"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.