"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.