, I'm sure you are right," said Mr Brooke, taking up another of the
+birds; "and if I'm not very much mistaken, that other boat you see ahead
+has his eye upon us."
+
+"Ching not velly sure, p'laps; only see one man look over side thlee
+times."
+
+"There's a bit of a river runs off here, sir, to the right," said one of
+the men, nodding to his left, where there was an opening in a patch of
+forest which came down to the river, with fine timber trees overhanging
+the muddy banks, and their branches every here and there showing dead
+grass and reeds caked with mud, as if at times this part of the country
+was deeply flooded.
+
+"Yes," said Ching very quietly; "p'laps plenty mud up there.  Go see."
+
+"And while we are up a side branch of the river, they may come down the
+main stream and escape."
+
+Ching shook his head.
+
+"Fliend say pilate junk hide up liver in cleek."
+
+"Yes, but--"
+
+"Wait lit' bit," said Ching, with a cunning look.  "Go up lit' way,
+shoot birds, and no lit' boat come after, no pilate fliend.  If come
+after, plenty muchee pilate fliend, and junk not vellee far."
+
+"He's right, Herrick," said Mr Brooke, nodding.  "Turn up the side
+branch, my lads.  Keep up the comedy of the shooting, and have a shot at
+something."
+
+"But there's nothing to shoot at, sir," I said, feeling rather doubtful
+of the accuracy of Ching's ideas.
+
+But as we turned up the narrow branch of the river--a creek not much
+wider than an English canal, I caught sight of a black-looking bird,
+which rose from the water and flew away paddling the surface with its
+feet.
+
+I fired and dropped the bird, but it flapped along, and the men cheered
+and pulled in chase for two or three hundred yards before it was
+retrieved.
+
+"It's a sort of moor-hen," I said, as I looked up from my captive.
+
+"One of the pirate's hens, perhaps, Herrick," said Mr Brooke, smiling.
+
+"Well, Ching, had we better go on?"
+
+"Yes, go 'long," said the Chinaman rather huskily.  "Velly good place."
+
+We rowed on for another three or four hundred yards, the branch winding
+a great deal, so that we seemed to be in a succession of lakes, while
+the trees on either side completely shut us in.
+
+"Stream runs very fast," I said.
+
+"Yes, velly fast," said Ching.
+
+"There, I think we had better turn back now," said Mr Brooke, but Ching
+smiled in a curious way.
+
+"What go turnee back?  Pilate fliend both come in cleek after, to see
+what Queen Victolia jolly sailor boy go to do."
+
+"Are you sure?" said Mr Brooke excitedly.
+
+"Yes, sir, I see the top of one of their sails," said Tom Jecks.
+
+"Then, by George, we are in the right track," cried Mr Brooke, and, as
+my heart began to beat rapidly, "Give way, my lads," he cried, "give
+way."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+A STARTLING.
+
+"What are we going to do?"  I said, with my heart beating fast.
+
+"Afraid?" said Mr Brooke in a whisper.
+
+"I don't know, sir--a little," I replied.
+
+"We're not going to fight, Herrick.  I shall go on and find the junks so
+as to know them again--take their portraits in our minds--and then go
+back for help.  They can't escape out of the river, and once we know
+them, our boats can soon follow and bring them to book."
+
+The men pulled as if their hearts were in their work, and upon rounding
+a bend, there, about a quarter of a mile away, lay two large vessels,
+moored close up to the trees.
+
+"We'll keep up the idea that we are shooting," said Mr Brooke.  "No,
+there is no need now.  We have kept it up long enough.  We must
+reconnoitre and go back.  They will think still that we are a
+shooting-party, and not know that we are making for them."
+
+"Of course not," I said thoughtfully.  "How could they know we had
+heard?"
+
+We rowed steadily on for a minute or two, and then Ching said quietly--
+
+"One boat--two boat come behind."
+
+We glanced back, and there, sure enough, were the sailing craft, which
+had been hanging about in front and aft, coming steadily along in our
+wake.  A moment or two later Ching spoke again--
+
+"Look over boat side, see jolly sailor boy."
+
+"Never mind those boats," said Mr Brooke impatiently.
+
+"Steady, my lads, hold hard now; that's right," he continued, as the
+oars were held, and checked the boat's progress.  "Now, Mr Herrick,
+take a good look at them.  Do you think we should know them again if you
+saw them coming down the river?"
+
+"Yes, sir," I said; "the stern of this one and bows of the other would
+be unmistakable.  I don't think I could make a blunder."
+
+"No; almost impossible; pull starboard, back water, port side.  Now,
+we'll just turn and row gently back.  I don't see any men on board."
+
+"All lie down flat," said Ching sharply.  "Plenty men aboard."
+
+"Ah, well, it does not matter.  I'm not going to run risks by attacking
+the savages.  Lift your gun and look about, Herrick.  Let them keep in
+the same mind."
+
+I stood up in the boat at this, and noted how rapidly the tide was
+running up as Mr Brooke gave the word to pull again.
+
+The movement of the boat brought me in full view of the two sampans
+which had followed us, each with a man and boy aboard; and now, as I
+looked, I was surprised to see a yellow head raised and begin watching
+us.  Then another; and Ching said quickly--"Lot men in both boats."
+
+I don't know how they had stowed themselves, but now, to our intense
+astonishment, head after head appeared, till Mr Brooke exclaimed--
+
+"Why, the boats are packed full of men."
+
+"Yes, and the junks too," I whispered hastily; for their decks, which a
+few moments before had appeared to be bare, were now crowded.
+
+"Trapped, Herrick!" said Mr Brooke through his set teeth.  "Is this a
+trick on the part of Mr Ching?"
+
+The men were looking hard at us, and they did not have long to wait.
+
+"Arms ready, my lads?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"That's right.  Now then, lay your backs to it, and row with all your
+might."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"What are you going to do?"  I said huskily.
+
+"Run for it.  The junks can't follow against this tide.  We must row out
+into the river.  Keep your fire till I give orders.  They may not try to
+stop us.  If they do, I shall try and ram one.  We have four barrels for
+the other, without troubling the men."
+
+"You don't think it's a false alarm?"
+
+"No," he said sternly; "the falsity lies somewhere else."
+
+"He means Ching," I said, but there was no time for much thought, not
+even to see a great deal.  The men grasped the situation as soon as the
+boat's head was straight, and Mr Brooke took the tiller in his left
+hand, his gun in his right, and cocked it, while I followed suit.
+
+Then I felt disposed to laugh as Ching made a dive down, and began to
+crawl under the thwarts among the men's legs, but the laugh changed to a
+serious grin as Mr Brooke steered to pass between the two boats, when
+the course of one was changed so as to throw her right athwart our way,
+and quite a dozen men rose up in each, armed with clumsy swords, yelling
+at us, and dancing about as they gesticulated and seemed to be trying to
+frighten us back.
+
+"Very well, if you will have it," said Mr Brooke between his teeth.
+"Be ready, my lads.  Cutlasses, if they try to board."
+
+A sound like the exhaustion of a heavy breath escaped from the men, and
+Mr Brooke roared at them to pull, while I sat with my finger on the
+first trigger and the gun lowered a little, gazing wildly at the savage
+crew before us.
+
+Those moments were like long minutes, but I could make out that, instead
+of frightening us, the men in the boat which crossed us were now
+frightened themselves, and they made an effort to give us room.
+
+But there were too many of them--they got in each other's way.  Then
+there was a wild shriek, a crash, and the head of our fast cutter
+crashed into them, driving their bows round, partly forcing them under
+water, and the flimsily-built boat began rapidly to fill.
+
+The second party held a little aloof, too much startled by the boldness
+of our manoeuvre to attempt to help their companions, so that we had
+only the first boat to tackle, as such of the men as could trampled over
+one another in their struggle to get on board us.
+
+But the moment the crash had come our lads sprang up with a cheer, and,
+forgetting their proper weapons, let go at the enemy with their oars,
+using them as spears and two-handed swords, and with such effect that in
+less than a minute the wretches were driven back or beaten into the
+water, to swim to and cling to their half-sunken boat, whose light
+bamboos refused to go right down.
+
+"Now pull--down with you--pull!" roared Mr Brooke, and, thanks to Mr
+Reardon's grand "dishipline," every man dropped into his place, and the
+boat, which had come to a standstill, now began to move forward, while
+the tide carried the enemy towards their junks, from whence came now as
+savage a yelling as that from the boats.
+
+"Without firing a shot," cried Mr Brooke exultantly.  "Pull, boys.
+Now, a cheer! they can't follow us against this tide."
+
+The men sent up a triumphant shout, and, as we swept round the next
+bend, we lost sight of the junks, and directly after of the two boats,
+the last I saw of them being that the crew of the second were dragging
+their companions of the first out of the water, and loading their own
+down to the gunwale edge.
+
+"Now," cried Mr Brooke, "who's hurt?"
+
+There was no answer for a moment or two.  Then one of the men said, with
+a grin--
+
+"I arn't drownded, sir; but I shall ketch cold if something arn't done--
+my feet's wet."
+
+"Yes, so velly wet," cried a plaintive voice, and Ching struggled up
+from the bottom of the boat, and stood up, showing his blue cotton
+garments to be drenched with water.
+
+"What, have we sprung a leak?" cried Mr Brooke.
+
+"Yes, sir," said Tom Jecks, "she's got a hole in her skin here forrard;
+but if I might be so bold, sir, if you was to send Mr Ching to lean up
+agin it, we shouldn't hurt much."
+
+"Pull--pull steady," cried Mr Brooke.  "Here, take the tiller, Mr
+Herrick."
+
+He laid his gun behind us and handed me the rudder, before going right
+forward to the coxswain, while I sat envying the men their coolness as
+they sat pulling away nonchalantly enough, though the water was rising
+fast and nearly covered their bare feet and ankles, while it soon
+invaded the grating upon which my own boot-covered feet were placed.
+
+"Much injured, sir?"  I shouted; and Mr Brooke gave me back poor
+Mercutio's answer to his friend, in _Romeo and Juliet_--
+
+"'Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door: but 'tis
+enough; 'twill serve."
+
+"Here, my lads, one of you; I must have a frock."
+
+"Right, sir, mine'll do," said the coxswain, unfastening and dragging
+his white duck garment over his head.
+
+This was soaked and wrung out to make it softer, and then thrust into
+the hole in our bows.
+
+"There, you must sit forward here, and plant both feet against it, my
+lad," said Mr Brooke.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir.  Men never knows what he may come to.  Fancy my toots
+being used to caulk a leak!"
+
+He, laughing, sat down on the forward thwart, and pressed his feet
+against the jacket.
+
+"Now then, a man to bale," cried Mr Brooke, and the coxswain fished the
+tin baler out of the locker forward.  "No; pass it here," continued our
+leader.  "Pull away, my lads, and Mr Herrick and I will take it in
+turns to bale.  We must get out of this narrow creek as soon as we can."
+
+"Me balee water out," squeaked Ching, who looked very wet and miserable.
+
+"No, thank you," said Mr Brooke coldly.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; I've got nothin' to do but sit here like a himage,"
+said the coxswain; "I can reach down and bale."
+
+"Without shifting your feet?"
+
+"Yes, sir; look here."
+
+The man took the baler, and began to send the water, which still came in
+but slowly, over the side; while, after satisfying myself that we should
+not be obliged to run our boat ashore and tramp back to the city, I kept
+on directing anxious glances backward to see if we were pursued.
+
+"We shan't sink, Herrick," said Mr Brooke, returning to my side; while,
+after glancing at my very serious, and at the young lieutenant's stern
+countenance, Ching crept forward under the oars to where the coxswain
+was baling, and, getting a second tin from the locker, he seated
+himself, tucked his loose things out of the way, and began meekly to
+toss out the water as fast as he could scoop it up.
+
+"That fellow's a traitor," said Mr Brooke to me in a low voice, after a
+glance back by Ching.
+
+"Oh no, I hope not, sir," I said.
+
+"I wish I could hope so too, my lad.  There's a deal of cunning in his
+plans, and he tried hard to make it seem that he was all the time
+working upon our side; but I feel as if he has led us into a trap, and
+we were very nearly coming to our end in it without a man left to tell
+the tale."
+
+"But why, sir?  What object could he have?"
+
+"Plunder, for one thing; our boat, and weapons such as they cannot get.
+Yes, I believe that he is in league with those pirates."
+
+"Oh, I can't think it, Mr Brooke," I cried.  "He has served us so
+well."
+
+"Yes, to gain his own ends."
+
+"But surely he wouldn't do such a base thing for the sake of getting a
+paltry share in these rifles and cutlasses?"
+
+"He would have the satisfaction of seeing us massacred."
+
+"But what satisfaction could that be, sir?"  I cried.  "We have always
+been his friends."
+
+"The Chinese hate the outer barbarians and foreign devils, as they call
+us, my lad.  They are obliged to tolerate our presence, but the common
+people, as you know well, would feel an intense pleasure in murdering
+every European they came across."
+
+"All the same, sir," I said, "I don't believe poor old Ching would do
+anything that was against us."
+
+"Well, we shall see.  But what an escape, my lad!  What a trap we were
+in!"
+
+"And how capital to get out of it without having a man hurt."
+
+"It's splendid, my lad.  The captain will be delighted at that, and
+forgive me about the boat."
+
+"But we had to run away, sir," I said.
+
+"Rather strange running away to charge that boat as we did!  But don't
+you take it into your head, my lad, that it is cowardly to retreat at
+the proper time.  It is madness to go throwing away the lives of your
+men when you can do no good by fighting.  It might sound very grand and
+heroic for us to have fought both those boats, and then tried to capture
+the junks; but we must have been cut to pieces in the attempt, and what
+then--"
+
+"We should have been able to say that we did not turn tail upon our
+enemies."
+
+"No, we should not, my boy, because there would not have been a soul
+left to tell the story.  There, my lad, don't indulge in romance.  He is
+the best commander who gains victories at the smallest cost of blood to
+his country.--Ha, at last! how much longer the creek seems coming back
+than it did going up."
+
+"Running against the tide, too," I cried; and the next minute we glided
+out into the big stream, crossed the river, and settled down to a quiet,
+steady row on the far side, where the eddy enabled us to make a very
+fine rate of speed.
+
+But our rate did not satisfy Mr Brooke, who kept on looking at his
+watch as the time went on, and we found that the swift tide had carried
+us much farther than we thought for.
+
+"We shall never get back at this rate," said Mr Brooke, "and it can't
+be very long before the tide turns, and then those scoundrels will come
+sailing down, perhaps pass us before we can get to the _Teaser_."
+
+"Hardly," I ventured to observe.
+
+"Well, no; you are right," he said.  "I am too impatient.  We have a
+good start, and must get to the gunboat long before they can."
+
+Meanwhile Tom Jecks sat fast, pressing his feet against the jacket
+placed over the hole, and kept baling, while Ching took his time from
+him, and used his baler with enough skill to help get rid of a great
+deal of water, so that the boat was freed to an extent which set aside
+all danger of our sinking; but with all their efforts they never got
+beyond a certain point, for the water oozed in pretty constantly through
+and round the extempore plug.
+
+At last, faint with heat and nearly exhausted, we came in sight of the
+first straggling houses, then they grew more close together, and fields
+and gardens gave place to the closely-packed habitations.  For we had
+reached the town, though even then we had quite a long row before we
+could reach the _Teaser_.
+
+The final stretch came at last--just about a quarter of a mile to
+traverse, and then we should be alongside.
+
+"Thank goodness!" said Mr Brooke, drawing a deep breath; "I don't know
+when I have felt so anxious.  Now, my lads, only another five minutes--a
+long pull and a strong pull, and all together."
+
+The men cheered and pulled, sending the boat merrily along now, for the
+tide was close upon its highest point, and for some little time it grew
+more and more sluggish before the coxswain cried out--
+
+"She's swung round, sir; tide's with us."
+
+"Ha!" ejaculated Mr Brooke.  "Then we shall get to the _Teaser_ in
+time.  They couldn't start from the creek with those light junks till
+now."
+
+"How much farther is it, sir?"  I said, as he stood up and shaded his
+eyes with his hand.
+
+"It can't be many hundred yards," he replied.  "It must be just beyond
+that head where the boats lie so thick.  Yes, off that temple there up
+on the hill."
+
+The men gave a cheer, and the boat sped on fast now, feeling the push
+given by the falling tide, and the short distance that lay between us;
+and the spot where we had lain at anchor so many days was soon
+traversed--the latter part in perfect silence, with Mr Brooke standing
+in the stern-sheets gazing straight ahead, and turning his eyes from
+side to side of the busy water thoroughfare.
+
+"She has shifted her moorings," he said at last.
+
+"Has she, sir?"  I replied, as I recalled how the furnace fires were
+going and the _Teaser_ was getting up steam when we started.
+
+"Yes; how tiresome!" he muttered.  "Just, too, when we want to
+communicate at once."
+
+"But you can see her, sir?"
+
+"No, my lad, no," he cried.  "How can I see her if she is not here?"
+
+"But I thought you said she had shifted her moorings, sir?"
+
+"Yes, and gone down the river somewhere.  Hang it all, she can't have
+sailed without us."
+
+"They wouldn't do that, sir," I cried, feeling quite startled at the
+idea of the ship leaving us with our small boat in the midst of
+strangers.  "Why, she must have had news of some other junks, sir, and
+gone in pursuit, or is it a mistake?  We can't have come far enough.
+No; this is the spot."
+
+The men were looking at me inquiringly, just as men accustomed to be led
+lean on their superiors for orders, even if one of those superiors be a
+mere boy, while I, acting in precisely the same spirit, looked up to Mr
+Brooke, and listened excitedly for what he would say next.
+
+It seemed to be a long time before he spoke, and then it was between his
+teeth and with angry vehemence, as he dropped down into his seat.
+
+"After all this hard struggle to get back with our news," he muttered,
+in so low a tone that I only heard his words, while the men sat with
+their oars balanced gazing forward to see if they could make out the
+_Teaser's_ funnel and tall spars.  "They ought not to have stirred; it's
+playing at dog and the shadow.  Here have we brought the substance, and
+they are snapping at the reflection."
+
+"Mr Brooke!"  I said in a whisper.
+
+"All right, my boy; don't be down-hearted.  It's the fortune of sea
+life.  Here we are, tired, hungry, and hot, with a badly leaking boat,
+and a far from friendly place to land in and get her repaired."
+
+"But they can't have gone far," I said.
+
+"I don't know, my lad.  Had some news of pirates, perhaps.  All I know
+now is that they've left us in the lurch."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+AN EXCHANGE.
+
+"Now then," said Mr Brooke, after a few minutes' pause, "what's the
+first thing, Herrick?  We can't keep watch for the junks in this boat."
+
+"The first thing is to get her mended, sir."
+
+"Yes; but how?"
+
+"Let's ask Ching."
+
+"Ching!" said Mr Brooke angrily.
+
+"You wantee Ching?" came in the familiar highly-pitched voice from
+forward.  "You wantee Ching go buy new boatee?"
+
+He came hurrying aft, nearly tumbling once; while, left to his own power
+alone, the coxswain redoubled his efforts to keep down the water, and
+the tin baler went _scoop scroop, scoop scroop_, and _splash splash_, as
+he sent the water flying.
+
+But the dark, angry expression of Mr Brooke's countenance repelled the
+Chinaman, and he stopped short and looked from one to the other in a
+pleading, deprecating way, ending by saying piteously--
+
+"You no wantee Ching?"
+
+Mr Brooke shook his head, and our interpreter went back over the
+thwarts, reseated himself, and began to bale again, with his head bent
+down very low.
+
+"Give way, my lads," said Mr Brooke, bearing hard on the tiller, and
+the boat began to bear round as he steered for the landing-place a
+quarter of a mile away.
+
+I looked up at him inquiringly, and he nodded at me.
+
+"We can't help it, Herrick," he said; "if we stop afloat with the boat
+in this condition we shall have a serious accident.  But we shall lose
+the junks."
+
+"Oh!"  I ejaculated, "and after all this trouble.  We had been so
+successful too.  Couldn't we repair the boat?"
+
+"If we could run into a good boat-builder's we might patch it up, but we
+can do nothing here."
+
+"Couldn't Ching show us a place?"
+
+"I can't ask the scoundrel."
+
+I winced, for I could not feel that Ching had deceived us, and for a few
+moments I was silent.  Then a thought struck me.
+
+"May I ask him, sir?"
+
+Mr Brooke was silent for a while, but he spoke at last.
+
+"I hate risking his help again, but I am ready to do anything to try and
+carry out my instructions.  We ought to patrol the river here to wait
+for the junks coming down, and then follow them, even if it is right
+down to sea.  Well, yes; ask him it he can take us to a boat-builder's,
+where we can get some tarpaulin or lead nailed on."
+
+I wasted no time.  "Ching!"  I cried; and he looked up sadly, but his
+face brightened directly as he read mine.
+
+"You wantee Ching?"
+
+"Yes; where is there a boat-builder's where they will mend the boat
+directly?"
+
+"No," he said; "takee velly long time.  Boat-builder same slow fellow.
+No piecee work along.  Take boatee out water, mend him to-mollow, next
+week."
+
+"Then what are we to do?"  I cried.  "We want to watch the junks."
+
+"Why no takee other fellow big boatee?  Plenty big boatee evelywhere.
+Get in big sampan junk, pilate man no sabby jolly sailor boy come along.
+Think other piecee fellow go catch fish."
+
+"Here, Mr Brooke," I cried excitedly; "Ching says we had better take
+one of these boats lying moored out here, and the pirates won't think of
+it being us.  Isn't it capital?"
+
+Mr Brooke gazed sharply at us both for a few moments, and then directed
+the boat's head as if going up the river again.
+
+"Where is there a suitable boat?" he said hoarsely, and speaking
+evidently under great excitement, as he saw a means of saving the chance
+after all.
+
+"Velly nice big boat over 'long there," said Ching, pointing to a native
+craft about double the size of our cutter, lying moored about a hundred
+yards from the shore, and evidently without any one in her.
+
+"Yes, that will do," cried Mr Brooke.  "Anything fits a man who has no
+clothes.  Pull, my lads--give way!"
+
+The men dragged at the oars, and I saw that since Ching had left off
+baling the water was gaining fast, and that if more power was not put on
+it would not be long before the boat was waterlogged or sunk.
+
+In a minute we were alongside the boat, one of a superior class,
+possibly belonging to some man of consequence, and Mr Brooke had run
+the cutter along her on the side farthest from the shore, so that our
+proceedings were not noticed, as we made fast.
+
+"Now then, tumble in, my lads," he cried; "take the oars and everything
+movable.  Throw them in, our game and all.  Here, Herrick, take both
+guns."
+
+Everything was transferred in a very short time; and this done, Mr
+Brooke stepped aboard the little junk-like craft, gave his orders, and a
+line was attached to a grating, the other end to one of the ring-bolts.
+Then the craft's anchor-line was unfastened, and our painter hitched on
+to it instead.  Next the grating was tossed overboard, with plenty of
+line to float it as a buoy and show where the boat had sunk, as it was
+pretty certain to do before long; and we, in our tiny junk, began to
+glide away with the tide, furnished with a serviceable boat, boasting of
+sails, even if they were not of a kind our men were accustomed to
+manage.
+
+"Why, it is grand, Herrick!" cried Mr Brooke excitedly.  "We shall get
+them after all."
+
+"And all Ching's doing, sir," I said quietly.
+
+"Ah, yes, perhaps; he is repentant now he has been found out.  But we
+shall see--"
+
+"That he is quite innocent, sir," I said.
+
+"I hope so, my lad.  Now, let's make sail, and beat about here, to and
+fro.  We must keep a good watch for our two friends, and if they come
+down we can follow till we see the _Teaser_ in the offing.  We may, I
+say, capture them yet."
+
+A sail was hoisted, and in a few minutes we found that the craft went
+along easily and well, answering to her helm admirably.  Her high
+bulwarks gave plenty of shelter, and would, I saw, well conceal our men,
+so that we had only to put Ching prominently in sight to pass unnoticed,
+or as a Chinese fishing or pleasure boat.
+
+Just then I turned and found him close behind me, rubbing his hands.
+
+"You ask Mr Blooke he likee Ching sit where pilate see him 'gain?" he
+said.
+
+"I am sure he would," I replied.
+
+He looked sad again directly, and just touched the sleeve of my Norfolk
+jacket with the long nail of his forefinger.
+
+"Ching velly solly," he said.
+
+"What about?"
+
+"Mr Blooke think Ching fliends with pilates.  Velly shocking; Ching
+hate pilates dleadfully; hollid men."
+
+"Yes, I am sure you do," I said.
+
+The Celestial's face lit up again directly, and he rubbed his hands.
+
+"Ching velly--"
+
+"Yes?"  I said, for Mr Brooke called to me from the little cabin
+contrived for shelter in the after part of the vessel.
+
+"Look here," he said, as I joined him, "we can keep below here, and
+command the river too, without being seen.  Why, Herrick, my lad, this
+is capital; they will never suspect this Chinese boat to be manned by a
+crew of Her Majesty's Jacks."
+
+"Then everything has turned out for the best," I cried eagerly.
+
+"Humph! that remains to be proved, my lad.  We've got to return and face
+Mr Reardon and the captain, and the first question asked of an officer
+who has been entrusted with one of Her Majesty's boats, and who returns
+without it, is--What have you done with the boat or ship?  We--yes, you
+are in the mess, sir--have to go back and say that we have lost it."
+
+"Why, the captain owned to Pat that a thing couldn't be lost when you
+knew where it was."
+
+"I don't understand you, my lad," said Mr Brooke.
+
+"Don't you remember about the captain's tea-kettle, sir, that Pat
+dropped overboard?  It was not lost, because Pat knew where it was--at
+the bottom of the sea."
+
+"Oh yes, I remember; but I'm afraid Captain Thwaites will not take that
+excuse."
+
+"Why, she has gone down already, sir," I said, as I looked over the side
+for the boat we had left.
+
+"Yes; but I can see the grating floating.  The coxswain took his jacket
+out of the hole."
+
+He pointed to the stout piece of woodwork which we had turned into a
+buoy, but I could not make it out, and I thought it did not much matter,
+for something else had begun to trouble me a great deal just then, and I
+waited very anxiously for my officer to make some proposal.
+
+But it did not come at once, for Mr Brooke was planning about the watch
+setting, so as to guard against the junks coming down the river and
+passing us on their way out to sea.
+
+But at last all was to his satisfaction, one man keeping a look-out up
+the river for the descending junks, the other downward to the mouth for
+the return of the _Teaser_, whose coming was longed for most intensely.
+
+Then, with just a scrap of sail raised, the rest acting as a screen
+dividing the boat, we tacked about the river, keeping as near as was
+convenient to the spot where the _Teaser_ had anchored, and at last Mr
+Brooke said to me, just in the grey of the evening--
+
+"I'm afraid the lads must be getting hungry."
+
+"I know one who is, sir," I said, laughing.
+
+He smiled.
+
+"Well, I have been too busy and anxious to think about eating and
+drinking," he said; "but I suppose I am very hungry too.  Here, my lad,
+pass that basket along, and serve out the provisions."
+
+"You likee Ching serve out plovisions?"
+
+Mr Brooke frowned, and the Chinaman shrank away.  I noticed too that
+when the food was served round, the men took each a good lump of salt
+pork and a couple of biscuits, Ching contented himself with one biscuit,
+which he took right forward, and there sat, munching slowly, till it was
+dark and the shore was lit up with thousands of lanterns swinging in
+shop, house, and on the river boats moored close along by the shore.
+
+"Bad for us," said Mr Brooke, as we sat together astern steering, and
+keeping a sharp look ahead for the expected enemy.
+
+"Why?"  I asked.
+
+"Getting so dark, my lad.  We shall be having the junks pass us."
+
+"Oh no, sir.  Ching is keen-sighted, and all the men are looking out
+very eagerly."
+
+"Ah, well, I hope they will not slip by.  They must not, Herrick.  There
+is one advantage in this darkness, though: they will not find us out."
+
+The darkness favouring the movement, and so as to save time, ready for
+any sudden emergency, he ordered the men to buckle on their
+cutlass-belts and pouches, while the rifles were hid handy.
+
+"In case we want to board, Herrick."
+
+"Then you mean to board if there is a chance?"  I said.
+
+"I mean to stop one of those junks from putting to sea, if I can," he
+replied quietly.  "The _Teaser_ having left us, alters our position
+completely.  She has gone off on a false scent, I'm afraid, and we must
+not lose the substance while they are hunting the shadow."
+
+Very little more was said, and as I sat in the darkness I had plenty to
+think about and picture out, as in imagination I saw our queer-looking
+boat hooked on to the side of a great high-pooped junk, and Mr Brooke
+leading the men up the side to the attack upon the fierce desperadoes
+who would be several times our number.
+
+"I don't know what we should do," I remember thinking to myself, "if
+these people hadn't a wholesome fear of our lads."
+
+Then I watched the shore, with its lights looking soft and mellow
+against the black velvety darkness.  Now and then the booming of gongs
+floated off to us, and the squeaking of a curious kind of pipe; while
+from the boats close in shore the twangling, twingling sound of the
+native guitars was very plain--from one in particular, where there was
+evidently some kind of entertainment, it being lit up with a number of
+lanterns of grotesque shapes.  In addition to the noise--I can't call it
+music--of the stringed instruments, there came floating to us quite a
+chorus of singing.  Well, I suppose it was meant for singing; but our
+lads evidently differed, for I heard one man say in a gruff whisper--
+
+"See that there boat, messmate?"
+
+"Ay," said another.  "I hear it and see it too."
+
+"Know what's going on?"
+
+"Yes; it's a floating poulterer's shop."
+
+"A what?"
+
+"A floating poulterer's shop.  Can't you hear 'em killing the cats?"
+
+This interested me, and I listened intently.
+
+"Killing the cats?" said another.
+
+"Ay, poor beggars.  Lor' a mussy! our cats at home don't know what
+horrible things is done in foreign lands.  They're killing cats for
+market to-morrer, for roast and biled."
+
+"Get out, and don't make higgerant observations, messmate.  It's a
+funeral, and that's the way these here heathens show how sorry they
+are."
+
+"Silence there, my lads," said the lieutenant.  "Keep a sharp look-out."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+Just at that moment, as the lit-up boat glided along about a couple of
+hundred yards from us, where we sailed gently up-stream, there was a
+faint rustling forward, and Tom Jecks' gruff voice whispered--
+
+"What is it, messmate?"
+
+"Ching see big junk."
+
+There was a dead silence, and we all strained our eyes to gaze
+up-stream.
+
+"Can't see nought, messmate," was whispered.
+
+"Yes; big junk come along."
+
+_Plash_! and a creaking, rattling sound came forth out of the darkness.
+
+"It is a big junk," said Mr Brooke, with his lips to my ear; "and she
+has anchored."
+
+Then from some distance up the river we saw a very dim lantern sway here
+and there, some hoarse commands were given, followed by the creaking and
+groaning of a bamboo yard being lowered, and then all was perfectly
+still.
+
+What strange work it seemed to be out there in the darkness of that
+foreign river, surrounded by curious sights and sounds, and not knowing
+but what the next minute we might be engaged in deadly strife with a
+gang of desperadoes who were perfectly indifferent to human life, and
+who, could they get the better of us, would feel delight in slaughtering
+one and all.  It was impossible to help feeling a peculiar creepy
+sensation, and a cold shiver ran through one from time to time.
+
+So painful was this silence, that I felt glad when we had sailed up
+abreast of the great vessel which had dropped anchor in mid-stream, for
+the inaction was terrible.
+
+We sailed right by, went up some little distance, turned and came back
+on the other side, so near this time that we could dimly make out the
+heavy masts, the huge, clumsy poop and awkward bows of the vessel lying
+head to stream.
+
+Then we were by her, and as soon as we were some little distance below
+Mr Brooke spoke--
+
+"Well, my lads, what do you say: is she one of the junks?"
+
+"No pilate junk," said Ching decisively, and I saw Mr Brooke make an
+angry gesture--quite a start.
+
+"What do you say, my lads?"
+
+"Well, sir, we all seem to think as the Chinee does--as it arn't one of
+them."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Looks biggerer and clumsier, and deeper in the water."
+
+"Yes; tlade boat from Hopoa," said Ching softly, as if speaking to
+himself.
+
+"I'm not satisfied," said Mr Brooke.  "Go forward, Mr Herrick; your
+eyes are sharp.  We'll sail round her again.  All of you have a good
+look at her rigging."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," whispered the men; and I crept forward among them to
+where Ching had stationed himself, and once more we began gliding up
+before the wind, which was sufficiently brisk to enable us to easily
+master the swift tide.
+
+As I leaned over the side, Ching heaved a deep sigh.
+
+"What's the matter?"  I whispered.
+
+"Ching so velly mislable," he whispered back.  "Mr Blooke think him
+velly bad man.  Think Ching want to give evelybody to pilate man.  Ching
+velly velly solly."
+
+"Hist! look out!"
+
+I suppose our whispering had been heard, for just as we were being
+steered pretty close to the anchored junk, a deep rough voice hailed us
+something after this fashion, which is as near as I can get to the
+original--
+
+"Ho hang wong hork ang ang ha?"
+
+"Ning toe ing nipy wong ony ing!" cried Ching.
+
+"Oh ony ha, how how che oh gu," came from the junk again, and then we
+were right on ahead.
+
+"Well," whispered Mr Brooke, "what does he say?  Is it one of the
+pirate vessels?"
+
+"No pilate.  Big boat come down hong, sir.  Capin fellow want to know if
+we pilate come chop off head, and say he velly glad we all good man."
+
+"Are you quite sure?" said Mr Brooke.
+
+I heard Ching give a little laugh.
+
+"If pilate," he said, "all be full bad men.  Lightee lantern; thlow
+stink-pot; make noise."
+
+"Yes," said Mr Brooke; "this cannot be one of them.  Here, hail the man
+again, and ask him where he is going."
+
+"How pang pong won toe me?" cried Ching, and for answer there came two
+or three grunts.
+
+"Yes; what does he say?"
+
+"Say he go have big long sleep, 'cause he velly tired."
+
+Mr Brooke said no more, but ran the boat down the river some little
+distance and then began to tack up again, running across from side to
+side, so as to make sure that the junks did not slip by us in the
+darkness.  But hour after hour glided on, and the lights ashore and on
+the boats gradually died out, till, with the exception of a few lanterns
+on vessels at anchor, river and shore were all alike one great expanse
+of darkness, while we had to go as slowly as possible, literally
+creeping along, to avoid running into craft moored in the stream.
+
+And all this time perfect silence had to be kept, and but for the
+intense desire to give good account of the junks, the men would soon
+have been fast asleep.
+
+"Do you think they will come down and try to put to sea, Ching?"  I said
+at last, very wearily.
+
+"Yes, allee 'flaid Queen Victolia's jolly sailor boy come steam up liver
+and send boat up cleek, fight and burn junks.  Come down velly quick."
+
+"Doesn't seem like it," I said, beginning at last to feel so drowsy I
+could not keep my eyes open.
+
+"So velly dark, can't see."
+
+"Why, you don't think they will get by us in the darkness?"  I said,
+waking up now with a start at his words, and the bad news they conveyed.
+
+"Ching can't tell.  So velly dark, plenty junk go by; nobody see if
+velly quiet.  Ching hope not get away.  Wantee Mr Brooke catchee both
+junk, and no think Ching like pilate man."
+
+"Here, I must go and have a talk to Mr Brooke," I said; and I crept
+back to where he sat steering and sweeping the darkness he could not
+penetrate on either side.
+
+"Well, Herrick," he said eagerly.  "News?"
+
+"Yes, sir; bad news.  Ching is afraid that the junks have crept by us in
+the night."
+
+"I have been afraid so for some time, my lad, for the tide must have
+brought them down long enough ago."
+
+He relapsed into silence for a few minutes, and then said quietly--
+
+"You can all take a sleep, my lads; Mr Herrick and I will keep watch."
+
+"Thankye, sir, thankye," came in a low murmur, and I went forward to
+keep a look-out there; but not a man lay down, they all crouched
+together, chewing their tobacco, waiting; while Ching knelt by the bows,
+his elbows on the gunwale, his chin resting upon his hands, apparently
+gazing up the river, but so still that I felt he must be asleep, and at
+last startled him by asking the question whether he was.
+
+"No; too much head busy go sleep.  Want findee allee pilate, show Mr
+Blooke no like pilate.  Velly 'flaid all gone."
+
+How the rest of that night went by, I can hardly tell.  We seemed to be
+for hours and hours without end tacking to and fro, now going up the
+river two or three miles, then dropping down with the tide, and always
+zig-zagging so as to cover as much ground as possible.  The night
+lengthened as if it would never end; but, like all tedious times of the
+kind, it dragged its weary course by, till, to my utter astonishment,
+when it did come, a faint light dawned away over the sea beyond the
+mouth of the river, just when we were about a mile below the city.
+
+That pale light gradually broadened, and shed its ghastly chilly beams
+over the sea, making all look unreal and depressing, and showed the
+faces of our crew, sitting crouched in the bottom of the boat, silent
+but quite wide-awake.
+
+Then all started as if suddenly electrified, for Ching uttered a low
+cry, and stood up, pointing right away east.
+
+"What is it?"  I said.
+
+"Two pilate junk."
+
+We all saw them at the same time, and with a miserable feeling of
+despondency, for there was no hiding the fact.  The river was wide, and
+while we were close under one bank they had glided silently down under
+the other, and were far beyond our reach.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+THE UNTRUSTWORTHY AGENT.
+
+"Eaten, Herrick," said Mr Brooke in a low voice.
+
+"Not yet, sir," I said.
+
+I don't know how it was that I said those words.  They came to my lips
+and I uttered them, making Mr Brooke turn round upon me sharply, in the
+grey light of dawn.
+
+"What do you mean by that, boy?" he said.
+
+"Mean?  I don't--I--that is,"--I stammered; "I wouldn't give up yet,
+sir."
+
+"What would you do? wait for them to come back?" he said bitterly.
+
+"No," I cried, gaining courage; "go after them, sir."
+
+"And attack and take them with this boat, Herrick?" he said, smiling at
+me rather contemptuously.
+
+"Of course we couldn't do that, sir," I said, "but we might follow and
+keep them in sight.  We should know where they went."
+
+"Yes," he said, after a moment's thought; "but we may be away for days,
+and we must have provisions.  What is to be done?"
+
+"You likee me buy blead and fish, and plenty good to eat?" said Ching in
+rather a shrinking way.
+
+"Yes," said Mr Brooke, turning upon the Celestial sharply.  "Where
+shall we land you?"
+
+"There," said Ching, pointing to the shore about a mile up from where we
+lay.
+
+"But it's going back, and we shall lose sight of the junks, Ching," I
+said.
+
+"Plenty blead there.  Ching know the way."
+
+"But one moment, Mr Brooke," I said; "are we sure that those are the
+right junks?"
+
+"I feel sure," he said.  "What do you say, my lads?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir, them's right," chorussed the men.
+
+"Yes, Ching velly sure those pilate junk."
+
+"I know one on 'em, sir," said Jecks, "by her great yard.  I never see a
+junk with such a big un afore.  Talk about the cut of a jib--I says,
+look at the cut of her mainsail."
+
+"Well, we must have food and water, if we are going out of the mouth of
+the river," said Mr Brooke, and he turned the boat's head shoreward.
+
+"No makee haste," said Ching deprecatingly.  "Too soon, evelybody fas'
+asleep."
+
+Mr Brooke gave an impatient stamp on the frail bamboo half-deck, but
+said no more for a few moments.
+
+"We must wait if we are too soon, for it would be madness to go without
+food and water."
+
+He was silent for a time, during which the men watched the distant
+junks, and as they stood out more and more boldly in the morning light,
+we compared notes, and made comments upon them, all growing more and
+more satisfied that these were the two of which we were in search.
+
+"Yes, they must be," said Mr Brooke at last, after listening for some
+time to the men's conversation.  "The very fact of their sailing in
+company is suggestive.  Seems odd, though, doesn't it, Herrick?" he half
+whispered.
+
+"What? their getting by us, sir, in the dark?"
+
+"No; I mean, after making up my mind that this fellow Ching was a
+traitor, and that I would have no more to do with him, to find myself
+forced at every turn to rest upon him for help.  Lesson for you, lad."
+
+"In what way, sir?"
+
+"Not to have too much faith in yourself.  I am beginning to hope that I
+have been deceived about him, but we shall soon have proof."
+
+"I feel sure you are misjudging him, sir," I said eagerly.
+
+"Yes, with a boy's readiness to trust."
+
+"But I feel sure he is honest, sir."
+
+"Well, we shall soon see."
+
+I looked at him for an explanation, and he smiled.
+
+"I am going to give him some money, and send him ashore to buy
+provisions.  If he is dishonest he will not come back."
+
+"But he will come back," I said confidently.
+
+"We shall see, my lad," he replied; and once more he was silent, after
+handing the tiller to me, and looking back longingly at the two junks,
+which were apparently making no way, for the wind was blowing dead now
+into the mouth of the river.
+
+Early as it was, there were people stirring as we approached the
+landing-place Ching had pointed out, and he nodded with satisfaction.
+
+"Allee light," he said, smiling.  "Get plenty blead, meat.  You fillee
+big tub with water;" and he pointed to a large rough vessel, and another
+which was a great earthenware jar.
+
+"But where are we to get the water?"  I said.
+
+"Out o' liver.  Plenty water in liver."
+
+"We can't drink that peasoup," I said, as I looked over the side in
+disgust at the yellow solution of mud.
+
+"Velly good water.  Allee salt gone now.  Plenty clear by and by."
+
+"We must make the best of it, Herrick," said my companion; and then
+turning to Ching, he said rather sternly--
+
+"Here are eight dollars: buy as much bread and cooked meat as you can,
+and get back as quickly as possible, when we set you ashore."
+
+Ching nodded and smiled.
+
+"Be velly quick," he said; "and you take boat lit' way out, and stop
+till come back."
+
+"Of course; trust us for that, my man."
+
+Ten minutes later we ran alongside some rough bamboo piles, to which
+about half-a-dozen Chinamen hurried, to stand staring at us.  But Ching
+paid no attention to them.  He only made a leap from the boat when we
+were a couple of yards from the platform, landed safely but with tail
+flying, and his blue cotton garment inflating balloon-like with the
+wind.  Then he walked away among the houses, and one of our men pushed
+the boat off again, evidently to the intense wonder of the people, who
+stared hard to see a British sailor managing a native vessel; while two
+others, in a costume perfectly new to them, sat looking on.
+
+Then our men were packed out of sight, some in the little cabin, others
+hidden at the bottom of the boat, beneath a matting-sail.
+
+When we were about a hundred yards from the shore, a clumsy wooden
+grapnel, to which a heavy stone was bound with a twisted rope of bamboo,
+was dropped overboard, and then we lay in the swift tide, with the boat
+tugging at the line as if eager to be off on the chase the stern
+necessity concerning food kept us from carrying on at once.
+
+"How these people do seem to detest us, Herrick!" said Mr Brooke, after
+we had been waiting patiently for about a quarter of an hour,
+impatiently another, but not quite in idleness, for, after tasting the
+river water to find that it was very slightly brackish now, the tub and
+the jar were both filled and left to settle.
+
+"Yes, they're not very fond of us," I replied, as I noted how the
+numbers were increasing, and that now there was a good deal of talking
+going on, and this was accompanied by gesticulations, we evidently being
+the objects of their interest.  "They can't have much to do."
+
+Mr Brooke made no reply, but moment by moment he grew more uneasy, as
+he alternately scanned the people ashore and the junks in the offing.
+
+"Oh," I said at last, "if we could only see the _Teaser_ coming up the
+river!"
+
+"I'd be content, Herrick," said Mr Brooke bitterly, "if we could only
+see the messenger coming back with our stores."
+
+"Yes," I said uneasily, for I had been fidgeting a good deal; "he is a
+long time."
+
+"Yes," said Mr Brooke, looking at me very fixedly, till I avoided his
+gaze, for I knew he was thinking of my defence of Ching.
+
+"Perhaps the bakers' shops are not open," I said at last.
+
+"Perhaps this is not London, my lad.  It's of no use for you to defend
+him; I begin to feel sure that he has left us in the lurch."
+
+"Oh, wait a little longer, please, Mr Brooke," I cried; and I vainly
+scanned the increasing crowd upon the platform and shore, and could see,
+instead of Ching, that the people were growing more and more excited, as
+they talked together and kept pointing at us.
+
+"I shall not wait much longer," said Mr Brooke at last.  "He has had
+plenty of time.  Look here, my lads, we have plenty of water, and the
+business is urgent.  You'll have to be content with a drink and a pull
+at your waistbelts."
+
+"All right, sir," said the coxswain; "what's good enough for the
+orficers is good enough for us.  We won't grumble, eh, mates?"
+
+There was a low growl here, but not of discontent.
+
+"Then in another five minutes, if our Celestial friend does not come
+back, we shall start.  I'll give him that time."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; they're a siggling of us."
+
+"Signalling! who are?"
+
+"The Chinees, sir."
+
+"Yes, look," I said; for, after a good deal of talking and shouting, one
+man was standing close at the edge of the landing-place, and beckoning
+to us to come closer in.
+
+"Likely," I heard one of our men whisper.  "Ducks."
+
+"Eh?" said another.
+
+"Dill, dill, dill; will yer come and be killed?"
+
+"What do they want, Herrick?  To inveigle us ashore?"
+
+"I know, sir for the reason of their excitement now came to me like a
+flash, and I wondered that I had not thought of it before."
+
+"Well, then.  Speak out if you do know, my lad."
+
+"That's it, sir.  We've got a boat they know, and they think we're
+stealing it."
+
+"Tut, tut, tut.  Of course.  That explains it.  Very sorry, my friends,
+but we cannot spare it yet.  You shall have her back and be paid for the
+use of it, when we've done with her."
+
+The shouts, gesticulations, and general excitement increased, two men
+now beckoning imperiously, and it was evident that they were ordering us
+to come to the landing-place at once.
+
+"No, my friends," said Mr Brooke, "we are not coming ashore.  We know
+your gentle nature too well.  But Ching is not coming, Herrick, so we'll
+heave up the grapnel and be off."
+
+The crowd was now dense, and the excitement still increasing, but the
+moment they saw our coxswain, in obedience to an order given by Mr
+Brooke--in spite of an appealing look, and a request for another ten
+minutes--begin to haul up the rough grapnel, the noise ashore was
+hushed, and the gesticulations ceased.
+
+"Five minutes more, Mr Brooke," I whispered; "I feel sure that Ching
+will come."
+
+"Silence, sir," he said coldly.  "It is only what I expected.  The man
+knows he is found out."
+
+By this time the boat was hauled up over the grapnel, and I shrank away
+in despair, feeling bitterly disappointed at Ching's non-appearance, but
+full of confidence in him--faith the stronger for an intense desire to
+make up to the man for misjudging him before.
+
+Then the grapnel was out of the mud, and hauled over the side; the boat
+began to yield to the tide; and Mr Brooke stepped to the mast himself,
+being unwilling to call the men in the cabin into the people's sight.
+
+"Come and take a hand at the rope here, coxswain," said Mr Brooke.
+"Mr Herrick, take the tiller."
+
+But at the first grasp of our intention, as they saw the preparation for
+hoisting the sail, there was a fierce yell from the shore, and the
+people scattered to right and left.
+
+"What does that mean?"  I said to myself.  But the next instant I knew,
+for they were making for different boats, into which they jumped, and
+rapidly began to unmoor.
+
+"Humph! time we were off," said Mr Brooke.  "Hoist away, man, I cannot
+do it alone."
+
+"I am a-hysting, sir, but the tackle's got foul somehow.  It's this here
+rough rope.  The yard won't move."
+
+"Tut tut--try, man, try."
+
+"All right, sir, I'll swarm up the the mast, and set it free."
+
+"But there is no time, my man.  Haul--haul."
+
+The man did haul, but it was like pulling at a fixed rope, and the sail
+obstinately refused to move, while to my horror there were no less than
+six boats pushing off, and I foresaw capture, a Chinese prison, and
+severe punishment--if we could not get help--for stealing a boat.
+
+"All hands on deck," cried Mr Brooke, making use of the familiar
+aboard-ship order, and just as the first two boats were coming rapidly
+on, and were within a dozen yards, our Jacks sprang up armed and ready.
+
+The effect was magical.  Evidently taken by surprise, the Chinamen
+stopped short, and the boats all went on drifting slowly down the
+stream.  But at the end of a minute, as we made no attack, but all stood
+awaiting orders, they recovered their confidence, uttered a shout to
+encourage one another, and came on.
+
+"I don't want to injure them," Mr Brooke muttered, but he was forced to
+act.  "Give them the butts of your pieces, my lads, if they try to lay
+hold of the boat.  Mind, they must be kept off."
+
+He had no time to say more, but seized the fowling-piece as the first
+boat was rowed alongside, and amidst a fierce burst of objurgations, in
+a tongue we could not understand, a couple of men seized the gunwale of
+the boat, while two more jumped aboard.
+
+The men who caught hold let go again directly, for the butts of the
+men's rifles and the gunwale were both hard for fingers, and the Chinese
+yelled, and the two who leaped aboard shrieked as they were seized and
+shot out of the boat again.
+
+But by this time another craft of about our own size had come alongside,
+and was hanging on to us, while four more were trying to get in, and
+others were pushing off from the shore.
+
+We were being surrounded; and, enraged by our resistance, while gaining
+courage from their numbers and from the fact that we made no use of
+cutlass or rifle, they now made desperate efforts to get aboard.
+
+Our men were getting desperate too, and in another minute there must
+have been deplorable bloodshed, the more to be regretted as it would
+have been between our sailors and a friendly power, when Jecks, after
+knocking a Chinaman back into his own boat with his fist, stooped and
+picked up the boat-hook we had brought on board from our now sunken
+cutter.  With this he did wonders, using it like a cue, Barkins
+afterwards said, when I described the struggle, and playing billiards
+with Chinese heads.  But, be that as it may, he drove back at least a
+dozen men, and then attacked one of the boats, driving the pole right
+through the thin planking and sending the water rushing in.
+
+But we were still in imminent danger of being taken prisoners, and, as
+he afterwards told me, Mr Brooke was thinking seriously of sending a
+charge of small-shot scattering amongst the crowd, when two of our lads
+seized the sheet and began to try and hoist the matting-sail, and to my
+intense delight I saw it begin to go up as easily as could be.
+
+I flew to the tiller, but found a big Chinaman before me, and in an
+instant he had me by the collar and was tugging me over the side.  But I
+clung to it, felt a jerk as there was a loud rap, and, thanks to Tom
+Jecks, the man rolled over into the water, and began to swim.
+
+"Now for it, my lads," shouted Mr Brooke.  "All together; over with
+them!"
+
+The men cheered and struck down with the butts of their rifles, the
+boat-hook was wielded fiercely, and half-a-dozen of our assailants were
+driven out of the boat, but not into the others, for they fell with
+splash after splash into the river.  For our vessel careened over as the
+sail caught the full pressure of the wind, and then made quite a bound
+from the little craft by which she was surrounded.
+
+Then a cheer arose, for we knew we could laugh at our enemies, who were
+being rapidly left behind; and, while some dragged their swimming
+companions into their boats, the others set up a savage yelling;
+gesticulating, and no doubt telling us how, if they caught us, they
+would tear us into little bits.
+
+"Well done, my lads," cried Mr Brooke.  "Splendid, splendid.  Couldn't
+have been better.  Excellent, Mr Herrick; ease her a little, ease her.
+We must have a reef in that sail.  All left behind, then; no pursuit?"
+and he looked astern as our boat rushed through the water, and then he
+frowned, for one of the men said--
+
+"Yes, sir; here's one on 'em from the shore coming arter us full sail,
+and she's going as fast as we."
+
+And once more, as I looked behind me, holding on the while by the
+tiller, I seemed to see the inside of a Chinese prison after we had been
+pretty well stoned to death; for it was a good-sized boat that was
+gliding after us at a rapid rate, and threatening to overtake us before
+long.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+MR. BROOKE'S ERROR.
+
+"I did not see either of those craft with sails," I said to Tom Jecks,
+as we stood watching the following boat, which was evidently making
+every possible effort to come up with us.
+
+"No, sir, 'twarn't neither o' them.  I see 'em put off from a bit higher
+up," said Jecks.  "My hye! they are in a hurry, sir.  You'd better tell
+Mr Brooke he must shake out a reef instead o' taking one up."
+
+"No; leave it to him, he doesn't like interference."
+
+"No, sir, orficers don't, and it is their natur' to.  But I say, sir,
+what a--_murder_!--what a wrench I give my shoulder."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Hitting one o' them pudding-headed Teapots, sir.  Didn't hurt my
+knuckles, because his head was soft.  Just like punching a bladder o'
+lard, but the weight on him wrenched the jynte."
+
+"Wait till we get on board," I said, "and Mr Price will soon put you
+right."
+
+"Bah! not him, sir," said the man scornfully.  "I shouldn't think o'
+going to a doctor for nothing less than losing my head.  It'll soon get
+right.  Exercise is the thing, sir, for a hurt o' that sort.  You and
+Mr Brooke give us a good job at them pirates out yonder, and I shall
+forget all about my shoulder."
+
+"We'll try," I said laughingly.  "But what were you going to say just
+now?"
+
+"I, sir? nothin', sir."
+
+"Oh yes; when you broke off."
+
+"I broke off, sir?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"To be sure.  Yes, sir, I was going to say what a lesson it is for you,
+sir, as a young orficer, not to go pickling and stealing other folkses'
+boats.  This here all comes o' taking boats as don't belong to you."
+
+"Better than sitting in another till she sinks, Tom Jecks."
+
+"Not so honest, sir."
+
+"Rubbish!  We haven't stolen the boat; only borrowed it."
+
+"Ah, that's what them heathens don't understand, sir; and I don't know
+as I blames 'em, for it is rather hard for 'em to take hold on.  S'pose,
+sir, as you was in London town, and a chap was to take your dymon'
+ring--"
+
+"Haven't got one, Tom Jecks."
+
+"Well, s'pose you had one, and he took it and sailed away as hard as he
+could go, sir.  It wouldn't be very easy for you to tell whether he'd
+stole it or borrowed it, eh, sir?"
+
+"Oh, bother I don't ask riddles now, we're so busy.  Here: over we go."
+
+"Lie to the windward, all of you," shouted Mr Brooke, who was now at
+the tiller.  "More aft there; that's better."
+
+For the boat had careened over to so great an extent that she had taken
+in a little water, and I felt that we were about to be capsized.
+
+But she rose again and skimmed along rapidly for the mouth of the river,
+and I crept close to my officer again.
+
+"Shall I take the tiller, sir?"  I said.
+
+"No, Herrick, I'll keep it for the present.  I want to get all I can out
+of the boat, and keep up as much sail as possible without capsizing.
+It's wonderful what these clumsy things can do."
+
+"Yes, sir, we're going pretty fast, but I'm afraid the one behind goes
+faster."
+
+"She does, my lad, for her crew know exactly how to manage.  I don't
+want any more fighting if I can help it, but if they do overtake us I
+think we can soon send them back again.  Men seem much hurt?  Do they
+complain?" he whispered.
+
+"Only about bruises, sir.  They seem to treat it as so much fun.  I say,
+how that boat does sail!"
+
+"Yes, and we can do no more here but keep steadily on.  Yes, we can.
+Take a pull at that sheet, my lads, and flatten out the sail a bit."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir;" and the sail was hauled a foot higher, and the sheet
+tightened, with the effect that we raced along with the water parting
+like a broad arrow before our prow, so that we seemed to be sailing
+along in quite a trough, and at times I wondered that we were not
+swamped.
+
+But it was very exciting, and, like the others, I forgot all about a few
+contusions in the intense interest of the chase.
+
+I went forward again to where Tom Jecks sat on the port gunwale, which
+was formed of one bamboo carefully lashed on with strips of the same
+material, and as there was nothing else to do, I shaded my eyes from the
+nearly level rays of sunlight, and had a good look at the distant junks.
+
+"Yes, sir, that's them, sure enough," said the coxswain.  "Wish we was
+twice as many, and had a good-sized gun in the bows."
+
+"Why, it would kick the boat all to pieces, or sink her," I said.
+
+"Oh, that wouldn't matter, sir."
+
+"But it's some one else's boat that we've borrowed," I said, with a
+laugh.
+
+"Ay, so it is; I forgot, sir.  But we ain't got a gun, and I'm afraid we
+can't take them two junks alone."
+
+"So am I, Tom Jecks," I said; "but we can follow them."
+
+"Arter we've had another naval engagement, sir.  I say, look astern; I
+do like the impidence of these here savages, chasing on us like this,
+and they're gaining on us fast."
+
+"No; only just holding their own."
+
+"Gaining, sir."
+
+"No."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+I took a long look back at the boat, and counted the black caps and
+flattened limpet-shaped straw hats of the blue-jacketed men on board.
+
+"Seven of 'em," I said half aloud.
+
+"Eight, sir; I counted 'em twice.  One on 'em is a-lying down now, but
+he was a-setting up a little while ago.  Afraid we shall open fire, I
+expect."
+
+"And that's what we shall have to do," I said.  "A rifle bullet or two
+sent over their heads would make them give up."
+
+"But they arn't pirates, sir, and you mustn't fire at 'em.  Look at that
+now."
+
+The pursuing boat was about two hundred yards behind us, and one of the
+Chinamen now stood up in the bows, holding on by a stay, waving his
+straw hat and gesticulating furiously.
+
+"All right, Mr Shing po Num, or whatever your name is," said the
+coxswain in a low voice, "can't stop this time, we're in a hurry."
+
+The man kept on gesticulating.
+
+"Can't you hear what I say?" continued Jecks in a whisper.  "We're in a
+hurry.  Say, sir, that's the chap as belongs to our boat--I mean his
+boat, and he's getting wilder and wilder now to see us carry it off.
+Say, sir, arn't it a bit--what you may call it--to take it away?"
+
+"A bit what?"
+
+"Well, sir, what do you grand folks call it when some one does what
+we're a-doing on?"
+
+"Unkind."
+
+"No, sir; it arn't an un-anything."
+
+"Cruel?"
+
+"No, sir.  Cause you see a boat arn't a beast."
+
+"Oh, I don't know what you mean," I said impatiently.
+
+"Yes, it is an un-something; I forgot, sir.  I meant undignified--that's
+the word."
+
+"He shall have his boat when we've done with it, and be paid for it
+too," I said.  "English officers don't do undignified things."
+
+"But it strikes me, sir, as there won't be no boat to pay for when the
+pirates have done with us.  If we go alongside, do you know what they'll
+do?"
+
+"Shoot."
+
+"No, sir; pitch ballast into us, and sink us, as sure as we're here."
+
+"Don't talk so much," I said impatiently.  "Why, they've got another
+sail up, and are coming on faster."
+
+"Yes, sir, that's right; and they'll be alongside on us in another ten
+minutes.  Shall I pass the word along to the lads to spit in their
+fists?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"I mean, sir, I s'pose it won't be cutlasses but fisties, sir, eh?"
+
+"Mr Herrick, you had better come and take the tiller," said Mr Brooke
+just then.  "Don't attend to anything else.  Your duty is to keep the
+boat running; we'll do what fighting there is."
+
+"Very well, sir," I said, and I felt disappointed as I took the tiller,
+but felt better a minute later as I felt how I could sway the racing
+boat by a touch.
+
+"Now, my lads, cutlasses and rifles under the thwarts.  You take the
+oars to these men.  Don't attack them, they are ignorant of our power.
+Only keep them off with a few blows."
+
+The men eagerly responded to the words of command, and stood and sat
+about in the boat, each man armed with a stout, strong ashen blade, a
+blow from which would have sent any one overboard at once.
+
+The chase, with our boat playing the part of hare, was exciting enough
+before, but it grew far more so now, for the men in the other boat were
+evidently determined, and two of them stood up with clumsy-looking
+hooks, and another with a coil of rope ready to lasso us, as it seemed
+to me.  And as I sat there I felt how awkward it would be if the man
+threw a loop over my head or chest, and dragged me out of the boat.
+
+Naturally enough, the thought of this alone was enough to produce in me
+an intense desire to stand up, instead of crouching down there holding
+the tiller, and forced into a state of inaction, wherein I was forbidden
+to move or raise a hand in my defence.
+
+"I hope they'll give a thought to me," I said to myself, as I felt that
+in a very few minutes they would be alongside trying to leap on board,
+and from my position I knew that I must be in the thick of the fight,
+perhaps trampled upon, and pretty sure to receive some of the blows
+which came flying about.
+
+I gazed firmly forward, knowing how much depended upon my keeping the
+boat's head straight, and determined, as I set my teeth, to do my duty
+as well as possible, but I could not help turning my head from time to
+time to look back at the pursuers, who began shouting to us, and
+jabbering in their own tongue, as they were evidently now at the highest
+pitch of excitement.
+
+Not many yards behind now, and gradually lessening the distance.  All
+was ready on board, and I saw Mr Brooke looking stern, and the men as
+they grasped their oars grinning at one another, and then looking aft at
+the enemy.
+
+And as we raced, the water foaming behind, the bamboo mast creaking and
+bending, the mat-sail cracking and making curious noises as the wind
+hissed through the thick stuff, the trough we ploughed through the water
+seemed deeper, and my temples throbbed and my heart beat, while from
+time to time the water lipped over the bows, but not enough to warrant
+any change of course.  And nearer and nearer the enemy came, their boat
+literally skimming over the water, six feet to our five, and I felt that
+the time had arrived.
+
+One more quick glance over my shoulder at the eager faces of the
+Chinamen as they uttered a loud shout, another at the men ready for
+action; another over my left shoulder to see that the enemy was close
+upon us, and then I uttered a strange cry, and, bearing hard upon the
+tiller, threw the boat right up into the wind, the sail easing as we
+formed a curve in the water, our speed checked, and then we lay nose to
+wind, with the boat seeming to quiver and pant after her heavy run.
+
+"Are you mad?" roared Mr Brooke, rushing at me, thrusting me aside so
+that I went down upon my back, and he was about to seize the tiller,
+when I shouted out, half-choking with laughter, panting too with
+triumphant delight--
+
+"Don't, don't, don't!  Can't you see--it is Ching!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+REST AND REFRESHMENT.
+
+Ching it was, and the men sent up a cheer as out pursuers grappled the
+side of our boat, held on, and our messenger came on board smiling.
+
+"Velly muchee big job you catchee," he said.  "Why, what fo' you lun
+along so fast?"
+
+"Why, Ching," cried Mr Brooke, "what does this mean?"
+
+"No get away.  Muchee velly bad man.  No get to boat.  Allee fightee.
+Get 'nother boat, and come along."
+
+"You couldn't get on board us again?"
+
+"No; too many velly bad men.  Plenty blead; plenty fish; plenty meat.
+Velly nice.  All in boat.  Velly long time catchee."
+
+Our men laid down the oars with a great deal of care and precision, as
+if it was important that they should not be a quarter of an inch wrong,
+and our coxswain doubled himself up to indulge in a good long
+comfortable chuckle, while I could not help whispering to the young
+lieutenant--
+
+"I say, Mr Brooke, I wasn't very far wrong?"
+
+"No, my lad," he said, with a smile; "I give in.  I was all prejudice
+against the poor fellow, but I was justified in a great deal that I
+said.  Appearances were dead against him.  There, I was too hasty."
+
+Meanwhile the stores Ching had bought had been transferred to our boat,
+and he had told us a little about his adventures--how, when he had made
+his purchases, he had returned to the landing-place and found the crowd
+gathering, and heard the men declaiming against the foreign devils who
+had stolen the boat they were using.  The people were growing so much
+excited that he soon found it would be impossible for him to go off with
+his load to join us, and as soon as he heard the most prominent of the
+men shouting to us to come ashore, he felt that his first duty was to
+warn us not to.
+
+"Catchee allee.  Takee off to plison.  In plison velly hard get out
+again," he said, and then went on to tell us how he felt it would be
+best to hire a boat to come off to us from higher up the river, but in
+spite of all his efforts he could not get one and his stores on board
+till he saw the other boats push off to the attack; and then, when his
+men willingly tried to overtake us, urged on by promises of good pay,
+they had been mistaken by us for enemies.
+
+"But velly good boat, sail velly fast.  You tink it Ching coming?"
+
+"No, of course not," I said.
+
+"No, not tink it Ching.  Send boat 'way now?  Ching go?"
+
+"No, no," said Mr Brooke eagerly.  "You will stop with us."
+
+"You no velly closs with Ching now?"
+
+"Cross?  No; very grateful."
+
+"You no tink Ching like velly bad man pilate?"
+
+"I think you a very good, faithful fellow," said Mr Brooke, and the
+Chinaman's face lit up.
+
+"Send boat 'way now?"
+
+"Stop; I must pay the men."
+
+Ching shook his head.
+
+"No, Ching pay.  Velly clebby pay money.  Two dollar pay men."
+
+He went back into the other boat, and, producing some money from up his
+sleeve, he settled with the men, who nodded, smiled, and, as soon as
+Ching had returned on board, were about to push off, when Mr Brooke
+stopped them.
+
+"Tell them we shall return the boat as soon as we have done with it."
+
+"Yes; no go steal boat.  Plenty boat in steamy-ship.  Tell them capen
+give dollar, eh?"
+
+"Yes, tell them that."
+
+"You likee other boat and men?"
+
+"Well, I don't know," said Mr Brooke, hesitating, as if he thought some
+use might be made of such a fast-sailing craft.
+
+"Ching askee."
+
+He entered into a short conversation with the boatmen, who smiled at
+first, then scowled, stamped, and gesticulated.
+
+Ching nodded and turned to us.
+
+"Say, go to big steamy-ship and Queen Victolia jolly sailor, but no to
+see pilate.  'Flaid cut off head."
+
+"Then they must go; send them off."
+
+The men laughed, nodded at us in the most friendly manner, then hoisted
+their sail and went back up the river.  Then, provisions being served
+out, our lads sat eating and chatting, while our boat sped seaward
+towards where the two junks lay windbound not many miles away, or else
+waiting for some reason, one which Mr Brooke decided at last to be for
+reinforcements.
+
+"Yes," he said, as I sat munching away at some pleasantly sweet-tasted
+bread which Ching had brought on board, "depend upon it, we shall see
+boats or a small junk go out and join them by and by."
+
+It is curious how old tunes bring up old scenes.  Most people say the
+same, but at the risk of being considered one who thinks too much of
+eating, I am going to say that nothing brings up old scenes to my memory
+more than particular kinds of food.
+
+For instance, there is a flat, square kind of gingerbread which we boys
+used to know as "parliament."  I cannot ever see that without thinking
+of going to school on sunny mornings, and stopping by one particular
+ditch to bang the wasps with my school-bag, swung round by its string.
+It was only the seniors who sported a strap for their books; and in
+those days my legs, from the bottom of my drawers to the top of my white
+socks, were bare, and my unprotected knees in a state of chip, scale,
+and scar, from many tumbles on the gravelly path.
+
+Then, again, pancakes will bring up going round the stables and cowhouse
+in search of stray new-laid white eggs, which I bore off, greatly to the
+disgust of the great black cock, with the yellow saddle-hackles and the
+tall red serrated comb.
+
+Fish naturally bring up the carp in the muddy pond which we used to
+catch, and gloat over their golden glories; or the brazen small-scaled
+tench, with all the surroundings at Norwood, where the builder has run
+riot, and terraces and semi-detached villas--I hope well drained--cover
+the pool whence we used to drag forth miniature alligators with a worm.
+
+I could go on for pages about those recollections, but one more will
+suffice:--Sweet cakey bread always brings up Mother Crissell, who must
+have made a nice little independence by selling us boys that sweet cake
+dotted with currants, some of which were swollen out to an enormous
+size, and lay in little pits on the top.  These currants we used to dig
+out as _bonnes bouches_ from the dark soft brown, but only to find them
+transformed into little bubbles of cindery lava, which crunched between
+the teeth.
+
+And so it was that, as I sat sailing along at the mouth of that swift,
+yellow, muddy Chinese river, munching the sweet cakey bread Ching had
+brought on board, and gazing from time to time at the geese we had shot
+and had no means of cooking, memory carried me back to Mother Crissell's
+shop, and that rather bun-faced old lady, who always wore a blue cotton
+gown covered with blue spots and of no particular shape, for the amiable
+old woman never seemed to have any waist.  There was the inside of her
+place, and the old teapot on the chimney-piece, in which she deposited
+her money and whence she drew forth change.
+
+And then, in a moment, I seemed to be back in the great playground; then
+away on to the common, where we hunted for lizards amongst the furze,
+and got more pricks than reptiles.  I saw, too, the big old
+horse-chestnuts round by the great square pond where you could never
+catch any fish, but always tried for them on account of the character it
+had of holding monsters, especially eels as big and round as your arm.
+I never knew any one catch a fish in that pond, but we did a deal of
+anticipation there, and watched the dragon-flies flit to and fro, and
+heard the rustle of they transparent wings.  Splendid ones they were.
+First of all, there came early in the summer the thin-bodied ones, some
+of a steely-blue, some dark with clear wings, and with them those with
+the wings clouded with dark patches.  Then came the large, short,
+flat-bodied, pointed-tailed fellows, some blue, some olive-green.  Late
+in the season, affecting the damp spots of the common among the furze
+bushes more than the pond, came the largest long-bodied flies, which
+hawked to and fro over the same ground, and played havoc among their
+prey.
+
+You could hear the school-bell from there--the big one in the turret on
+the top of the great square brick mansion; and in imagination I saw that
+pond, and the dragon-flies, lizards, and furze, the shady finger-leaved
+chestnuts, and even heard that bell, while the sweet cakey bread lasted;
+and then I was back in the Chinese boat on the Chinese river, for Ching
+leaned over me with something in rice-paper.
+
+"You likee bit piecee flesh meat?"
+
+"What is it?"  I said, looking hard at the rather tempting brown meat
+with its white fat.
+
+"Velly nice," he said.  "Got pep' salt.  Velly good."
+
+"Yes," I said; "but is it good?  I mean something I should like to eat?"
+
+"Yes; loast lit' piggee; velly nice."
+
+He was quite right--it was; and after I had finished I went forward to
+see if I could get something to drink.  Jecks was inspecting the big
+earthen vessel with a tin baler, and I appealed to him.
+
+"How is the water?"  I said.
+
+"Well, sir, yer can't say quite well thankye, 'cause it arn't right
+colour yet, and it's got a sort o' fishing-boat flavour in it, as puts
+yer in mind o' Yarmouth market at herring time, but it ain't so
+pea-soupy as it were, and it might be worse.  Try a tot, sir?"
+
+"Yes," I said; "I'm so thirsty, I must have a drop."
+
+He dipped the baler in carefully, and brought it out dripping.
+
+"Has anybody else drunk any?"  I said.
+
+"Oh yes, sir, all on us; and I says to you as I says to them, you shut
+your eyes, sir, and think you've been eating bloaters, or codfish, or
+fried sole.  Then tip it down quick, and you'll says it's lovely."
+
+"Ugh!"  I ejaculated, as I looked down into the baler, "why, it looks
+like a dose of rhubarb."
+
+"Well, it do, sir, a little; but you're a spyling of it a deal by
+looking at it first.  You shut your eyes, sir, as I said; me and my
+mates thought as it's good strong water with a deal o' what some people
+calls nootriment in it."
+
+"None for me, thank you," I said, handing back the tin.
+
+"Bring me some water, Mr Herrick, when you've done," said Mr Brooke
+from where he sat holding the tiller.
+
+"Yes, sir," I said; and, holding the baler to my lips, I took a hearty,
+hasty draught, for it was cool and refreshing to my dry mouth and
+throat, and, that done, I refilled the baler and took it aft.
+
+"Humph! rather muddy, Herrick," said Mr Brooke, smiling; "but one can't
+carry a filter about at a time like this."
+
+He tossed off the water without hesitation, gave one of the men the tin
+to take back, and then altered the course of the boat a little, so as to
+hug the shore.
+
+"We must not let the pirates suspect that we are following," he said.
+
+"What are we going to do, Mr Brooke?"  I said.
+
+"You should never question your commanding-officer about his strategy,"
+he replied, with a smile; and I was about to apologise, but he went on,
+"There's only one thing to do, my lad, keep them in sight, and I hope
+that at any time the _Teaser_ may appear.  When she does, she will in
+all probability run by those junks without suspecting their nature, then
+we come in and let them know the truth."
+
+"But suppose the _Teaser_ does not come into sight?"
+
+"Then our task is clear enough.  We must hang on to the track of the
+junks till we see where they go.  Depend upon it, they have two or three
+rendezvous."
+
+"Think they have telescopes on board?"  I said.
+
+"It is extremely doubtful; and if we keep Ching always well in sight, I
+don't suppose they will notice us.  They will take us for a
+fishing-boat, that's all."
+
+By this time the sun was pouring down his beams with scorching violence,
+and we were glad to give up the tiller to one of the men, and get into
+the shelter of the cabin, just beyond which we found that Ching was busy
+at work plucking one of the geese.
+
+"Why are you doing that?"  I asked.
+
+"Velly good to loast."
+
+"But we've got no fire."
+
+"Go 'shore, make fi', loast all, and come back on board."
+
+"Yes, it will be a good addition to our stock of provisions, Herrick,"
+said Mr Brooke, smiling.  "Your friend Ching is going to turn out a
+benefactor after all."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+JACK ASHORE.
+
+All was quiet on the junks, not a man being visible as we sailed out of
+the river and along the south shore of the estuary; and now, after a
+long examination, Mr Brooke declared that there couldn't be a doubt as
+to their being the ones we had seen up the branch river when we were in
+the trap.
+
+"The rig is too heavy for ordinary traders, Herrick," he said; and he
+pointed out several peculiarities which I should not have noticed.
+
+Ching had been watching us attentively, and Mr Brooke, who evidently
+wanted to make up now for his harsh treatment of the interpreter, turned
+to him quietly--
+
+"Well, what do you say about it, Ching?"
+
+The interpreter smiled.
+
+"Ching quite su'e," he replied.  "Seen velly many pilate come into liver
+by fancee shop.  Ching know d'leckly.  Velly big mast, velly big sail,
+go so velly fast catchee allee ship.  You go waitee all dalk, burn all
+up."
+
+"What! set fire to them?"
+
+"Yes; velly easy.  All asleep, no keepee watch like Queen ship.  No
+light.  Cleep velly close up top side, big wind blow; make lit' fire
+both junk and come away.  Allee 'light velly soon, and make big burn."
+
+"What! and roast the wretches on board to death?"
+
+"Some," said Ching, with a pleasant smile.  "Makee squeak, and cly `Oh!
+oh!' and burn all 'way like fi'wo'k.  Look velly nice when it dalk."
+
+"How horrid!"  I cried.
+
+"Not all bu'n up," said Ching; "lot jump ove'board and be dlown."
+
+"Ching, you're a cruel wretch," I cried, as Mr Brooke looked at the man
+in utter disgust.
+
+"No; Ching velly glad see pilate bu'n up and dlown.  Dleadful bad man,
+bu'n ship junk, chop off head.  Kill hundleds poo' good nicee people.
+Pilate velly hollid man.  Don't want pilate at all."
+
+"No, we don't want them at all," said Mr Brooke, who seemed to be
+studying the Chinaman's utter indifference to the destruction of human
+life; "there's no room for them in the world, but that's not our way of
+doing business.  Do you understand what I mean?"
+
+"Yes, Ching understand, know.  Ching can't talk velly quick Inglis, but
+hear evelyting."
+
+"That's right.  Well, my good fellow, that wouldn't be English.  We kill
+men in fair fight, or take them prisoners.  We couldn't go and burn the
+wretches up like that."
+
+Ching shook his head.
+
+"All velly funnee," he said.  "Shoot big gun and make big hole in junk;
+knockee all man into bit; makee big junk sink and allee men dlown."
+
+"Yes," said Mr Brooke, wrinkling up his forehead.
+
+"Why not make lit' fire and bu'n junk, killee allee same?"
+
+"He has me there, Herrick," said Mr Brooke.
+
+"Takee plisoner to mandalin.  Mandalin man put on heavy chain, kick flow
+in boat, put in plison, no give to eat, and then choppee off allee head.
+Makee hurt gleat deal mo'.  Velly solly for plisoner.  Bette' make big
+fi' and bu'n allee now."
+
+Mr Brooke smiled and looked at me, and I laughed.
+
+"We'd better change the subject, Herrick," he said.  "I'm afraid there
+is not much difference in the cruelty of the act."
+
+"No, sir," I said, giving one of my ears a rub.  "But it is puzzling."
+
+"Yes, my lad; and I suppose we should have no hesitation in shelling and
+burning a pirates' nest."
+
+"But we couldn't steal up and set fire to their junks in the dark, sir?"
+
+"No, my lad, that wouldn't be ordinary warfare.  Well, we had better run
+into one of these little creeks, and land," he continued, as he turned
+to inspect the low, swampy shore.  "Plenty of hiding-places there, where
+we can lie and watch the junks, and wait for the _Teaser_ to show."
+
+"Velly good place," said Ching, pointing to where there was a patch of
+low, scrubby woodland, on either side of which stretched out what seemed
+to be rice fields, extending to the hills which backed the plain.
+"Plenty wood makee fire--loast goose."
+
+I saw a knowing look run round from man to man.
+
+"But the pirates would see our fire," I said.
+
+"Yes, see fi'; tink allee fish man catch cookee fish."
+
+"Yes, you're right, Ching.  It will help to disarm any doubts.  They
+will never think the _Teaser's_ men are ashore lighting a fire;" and,
+altering our course a little, he ran the boat in shore and up a creek,
+where we landed, made fast the boat under some low scrubby trees, and in
+a very short time after a couple of men were placed where they could
+watch the junks and give notice of any movement.  The others quickly
+collected a quantity of drift-wood, and made a good fire, Ching tucking
+up his sleeves and superintending, while Mr Brooke and I went out on
+the other side of the little wood, and satisfied ourselves that there
+was no sign of human habitation on this side of the river, the city
+lying far away on the other.
+
+When we came back, Ching was up to the elbows in shore mud, and we found
+by him a couple of our geese and a couple of ducks turned into
+dirt-puddings.  In other words, he had cut off their heads, necks, and
+feet, and then cased them thickly with the soft, unctuous clay from the
+foot of the bank; and directly we came he raked away some of the burning
+embers, placed the clay lumps on the earth, and raked back all the
+glowing ashes before piling more wood over the hissing masses.
+
+"Velly soon cook nicee," he said, smiling; and then he went to the
+waterside to get rid of the clay with which he was besmirched.
+
+Mr Brooke walked to the sentinels, and for want of something else to do
+I stood pitching pieces of drift-wood on to the fire, for the most part
+shattered fragments of bamboo, many of extraordinary thickness, and all
+of which blazed readily and sent out a great heat.
+
+"Makes a bit of a change, Mr Herrick, sir," said Jecks, as the men off
+duty lay about smoking their pipes, and watching the fire with eyes full
+of expectation.
+
+"Yes; rather different to being on shipboard, Jecks," I said.
+
+"Ay, 'tis, sir.  More room to stretch your legs, and no fear o' hitting
+your head agin a beam or your elber agin a bulkhead.  Puts me in mind o'
+going a-gipsying a long time ago."
+
+"`In the days when we went gipsying, a long time ago,'" chorussed the
+others musically.
+
+"Steady there," I said.  "Silence."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said one of the men; and Tom Jecks chuckled.  "But it
+do, sir," he said.  "I once had a night on one o' the Suffolk heaths
+with the gipsies; I was a boy then, and we had hare for supper--two
+hares, and they was cooked just like that, made into clay balls without
+skinning on 'em first."
+
+"But I thought they always skinned hares," I said, "because the fur was
+useful."
+
+"So it is, sir; but there was gamekeepers in that neighbourhood, and if
+they'd found the gipsies with those skins, they'd have asked 'em where
+the hares come from, and that might have been unpleasant."
+
+"Poached, eh?"
+
+"I didn't ask no questions, sir.  And when the hares was done, they
+rolled the red-hot clay out, gave it a tap, and it cracked from end to
+end, an' come off like a shell with the skin on it, and leaving the
+hares all smoking hot.  I never ate anything so good before in my life."
+
+"Yah!  These here geese 'll be a sight better, Tommy," said one of the
+men.  "I want to see 'em done."
+
+"And all I'm skeart about," said another, "is that the _Teaser_ 'll come
+back 'fore we've picked the bones."
+
+I walked slowly away to join Mr Brooke, for the men's words set me
+thinking about the gunboat, and the way in which she had sailed and left
+us among these people.  But I felt that there must have been good cause
+for it, or Captain Thwaites would never have gone off so suddenly.
+
+"Gone in chase of some of the scoundrels," I thought; and then I began
+to think about Mr Reardon and Barkins and Smith.  "Poor old Tanner," I
+said to myself, "he wouldn't have been so disagreeable if it had not
+been for old Smith.  Tanner felt ashamed of it all the time.  But what a
+game for them to be plotting to get me into difficulties, and then find
+that I was picked out for this expedition!  I wish they were both here."
+
+For I felt no animosity about Smith, and as for Tanner I should have
+felt delighted to have him there to join our picnic dinner.
+
+I suppose I had a bad temper, but it never lasted long, and after a
+quarrel at school it was all over in five minutes, and almost forgotten.
+
+I was so deep in thought that I came suddenly upon Mr Brooke, seated
+near where the men were keeping their look-out.  He was carefully
+scanning the horizon, but looked up at me as I stopped short after
+nearly kicking against him.
+
+"Any sign of the _Teaser_ sir?"  I said.
+
+"No, Herrick.  I've been trying very hard to make her out, but there is
+no smoke anywhere."
+
+"Oh, she'll come, sir, if we wait.  What about the junks?"
+
+"I haven't seen a man stirring oh board either of them, and they are so
+quiet that I can't quite make them out."
+
+"Couldn't we steal off after dark, sir, and board one of them?  If we
+took them quite by surprise we might do it."
+
+"I am going to try, Herrick," he said quietly, "some time after dark.
+But that only means taking one, the other would escape in the alarm."
+
+"Or attack us, sir."
+
+"Very possibly; but we should have to chance that."  He did not say any
+more, but sat there scanning the far-spreading sea, dotted with the
+sails of fishing-boats and small junks.  But he had given me plenty to
+think about, for I was growing learned now in the risks of the warfare
+we were carrying on, and I could not help wondering what effect it would
+have upon the men's appetites if they were told of the perilous
+enterprise in which they would probably be called upon to engage that
+night.
+
+My musings were interrupted by a rustling sound behind me, and, turning
+sharply, it was to encounter the smooth, smiling countenance of Ching,
+who came up looking from one to the other as if asking permission to
+join us.
+
+"Well," said Mr Brooke quietly, "is dinner ready?"
+
+Ching shook his head, and then said sharply--
+
+"Been thinking 'bout junks, they stop there long time."
+
+"Yes; what for?  Are they waiting for men?"
+
+"P'laps; but Ching think they know 'bout other big junk.  Some fliends
+tell them in the big city.  Say to them, big junk load with silk, tea,
+dollar.  Go sail soon.  You go wait for junk till she come out.  Then
+you go 'longside, killee evelybody, and take silk, tea, dollar; give me
+lit' big bit for tellee."
+
+"Yes, that's very likely to be the reason they are waiting."
+
+"Soon know; see big junk come down liver, and pilates go after long way,
+then go killee evelybody.  Muchee better go set fire both junk
+to-night."
+
+"We shall see," said Mr Brooke quietly.
+
+He rose and walked down to the two sentinels.
+
+"Keep a sharp look-out, my lads, for any junks which come down the
+river, as well as for any movements on board those two at anchor.  I
+shall send and relieve you when two men have had their dinner."
+
+"Thankye, sir," was the reply; and we walked back, followed by Ching.
+
+"That last seems a very likely plan, Herrick," said Mr Brooke.  "The
+scoundrels play into each other's hands; and I daresay, if the truth was
+known, some of these merchants sell cargoes to traders, and then give
+notice to the pirates, who plunder the vessels and then sell the stuff
+again to the merchants at a cheap rate.  But there, we must eat, my lad,
+and our breakfast was very late and very light.  We will make a good
+meal, and then see what the darkness brings forth."
+
+We found the men carefully attending to the fire, which was now one
+bright glow of embers; and very soon Ching announced that dinner was
+cooked, proceeding directly after to hook out the hard masses of clay,
+which he rolled over to get rid of the powdery ash, and, after letting
+them cool a little, he duly cracked them, and a gush of
+deliciously-scented steam saluted our nostrils.
+
+But I have so much to tell that I will not dwell upon our banquet.  Let
+it suffice that I say every one was more than satisfied; and when the
+meal was over, Ching set to work again coating the rest of our game with
+clay, and placed them in the embers to cook.
+
+"Velly good, velly nicee to-day," he said; "but sun velly hot, night
+velly hot, big fly come to-mollow, goose not loast, begin to 'mell velly
+nasty."
+
+As darkness fell, the fire was smothered out with sand, there being
+plenty of heat to finish the cookery; and then, just when I least
+expected it, Mr Brooke gave the order for the men to go to the boat.
+
+He counter-ordered the men directly, and turned to me.
+
+"These are pretty contemptible things to worry about, Herrick," he said,
+"but unless we are well provisioned the men cannot fight.  We must wait
+and take that food with us."
+
+Ching was communicated with, and declared the birds done.  This
+announcement was followed by rolling them out, and, after they had
+cooled a bit, goose and duck were borne down to the boat in their clay
+shells, and stowed aft, ready for use when wanted.
+
+Ten minutes later we were gliding once more through the darkness outward
+in the direction of the two junks, while my heart beat high in
+anticipation of my having to play a part in a very rash and dangerous
+proceeding--at least it seemed to be so to me.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+INFORMATION.
+
+It was too dark to make out the junks, but their direction had been well
+marked, and Mr Brooke took his measures very carefully.
+
+"Perfect silence, my lads," he said.  "Perhaps the lives of all here
+depend upon it.  Now, the sail half up; Jecks, hold the sheet; the
+others sit in the bottom of the boat.  Every man to have his arms ready
+for instant use."
+
+There was a quick movement, a faint rattle, and then all still.
+
+"Good; very prompt, my lads.  Mr Herrick, come and take the tiller, and
+be ready to obey the slightest whispered command."
+
+I hurriedly seated myself by him in the darkness, and waited while our
+leader now turned to the last man to receive his orders.
+
+"You, Ching," he said, "will go right forward to keep a good look-out,
+ready to give a whispered warning of our approach to the junks.  Do you
+know what a whispered warning means?"
+
+"Yes; Ching say see junk so lit' voice you can't hear him."
+
+The men tittered.
+
+"Silence!  Yes, you understand.  Now go, and be careful.  But mind this,
+if our boat is seen and the pirates hail, you answer them in their own
+tongue; do you understand?"
+
+"Yes; 'peakee Chinee all along."
+
+"That will do."
+
+Ching crept forward, and we were gliding along over the dark sea before
+a gentle breeze, which, however, hardly rippled the water.
+
+"Keep a bright look-out for the _Teaser_, Jecks.  We may see her
+lights."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+Then on and on in a silence so deep that the gentle rattle and splash of
+the sea against our bows sounded singularly loud, and I almost felt
+drowsy at last, but started back into wakefulness on Mr Brooke touching
+my arm and whispering--
+
+"I reckon that we shall be very near them in another ten minutes.  I
+want to sail round at a little distance."
+
+I nodded, but doubted whether he could see me in the intense darkness,
+for there was not a star to be seen, the sky being covered with low down
+black clouds, which seemed to be hanging only a short distance above the
+sea.  Right away behind us was a faint glow telling of the whereabouts
+of the Chinese city, but seaward there was no sign of the _Teaser's_ or
+any other lights, for it was like sailing away into a dense black wall,
+and I began to look forward more and more anxiously as I thought of the
+possibility of our running with a crash right on to the anchored junks.
+
+But I was under orders, and waited for my instructions, keeping the
+light craft as straight on her course as I could contrive, and grasping
+the tiller with all my strength.
+
+All at once there was a faint rustling, and suddenly I felt Ching's soft
+hand touch my knee, and I could just make out his big round face.
+
+"Listen," he said.
+
+Mr Brooke's hand was laid on mine, and the tiller pressed sidewise
+slowly and gently, so that the boat glided round head to wind, and we
+lay motionless, listening to the dull creak and regular beat of oars a
+short distance to the north.  Then came a faint groan or two of the oars
+in their locks, but that was all.  We could see nothing, hear no other
+sound, but all the same we could tell that a large boat of some kind was
+being pulled in the same direction as that which we had taken.
+
+"Men going out to the junks," I said to myself, and my heart beat
+heavily, so that I could feel it go _throb throb_ against my ribs.  I
+knew that was what must be the case, and that the men would be savage,
+reckless desperadoes, who would have tried to run us down if they had
+known of our being there.
+
+But they were as much in the dark as we, and I could hear them pass on,
+and I knew that we must have been going in the right direction for the
+junk.  Then I had clear proof, for all at once there was a low, wailing,
+querulous cry, which sent a chill through me, it sounded so wild and
+strange.
+
+"Only a sea-bird--some kind of gull," I said to myself; and then I knew
+that it was a hail, for a short way to the southwards a little dull star
+of light suddenly shone out behind us, for the boat had of course been
+turned.
+
+There was the answer to the signal, and there of course lay the junk,
+which in another five minutes we should have reached.
+
+Mr Brooke pressed my arm, and we all sat listening to the beating of
+the oars, slow and regular as if the rowers had been a crew of our
+well-trained Jacks.  Then the beat ceased, there was a faint rattling
+noise, which I know must have been caused by a rope, then a dull
+grinding sound as of a boat rubbing against the side of a vessel, and
+lastly a few indescribable sounds which might have been caused by men
+climbing up into the junk, but of that I could not be sure.
+
+Once more silence, and I wondered what next.
+
+Mr Brooke's hand upon mine answered my wonderings.  He pressed it and
+the tiller together, the boat's sail filled gently once more, and we
+resumed our course, but the direction of the boat was changed more to
+the north-eastward.  We were easing off to port so as to get well to the
+left of the junks, and for some distance we ran like this; then the hand
+touched mine again, and the rudder was pressed till we were gliding
+southward again, but we had not gone far when Ching uttered a low
+warning, and I just had time to shift the helm and send the boat gliding
+round astern of a large junk, which loomed up above us like ebony, as we
+were going dead for it, and if we had struck, our fragile bamboo boat
+would have gone to pieces like so much touchwood, leaving us struggling
+in the water.
+
+"I don't see what good this reconnoitring is doing," I said to myself,
+as I sat there in the darkness wondering what was to happen next; but
+sailors on duty are only parts of a machine, and I waited like the rest
+to be touched or spoken to, and then acted as I was instructed.  For
+from time to time Mr Brooke's hand rested upon mine, and its touch,
+with its pressure or draw, told me at once the direction in which he
+wished me to steer; and so it was that, in that intense darkness, we
+sailed silently round those junks, going nearer and nearer till I knew
+exactly how they lay and how close together.  But all the while I was in
+a violent perspiration, expecting moment by moment to hear a challenge,
+or to see the flash of a match, the blaze up of one of the stink-pots
+the junks would be sure to have on their decks, and then watch it form a
+curve of hissing light as it was thrown into our boat.
+
+But not a sound came from the junks we so closely approached, and at
+last, with a sensation of intense relief, I felt Mr Brooke's hand rest
+on mine for some time, keeping the rudder in position for running some
+distance away with the wind, before the boat was thrown up again full in
+its eye, and we came to a stand, with the mat-sail swinging idly from
+side to side.
+
+Hardly had we taken this position, when once more from the direction of
+the river came the low beat of oars.  As we listened, they came on and
+on, passed us, and the sounds ceased as before just where the junks were
+lying.
+
+This time there was no signal and no answering light, the occupants of
+the boat finding their way almost by instinct, but there was a hail from
+the junk to our left, and we could distinguish the murmuring of voices
+for a time, and the creaking of the boat against the side as the fresh
+comers climbed on board.
+
+"Ah, good information, Mr Herrick!" whispered Mr Brooke.  "We have
+seen nothing, but we know that they have received reinforcements, and
+now in a very short time we shall know whether they are going to sail or
+wait till morning."
+
+"How?"  I said.
+
+He laughed gently.
+
+"Easily enough.  They will not sail without getting up their anchors,
+and we must hear the noise they make."
+
+"But I don't quite see what good we are doing," I whispered.
+
+"Not see?  Suppose we had stopped ashore, we should not have known of
+these men coming to strengthen the crews, and we should not have known
+till daylight whether they had sailed or were still at anchor.  This
+last we shall know very soon, and can follow them slowly.  Why, if we
+had waited till morning and found them gone, which way should we have
+sailed?"
+
+"I'm very dense and stupid, sir," I said.  "I had not thought of that."
+
+"Allee go to s'eep," whispered Ching; "no go 'way to-night."
+
+"What's that mean?" said Mr Brooke in a low voice; and I felt his arm
+across my chest as he pointed away to the left.
+
+I looked in that direction, and saw a bright gleam of light from the
+shore.
+
+"Our fire blazing up, sir," said Tom Jecks softly.
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," said Mr Brooke thoughtfully; and as we watched the
+bright light disappeared, but only to appear again, and this was
+repeated three times.
+
+"That can't be our fire," said Mr Brooke.
+
+"Fliends on shore tellee pilate what to do," said Ching, with his face
+close to us.
+
+"What do you mean?" said Mr Brooke.
+
+"Ching know.  Show big lamp.  Mean big junk going sail mollow morning,
+and pilate go long way wait for them."
+
+"Why?  Couldn't they stay here and wait?"
+
+"No; silk-tea-ship see pilate junk waiting for them, and come out lit'
+way and go back again.  'Flaid to sail away."
+
+"Yes, that sounds reasonable," said Mr Brooke thoughtfully.
+
+Then all at once there came over the black water a peculiar squeaking,
+grinding sound, followed by a similar noise of a different pitch.
+
+"Pilate not going to s'eep; allee look out for light and go sail away
+d'leckly."
+
+"Yes, we have not wasted our time, Herrick," whispered Mr Brooke.
+"They're getting up their anchors."
+
+"And are we going to follow them, sir?"  I said softly.
+
+"Yes, my lad; our work has only just begun."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
+
+TRICKED.
+
+They were singularly quiet, these people on board the junks, I suppose
+from old experience teaching them that noise made might mean at one time
+discovery and death, at another the alarming of some valuable intended
+prize.
+
+This quietness was remarkable, for as we listened there was the creaking
+and straining of the rough capstan used, but no shouted orders, no
+singing in chorus by the men tugging at the bars; all was grim silence
+and darkness, while we lay-to there, waiting and listening to the
+various faint sounds, till we heard the rattling of the reed-sails as
+they were hauled up.  Then we knew that the junks were off, for there
+came to us that peculiar flapping, rattling sound made by the waves
+against a vessel's planks, and this was particularly loud in the case of
+a roughly-built Chinese junk.
+
+"Are you going to follow them at once?"  I said in a whisper.
+
+"Yes, till within an hour of daylight," was the reply.  "Now, be
+silent."
+
+I knew why Mr Brooke required all his attention to be directed to the
+task he had on hand--very little reflection was necessary.  For it was a
+difficult task in that black darkness to follow the course of those two
+junks by sound, and keep doggedly at their heels, so as to make sure
+they did not escape.  And then once more the slow, careful steering was
+kept up, Mr Brooke's hand guiding mine from time to time, while now for
+the most part we steered to follow the distant whishing sound made by
+the wind in the junk's great matting-sails.
+
+All at once, when a strange, drowsy feeling was creeping over me, I was
+startled back into wakefulness by Mr Brooke, who said in an angry
+whisper--
+
+"Who's that?"
+
+I knew why he spoke, for, though half-asleep the moment before, I was
+conscious of a low, guttural snore.
+
+"Can't see, sir," came from one of the men.  "Think it's Mr Ching."
+
+"No; Ching never makee nose talk when he s'eep," said the Chinaman, and
+as he spoke the sound rose once more.
+
+"Here, hi, messmate, rouse up!" said the man who had before spoken.
+
+"Eh? tumble-up? our watch?" growled Tom Jecks.  "How many bells is--"
+
+"Sit up, Jecks," whispered Mr Brooke angrily.  "Next man take the
+sheet."
+
+There was the rustling sound of men changing their places, and I heard
+the coxswain whispering to the others forward.
+
+"No talking," said Mr Brooke; and we glided on again in silence, but
+not many yards before a light gleamed out in front.
+
+"Quick, down at the bottom, all of you!  Ching, take the tiller!"
+
+We all crouched down; Ching sat up, holding the tiller, and the light
+ahead gleamed out brightly, showing the sails and hulls of the two great
+junks only fifty yards away, and each towing a big heavy boat.  There
+were the black silhouettes, too, of figures leaning over the stern, and
+a voice hailed us in Chinese, uttering hoarse, strange sounds, to which
+Ching replied in his high squeak.
+
+Then the man gave some gruff order, and Ching replied again.  The light
+died out, and there was silence once more.
+
+"What did he say?" whispered Mr Brooke.
+
+"Say what fo' sail about all in dark?"
+
+"Yes, and you?"
+
+"Tell him hollid big gleat lie!  Say, go catchee fish when it glow
+light."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And pilate say be off, or he come in boat and cuttee off my head."
+
+Mr Brooke hesitated for a few moments, and then reached up, took the
+tiller, and we lay-to again for quite an hour.
+
+"Only make them suspicious if we are seen following, Herrick.  Let them
+get well away; I daresay we can pick them up again at daybreak."
+
+But all the same he manipulated the boat so as not to be too far away,
+and arranged matters so well that when at last the dawn began to show in
+the east, there lay the two junks about six miles away, and nothing but
+the heavy sails visible from where we stood.
+
+We all had an anxious look round for the _Teaser_, but there were no
+tell-tale wreaths of smoke showing that our vessel was on her way back,
+and there seemed to be nothing for us to do but slowly follow on along
+shore, at such a distance from the junks as would not draw attention to
+the fact of their being followed, till we could catch sight of our own
+ship and warn our people of the vessels; or, failing that, lie in on the
+way to warn the junk which Ching believed would sail from the river
+before long.
+
+Mr Brooke reckoned upon our being provisioned for two days, and as soon
+as it was light he divided the little crew into two watches, one of
+which, self included, was ordered to lie down at once and have a long
+sleep.
+
+I did not want to lie down then, for the drowsy sensations had all
+passed away; but of course I obeyed, and, to my surprise, I seemed to
+find that after closing my eyes for two minutes it was evening; and,
+upon looking round, there lay the land upon our right, while the two
+junks were about five miles away, and the boat turned from them.
+
+"Have you given up the chase, Mr Brooke?"  I said.
+
+"Yes, for the present; look yonder."
+
+He pointed towards the north-west, and there, some three miles distant,
+and sailing towards us, was another junk coming down with the wind.
+
+"Another pirate?"  I cried.
+
+"No, my lad; evidently the junk of which Ching told us."
+
+"And you are going to warn her of the danger, sir?"
+
+"Exactly; we can't attack, so we must scheme another way of saving the
+sheep from the wolves."
+
+As we sailed on we could see that the fresh junk was a fine-looking
+vessel, apparently heavily laden; and, after partaking of my share of
+the provisions, which Ching eagerly brought for me out of the little
+cabin, I sat watching her coming along, with the ruddy orange rays of
+the setting sun lighting up her sides and rigging, and brightening the
+showy paint and gilding with which she was decorated, so that they had
+quite a metallic sheen.
+
+"Take a look back now," said Mr Brooke.  "What do you make of the
+pirate junks?"
+
+"They seem to be lying-to, sir," I said.
+
+"Then they have seen their plunder, and the sooner we give warning the
+better.  She must turn and run back at once, or they will be after and
+capture her before she can reach port again."
+
+Just then I saw him stand up and give a sharp look round, his face
+wearing rather an anxious expression.
+
+"You can't see the _Teaser_, sir?"  I said.
+
+"No, my lad; I was looking at the weather.  I fear it is going to blow a
+hurricane.  The sky looks rather wild."
+
+I had been thinking that it looked very beautiful, but I did not say so.
+Certainly, though, the wind had risen a little, and I noticed that Tom
+Jecks kept on glowering about him in a very keen way.
+
+Just then Mr Brooke shook out the little Union Jack which we had
+brought from our sinking boat, and held it ready to signal the coming
+junk, which was now only about a mile away, and came swiftly along, till
+our leader stood right forward, holding on by a stay, and waved the
+little flag.
+
+"Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!" muttered Tom Jecks.  "Look
+at that now.  We in this here little cock-boat just shows our colours,
+and that theer great bamboo mountain of a thing goes down on her
+marrow-bones to us, metty-phizickly.  See that, Mr Herrick, sir?"
+
+"Yes, Tom," I said excitedly; "and it's something to be proud of too."
+
+For, in obedience to our signals, I saw one of the many Chinamen on
+board wave his hands as he seemed to be shouting, and the great vessel
+slowly and cumbrously rounded to, so that in a few minutes we were able
+to run close alongside.
+
+"Tell them to heave us a rope, Ching," said Mr Brooke, and the
+interpreter shouted through his hands, with the result that a heavy coil
+came crashing down, and was caught by Tom Jecks, who was nearly knocked
+overboard.
+
+"We said a rope, not a hawser," growled the man, hauling in the rope.
+"Better shy a few anchors down too, you bladder-headed lubbers!"
+
+"Now, say I want to speak to the captain," said Mr Brooke.
+
+A showily-dressed Chinaman leaned over the side of the huge tower of a
+poop, and smiled down on us.
+
+"Are you the captain?" cried Mr Brooke, and Ching interpreted.
+
+"Say he the captain," said Ching; "and you please walkee up top sidee
+big junk."
+
+"Yes, it will be better," cried Mr Brooke.  "Come with me, Herrick.
+You too, Ching, of course.  There, keep her off a bit, Jecks, or you'll
+have the boat swamped."
+
+He seized the right moment, and began to climb up the junk's side.  I
+followed, and Ching was close at my heels, the clumsy vessel giving
+plenty of foothold; and we soon stood upon the deck, where some dozen or
+so Chinese sailors pointed aft to where the captain stood, bowing and
+smiling.
+
+We had a rough set of bamboo steps to mount to the clumsy poop-deck, and
+there found the captain and half-a-dozen more of his men waiting.
+
+"Now, Ching, forward," I said.  But he hung back and looked strange.
+
+"Don't be so jolly modest," I whispered; "we can't get on without you to
+interpret."
+
+At that moment there came a loud hail from our boat, invisible to us
+from where we stood, and there was a tremendous splash.
+
+"What's the matter?" cried Mr Brooke, making for the side; but in an
+instant the attitude of the Chinaman changed.  One moment the captain
+was smiling at us smoothly; the next there was an ugly, look in his
+eyes, as he shouted something to his men, and, thrusting one hand into
+his long blue coat, he made a quick movement to stop Mr Brooke from
+going to the side.
+
+The various incidents took place so quickly that they almost seemed to
+be simultaneous.  One moment all was peace; the next it was all war, and
+the warnings I heard came together.
+
+"Pilate! pilate!" shouted Ching.
+
+"Look out for yourself, my lad!  Over with you!" roared Mr Brooke, as I
+saw him dash at the Chinese captain, and, with his left fist extended,
+leap at the scoundrel, sending him rolling over on the deck.
+
+"Now!" cried Mr Brooke again, "jump!"
+
+"Jlump! jlump!" yelled Ching; and with a bound I was on the great carven
+gangway, just avoiding three men who made a rush for me, and the next
+moment I had leaped right away from the tower-like stern of the huge
+junk, and appeared to be going down and down for long enough through the
+glowing air before striking the water with a heavy splash, and
+continuing my descent right into the darkness, from which it seemed to
+me that I should never be able to rise again.
+
+At last my head popped out of the dark thundering water, and, blinking
+my eyes as I struck out, I was saluted with a savage yelling; the water
+splashed about me, and I heard shots; but for a few moments, as I looked
+excitedly round, I did not realise that I was being pelted with pieces
+of chain, and fired at as a mark for bullets.
+
+But in those brief moments I saw what I wanted: Mr Brook and Ching safe
+and swimming towards me, and the boat not many yards behind them, with
+two of our men at the oars, and the others opening fire upon the people
+who crowded the side of the junk, and yelled at us and uttered the most
+savage throats.
+
+"This way, Herrick, my lad," panted Mr Brooke, as he reached me.  "Ah!
+did that hit you?"
+
+"No, sir, only splashed up the water; I'm all right!"  I cried; "the
+bullet didn't touch."
+
+"Swim boat! swim boat!" cried Ching excitedly.
+
+But our danger was not from the water but the sharp fire which the
+Chinese kept up now, fortunately without killing any of us.  Then the
+boat glided between us and the junk, ready hands were outstretched from
+the side, and I was hauled in by Tom Jecks, who then reached over and
+grasped Ching by the pigtail.
+
+"No, no touchee tow-chang!" roared the poor fellow.
+
+"All right; then both hands and in with you."
+
+"Lay hold of the sheet, Jecks!" cried Mr Brooke, who sprang over the
+thwart to the tiller, rammed it down, and the sail began to fill, but
+only slowly, for the towering junk acted as a lee, and all the time the
+men yelled, pelted, and fired at us.
+
+"Look out, my lads; give it to them now.  Make fast the sheet, Jecks,
+and get your rifle.  Ten pounds to the man who brings down the captain!"
+roared Mr Brooke.  "Here, Herrick, my gun!" he cried; and, handing it
+to him, I seized mine, thrust in two wet cartridges with my wet fingers,
+and, doubting whether they would go off, I took aim at a man on the
+poop, who was holding a pot to which another was applying a light.
+
+The next minute the pot was in a blaze, and the man raised it above his
+head to hurl it right upon us, but it dropped straight down into the sea
+close to the junk, and the man staggered away with his hands to his
+face, into which he must have received a good deal of the charge of
+duck-shot with which my piece was charged.
+
+Excited by my success, I fired the second barrel at a man who was
+leaning over the bulwarks, taking aim at us with his great clumsy
+matchlock, and his shot did not hit any one, for the man dropped his
+piece overboard and shrank away.
+
+As I charged again, I could hear and see that our lads were firing away
+as rapidly as they could up at the crowded bulwarks, while Tom Jecks was
+making his piece bear upon the deck of the high poop whenever he could
+get a shot at the captain; and now, too, Mr Brooke was firing off his
+small-shot cartridges as rapidly as possible, the salt water not having
+penetrated the well-wadded powder enclosed in the brass cases.
+
+By this time we were fifty yards away from the junk, and gliding more
+rapidly through the water, which was splashed up about us and the boat
+hit again and again with a sharp rap by the slugs from the Chinamen's
+matchlocks.
+
+The men were returning the fire with good effect as we more than once
+saw, and twice over one of the wretches who sought to hurl a blazing pot
+of fire was brought down.
+
+"They can't hurt us now," I thought, as I ceased firing, knowing that my
+small-shot would be useless at the distance we now were, when I saw a
+spark of light moving on the poop, and then sat paralysed by horror as I
+grasped what was going to take place.  It was only a moment or two
+before there was a great flash and a roar, with a puff of
+sunset-reddened smoke, hiding the poop of the junk; for they had
+depressed a big swivel gun to make it bear upon us, and then fired,
+sending quite a storm of shot, stones, and broken pieces of iron
+crashing through the roof of our little cabin, and tearing a great hole
+in our sail.
+
+"That's done it!" shouted Tom Jecks, giving the stock of his rifle a
+heavy slap.
+
+"You've hit him?" cried Mr Brooke.
+
+"Yes, sir; I caught him as he stood by watching the cannon fired."
+
+"Yes, that's right," cried Mr Brooke, shading his eyes and gazing hard
+at the scene on the high poop, where, in the last rays of the setting
+sun, we could see men holding up their captain, who was distinctive from
+his gay attire and lacquered hat, which now hung forward as the
+scoundrel's head drooped upon his breast.
+
+"Cease firing!" said Mr Brooke, for we were a hundred yards away now,
+and rapidly increasing the distance.  "We can do no more good.  Thank
+you, Jecks.  Now then, who is hurt?"
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"What, no one?" cried Mr Brooke.
+
+"Yes, sir: why don't you speak out, Tom Jecks?  You got it, didn't you?"
+
+"Well, so did you; but I arn't going to growl."
+
+"More arn't I, messmate.  It's nothing much, sir."
+
+"Let me see," said Mr Brooke, as we sailed steadily away, while the
+junk still remained stationary; and, after a rapid examination, he
+plugged and bound a wound in the man's shoulder, and performed a similar
+operation upon Tom Jeck's hind-leg, as he called it, a bullet or slug
+having gone right through the calf.
+
+I could not help admiring the calm stolidity with which the two men bore
+what must have been a painful operation, for neither flinched, but sat
+in turn gazing at his messmate, as much as to say, "That's the way to
+take it, my lad; look at me."
+
+This done, Mr Brooke turned his attention to the wound received by the
+boat, where the charge from the swivel gun had gone crashing through the
+top of the cabin and out at the side.  It was a gaping wound in the
+slight planking of the boat, but the shot had torn their way out some
+distance above the water-line, so that unless very rough weather came on
+there was no danger, and we had other and more serious business now to
+take up our attention.
+
+For Ching pointed out to us a certain amount of bustle on board the
+junk, which was explained by a puff of smoke and a roar, as
+simultaneously the water was ploughed up close to our stern.
+
+"Not clever at their gun drill," said Mr Brooke coolly, as he took the
+helm himself now, and sent the boat dancing along over the waves, so as
+to keep her endwise to the junk, and present a smaller object for the
+pirate's aim.
+
+"That's bad management under some circumstances, Herrick," he said,
+smiling.  "It's giving an enemy the chance of raking us from stern to
+stem, but I don't believe they can hit us.--I thought not."
+
+He said this smiling, as the water was churned up again by another shot,
+but several yards away upon our right.
+
+Another shot and another followed without result, and by this time we
+were getting well out of range of the swivel gun, a poor, roughly-made
+piece, and our distance was being rapidly increased.
+
+"Going away!" said Ching, as we saw the great mat-sails of the junk
+fill.
+
+"Or to come in chase--which?" said Mr Brooke quietly.  "It does not
+matter," he added; "we shall soon have darkness again, and I think we
+shall be too nimble for them then."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said Tom Jecks.
+
+"Yes, what is it?  Your wound painful?"
+
+"Tidy, sir; but that warn't it.  I was only going to say, look yonder."
+
+He pointed right away east, and, as we followed his finger with our
+eyes, they lit upon a sight which would have even made me, inexperienced
+as I was, think it was time to seek the shelter of some port.  And that
+something unusual was going to happen, I knew directly from Mr Brooke's
+way of standing up to shelter his eyes, and then, after gazing for some
+time in one direction, he turned in that of the great Chinese port we
+had so lately left.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY.
+
+ANOTHER ENEMY.
+
+For as I looked towards the horizon away to the east, a curious lurid
+glow spread upward half-way to the zenith, and for the moment I thought
+that in a short time we should see the full-moon come slowly up out of
+the sea.  But a few moments' reflection told me that we were long past
+the full-moon time, and that it would be the last quarter late on in the
+night.  The sea, too, began to wear a singular aspect, and great frothy
+clouds were gathering rapidly in the south.  And even as I looked there
+was a peculiar moaning sigh, as if a great wind were passing over us at
+a great height, though the sea was only just pleasantly rippled, and a
+gentle breeze was sweeping us rapidly along and away from the great
+junk, which now seemed hazy and distant, while those we had watched so
+long were quite out of sight.
+
+"Feel cold?" said Mr Brooke quietly.  "I ought to have told you to take
+off and wring out your clothes."
+
+"Cold, sir!"  I said wonderingly.  "I hadn't thought about it; I was so
+excited."
+
+"Yes; we had a narrow escape, my lad.  It is a lesson in being careful
+with these cunning, treacherous wretches.  You made sure it was a
+trader, Ching?"
+
+"Ching neve' quite su'e--only think so," was the reply, accompanied by a
+peculiar questioning look, and followed by a glance over his right
+shoulder at the sky.
+
+"No, I suppose not.  I ought to have been more careful.  They threw
+something down at the boat as soon as we had mounted: did they not,
+Jecks?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I see it coming.  Great pieces of ballast iron, as it took
+two on 'em to heave up over the bulwarks.  I just had time to give the
+boat a shove with the hitcher when down it come.  Gone through the
+bottom like paper, if I hadn't.  But beg pardon, sir, arn't we going to
+have a storm?"
+
+"Yes," said Mr Brooke quietly; "I am running for the river, if I can
+make it.  If not, for that creek we were in last night.  Take the
+tiller, Mr Herrick," he said, and he went forward.
+
+"Going blow wind velly high.  Gleat wave and knock houses down," said
+Ching uneasily.
+
+"Yes, my lad; we're going to have what the Jay-pans calls a tycoon."
+
+"No, no, Tom Jecks," I said, smiling.
+
+"You may laugh, sir, but that's so.  I've sailed in these here waters
+afore and been in one.  Had to race afore it with bare poles and holding
+on to the belaying-pins.  Tycoons they call 'em, don't they, Mr Ching?"
+
+"Gleat blow storm," said Ching, nodding.  "Hullicane."
+
+"There you are, sir," said Jecks.  "Hurricanes or tycoons."
+
+"Typhoons," I said.
+
+"Yes, sir, that's it, on'y you pernounces it different to me.  Don't
+make no difference in the strength on 'em," he continued testily, for
+his wound was evidently painful, "whether you spells it with a kay or a
+phoo.  Why, I seed big vessels arterwards, as had been blowed a quarter
+of a mile inland, where they could never be got off again."
+
+"Yes, I've heard of that sort of thing," I said.  "They ride in on a
+great wave and are left behind."
+
+"Lookye here, sir," whispered the coxswain, who seemed to ignore his
+wound; "I don't want to show no white feathers, nor to holler afore I'm
+hurt, but if I was you, I should ask Mr Brooke to run straight for the
+nearest shore--say one o' them islands there, afore the storm comes; you
+arn't got no idea what one o' them tycoons is like.  As for this boat,
+why, she'll be like a bit o' straw in a gale, and I don't want to go to
+the bottom until I've seed you made a skipper; and besides, we've got
+lots more waspses' nests to take, beside polishing off those three
+junks--that is, if they're left to polish when the storm's done."
+
+"Stand up, Mr Herrick," cried the lieutenant.  "Look yonder, due north.
+What do you see?"
+
+I held the tiller between my knees as I stood up and gazed in the
+required direction, but could see nothing for a few minutes in the dusk.
+
+"Can't you see?"
+
+"Yes, sir, now.  Small round black cloud."
+
+"Yes, of smoke."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir, I see it," said one of the sailors.  "Hooray! it's the
+_Teaser_ with the wind blowing hard astern and carrying the smoke of her
+funnel right over her and ahead."
+
+"The _Teaser_ or some other steamer; and she's running fast for harbour.
+Let's see: those are the Black Gull Islands to port there.  Were you
+with us when the cutter's crew landed, Jecks?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I rowed stroke-oar, sir."
+
+"To be sure.  The second one from the north had the highest ground."
+
+"Yes, sir; but you couldn't land for the surf and the shark-fin rocks,
+if you remember."
+
+"Exactly; and we rowed along the south channel till we found a sheltered
+sand-cove, where we beached the cutter, and then explored the island.
+We must make for that channel, and try to reach it before the storm
+comes down.  We could not get half-way to the river, and, thank heaven,
+the _Teaset_ will soon be in safety."
+
+"No, sir, you couldn't make no river to-night."
+
+"It will be dark too soon."
+
+"Not to-night, sir," said Jecks sturdily.
+
+"Yes, man; there will be no moon."
+
+"No, sir; but in less nor an hour's time the sea 'll be white as milk,
+and all of a greeny glow, same as it is some still nights in port.
+There won't be no difficulty, sir, about seeing."
+
+"But you think it will be hard to make the channel?"
+
+"I hope not, sir, but I'm afraid so; we can only try."
+
+"Yes, we can only try," said Mr Brooke slowly, as he came and sat
+beside me.  "And we must try, Herrick--our best.  For this is no night
+to be out in almost an open boat."
+
+"Then you think there is danger, sir?"  I said anxiously.
+
+"No, Herrick," he replied, smiling; "sailors have no time to think of
+danger.  They have enough to think about without that.  We must get in
+the lee of that island to-night, and it the storm holds back, and the
+little boat spins along like this, we ought to do it."
+
+"And if it doesn't, sir?"
+
+"If it doesn't?  Ah, well, we shall see.  Stand by, two of you, ready to
+lower that sail at a moment's notice."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," was the ready reply as two of the men changed their
+places; and just then I looked at Ching, to see that his face was lit up
+by the reflection of the strange light on our right and behind, which
+grew more striking, while away before us the land disappeared, and we
+were gazing at a bank of clouds of an inky black.
+
+The effect was very curious: behind us the dull coppery glow becoming
+fainter minute by minute, as the darkness increased the blackness before
+us; and one's instinct seemed to warn one to turn from the black
+darkness to sail away towards the light.  Tom Jecks took the same idea,
+and said, in an irritable whisper, exactly what I thought--
+
+"Seems rum, sir, don't it, sir?--makes believe as that's the best way,
+when all the time the wussest looking is the safest."
+
+Just then, after a glance round, Mr Brooke uttered another warning to
+the men to be ready, and settled himself down to the tiller.
+
+"Sit fast, all of you; the hurricane may be down upon us at any moment
+now."
+
+I looked at him wonderingly, for it was painfully still, though the
+darkness was growing intense, and the great junk seemed to have been
+swallowed up by the clouds that hung low like a fog over the sea.
+
+"There will be such a turmoil of the elements directly," continued Mr
+Brooke in a low voice, but only to me, "that I don't suppose a word will
+be heard."  Then aloud, "Look here, my lads; I shall try and run the
+boat high upon the sands at the top of some breaker.  Then it will be
+every man for himself.  Never mind the boat--that is sure to be
+destroyed--but each man try to save his arms and ammunition; and if the
+two wounded men are in difficulties, of course you will lend a hand.
+Now then, one more order: The moment I say, `Down with the sail,' drag
+it from the mast, and two oars are to be out on either side.  The wind
+will catch them and send us along, and I want them to give a few dips to
+get on the top of a roller to carry us in."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"That's all."
+
+His words in that terrible stillness sounded to me as almost absurd, for
+the sea was still calm, and save that sighing in the air of which I have
+before spoken, there was no further sound; and at last I said to him--
+
+"Do you really think we shall have a hurricane?"
+
+"Look at the sky, my lad," he replied; "and take this as a lesson to one
+who will have men's lives depending upon his knowledge and skill some
+day.  If ever there were signs of an awful night in the Chinese seas, it
+is now.  Hark at that!"
+
+"Guns!  The _Teaser_!"  I exclaimed excitedly.
+
+"Heaven's artillery that, my lad," he said solemnly.  Then in a whisper,
+"Shake hands!  I'll help you all I can, Herrick, but heaven knows how we
+shall be situated soon."
+
+I felt a strange sensation of awe creep over me, as he gripped my hand
+warmly, and then snatched his away, and sat up firm and rigid, turning
+his head to the east as all now became suddenly black--so dark that I
+could hardly see the men before me and the sail.  But still we glided
+rapidly on over the long smooth rollers, on and on toward the islands,
+which lay a short distance from the mainland.
+
+"It will be all guess work," whispered Mr Brooke.  "I am keeping her
+head as near as I can guess for the channel, but the breakers will soon
+be our only guide."
+
+Then came the heavy roar again, which I had taken for guns, but it did
+not cease as before, when it sounded like a sudden explosion.  It was
+now continuous, and rapidly increasing.
+
+"Thunder?"  I asked in a low voice.
+
+"Wind.  Tremendous.  It will be on us in five minutes."
+
+But even then it seemed impossible, for we were still sailing swiftly
+and gently along towards the channel between the islands, and the roar
+like distant thunder or heavy guns had once more ceased.
+
+"We shall get to the shore first after all," I whispered.
+
+"No."
+
+At that moment there was a sensation as of a hot puff of air behind us.
+It literally struck my head just as if a great furnace door had been
+opened, and the glow had shot out on to our necks.
+
+"Here she comes," growled Tom Jecks; "and good luck to us."
+
+And then, as if to carry out the idea of the opened furnace, it suddenly
+grew lighter--a strange, weird, wan kind of light--and on either side,
+and running away from us on to the land, the sea was in a wild froth as
+if suddenly turned to an ocean of milk.
+
+"Down with the sail!" shouted Mr Brooke, who had held on to the last
+moment, so as to keep the boat as long as possible under his governance;
+and quickly as disciplined men could obey the sail was lowered, and as
+far as I could see they were in the act of stowing it along the side,
+when it filled out with a loud report, and was snatched from their hands
+and gone.
+
+"Any one hurt?"
+
+"No, sir," in chorus.
+
+"Oars."
+
+I heard the rattle of the two pairs being thrust out.  Next Mr Brooke's
+words, yelled out by my ear--"sit fast!" and then there was a heavy
+blow, heavy but soft and pressing, followed by the stinging on my neck
+as of hundreds of tiny whips, and then we were rushing along over the
+white sea, in the midst of a mass--I can call it nothing else--of spray,
+deafened, stunned, feeling as if each moment I should be torn out of my
+seat, and as if the boat itself were being swept along like lightning
+over the sea, riding, not on heavy water, but on the spray.
+
+Then all was one wild, confusing shriek and roar.  I was deafened;
+something seemed to clutch me by the throat and try to strangle me; huge
+soft hands grasped me by the body, and tugged and dragged at me, to tear
+me from my hold; and then, two arms that were not imaginary, but solid
+and real, went round me, and grasped the thwart on which I sat, holding
+me down, while I felt a head resting on my lap.
+
+I could see nothing but a strange, dull, whitish light when I managed to
+hold my eyelids up for a moment, but nothing else was visible; and above
+all--the deafening roar, the fearful buffeting and tearing at me--there
+was one thing which mastered, and that was the sensation of being
+stunned and utterly confused.  I was, as it were, a helpless nothing,
+beaten and driven by the wind and spray, onward, onward, like a scrap of
+chaff.  Somebody was clinging to me, partly to save himself, partly to
+keep me from being dragged out of the boat; but whether Mr Brooke was
+still near me, whether the men were before me, or whether there was any
+more boat at all than that upon which I was seated, I did not know.  All
+I knew was that I was there, and that I was safe, in spite of all the
+attempts made by the typhoon to drag me out and sweep me away like a
+leaf over the milky sea.
+
+It cannot be described.  Every sense was numbed.  And if any lad who
+reads this were to take the most terrible storm he ever witnessed,
+square it, and then cube it, I do not believe that he would approach the
+elemental disturbance through which we were being hurled.
+
+There was a rocky shore in front of us, and another rocky island shore
+to our left; and between these two shores lay the channel for which we
+had tried to make.  But Mr Brooke's rule over the boat was at an end
+the moment the storm was upon us, and, as far as I could ever learn
+afterwards, no one thought of rocks, channel, saving his life, or being
+drowned.  The storm struck us, and with its furious rush went all power
+of planning or thinking.  Every nerve of the body was devoted to the
+tasks of holding on and getting breath.
+
+How long it lasted--that wild rush, riding on the spray, held as it were
+by the wind--I don't know.  I tell you I could not think.  It went on
+and on as things do in a horrible dream, till all at once something
+happened.  I did not hear it, nor see it, hardly even felt it.  I only
+know that something happened, and I was being strangled--choked, but in
+another way.  The hands which grasped my throat to keep me from
+breathing had, I believe, ceased to hold, and something hot and terrible
+was rushing up my nostrils and down my throat, and I think I then made
+some effort with my hands.  Then I was being dragged along through water
+and over something soft, and all at once, though the deafening,
+confusing noise went on, I was not being swept away, but lying still on
+something hard.
+
+I think that my senses left me entirely then for a few moments--not
+more, for I was staring soon after at the dull light of white water
+sweeping along a little way off, and breathing more freely as I
+struggled hard to grasp what it all meant, for I did not know.  I saw
+something dim pass me, and then come close and touch me, as if it sank
+down by my side; and that happened again and again.
+
+But it was all very dream-like and strange: the awful, overwhelming,
+crushing sound of the wind seemed to press upon my brain so that I could
+not for a long time think, only lie and try to breathe without catching
+each inspiration in a jerky, spasmodic way.
+
+I suppose hours must have passed, during which I stared through the
+darkness at the dull whitish phosphorescent glow which appeared through
+the gloom, and died out, and appeared and died out again and again,
+passing like clouds faintly illumined in a ghastly way, and all mingled
+with the confusion caused by that awful roar.  Then at last I began to
+feel that the rush of wind and water was passing over me, and that I was
+in some kind of shelter; and when I had once hit upon this, I had as it
+were grasped a clue.  I knew that I was lying on stones, and saw that
+rising above me was a mass of rock, which I knew by the touch, and this
+stone was sheltering me from the wind and spray.
+
+"We must have reached the shore safely, then," I said to myself, for my
+head was getting clearer; "and--yes--no--I was not hurt.  We were all
+saved, then."
+
+At that point a terrible feeling of dread came over me.  I was safe, but
+my companions?
+
+The shock of this thought threw me back for a bit, but I was soon
+struggling with the confusion again, and I recalled the fact that I had
+felt some one touch me as he sank down by my side.
+
+Arrived at this point, I turned a little to look, but all was perfectly
+black.  I stretched out my hand and felt about.
+
+I snatched it back with a cry of horror.  Yes, a cry of horror; for,
+though I could not hear it, I felt it escape from my lips.  I had
+touched something all wet and cold lying close beside me, and I felt
+that it was one of my companions who had been cast up or dragged
+ashore--dead.
+
+Shivering violently, I shrank away, and stretched out my hand in the
+other direction--my left hand now, with my arm numbed, and my shoulder
+aching when I moved it, as if the joint had become stiffened and would
+not work.
+
+I touched somebody there--something cold and smooth and wet, and drew my
+hand away again, when, as it glided over the sand, it touched something
+else round and soft and long, and--yes--plaited.  It was a long tail.
+
+"Ching!"  I ejaculated; and, gaining courage, I felt again in the
+darkness, to find that it grew thinner.  I tried again in the other
+direction, and once more touched the round wet object, which did not
+seem so cold, and then the next moment a hand caught mine and held it.
+
+I was right; it was Ching.  I knew him by his long nails.
+
+Not alone!  I had a companion in the darkness, one who was nearly as
+much stunned as I, for he moved no more, but lay holding on by my left
+hand, and for a time I was content to listen to the savage roar of the
+wind.  But at last, as my brain worked and I mastered the sensation of
+horror, I began to feel about again with my right hand, till I touched
+the same cold, wet object I had encountered before.
+
+It was an arm, quite bare and cold; while now I could not withdraw my
+hand, but lay trembling and shuddering, till I felt that perhaps I was
+not right--that any one lying dead would not feel like that; and my hand
+glided down to the wrist.
+
+I knew nothing about feeling pulses only from having seen a doctor do
+so, but by chance my fingers fell naturally in the right place in the
+hollow just above the wrist joint, and a thrill of exultation ran
+through me, for I could distinctly feel a tremulous beating, and I knew
+that my imagination had played me false--that the man was not dead.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY ONE.
+
+AFTER THE TYPHOON.
+
+The repugnance and horror gave way to a sensation of joy.  Here was
+another companion in misfortune, alive and ready to share the terrible
+trouble with us, but who was it?
+
+I tried to withdraw my left hand from Ching's grasp; but as soon as he
+felt it going, he clung to it spasmodically, and it was only by a sharp
+effort that I dragged it away, and turned to the side of my other
+companion, and began to touch him.  There was the bare arm, but that was
+no guide; the face helped me no more; but the torn remnants of his
+clothes told me it was not Mr Brooke, and my heart sank.  I felt again,
+and my hand encountered a drawn-up leg, and then I touched a bandage.
+It was Tom Jecks, who had been wounded by the fire from the junk.
+
+I could learn no more.  I tried to speak; I shouted; but he made no
+sign, and I could not even hear my own cries.  The darkness remained
+profound, and the deafening roar of the wind kept on without cessation.
+
+But, feeling more myself at last, I determined to crawl about a little,
+and find out whether any more of our crew were near us.  Then I
+hesitated; but, summoning courage, I crept on my hands and knees, passed
+Ching, and then crouched down nearly flat, for I had crept to where the
+shelter ceased, and to have gone on would have been to be swept away.
+
+To test this I raised one hand, and in an instant I suffered quite a
+jerk, and each time I repeated the experiment I felt more and more that
+to leave the shelter meant to die, for the power of the blast was
+appalling.
+
+Crawling back, I proceeded in the other direction, and found that I
+could go what I guessed to be quite a dozen yards, feeling more and more
+in shelter.  Then all at once I reached a point where the wind came
+through what afterwards proved to be a narrow pass between two masses of
+rock, and I shrank back disheartened at the barrenness of my search.
+
+In that black darkness it was very difficult to find my former position,
+even in so confined a space, and I found myself completely going wrong,
+and into the rushing wind, the effect being horribly confusing again.
+But, after lying flat down on the sand, which kept flying up and nearly
+blinding me, I grew more composed, and, resuming my search once more,
+found where my two companions lay; and, after touching our wounded
+sailor, and finding him lying as I had left him, I began to think of
+what I could do to help him, but thought in vain.  To give help was
+impossible in the midst of that awful storm, and, utterly exhausted now,
+I sank back and reached out my left hand once more to try and touch
+Ching.
+
+He was on the alert, and caught my hand in both his, grasping it firmly,
+as if, boy as I was, he would gladly cling to me for protection; while
+I, in my horror and loneliness, was only too thankful to feel the touch
+of a human hand.
+
+Then, amid the strange confusion produced by the roar of the wind and
+thunder of the waves whose spray hissed over our heads, I lay wondering
+what had become of Mr Brooke and the others--whether they had reached
+the land, and were screened behind the rocks as we were; then about the
+_Teaser_--whether she had been able to make the shelter of the river
+before the typhoon came down upon them in all its fury.
+
+I seemed to see the men at their quarters, with the spars lowered upon
+deck, the boats doubly secured, and everything loose made fast.  I
+fancied I felt the throb of the engines, and the whirr of the shaft, as
+it raced when the stern rose at some dive down of the prow; and the
+sharp "ting-ting" of the engine-room gong-bell struck on my ears above
+the yelling of the storm, for wild shrieks at times came mingled with
+the one tremendous overpowering roar.
+
+Then I began thinking again about Mr Brooke, and whether, instead of
+lying there in shelter on the sand, I ought not to be striving with all
+my might to find him; and all at once the roar over my head, the thunder
+of the breakers somewhere near, and the hiss and splash of the cutting
+spray, seemed to cease, and I was crawling about the shore, over sand
+and rocks, and through pools of water, to find Mr Brooke, while Ching
+followed me, crying out in piping tones, "Velly long of you.  Windee
+blow allee way."  But still I toiled on, lying flat sometimes, and
+holding tightly to the rocks beneath me, for fear of being snatched up
+and sent whirling over the sea.  Then on again, to come to a mass of
+rock, up which I climbed, but only to slip back again, climbed once more
+and slipped, and so on and on till all was nothingness, save that the
+deafening roar went on, and the billows dashed among the rocks, but in a
+subdued far-off way that did not trouble me in the least.  For my
+sleep--the sleep of utter exhaustion--had grown less troubled, the
+dreamy crawl in search of Mr Brooke died away, and I slept soundly
+there, till the sun glowing warmly upon my face made me open my eyes, to
+find Ching's round smooth yellow face smiling down at me, and Tom Jecks
+nursing his leg.
+
+I started up in wonder, but sank back with a groan, feeling stiff and
+sore, as if I had been belaboured with capstan bars.
+
+"You feel velly bad?" said Ching.
+
+"Horribly stiff."
+
+"Hollibly 'tiff; Ching lub you well."
+
+Before I knew what he was about to do, he seized one of my arms, and
+made me shout with agony, but he moved it here and there, pinching and
+rubbing and kneading it till it went easily, following it up with a
+similar performance upon the other.  Back and chest followed; and in ten
+minutes I was a different being.
+
+But no amount of rubbing and kneading did any good to my spirits, nor to
+those of our companion in misfortune, whose wound troubled him a good
+deal; but he sat up, trying to look cheerful, while, with my head still
+confused, and thought coming slowly, I exclaimed--
+
+"But the storm--the typhoon?"
+
+"Allee blow way, allee gone," cried Ching, smiling; "velly good job.
+You feel dly?"
+
+I did not answer then, for I felt as if I could not be awake.  I had
+been lying in the lee of a huge mass of rock, amid stones and piled-up
+sand, upon which the sun beat warmly; the sky overhead was of a glorious
+blue; and there was nothing to suggest the horrors of the past night,
+but the heavy boom and splash of the billows which broke at intervals
+somewhere behind the rock.
+
+At last I jumped up, full of remorse at my want of thought.
+
+"Mr Brooke--the others?"  I cried.
+
+"We were talking about 'em, sir, 'fore you woke up," said Jecks sadly;
+and I now saw that he had received a blow on the head, while he spoke
+slowly, and looked strange.
+
+"And what--"
+
+"I'm afraid they're--"
+
+"Allee dlowned; velly much 'flaid."
+
+I groaned.
+
+"I don't know how we managed to get ashore, sir," said Jecks faintly.
+"I think it was because there was so little undertow to the waves.  When
+the boat struck, it felt to me as if I was being blown through the
+shallow water, and I shouldn't have been here if I hadn't come up
+against Mr Ching, who was pulling you along."
+
+"Then you saved me, Ching?"  I cried.
+
+"Ching takee hold, and pullee here.  Velly pull wolk.  Him get hold of
+tow-chang, and pullee him both together."
+
+"That's right, sir.  I snatched at anything, and got hold of his tail,
+and held on.  But you don't mind, Mr Ching?"
+
+"No; mustn't cut tow-chang off."
+
+"Let's try if we can find the others," I said; and, taking the lead, I
+walked round the mass of rock which had sheltered us, to gaze out at the
+heaving sea, which was rising and falling restlessly; but there was no
+white water, all was of a delicious blue, darker than the sky, and not a
+sail in sight.
+
+To right and left extended a low cliff, at whose feet lay huge masses
+which had fallen from time to time; then an irregular stretch of sand
+extended to where the waves came curling over, the swell being very
+heavy, and the only trace of the storm to be seen was the way in which
+the sand had been driven up against the cliff, so as to form quite a
+glacis.
+
+We could see about half a mile in either direction, but there was no
+sign of our companions, and my heart sank again.  There were, however,
+here and there, ridges of rock, running down like breakwaters into the
+sea, and about which it fretted and tossed tremendously; and, in the
+hope that one of these ridges might hide our friends from our view, I
+climbed to the top of the highest piece of rock I could reach, and took
+a long and careful survey.
+
+"See anything, sir?" said Tom Jecks.
+
+"No," I replied, "nothing.  Yes; about a quarter of a mile on there's a
+spar sticking up; it may be the boat's mast."
+
+I came hurriedly down, and my announcement was enough to set my
+companions off, Jecks limping painfully through the loose sand, climbing
+rocks, and finding it no easy task to get over that so-called quarter of
+a mile, which, like all such spaces on the sea-shore, proved to be about
+double the length it looked, while the nearer we got the higher and more
+formidable the ridge seemed to grow, completely shutting out all beyond,
+where it ran down from the cliff at right angles into the sea.
+
+All at once, as I was helping the coxswain over an awkward stone, the
+poor fellow being weak and rather disposed to stagger, but always
+passing it off with a laugh and an "All right, sir, I shall be better
+after breakfast," Ching uttered an ejaculation, and pointed to something
+that the sea had washed up, and was pouncing upon again like a cat to
+draw it back.
+
+My heart seemed to stand still, but a horrible fascination drew me to
+the spot along with the Chinaman, for my first thought was that it was
+the body of Mr Brooke.
+
+"Not jolly sailor boy," said Ching; and I felt a peculiar exaltation.
+"Not Mis' Blooke.  Pilate man dlowned.  Ching velly glad."
+
+We turned away, and continued our route, for I shrank from going into
+dangerous breakers to try and drag the man out, and my companion was too
+weak.  As to its being one of the pirates, it seemed possible, for I
+knew that one, if not two, had gone overboard in the fight, and it was
+probably one of these.
+
+We trudged on and reached the ridge at last, to find it bigger and more
+precipitous than I had expected.  It ran out evidently for hundreds of
+yards, its course being marked by foam and fretting waves, and I was
+just thinking what a fatal spot it would be for a vessel to touch the
+shore, when I reached the top and uttered a startled cry, which brought
+the others to my side; for there was the explanation of the presence of
+the drowned Chinaman!  Spreading away for a couple of hundred yards, the
+shore was covered with timbers, great bamboo spars, ragged sails, and
+the torn and shattered fragments of some large Chinese vessel; while,
+before I could shape it in my mind as to the possibilities of what
+vessel this could be, though certain it was not the _Teaser_, Ching said
+coolly--
+
+"That velly good job.  That big junk blow all to pieces, and allee bad
+pilate man dlowned.  No go choppee off poor sailor head now.  No 'teal
+silk, tea, allee good thing, and burnee ship.  Velly good job indeed;
+velly bad lot."
+
+"You think it was the junk which cheated us?"
+
+"Yes, velly muchee same.  Look, allee paint, lacquee, gold.  Allee same
+junk; no use go find um now.  No get head chop off for killee sailo'.
+Allee bad pilate allee dlowned."
+
+"Hold hard there, sir," whispered Tom Jecks.  "I can hear people
+talking.  Quick! squat, hide; there's a lot on 'em coming down off the
+cliff."
+
+We had just time to hide behind some rocks, when a party of about twenty
+Chinamen came cautiously and slowly down on to the sands, and Ching
+whispered as he peeped between the fragments of rock--
+
+"Not allee pilate dlowned.  Come along look at junk; take care; choppee
+off allee head; must hide."
+
+Ching was quite right, and I was awake to the fact that we three were
+prisoners on a little desert island, and in company with a gang of as
+savage and desperate enemies as man could have.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY TWO.
+
+FOR DEAR LIFE.
+
+It was all clear enough: the great junk which had so deceived Mr Brooke
+and Ching had been cast ashore and shattered, these men having escaped
+and been exploring the island, or perhaps they were only coming down now
+from the spot where they had taken refuge after being cast ashore.
+
+"Why, Ching," I whispered, "perhaps there are more of them about!"
+
+"P'laps," he replied.
+
+We dared not move, but remained there watching; and it now became pretty
+evident that the men had come down to examine the wreck, for they began
+to hurry about, chattering away as they searched in all directions
+amongst the fragments, one or another setting up a shout from time to
+time, which brought others to him.  Then we saw them drag out now a
+chest from the sand in which it was bedded, now a cask; and soon after
+there was a burst of excitement over something we could not make out;
+but it was evidently a satisfactory find, for they bore it up from the
+sea to the soft, warm, dry sand, and all sat down round about it.
+
+"Find something velly good to eat," whispered Ching.  "Now allee velly
+busy; come along, hide."
+
+It was very good advice; and we followed him down from the ridge, and in
+and out at the foot of the cliff, seeking for some place of concealment;
+for I had not a doubt about our fate if we were seen.  In fact, I did
+not breathe freely until the great ridge and several masses of rock were
+between us; and only then, a good half-mile away in the direction from
+which we had come, did we venture to speak above our breath.
+
+"Velly big pity," said Ching, whose face was all in wrinkles.  "Velly
+muchee wish back at fancee shop."
+
+"Let's find a place before we talk about that," I said.
+
+"Yes; soon findee place."
+
+"Here, what is it, Jecks?"  I cried, catching our companion's arm; for
+he suddenly gave a lurch as we struggled through the loose sand, and
+nearly fell.
+
+"Bit done up, sir," he said, with a piteous smile.  "Wound in my leg
+makes me feel sick, and the sun's hot.  Is there a drop o' water to be
+got at anywhere?"
+
+I looked round at the glowing sand and rocks with a feeling of horrible
+despair coming over me.  Yes, there was water--hundreds and thousands of
+miles of water, blue, glistening, and beautiful in the calm morning, but
+none that we could give a parched and fainting man to drink.
+
+"Try and creep along a little farther," I said.  "Let's get you in
+hiding, and then Ching and I will search for some and bring it--"
+
+As I spoke I remembered that I had nothing that would hold water, and I
+felt constrained to add--
+
+"Or fetch you to it."
+
+"All right, sir," said the man, with a weary smile; "allus obey your
+officers."
+
+Ching went to his other side, and supported him some fifty yards
+farther, our way now being through quite a chaos of rocks, which had
+been loosened in bygone times from the cliff above.  Then, so suddenly
+that we were not prepared, the poor fellow dropped with his full weight
+upon our arms, and we had to lower him down upon a heap of drifted sand.
+
+"No go, sir," he said softly; "I'm a done-er."
+
+"No, no; rest a bit, and we'll find a cool place somewhere.  I daresay
+we shall see a cave along here."
+
+"Can't do it, sir," he said feebly; "I've kep' on as long as I could.
+It's all up.  Never mind me.  If those beggars see you, they'll have no
+mercy on you, so go on and try and get away."
+
+"Yes; velly muchee makee haste.  Pilate come soon."
+
+"Yes, sir; he's quite right, sir.  You two cut and run."
+
+"And let them come and murder you, while we go?"  I said.
+
+"Well, yes, sir," said the poor fellow faintly; "there's no good in
+having three killed when one would do."
+
+"Look about, Ching," I said sharply.  "Is there any place where we can
+hide?"
+
+"No," he replied disconsolately.  "Only place for lit' dog; no fo' man."
+
+"You can't do it, sir," said our poor companion.  "Good-bye, sir, and
+God bless you; you've done all a orficer can."
+
+"Oh, have I?  I should look well when Mr Reardon or the captain says,
+`What have you done with your men?'"
+
+"Don't! stop a-talking, sir," he cried, clinging to my hand.  "You know
+what these beggars are, and you'll have 'em on to you, sir."
+
+"Yes; and we shall have them on to you if we don't find a place soon.
+Here, Ching, don't run away and leave us;" for I could see the
+interpreter climbing up a gap in the cliff.
+
+"He's quite right, sir; you go after him.  I tell you it's all over and
+done with me.  If you got me along a bit farther, I should only go off
+all the same.  It's all up.  Now, pray go, sir.  It's no use to stay."
+
+"Hold your tongue!"  I cried angrily; for with the feeling on me strong
+that the pirates might be down on us directly, and the only thing to do
+was to set off and run for my life, the poor fellow's imploring words
+were like a horrible temptation that I was too weak to resist.
+
+"I must speak, sir," he whispered, with his eyes starting, and his lips
+black and cracked by the heat and feverish thirst caused by his wound.
+"There, you see, Mr Ching's gone, and your only chance is to follow
+him."
+
+I looked up, and just caught sight of one of the Chinaman's legs as he
+disappeared over the edge of the cliff to which, high up, he had
+crawled.  And once more the desire to escape came upon me, but with
+increased strength, that made me so angry at my weakness that I turned
+upon the poor fellow almost threateningly.
+
+"Will you hold your tongue?"  I whispered hoarsely.
+
+"Will you go, sir?" he pleaded.  "I tell yer it's all up with me, and
+the Teapots can't hurt me worse than what I've got now.  Arn't got your
+dirk, have you?"
+
+"No; why?"
+
+"'Cause it would ha' been an act o' kindness to put me out of my misery,
+and save me from being cut to pieces by them there wretches.  Now, sir,
+good-bye, and God bless you, once more!  Tell the skipper I did my duty
+to the last."
+
+I broke down as I sank on my knees by the poor fellow; and I didn't know
+my voice--perhaps it was being husky from the heat-as I said to him,
+very chokily--
+
+"And if you get away, tell the captain I did my duty to the last."
+
+"Yes, sir; but do go now."
+
+I jumped up again, ashamed of the blinding tears that came for a few
+moments into my eyes.
+
+"Look here," I said; "if you weren't so weak, I'd kick you, old a man as
+you are.  Likely thing for a British officer to sneak off and leave one
+of his men like this!"
+
+"But the beggars are coming, I'm sure, sir."
+
+"Very well," I said gloomily, "let them come.  It's all very well for a
+full-moon-faced Chinaman to go off and take care of himself, but it
+isn't English, Tom Jecks, and that you know."
+
+The poor fellow hoisted himself a little round, so that he could hide
+his face on his uninjured arm, and as I saw his shoulders heave I felt
+weaker than ever; but I mastered it this time, and knelt there with a
+whole flood of recollections of home, school, and my ambitions running
+through my brain.  I thought of my training, of my delight at the news
+of my being appointed to the _Teaser_, of my excitement over my uniform;
+and that now it was all over, and that in all probability only the
+sea-birds would know of what became of me after the Chinamen had done.
+
+Then I thought of Ching's cowardice in leaving me alone with the poor
+wounded fellow like this.
+
+"I knew he wasn't a fighting man," I said sadly; "but I couldn't have
+believed that he was such a cur."
+
+At that moment there was a quick scrambling sound, which made me start
+to my feet, and Tom Jecks started up on his elbow.
+
+"Here they come, sir," he gasped.  "Now, sir," he whispered wildly, "do,
+pray, cut and run."
+
+"With you," I said resolutely.
+
+He made an effort to rise, but fell back with a groan.
+
+"Can't do it, sir.  Without me.  Run!"
+
+I put my hands in my pockets without a word, and then started, for a
+voice said--
+
+"You think Ching lun away allee time?"
+
+"Ching!"  I cried, grasping his arm.
+
+"Yes; no good.  Can't findee big hole to hide.  Ching tumblee down off
+rock, and hurt him."
+
+"Much?"  I said.
+
+"Yes, plentee plentee.  Time to go now.  Pilate all come along this
+way."
+
+He passed his hand involuntarily straight round his neck edgewise, as if
+thinking about how a knife or sword would soon be applied.
+
+"You saw them?"  I cried.
+
+"Yes," he said sadly.  "Allee come along.  You lun away now with Ching?"
+
+"I can't leave Tom Jecks," I said.  "Off with you, and try and save
+yourself.  Never mind us."
+
+Ching looked at the injured sailor.
+
+"You no get up, lun?" he said.
+
+"Can't do it, mate," groaned the poor fellow.  "I want Mr Herrick to
+make a dash for his life."
+
+"Yes, velly good.  You makee dashee you life, Mr Hellick."
+
+"No, I stay here.  Run for it, Ching; and if you escape and see the
+captain or Mr Reardon again, tell him we all did our duty, and how Mr
+Brooke was drowned."
+
+"Yes, Ching tellee Mr Leardon evelyting."
+
+"Then lose no time; go."
+
+"No; Ching velly tire, velly hot; wantee bleakfast, flesh tea, nicee new
+blead.  Too hot to lun."
+
+"But I want you to save yourself," I said excitedly.
+
+"Yes; allee save evelybody, alleegether.  Ching won't go leave Mr
+Hellick."
+
+"Ching!"  I cried.
+
+"Hush!  No makee low.  Lie down likee lit' pigee in sand.  Pilate come
+along."
+
+His ears were sharper than mine; for, as I dropped down at full length
+in the sand upon my chest, I saw him drag a good-sized stone in front of
+his face to screen it, while I, in imitation, rapidly scooped up some of
+the sand and spread it before me, so as to make a little mound of a few
+inches high, just as a couple of the junk's crew came into sight about a
+hundred and fifty yards on our left, and as close down to the sea as the
+billows would allow.  Then a few more appeared; and at last the whole
+party, walking almost in single file, and looking sharply from left to
+right as they came.
+
+There was a space of about sixty yards from the face of the cliff to the
+edge of the water, and the shore, after about twenty yards of perfect
+hard level, rapidly rose, the interval being a rugged wilderness of rock
+half buried in the driven sand.
+
+It was up nearly at the highest part of this chaos of rocks, where we
+had been seeking along the cliff face for a cavern, that we three lay,
+many feet above the level strip by the sea; and there were plenty of
+rocks protruding from the sand big enough to hide us; but it could only
+be from a few of the men at a time.  To the others I felt that we must
+be so exposed that some one or other must of necessity see us if he
+looked our way.
+
+There was no need to whisper, "Be silent," for we lay there perfectly
+motionless, hardly daring to breathe, but forced, fascinated, as it
+were, into watching the long procession of our enemies, walking along,
+chattering loudly, and every now and then stooping to pick up something
+which had been driven up by the sea.
+
+At times I saw them gazing right in our direction, and then up, over us,
+at the cliff with its patches of grey-green vegetation; but fully half
+of them passed by without making a sign of being aware of our presence,
+and hope began to spring up of the possibility of their all going by
+without noticing us.
+
+The next moment it seemed impossible, and my heart sank as one active
+fellow stepped toward us, apparently coming straight to where we lay,
+and appearing to be watching me all the time.
+
+And now more strongly than ever came the feeling that I must leap up and
+run for my life, though I knew that if I did the mob of Chinamen would
+give chase, like the pack of savage hounds that they were, and never
+give up till they had run me down; and then--
+
+I felt sick with the heat of the sun, and the horror of my position.
+There, say it was all from the latter cause; and the rocks, sea,
+pirates, all swam before me in a giddy circle, with only one clear
+object standing out distinct upon the sands--imagination, of course, but
+so real and plain before my dilated eyes, that I shuddered at its
+reality--it was myself, lying in the baking sunshine, after the pirates
+had overtaken me and passed on!
+
+It was very curious in its reality, and so clear before me that I could
+hardly believe it true, when the man who was coming toward us suddenly
+stooped, picked up something, and then turned and went back to his
+position in the line.
+
+For I had not calculated in my excitement upon the deceptive nature of
+the ground upon which we lay, with its large masses of rock and
+scattered fragments of endless shapes, some partly screening, some
+blending with our clothes as we lay motionless; and above all, upon the
+fact that our presence there was not expected.  Otherwise there might
+have been quite another tale to tell.
+
+Even when I knew that they were passing on, I hardly dared to draw my
+breath, and lay still now, with my head pressed down sidewise in the
+sand; till at last I could keep from breathing no longer, and the dry
+sand flew at one great puff.
+
+I lay trembling the next moment, fearing that the sound would bring the
+bloodthirsty wretches back, hot and eager to hack to pieces the foreign
+devil who had escaped from their clutches the day before; but the sound
+of their voices grew more and more faint, till the last murmur died
+away, and I raised my head slowly, an inch at a time, till I could gaze
+along the strand.
+
+There was nothing visible but the scattered rocks, sun-bleached sand,
+and the dark, smooth surface over which the foaming water raced back
+each time a glistening billow curved over and broke.  And in proof that
+the enemy were some distance away, I could see the pale-feathered,
+white-breasted gulls passing here and there in search of food, while
+able at any moment to spread their wings and escape.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY THREE.
+
+OUR REFUGE.
+
+"Oh deah me!" said Ching in his most squeaky tones, "I velly hungly.
+You like nicee bleakfast, Mis' Hellick?"
+
+"Don't speak to me as if I were a baby, Ching," I cried angrily.
+
+"No; speak like to offlicer, Mr Hellick.  You likee bleakfast--
+something good eat?"
+
+"I hadn't thought of it before, Ching," I said, feeling rather ashamed
+of my angry tone; "but I am faint, and I suppose that is through being
+hungry."
+
+"Yes; Ching go down among locks and sand, see if he find something eat."
+
+"No, no," I cried excitedly; "it would be madness."
+
+"Eh? you tinkee Ching mad?" he said, with a smile.
+
+"Oh no; but you would meet some of the pirates."
+
+"No; allee gone 'long shore.  Not come back long time."
+
+"But it is too risky.  Perhaps some of the wretches are waiting."
+
+"No; allee velly wicked--velly bad men.  Feel 'flaid stop all alone.
+'Flaid see men again headee chop off.  Pilate allee keep together.  No
+come long time; Ching go find something good eat."
+
+"But if they come on the cliffs and look back, they might see you."
+
+"Yes; might see Ching flom velly long way topside lock chop.  Then
+think--"
+
+"Think, yes, of course."
+
+"Not allee same you think.  See Ching?  Yes; see John Chinaman in blue
+flock allee torn, long tow-chang; that's all."
+
+I did not grasp his meaning for a moment.
+
+"Oh, I see," I cried at last; "you mean that if they did see you, they
+would think it was one of their own crew?"
+
+"Yes; think one of own clew.  But Ching not pilate."
+
+"Of course.  Then there would be no risk.  You shall go, but we must
+find some place where we can hide."
+
+"Mis' Hellick help soon makee velly nicee place."
+
+"Wait a minute," I said.  "Couldn't we climb up on the cliff like you
+did?"
+
+"Yes, Mr Hellick climb, but no cally jolly sailor boy, Tom Jeck, allee
+way."
+
+"No; we must make a place here if we cannot find one."
+
+He walked up to the face of the cliff, but there was no spot at all
+likely to answer the purpose till he had gone about fifty yards, when he
+turned and signalled to me.
+
+I crept close up to the cliff, and then stooped down, after a timid look
+in the direction taken by the pirates, and found Ching standing by a
+piece of the rock which had split away from above, fallen clear, and
+then its top had leaned back against the rock face, leaving a narrow
+rift between its base and the cliff, through which we could see the
+light dimly, some twelve or fourteen yards away, but it was only a faint
+gleam showing that the far end was nearly closed.
+
+"Velly nice beautiful place; ought to come here last night."
+
+"Yes, capital.  We can hide here; and once inside, if we had arms, we
+could keep the wretches at a distance."
+
+"Don'tee want fight now," said Ching, quietly.  "No swold, no shoot gun,
+no jolly sailor boy.  Wantee eat and dlink."
+
+"Yes; let's get poor Jecks here at once."
+
+"You go fetch him; tly to walkee now: Ching go fetch eat, dlink."
+
+He hurried off toward the ridge, while I went back to my wounded man,
+who seemed to be lying asleep, but he opened his eyes as I approached.
+
+"We've found a place," I said.  "Do you think you can limp a little
+way?"
+
+He tried to rise, and fell back with a moan, but upon my placing my arm
+under his, he made a fresh effort, and stood upright, taking step for
+step with mine, till I had him right up to the narrow opening of our
+shelter, into which he slowly crawled, and then spoke for the first
+time, but in a hoarse voice I did not know--
+
+"Water."
+
+"I'll try," I said; "don't stir from there till I come back."
+
+Creeping along close under the cliff, I soon reached the ridge, and was
+about to mount, but dropped down and hid, for I saw something move in
+the direction taken by the pirates.
+
+A minute's investigation, however, showed it to be some bird on the
+strand, and I began to climb, reached the top, took a careful
+observation in both directions, and then up at the cliff, and,--lastly,
+looked out for Ching.
+
+I soon espied him running out after a retiring billow, then running in
+again, and continuing this several times as if he were a boy at play.
+Finally, however, I saw him go splashing in after a wave, and then come
+hurrying back dragging something, which he drew right ashore.
+
+There he stopped, panting, and looking back, caught sight of me, and
+signalled to me to come.
+
+I hurried down, reached him amongst the piles of broken timber and
+rubbish, and found that he had secured a wooden box, one end of which
+had been battered upon the rocks, laying bare the bright glistening tin
+with which it was lined; and I realised directly that he had found what
+for us was a treasure, if we could tear open the tin, for the case bore
+the brand of a well-known firm of English biscuit-makers, and doubtless
+it was part of the loot taken from some unfortunate British merchantman.
+
+"You helpee me cally?" he said.
+
+For answer I took hold of one end of the case, and we bore it right up,
+through the thick sand, close under the cliff, where we placed it behind
+a big stone.
+
+"You gottee big stlong knife?" cried Ching.
+
+I took out a big-bladed knife, opened it, and found no difficulty in
+thrusting it through the soft tin and cutting a long gash.  Then I cut
+another, parallel, and joined two of the ends, making a lid, which, upon
+being raised, showed that the biscuits were perfectly unharmed by the
+salt water.
+
+"Fillee allee pockets," cried Ching; and I proceeded to do so, while
+twice as many as I could stow away disappeared under his garments.
+
+"Now," I said, "we must find water and get back."
+
+"Waitee minute; p'laps pilate come back; no have bliskit."
+
+He dropped down upon his knees, and began tearing away the sand from
+behind the stone, after which he dragged the case into the hole, and
+tossed the sand over it at a tremendous rate, ending by completely
+covering it and looking up at me with a smile of satisfaction.
+
+"Now for water," I said eagerly.
+
+"Yes, Ching find water;" and we tramped back, the loose dry sand falling
+in and obliterating our footprints.
+
+Ching led the way to a pile of tangled wreck-wood, and took out a jar
+covered with bamboo basket-work, and having a cross handle--a vessel
+that would probably hold about half a pailful.
+
+"Ching find--float flom junk," he said; and then, with a knowing smile,
+he led the way to where the ridge joined the cliff; and, unable to
+contain myself when, he stopped and pointed down triumphantly, I fell
+upon my knees, and placed my lips to a tiny pool of clear cool water,
+which came down from a rift about forty feet above my head in the
+limestone rock, and, as I drank the most delicious draught I ever had in
+my life, the water from above splashed down coolly and pleasantly upon
+the back of my head.
+
+"Ching hear can go _tlickle, tlickle_," he said, stooping in turn to get
+a deep draught before filling the vessel, and then leading the way back
+over the ridge, and out of the hot sunshine into the place where our
+poor companion lay upon his back, muttering hurriedly words of which we
+could not catch the import.
+
+This was a fresh difficulty, for he could not be roused into sitting up
+to drink; and at last, in despair, I scooped up some water in my hand,
+and let it trickle upon his half-parted lips.
+
+The effect was instantaneous; they moved eagerly, and, ceasing his
+muttering, he swallowed more and more of the water, till he must have
+drunk nearly a pint, and now sank into a more easy position fast asleep,
+and breathing easily.
+
+"Ha!"  I exclaimed.  But I said no more, Ching's hand was placed over my
+lips, and he held me back, staring hard all the time towards the tall
+narrow outlet of our shelter.
+
+For the moment I thought that this was some cowardly attack--one is so
+prone to think evil of people rather than good; but he stooped down,
+placed his lips to my ear, and whispered the one word--
+
+"Pilate."
+
+Then a loud burst of talking came upon us, sounding as it doubled by
+striking and echoing from the rocks.  My blood ran cold once more, for I
+thought that my exclamation had been heard, and that the enemy was
+talking about and watching the opening of our shelter.
+
+Then the noise grew louder, and some dispute seemed to be on the way,
+while, what was worse, the sounds did not pass on, showing that the crew
+of the junk, for I felt that it must be they, had returned and stopped
+just in front of where we crouched.
+
+Where we were was dark enough to keep any one from seeing us if he
+looked in from the bright sunshine; but I knew that, sooner or later, if
+the men stayed where they were, some one was sure to come prying about,
+and would see the place.  How long, then, would it be ere we were
+discovered, and had to meet our terrible fate after all?
+
+"You thinkee get out other way?" said Ching at last, with his lips to my
+ear.
+
+"I think not," I whispered back.
+
+"Mustn't look out this way," he whispered again.  "You go light to end
+and look see if pilate going stop."
+
+I was so eager to get an observation of the enemy, that I hurriedly
+crept along the narrow passage.  I say hurriedly, but my progress was
+very slow, for I had to worm my way over fallen stones, some of which
+were loose, and I was in constant dread of making a sound which might
+betray us.
+
+But I got to the end in safety, and had to mount up over a large narrow
+wedge-like piece which filled up the end; the opening, dim and partly
+stopped with some kind of growth outside, being quite ten feet from the
+sandy bottom.
+
+And all this while the murmur of voices from outside came indistinctly,
+till I was at the top of the wedge, when the talking grew suddenly
+louder.
+
+I hesitated for a few moments, and then, feeling sure that I was safe, I
+placed my face to the opening, parted the tough plant a little, and then
+a little more, so as not to attract attention; and at last, with a
+bright yellow daisy-like growth all about my face, I peered out, to see
+that the enemy had quietly settled down there to smoke, not thirty yards
+from our hiding-place, while some were settling themselves to sleep, and
+again others to eat biscuits similar to those we had found.
+
+They evidently meant to stay, and if our wounded companion began his
+delirious mutterings again, I knew that, although a fellow-countryman
+might be spared, my career was at an end.
+
+I crept down cautiously, and told Ching all I had seen; whereupon he
+nodded his head sagely, and placed his lips to my ear.
+
+"Plenty big stone," he whispered.  "Plenty sand; velly quiet; 'top up
+hole."
+
+I shrank from making any movement, but, softly and silently, Ching crept
+nearly to the opening by which we had entered, and began moving the
+fragments embedded in sand, which formed the flooring of our narrow
+refuge, turning over peat shaley pieces, and laying them naturally
+between us and the light, and, after planting each heavy piece, scooping
+up the dry sand with both hands, and pouring it over the stone.  Then
+another piece and another followed, awkward bits so heavy that he could
+hardly lift them; and, gaining courage, I let to as well, pulling blocks
+from out of the sand where I knelt, and passing them to him.
+
+He nodded his satisfaction, and we both worked on slowly and silently,
+building up till the erection became a breast-work, rapidly growing
+narrower as it rose higher; the sand poured in, filling up the
+interstices and trickling down on the other side, thus giving our rugged
+wall the appearance of being a natural heap, over which the dried sand
+had been swept in by the storm.
+
+I was in agony as we worked on, expecting moment by moment to hear a
+stone fall, or a loud clap of one against another; but Ching worked in
+perfect silence, while the busy chattering of the men without kept on,
+and then by slow degrees grew more smothered as our wall arose; while as
+it progressed our shelter grew more gloomy.
+
+There was plenty of material to have made a wall ten times the size,
+whereas, roughly speaking, ours was only about four feet in length from
+the fallen rock to the base of the cliff, and sloped inward till, at
+breast height, it was not more than two feet, and from there rapidly
+diminished till Ching ceased, and breathing hard, and wet with
+perspiration, he whispered to me--
+
+"No leach no higher; can'tee find now."
+
+It was so dark that we could only just see each other's faces, but in a
+short time we became so accustomed to the gloom, that we could watch the
+changes in Tom Jecks' countenance as he lay sleeping, by the faint rays
+which stole in over the top of our cavern, and through the tuft of
+herbage which grew high up at the other end.  But the heat was terrible
+in so confined a space, and, exhausted as I was with lifting stones and
+scooping up sand, there were moments when everything appeared dreamy and
+strange, and I suppose I must have been a little delirious.
+
+I was sitting panting with the heat, resting my head against the rock,
+listening to the breathing of Tom Jecks, and wondering why it was that
+something hot and black and intangible should be always coming down and
+pressing on my brain, when I started into wakefulness, or rather out of
+my stupor, for Ching touched me, and I found that he had crept past Tom
+Jecks to where I had made my seat, and had his lips close to my ear.
+
+"Hoolay!" he whispered.  "Flee cheahs!  Pilate all go away!  Go up see."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.
+
+WITHIN AN ACE.
+
+Ching's words sent a thrill of delight through me, rousing me, and
+bringing me out of my half-delirious state.
+
+Without a word, I crept cautiously up to my look-out place, listening to
+the loud shouting and gabbling of the Chinamen as I got nearer to the
+tuft of greeny growth, which I parted without so much hesitation now,
+and, looking out, I could see that by the warm glow of the late
+afternoon sun which made me shrink back with my heart sinking, and creep
+down again to Ching.
+
+"Yes?" he whispered.  "Allee going 'way?"
+
+"No," I replied, with my lips to his ear; "they are carrying up boards
+and pieces of the wreck and sails, and making themselves a shelter.
+They are going to stay."
+
+Ching drew his breath with a low hiss, and was silent for a few minutes.
+Then, quite cheerfully, he whispered--
+
+"Velly bad job.  Don'tee want bad wicked pilate here.  Nevy mind: come,
+eat blisket, dlink watee.  Muchee best place.  Muchee better than
+pilate.  Then go have good long s'eep."
+
+We stole back to where the biscuit and water vessel had been placed for
+safety; but when Ching handed me some biscuits I felt as if I could not
+eat, though a little water refreshed me.
+
+"No dlinkee much; no get more till pilate gone."
+
+I shuddered as I thought of the consequences of being without water in
+that stifling place, but the simple refreshments did me a wonderful
+amount of good, and, after dipping my handkerchief in the vessel and
+squeezing a few drops from time to time between Tom Jecks' lips as he
+began to mutter, he dropped off to sleep again.
+
+I sat listening then to the smothered sounds from without, where the
+enemy were evidently very busy, and I was just dropping off again into
+an uneasy slumber, when I started into wakefulness, for there was a loud
+shout from the opening we had blocked up, and I felt that all was over.
+They had found the way in, and in a few moments we should be dragged
+out.
+
+Directly after there was the babble of several other voices, and a
+discussion went on in Chinese, not a word of which could I understand.
+Then, to my utter wonder, the voices which had come over the top as if
+speaking close by me, suddenly ceased, and I could hear the _pad pad_ of
+bare feet on the sands.
+
+"Velly neally catchee catchee, and choppee off head," said Ching softly.
+"Begin to be velly solly for poor Mis' Hellick.  Pilate say, `Heah good
+place, make hole s'eep in.'  'Nothee pilate say, `Big fool; allee wet
+damp; wildee beast live in hole, and allee 'tink.  Come back, makee
+better place.'"
+
+It was a narrow escape, and it was long enough before my heart calmed
+down, left off throbbing, and I fell asleep.
+
+Utter exhaustion had done its work, and my sleep was deep and dreamless.
+Once my eyes had closed, they did not open again till long after
+sunrise the next morning, when I lay there puzzled, and wondering where
+I was and what was the meaning of the murmur of voices apparently from
+somewhere overhead.
+
+Ching's voice chased away the remaining mists.
+
+"You had velly good s'eep?" he whispered.  "Feel muchee better?"
+
+I did not answer, only squeezed his hand, and turned to see how Tom
+Jecks was, but he did not seem to have stirred, and we then ate
+sparingly of our biscuits, and drank more sparingly of the water.
+
+"Must be velly careful," Ching said again; "no get more till pilate gone
+'way."
+
+That day went by like a portion of some feverish dream.  My head burned
+and throbbed; my thirst grew terrible in the hot, close place, and Ching
+owned to suffering terribly in the same way; but the faithful fellow
+never touched a drop of the water, save when the evening came, and we
+partook together of our rapidly-diminishing store of biscuits, the very
+touch of which on my lips increased the agony of my thirst.
+
+And all the while we were awake to the fact that the Chinamen had an
+ample supply of food and water, for they kept dragging up to the camp
+they had formed casks and chests which had been washed up from the wreck
+of their junk; and when I climbed up and looked out, I could see them
+apparently settled down and resigned to their fate, until some friendly
+junk came along or they could surprise another, feasting away, or
+playing some kind of game with stones.
+
+"Waitee lit' bit," Ching whispered.  "Allee s'eep, and Ching get eat
+dlink."
+
+But I felt certain that he would be caught, and begged him not to go
+till we were absolutely driven by hunger and thirst; and so that day
+passed, with the rock growing hotter, and the air too stifling almost to
+breathe, while, to my horror, I found that Tom Jecks was growing more
+and more feverish.  At times he began to mutter so loudly that we were
+obliged to throw my jacket over his face to prevent the sounds from
+drawing the attention of the enemy.
+
+I believe I was half-delirious all that day, and when the night came our
+little supply of water was running so low that Ching asked if he had not
+better climb over the wall and go and fetch some more.
+
+"No," I said; "it means discovery.  We must wait."
+
+I dropped soon after into a heavy stupor-like sleep, and this time I was
+the first to wake and see the sun's rays stealing in through the growth
+in the rift.  Ching was sleeping calmly enough, but Tom Jecks had been
+tossing about, and lay in a very peculiar position, which startled me--
+it looked so strange.  But Ching woke just then, and, nodding and
+smiling, he helped me to turn our poor companion back, when we found him
+flushed and excited, muttering angrily, quite off his head.
+
+"Nevy mind; pilate get tired; go to-day," whispered Ching.  "Get bettee
+soon.  Now have bleakfast.  Waitee bit: Ching makee butiful bleakfast,
+chicken, toast, egg, nice flesh tea.  There.  On'y 'nuff blisket for
+to-day.  Ching go out to-night get plenty blisket, plenty watee,
+plenty--plentee--oh, deah--oh, deah!"
+
+"What is it?"  I whispered.
+
+"Oh deah!  Not drop watee left.  You get up dlink allee watee?"
+
+"No; did you?"
+
+"No.  Ching see.  Pooh Tom Jeck knock over with arm."
+
+It was only too evident, for the water vessel had been laid upon its
+side, and the sand beneath was soaked.
+
+"Ching velly solly," said the Chinaman softly.  "No gettee more watee
+till quite dalk."
+
+My head sank against the rock, and I hardly stirred the whole of that
+day.  Ching pressed me to eat some of the remaining biscuits, but I
+could not touch them, only rest my burning head there, and try to think
+of what was to come.  Ching would certainly be caught if he ventured
+out, for the enemy never all lay down to sleep together; and, what was
+worse, I felt convinced, though in a confused way, that sooner or later
+the delirious mutterings and talkings of Tom Jecks must be heard.
+
+I can only remember patches of that day.  The rest is all burning heat
+and wandering away amongst grass and flowers and purling streams, whose
+trickling I seemed to hear.
+
+It was getting well on in the afternoon, I suppose, that Tom Jecks'
+fever came to a height.  He muttered, and then began to talk angrily,
+but in an incoherent way, and his voice grew so loud that at last I
+roused myself and went up to the look-out, to watch whether it was heard
+without.
+
+But the Chinamen heard nothing, only sat or lay about, talking or
+sleeping.  It was getting close upon evening, for the sunshine was warm
+and golden, and cast long shadows from the rocks and the cliff above us
+over the level sand.
+
+How beautiful it all looked! that golden sea, with a distant sail here
+and there.  And now suddenly I found that there was a great deal of
+excitement amongst the Chinamen, who were talking loudly.
+
+My head was hot and confused, but I soon saw the reason why, and hope
+began to revive, for about a couple of miles out I could see two junks
+standing in, and my heart throbbed again with excitement as I noted
+their rig, and could feel certain they were the pair we had watched
+through that strange night.
+
+"I must go and tell Ching," I said to myself.  "Those junks will take
+the wretches off.  Only a few more hours, and we shall be safe."
+
+"Stand by, my lads!  Look out!  Storm's coming down upon us.  Now then;
+every man for himself."
+
+I turned cold with horror.  Just then, too, when we were so near to
+safety.  For the words were Tom Jecks', roared in a hoarse voice in the
+height of his delirium, and I saw that they were heard outside.
+
+For the Chinamen who were sitting sprang up, sword or knife in hand;
+those who were looking out to sea or making signals faced round, stood
+staring at the cliff for a few moments as if startled, and then, as Tom
+Jecks' voice rose again, but in muffled tones, for Ching had thrown
+himself upon the poor fellow to stifle his utterances, the pirates
+uttered a yell, rushed to the opening, tore down the sand and stones,
+and Ching and Tom Jecks were dragged out on to the sand.
+
+They had not seen me for the moment, but there was a shout directly, a
+man jumped up, caught me by the leg, and I was dragged along and out
+into the soft evening sunshine, to be forced down upon my knees close to
+where Tom Jecks lay, and Ching was being held, for he was struggling
+wildly with his captors, and talked excitedly to the fierce wretches who
+crowded round us.
+
+Ching was evidently pleading for mercy, not for himself but for me.  I
+knew it, for he kept pointing to me; and finally he made a bound, got
+free, and leaped to me, throwing his arms about my waist.
+
+"No killee; shan't killee," he cried wildly; and then, turning round, he
+yelled at our captors in his own tongue, abusing them in his rage, and
+threatening them with his clenched fist.
+
+But it was all in vain: a dozen hands were at him; others seized and
+held me.  Ching was dragged away vociferating wildly, thrown down, and
+three men sat upon him, while another knelt down, twisted his hand in
+the poor fellow's tail, and held his head fast.
+
+I don't think they meant to kill him, their rage being evidently
+directed at us; and I saw, with a peculiar kind of fascination, one man
+with a big sword come close to me; another, armed with a similar blade,
+go to where Tom Jecks lay, held down by three others.
+
+I can hardly describe my sensations.  Five minutes before, I was
+horribly frightened; the cold perspiration stood upon my forehead; my
+hands were wet, and my legs sank under me.  But now, all the fear had
+gone.  I knew I was to die, and I remembered the execution I had seen in
+that great enclosure, when with one _whisk_ of the sword the executioner
+had lopped off head after head.  It would not take long, I thought, and
+a curious exaltation came over me as I began to think of home, and at
+the same time my lips uttered the word "Good-bye," which was followed by
+a prayer.
+
+I did not cease muttering those words as I felt myself forced into a
+kneeling position, and saw that Tom Jecks was being treated in the same
+way.  And somehow, as I prayed, the thought would come to me that the
+poor fellow would not feel or know anything about what was going to
+happen.
+
+Just then, as the man with the big sword approached Tom Jecks, and I was
+watching, I did not see but I knew that the other was close behind me
+and a little on my left.  But it did not trouble me any more than it did
+to know that the fierce wretches were all gazing excitedly at us, and in
+a high state of delight at being able to slay two of their foes.
+
+It takes long to describe all this, but it happened very quickly.
+
+The man had raised his sword to strike at Tom Jecks, and I shuddered and
+looked aside, to see the great shadow of a man on the sand at my feet,
+and there was a sword raised close by me.
+
+At the same time Ching uttered a wild shriek, and the man who held his
+tail forced the poor fellow's head down in the sand, but in vain; he
+wrenched his head sidewise, raised it, and looked towards the cliff,
+while I flinched slightly, for the shadow moved, as he who made it drew
+back to strike.
+
+_Crash_!
+
+No: it was not the falling of the sword on my poor outstretched neck,
+but a volley from the top of the cliff, fired by twenty of our brave
+blue-jackets, and half-a-dozen of the pirates fell shrieking on the
+sands.
+
+I turned faint, but I recovered my senses as I saw Ching spring up, rush
+at a man on the sand, snatch up his sword and run to me.
+
+"Quick!" he cried; "jump up; fight!"
+
+Almost mechanically I obeyed him, and snatched a knife from the hands of
+one of the fallen men to defend my life, just as a second volley rolled
+forth from the cliff, directed at the pirates as they ran toward the
+ridge.
+
+For there was no need for us to fight--our enemies were in full retreat;
+and, as I looked up at the cliff, I could see our men drawn-up, and they
+were signalling evidently to some one out of sight.
+
+The next minute we were hailed.
+
+"Which is the way down?"
+
+"This way," cried Ching excitedly; and he ran south, pointing to the
+rift by which he had climbed the cliff, while I stood there--giddy,
+helpless, and at last sank down on my knees beside poor Tom Jecks, who
+was still muttering something about the storm.
+
+I recovered, however, enough to watch our men descending the rift--a
+perilous, break-neck place; but they did not hesitate, and in a few
+minutes all were down, formed up, and came toward us at the double.
+
+And now for the first time, at the head of those familiar faces, I saw
+Mr Reardon, who thrust his sword into his sheath as he drew near and
+literally rushed at me.
+
+"My dear boy!" he cried, giving me quite a fatherly hug; "thank God, we
+were just in time."
+
+I could not speak--I was too giddy; but I tried to look my thanks.
+
+"Not hurt, are you?"
+
+"No, sir; only faint."
+
+By this time the last of the pirates had passed over the ridge, and I
+felt irritated with Mr Reardon for not going in pursuit.  But he did
+not read my countenance; he called one of the men out of the line, made
+him give me some water from his bottle, and bent down on his knees by
+poor Tom Jecks.
+
+"Ha!" he said; "fever from a wound.  Give him some water too, my lad."
+
+He sprang to his feet then, and I understood why he had not gone in
+pursuit of our enemies, for just then there was a sharp volley from over
+the ridge somewhere.
+
+"Ha! that's got them," said Mr Reardon, turning to me.  "We divided, my
+lad! half of us came along the top of the cliff, the other half along
+the shore."
+
+There was another volley, and I saw Mr Reardon smile as he gave the
+orders, and out flashed the men's cutlasses, and were fixed with a quick
+tingling rattle on the muzzles of their rifles.
+
+"Here they come, sir," cried the warrant officer at the far end of the
+line.
+
+"Yes, my lad, and we're ready for them.  Now, one volley as soon as they
+are together, boys, and then the blades.  Bayonet every wretch who does
+not throw down his arms."
+
+A low murmur ran along the little line, and I saw our men's eyes flash
+in the evening sun.
+
+But the excitement was not complete, for, gathering strength now, and
+recovering from the shock I had received, I was watching the pirates
+scrambling over the ridge in haste, as if pursued, when there was a
+concussion of the air, a heavy boom, and I saw the _Teaser_ come into
+sight, passing through the channel south of where we stood.  Then there
+was a quick puff of smoke, another heavy boom, and I saw that she was
+going full speed, leaving a black stream of smoke behind her, in chase
+of the two junks, one of which was about a quarter of a mile away, the
+other about a mile farther.
+
+They were evidently taken by surprise, for the men were hurriedly
+hoisting sail, and, as I learned afterwards, the _Teaser_ had been quite
+hidden till she rounded a little promontory at the mouth of the channel
+between the first and second islands--the channel for which we had so
+vainly steered on the night of the storm.
+
+The firing went on steadily, the crash of the great shell following the
+report of the piece, but I had nearer and more exciting work to see
+close at hand; and once more my heart beat high, as the pirates gathered
+together, and, seeing the danger before them, paused for a moment or two
+at the foot of the ridge slope, looked to right to see only the
+perpendicular cliff, to left to see the sea, and then, uttering a savage
+yell, came tearing on.
+
+"Fire!" roared Mr Reardon, when they were about fifty yards distant,
+and I saw several fall and others stagger and halt.
+
+But the others continued their wild dash like men, and were met by our
+lads, who advanced with their cutlass-bayonets at the charge.
+
+There was a loud cheer, a savage yelling, and I saw the blades flashing
+in the golden sunshine as they met.  Then a minute's fierce encounter,
+with men falling, and then half-a-dozen turned and fled back for the
+ridge, but only to stop and turn to their right, making for the sea.
+
+For the ridge was lined with blue-jackets and marines, and shot after
+shot was fired at the flying men, who without hesitation plunged into
+the sea and swam out a few yards, while our lads pursued them, but only
+to halt on the hard wet sand, where the waves now gently rippled.
+
+There was a strange fascination in the scene, and I watched the six
+shaven heads of the swimming pirates till the first threw up his hands,
+battled the air for a few moments, and went down.  The others turned and
+slowly swam shoreward till they could wade, when they approached our men
+and flung their weapons on the sand in token of surrender.
+
+There was a triumphant shout at this, and then another--a loud and
+frantic cheer.  For the firing of the _Teaser_ had been going on
+rapidly, and all at once the first junk was seen to heel over, and
+gradually settle down, leaving the sea strewn with fragments of timber,
+to which the crew were left clinging; while the gunboat raced on,
+sending shell after shell rapidly at the other, till she was nearly
+alongside, when there was a tremendous roar, following the crashing into
+her of a shell, and the second junk flew up in fragments.
+
+The shell had reached her little magazine of powder; and then the work
+of mercy began.
+
+I was watching the boats being lowered when I heard a shout from behind,
+and, looking round, saw the second line of our blue-jackets advancing
+from the ridge.  To my great joy, I saw with them those whom we had
+mourned as drowned, while the next minute Mr Brooke had me by the
+hands, and I heard a strange gulping noise, ending in quite a howl.
+
+I looked sharply round, and saw Ching seated on the sand, wiping his
+eyes with his sleeves.
+
+"What's the matter, Ching--hurt?"  I asked.
+
+"No, not hurt, Mis' Hellick; Ching so velly glad."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.
+
+"HUZZA!"
+
+By the time the _Teaser's_ boats had picked up those of the wretches who
+wished to be saved, I had learned from Mr Brooke how, when the boat
+struck, he and the others had clung to her and been swept along through
+the channel, the fierce current carrying them round the point, and at
+last into comparative shelter, where finally they reached the shore
+right on the far side of the island.
+
+Thence, after a great deal of climbing, they made their way toward the
+channel to come in search of us; but they had to fly for their lives,
+finding that the island was in possession of the wrecked crew of the
+junk.
+
+They lay in hiding all that day and the next.  That evening, in answer
+to signals, a fishing-boat picked them up, half-dead with thirst, and by
+the use of a few Chinese words and signs, and the showing of money, the
+men were prevailed upon to take them up to the river, where, to Mr
+Brooke's great delight, he found the _Teaser_ at her old anchorage
+uninjured, she having escaped the fury of the typhoon, just passing into
+the river before it came down in its full violence.
+
+Captain Thwaites had been anxiously awaiting the return of the boat from
+up the river, for, in spite of all inquiries, he had been unable to get
+any tidings of her till just as Mr Brooke arrived, to find the owners
+of the boat he had taken, on board making application for payment.
+
+They were dismissed with a promise of full restitution, and, while steam
+was being got up, a boat was lowered, the floating grating which acted
+as a buoy found, the cutter recovered, and then the _Teaser_ sailed for
+the river's mouth and came in search of us, Mr Brooke still clinging to
+the hope that we had escaped.  In the offing the two junks were seen and
+recognised, evidently on their way to pick up their shipwrecked friends.
+
+First of all, the strong party of blue jackets and marines was landed,
+while the _Teaser_ went round the back of the island, to reach the
+channel and take the pirate junks by surprise.
+
+Thorough success, as I have shown, attended the manoeuvre, and soon
+after we were on board, where, after a few congratulatory words from our
+busy captain, I found Barkins and Smith eager to welcome me back, and
+quite ready to forgive me for having what they called "such a glorious
+lot of adventures," on account of the share they had had in the sinking
+and blowing up of the two pirate junks.
+
+"Yes," said Barkins, after I had told my experiences on the island,
+"that was all very well; but oh, my lad, you should have been here when
+we attacked those junks!  It was glorious--wasn't it, Blacksmith?"
+
+"Lovely!  But don't say any more to the poor fellow; it will only make
+him mad."
+
+We returned to the river, where our prisoners were landed, and we three
+lads had more than one spell on shore before we left that port, notably
+being in the city on the night of the Feast of Lanterns; but though we
+had several more brushes with pirates, they were all trivial affairs
+with small junks, the destruction of the last three being the crowning
+point of our achievements.  Indeed, this and the sinking of another in
+search of which, upon excellent information, Captain Thwaites had
+suddenly gone after we had set out on our shooting expedition, and in
+which engagement Smith assured me he had greatly distinguished himself,
+were such blows to the piratical profession that its pursuers were
+stunned for the time.
+
+We remained upon the coast for another six months, and then: were
+ordered home, to the great delight of everybody but Ching, who parted
+from us all very sadly.
+
+"You think Mr Leardon like to take Ching see Queen Victolia?" he said
+to me one day in confidence.
+
+"I'm afraid not," I replied seriously.
+
+"Ching velly solly," he said.  "Plenty lich man now! plenty plize-money!
+Ching wear silk evely day in Queen Victolia countly.  You no tink
+captain take Ching?"
+
+"I'm sure he would not," I said.
+
+"Ching velly good interpleter; velly useful man."
+
+"Very; you've been a splendid fellow, Ching!"
+
+He smiled, and a fresh idea struck him.
+
+"You tink Queen Victolia like Ching teach lit' plince and plincess talk
+Chinese?"
+
+Again I was obliged to damp his aspirations, and he sighed.
+
+"What shall you do when we are gone, Ching?"  I said.
+
+"Open fancee shop again.  Sell muchee tea, basket, shell, culios, fo'
+Inglis people.  Glow tow-chang velly long.  Wait till Mr Hellick come
+back with jolly sailo' boy, fight pilate."
+
+And with that understanding, which was doomed never to be fulfilled, we
+parted.
+
+For the next morning the men were singing--
+
+"Huzza! we're homeward bou-ou-ound.  Huzza! we're homeward bound."
+
+And homeward we all--including Tom Jecks, who soon recovered from his
+injury--returned in safety, HMS _Teaser_ steaming gently one summer day
+into Plymouth Sound; and this is her log--my log--written by a boy.  But
+that was years ago, and I'm an old boy now.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blue Jackets, by George Manville Fenn
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