IV

"There's one good thing we can say for the _Sulu Queen_," observed

Jim Barnes. "That is, she sailed under English board rules."

"What has that to do with our present situation?" demanded Nora

Sayers.

"It means that we've got a sprit rig stowed aboard. In oars, men!

Hi John, we'll be sailing before the wind, so lash your oar to the

for'ard thwart to make a boom for the fores'l. Li Fu, break out the

canvas. Get the mast stepped, then trim ship."

Over the waves behind, the tumult had died, and the distant lights of

the _Sulu Queen_ showed only when the boat lifted on a crest. No

pursuit had been made, nor had the searchlight been put into effect.

Seemingly, Lim Tock was making no effort to find the boat. Probably

the supercargo was for the present unable to get his men in hand and

was also very likely to be busy getting the engines into working

order.

When the centreboard was let down and the boat was being trimmed, Jim

Barnes surveyed her with acute satisfaction. She was a nearly new

whaleboat, fitted with a rudder in navy style, and well found in all

respects. With a grunt of delight, Barnes opened the oiled silk

wrapping of the matches, found the compass to be a good one, and set

it by his side in the stern. In another ten minutes the sprit was

up, the foresail rigged to the makeshift boom, and the whaleboat was

running before the wind toward Borneo.

The eldest of the three children was barely six; none of them were

cognizant of what had happened. After whimpering a little, they were

soon asleep amidships, wrapped in the spare sail.

"If you girls will come aft, you can curl up in the bottom of the

boat at my feet," said Barnes. "You'll be out of the wind and she'll

be better trimmed. I've kept the boat well wet down since we sailed,

and she's dry as a bone."

The two women obeyed. Nora Sayers looked up at Barnes.

"The other children? And their mother?"

Barnes tried to speak, but his throat was suddenly dry.

"I--damn it, girl, don't make me think of it! I did what I could.

Go to sleep."

Ellen Maggs caught her breath sharply. Then, after a moment, Barnes

felt her hand touch his, and he gripped her fingers. Both women were

crying, he thought; but after a little they fell quiet, lulled by the

regular rise and fall of the boat, by the long forward sweep, the

rush and hiss of water as she drove along on a crest, and the tilted

drop into the trough only to gather impetus anew and hurl forward.

The curling sweep of wind and sea, like a cleansing breath, wiped out

all that was behind them and lessened the sharp memory. Once Barnes,

looking back, saw a searchlight fingering the water; that was all.

The stars blazed cold and brilliant, and the thin crescent of the new

moon hung like green silver against the depths above. So passed the

hours, and the boat rushed ever onward and onward under the steady

sweep of wind. Barnes held her on the same course the _Sulu Queen_

had been following, to make the Bornean coast. They were far out of

any steamer track, and there was no hope of being picked up unless by

some chance trading schooner.

Dawn found them steadily bowling along. Li Fu had crept aft and

relieved Barnes of the tiller; and Barnes, resting against the

stern-thwart, opened his eyes to find the head of Ellen Maggs

pillowed upon his shirt, and his arms about her shoulders. How this

had come about, he had not the least idea, but made no objection to

the arrangement.

Perhaps aroused by his awakening stir, the girl opened her eyes a

moment later. Nora Sayers was sleeping peacefully. Barnes felt

Ellen Maggs catch her breath at sight of the ocean and sky that

closed them in, then saw the color come into her cheeks. Before she

turned to glance at him, he closed his eyes again. She did not move,

but, after realizing the situation, accepted it. Above them the lean

form of Li Fu crouched at the tiller, dark eyes sweeping the water

ahead.

"Awake?" asked Barnes after a moment. "Don't move. Sailing a

whaleboat before the wind, even with a centreboard, is about as

ticklish as canoeing. Comfortable?"

"Very, thank you," she responded, although he could see that the

color lingered in her cheeks.

"When the kids wake up, we'll stretch our legs a bit and break out

some grub," said Barnes. She was silent for a space, then spoke

quietly.

"Are we going anywhere? Have you seen any ship, or will any see us?"

"Going to Borneo. We'll raise the coast as soon as the sun's up. We

won't see any ship unless she sees us first, however."

"But I thought we might see one, and catch her attention----"

Jim Barnes chuckled at this.

"No chance! Novels to the contrary, it just ain't done. A small

boat has a horizon of two and a half miles. We could see another

boat a mile farther. The bridge of a ship can see us fifteen miles

away, and would be sure not to miss our sails. So by the time we saw

a ship, she'd be bearing down to take us on board. But we'll not see

any; we're way out of the steamer lane."

Behind the boat, all the eastern sky reddened and streamed with the

dawn-shafts, and the sun sprang suddenly from the sea-rim, piercing

the haze and mist of dawn with his level rays of gold. Li Fu bent

down and touched the shoulder of Barnes. The latter looked. Out

ahead of them a purple mass was upheaved above the horizon, running

north and south.

"Look!" Barnes pointed it out to the girl. "There's Borneo. If the

wind holds, we'll make the coast in a couple of hours. The wind's

shifting around to the north, too. Wake up, Hi John! Take in your

boom, bring the sheet aft, and let the foresail gybe. Mind your

helm, Li Fu, as she wears----"

The whaleboat came over nicely, but as she heeled the three children

wakened and began to cry out. Nora Sayers sat up, bewildered, then

quickly began to mother the little ones. Hi John came aft and

relieved Li Fu, who, with Barnes, set to work breaking out the cabin

stores put aboard the boat.

When breakfast was somewhat precariously made an end of, Barnes

turned over the forward portion of the boat to the two women and

their charges, bringing the quartermasters back in the stern with

him. With the spare sail he contrived a low screen which afforded

the women some privacy without lessening the windage of the sails.

Li Fu curled up to sleep, but Hi John, with a serious effort to

improve his English, questioned Barnes about their course and then

delivered himself of a matter which drew Barnes' immediate and

earnest attention.

The quartermaster had discovered that the captain had changed the

course of the _Sulu Queen_ toward Borneo by reason of something the

serang Gajah had said to him. Further, he knew that there was much

opium on the steamer, which Lim Tock meant to transfer to a junk

which was to meet her somewhere. Putting these facts together, the

inference was that the _Sulu Queen_ was to meet the junk somewhere

near the mouth of the Sesajap, for which the skipper had headed her.

"I don't know but what you're right, John," said Barnes thoughtfully.

"We might run into that junk, eh? But no great matter if we did.

They'd be Chinese and would leave us alone."

Hi John shook his head at this. The boat was stenciled with the name

of the _Sulu Queen_, and the men aboard the junk would not be exactly

fools. Barnes nodded assent.

"You're right. Still, the chances are ten to one that we'll not see

her. How badly did you smash those engines? What did you do to

them?"

"Me no savvy," said the quartermaster with a shrug. He had smashed

them, and that was all he knew, except that he had done it in a hurry

and at considerable risk.

Jim Barnes had fetched along no charts, but needed none for this

coast. To the north was Point Elphinstone and British territory, and

no settlements along the coast. To the south were several Dutch

stations within a hundred miles or so. As Hi John claimed to know

the coast fairly well, Barnes decided to run straight in for the

land, if possible identify their position, and then strike south for

the nearest Dutch settlement. The boat was staunch; the storm season

was gone, and there was nothing to fear.

"And the quicker I can get a gunboat after that devil, Lim Tock, the

better!" reflected Barnes. He still saw red at thought of what he

had witnessed the previous night.

An hour passed, and another, and the coast opened up before them as

the breeze held. The mountains of the interior rose in a dull purple

mass, against which stood the brighter green of the low shores. An

island presently detached itself to the north, and after studying the

coast-line carefully, Hi John declared this to be Bunju, with the

island of Tarakan a little off the port bow. South of Tarakan were

Dutch posts on the Bulangan River mouths, so Barnes let her fill off

a little, heading southeast by east.

The children, meantime, had begun to explore, and two of them

appeared aft, staring at the three men with wondering brown eyes, but

too shy to talk. Barnes was paying little heed to them; both he and

Hi John were examining the coast ahead. Then, suddenly, Li Fu

uncurled, and came out of his sleep with a blood-curdling yell.

For an instant Barnes thought the quartermaster had gone mad, until

he saw the man staring at the wet leg of his dungaree trousers. Wet!

A chattering cry from Li Fu drove the warning home. He plunged

forward.

"Drop it, you little rascal! Drop it!"

It was one of those slight accidents upon which destiny hangs and

veers. The Arab boy had found the lanyard of the plug in the boat's

bottom, and now stood holding up the plug curiously while the water

spouted into her.

At the cry and plunge of Barnes, the boy scrambled away forward.

Nora Sayers came aft, and ran into him. They fell together, just as

Barnes flung himself on the plug and attempted to replace it. Hi

John, too startled to mind his helm properly, let her yaw on the

crest of a wave--and the big mainsail gybed.

Barnes, who had jammed the plug back into place, thought she was

gone; but the water that she had shipped saved her in that instant.

The mast, bone-dry and rotten, went with a rending crash, smashing

the sprit with it. She swept up on the next sea with a pile of

canvas dragging over her bow and the frightened children screaming.

Seizing Li Fu's knife, Barnes went into the tangle furiously, for

somewhere beneath it was Ellen Maggs. He found her unhurt, however,

her arms about the youngest child.

"Lord, girl! I thought the mast had hit you. Get aft, now. Both of

you girls take pannikins and bail. Li, put out an oar and keep her

from broaching. John, come along and help clear away. Move sharp,

everybody!"

In five minutes the dripping canvas was hauled in amidships and the

damage ascertained. The sprit was gone beyond repair, and the upper

half of the mast. Against the stump, Barnes held an oar while Hi

John deftly lashed it in place.

"What happened?" demanded Nora Sayers.

"We all picked the lee side to fall on," and Barnes laughed as he

spoke. "Cheer up! No harm done! We'll run into shore and replace

the spars, then be on our way. Eh, John?"

"Can do," grunted Hi John, examining the coast line. "Plenty bamboo.

Hey! Catchum sail off sta'board counter!"

Barnes leaped to a thwart and took one look to the north. A brown,

square sail was in sight, creeping from behind one of the islands.

He turned.

"Now, John, move! Get that canvas up, anyway at all so it'll

draw--come on! Use that long piece of the sprit for a gaff; lash the

canvas to it and then lash it as high on the oar as you can. Look

alive! That's your junk, yonder."

The two men fell furiously to work, while the women bailed and Li Fu

tugged at the long oar to keep the whaleboat from broaching. And the

brownish yellow matting sail crept down on them like an ungainly

water-spider.

V

Under the rapid directions of Barnes, the whaleboat was presently

surging through the water again, while he took the tiller and the

quartermasters finished the bailing. Both women sat a bit aft to

trim the boat anew; and, as they had worked diligently at Cantonese

while fitting themselves for mission duties, they understood the

tongue more or less. Neither of the quartermasters was aware of the

fact. Barnes spoke it not at all.

"Our master is in love with this drooping girl," said Li Fu

chantingly, as he bailed. "Lim Tock desired her also. She must have

a devil that charms some men, for she is of no beauty in my eyes."

Hi John laughed harshly. "If those aboard the junk see the women,

they will try hard for us! Lim Tock was a Straits man; to him white

women are beautiful. These others are Straits men, too, I think.

Women are more desirable than gold, and white women than pearls; for

white women are hard to come by in Singapore, unless one----"

He went on to speak learnedly of matters which, by good fortune, came

in words that the two women had not learned. As it was, they gave

each other a startled glance. Then Ellen Maggs motioned to the spare

sail.

"Get it, Nora. Lie down and pull it over us."

Barnes saw the action, and his eyes narrowed perplexedly. Then he

understood, and a smile touched his lips.

"Good work, girls! Get the kids with you. Li and John, lie down

here by the after thwart, in the trough of the next wave. Chances

are they won't have very good glasses aboard the junk. We'll puzzle

'em a bit and make 'em suspicious."

Once again the slender accident upon which hangs fortune! Although

the junk was at least three miles from them, Barnes had swiftly

estimated her course and sailing power, and had come to the desperate

conclusion that she meant to intercept them and would do so before

they could make the shore. Her large forward and smaller after sail

were putting her through the water almost dead before the wind at a

fast clip.

Now, when the whaleboat rose to the following seas, she presented the

spectacle of a boat under jury rig manned by a single figure in the

stern. Other figures had been aboard her; now they were gone. To

those on the junk, familiar with the artifices of Malay and Dyak,

familiar with theft and murder and piracy by quiet lagoon and hidden

river-mouth, it was obvious that the thirty-foot whaleboat wished

them to think only one person was aboard. The others might be lying

hidden with weapons ready under mats and sails--as they were.

Jim Barnes hauled in his sheets until the whaleboat began to heel,

and headed up more directly For the shore, sailing by the wind and

getting every possible fraction of speed out of her. Watching

narrowly, he saw the brown matting sail braced around. The junk

altered her course slightly, to run past the stern of the whaleboat

and reconnoitre.

"Good!" he exclaimed, with a breath of relief. "We've won--he's

frightened! Everybody stay close, now. We don't want her to learn

too much. Li Fu, feel around there and pass me up the crutch for the

steering oar, and you, John, have one of the oars ready. I'll ship

the crutch and get out the oar. That'll give us better steering

power and add a bit to our speed. We'll need the oar in the surf, if

there is any."

Five minutes later the change was made and Barnes stood up to the

long oar, which kept the boat from yawing and thus aided her

progress. Her makeshift rig was holding and promised to effect its

purpose.

So it did, indeed. Another twenty minutes made so plain to the junk

that the whaleboat could not be intercepted, that she hauled about

and stood off-shore, giving up the chase entirely. Barnes jubilantly

conveyed the news to all hands, but added a warning word.

"Stay where you are! We don't want her coming in later to

investigate us. John, stand by the centreboard and haul up when I

give the word. There's a lagoon ahead, and we may find a bar at the

entrance. No sign of any, but that don't always signify----"

He craned anxiously forward as he stood, examining the shores upon

which they were sweeping. They were low and unhealthy. From the

water ascended a line, a tangled cluster of mangrove roots twisted

like frozen snakes, with the green wall above. Here and there,

however, openings showed that behind these islets lay long lagoons.

For one of these openings Barnes steered, forced to take chances on

striking a sandbar. He looked back from a crest and found the brown

sail dipping under the horizon.

"All clear! Come alive! Ready for a shock if she strikes, girls.

Haul in, John! That's the ticket!"

In between the trees, they rushed on a white foam-crest, swept past,

and went darting across the quiet surface of a lagoon, the sails

flapping. A hundred yards in width it was, the mangrove wall on one

side, and on the other a strip of white sand with jungle greenery

making another wall to shut off the sky. The boat glided gently

across and drifted until her nose touched the sand. With a breath of

relief, Barnes dropped his oar.

Then the heat smote them, blazing, torrential, insufferable. There

in the quiet lagoon, cut off from wind and sea, the sun beat down

unchecked. Nora Sayers, coming to her feet, glanced at the watch on

her wrist and uttered a cry of surprise.

"Good gracious! Do you know that it's nearly noon? No wonder it's

hot----"

"Sit down!" ordered Barnes. "Pull her up, lads."

Leaping into the water, the quartermasters pulled the nose of the

whaleboat to the sand and helped the two women and the children out.

"All ashore!" sang out Barnes. "Li Fu, you and John cut a new mast

and sprit. Bamboo, if you can find it; if not, whatever you can get.

Miss Sayers, keep your eye on the kids, will you? Miss--er--Ellen,

will you take this stuff as I hand it out? We'll use the spare

canvas for table-cloth, and have a bang-up feed to celebrate. You

girls are getting your money's worth this cruise! How do you like

Borneo?"

Nora Sayers had no time to answer, for the three brown children had

promptly stripped and were plunging through the water or catching

sand-fleas, and she was in laughing pursuit. Ellen Maggs smiled as

she took the provisions that Barnes handed out.

"I--why, I like it!" she said, her eyes big with wonder at the things

around, and sparkling with eagerness. "I'm frightened, and happy,

and--don't want to go back! Are there any savages around?"

"Probably a few head-hunters, but they won't worry us. Here's a tin

of sardines."

With her next load the girl was laughing at sight of Nora Sayers

rounding up her charges.

"I wish we could do that, too! The water looks so clean, and the

sand so white."

"Nothing to prevent," said Barnes, chuckling. "After lunch we'll get

the boat rigged. You and Nora can slip up around that point, take

the kids along and enjoy life. No sharks of any size in here, and no

crocodiles in salt water, I guess. You might catch a stingaree, but

not much chance. While you're gone, I'll have a dip myself."

Nora Sayers and the excited, chattering brown children rejoined them,

and presently their noon meal was ready. Barnes sent up a call,

which was answered from the depths of the green jungle, but the meal

was half over when Li Fu and Hi John appeared. They were hot and

bedraggled, but exultantly produced two admirable spars of bamboo,

each of the right size, for mast and sprit.

Nora Sayers, energetic and vigorous despite the heat, went exploring

and announced the discovery of a little cove, just around a sandy

point. So, taking the children, she and Ellen Maggs presently

departed thither, and the joyful shrieks of splashing youngsters soon

echoed through the lagoon.

Jim Barnes lighted his pipe and fell to work on the spars, at which

the quartermasters joined him after their meal. It was no light job,

since he was determined to have everything shipshape for the proper

handling of the boat, and the sheath-knives made slow work of the

fibrous bamboo. It was an hour before the mast was stepped and

rigged to his satisfaction. Then he enjoyed a quick dip, and was

dressed again when the others returned. The Chinese went in search

of crabs, to vary their diet.

The two women found Barnes sitting on the sand, his pipe alight and a

frown on his face, as he studied the opposite shore of the lagoon.

"Are you all ready to get off?" asked Nora.

"Ready and waiting." Barnes grinned cheerfully. "Look at the

channel over there, by which we came in. Notice anything funny about

it?"

Both women looked, perplexed, but could find no explanation of his

words. Barnes pointed to the sand about the bow of the boat.

"There's the answer, girls. Tide! It must have been on the ebb when

we got here. Now she's gone down, and there isn't three inches of

water over the bar. We're stuck until about five o'clock, that's

all! I'm taking no chances with a thin-skinned whaleboat."

"We can't get out, then?" queried Ellen Maggs.

"Right. We can fish and sew and smoke and talk, and hunt crabs, but

we can't leave. By four or five o'clock we may scrape over. Why

worry? We're a lot better off than we might have been. Not often

you strike a sand beach along these mangrove swamps, I can tell you!

We'll stretch the spare sail as an awning for the kids and let 'em

sleep."

Using the broken spars, and Nora Sayers aiding him, he stretched the

canvas from the side of the boat and the three children were soon

asleep in the shade. Retiring to the edge of the trees, the three

awaited the return of the quartermasters. Barnes sighed luxuriously.

"Golly! This is the first vacation I've had in a long while. Hope

you girls won't lose your jobs if you don't get back to China on

schedule?"

"I guess not," said Ellen Maggs. "What brought you on that awful

ship, Mr. Barnes?"

Barnes gave her a look of whimsical reproach.

"Now, now, I'm surprised at you! My name isn't Mister--it's Jim!

Make believe we're on a desert isle, can't you?"

Ellen Maggs blushed faintly, but her eyes were sparkling when she

responded.

"All right--Jim! Now what brought you on that ship?"

"Fate," said Jim Barnes, grinning. "Do you girls remember that

morning you came into the consul's office in Hong Kong?"

Both women glanced at him, surprised.

"Were you there?" demanded Nora Sayers. "We didn't see you?".

"I was there when you left, after talking with the consul about the

_Sulu Queen_" he responded. "You were too excited to notice me,

though. The consul's a good sport. He knew the old hooker was no

ship for me, but he said you girls were stubborn and were going to

take the trip aboard her----"

"The rates," put in Ellen Maggs meekly, "were half what the other

steamers wanted."

"Sure. So's the pay they offered me. 'You go along on that

houseboat of corruption, Barnes,' the consul said. 'She needs a

second, and there ought to be one white man aboard her if those fool

girls are determined to sail.' So, having seen you girls, I agreed

with him--and here we are! And believe me, I'm tickled to death that

I shipped aboard her."

"So am I," said Nora Sayers laughing frankly. Ellen Maggs said

nothing at all, but Barnes caught a look from her eyes that set his

pulses leaping.

Li Fu and Hi John returned with a mighty loot of crabs and sea-slugs

garnered from the outer reef, and reported that no sail was in sight,

nor was any trail of smoke along the horizon. While the women

shudderingly eyed the hideous slugs and the children poked at them

with sticks, Barnes got a fire going from dry driftwood and the

crab-meat was cooked. The two Chinese squatted over another fire and

prepared the slugs after their own fashion.

The repast was flavored with curiosity rather than hunger. By the

time it was done, Nora Sayers announced the hour as nearly four. Jim

Barnes glanced out at the bar, and nodded. The tide was creeping in.

"All aboard! We'll try it, anyhow. Unship the tiller, Li! She

steers and handles much better with the oar."

Thankful to escape from the unstirred, stagnant heat of the lagoon,

the women and children were aided into the boat after it had been

shoved clear. Barnes took the stern; the quartermasters ran her out

and leaped aboard, getting out oars.

"Wind's going down outside," announced Barnes, as they neared the

opening. "We'll keep along the coast during the night, however, and

with morning ought to run into some native fishing boats. We can

soon find where the nearest Dutch post is located. Here we are, now!

In oars, men! Stand by the centreboard, John. Li Fu, take care of

the sheets!"

The boat's keel touched the mud of the bar lightly, very lightly, and

then was over. There had been surf in the morning, but now it was

gone, except for a line of breakers fifty feet away. The sails

caught the breeze, the boat heeled over, and a moment later Barnes

luffed and drove her through the surf, to fall away on the other tack

and head out to the southward.

Then, as he stood watching the sails, his eyes widened. Before him,

seemingly without cause, had appeared a little round hole in the

mainsail. An instant later the crack of a rifle came on the wind.

He turned, as a shout broke from Li Fu, and perceived what none of

them had observed in the moment of getting through the surf.

Half a mile to the north along the mangrove reef was the same junk

they had encountered earlier in the day; and, between her and them,

bearing down upon them and booming along with the breeze, were three

ship's boats with canvas set.

"Our boats!" cried Jim Barnes. "They sank the ship and came along in

the boats. Down, everybody! John, get those water breakers aft to

trim ship. Down!"

Another rifle-crack emphasized his words, and then the sharp song of

the bullet whining overhead, followed by a chorus of yells from the

three boats.