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.