"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."