The Penang Pirate | Page 6

Pearl
River glow as if with life, and lighting up the distant house-tops and
pagodas of Canton that could be seen far away from Jardyne Point; and
then, up danced the sun from beyond the paddy fields, mounting higher
and higher in the heavens each moment with majestic strides, as if he
wanted to get his day's work done early, so as to get a siesta in the
afternoon!
With the rising of the sun, all is bustle and excitement on board the
Hankow Lin; for the captain before turning in had told Mr Scuppers
that they were to sail at daybreak.
"Whee--eo! Whee--eo! Whee--ee!" The boatswain's shrill whistle was
heard piercing through every nook and cranny of the ship.
"Tumble up, there! Tumble up! All hands up anchor!" shouted out Bill
Martens in stentorian tones that supplemented the call of his whistle.
"Now, you Lascar beggars, show a leg, will you? All hands on deck,
and up anchor. Here, look alive, serang! Man the capstan-bars, and be
sharp with it. Cheerily, men; cheerily ho! Walk her up to her anchor.
Now she rides--heave, men, with a will. Belay!"
The ship by this time has been brought up, with all the slack of the
cable in; and the chief mate now lends his voice to add to the bustle and
movement of the scene.
"'Way aloft there, men; loose topsails; let fall. There! Now, serang,
heave with a will! heave with a will! Now it's free; heave away, my
hearties!" and the anchor was run up to the bows with a will, and
secured with tackles; when, the ship's head being now loosed from her
hold of the ground, she began to pay off, with her bows dancing up and

down, as if she were bidding a polite adieu to the Celestial Empire and
all its belongings.
"Man the topsail halliards; up with the jib; loosen those courses; set the
spanker sharp, will you? Hurrah! there she fills!" The sails bellied out
and drew; and the ship bore round to her course, and began to move, at
first slowly, and then more swiftly, down the river, south and west, on
her way towards England--homeward-bound, as it is joyously phrased.
A regular staunch clipper is she--the good ship Hankow Lin; one of the
best of the old-fashioned tea-traders that as yet spurned the modern
innovation of the Suez Canal, and despised, in the majesty of their
spreading canvas, the despicable agency of steam! A sound, teak-built,
staunch, ship-rigged vessel of 1200 tons register, and classed A1 at
Lloyd's for an indefinite number of years.
Captain Morton--a bluff old sea-dog, with a jovial red face, and crisp,
wiry grey hair, and mutton-chop whiskers that projected on either side
as if electrified--was standing on the poop to windward, with the first
mate, Mr Scuppers, and the passenger, "Mr Meredith," looking up aloft
at the nimble topmen, who were adding acre to acre to the sail-surface
of the ship, and pluming her snowy pinions with a pull here and a shake
there. Mr Sprott, the second mate, was to leeward of the helmsman; the
boatswain on the forecastle, monarch of all he surveyed in that
department; and little Jack Harper, the middy--a special favourite both
with the officers and sailors--looking on amidships at the gang of
Malays, who were hauling away at halliards, and slackening sheets, and
curling ropes, in a more slipshod and leisurely way than regular jack
tars are wont.
Jack Harper called out to the serang Kifong to make him rouse up his
men, but he was nowhere to be seen. Presently, he perceived him
bending over the side amidships, partly concealed by the shrouds, and
apparently talking to some one overboard. Wondering what was up,
Jack cautiously approached him without being observed, and peered
over the side too. His face brightened up with excitement as he heard
the sounds of men's voices speaking in Chinese rapidly, and then he
listened with rapt attention for a minute. Only for a minute, however, as

the serang, turning rapidly round, saw him, and, calling out something
which he could not catch, a sampan, or native boat, quickly sheered off
from the vessel, and, impelled by two rowers, darted off shore wards;
the serang, with a look of unconsciousness at Jack, sauntering back to
his gang, as if he were only doing the most natural thing in the world.
The captain perceived the sampan the moment it left the ship's side, and
hailed Jack.
"Hullo! What was that boat doing alongside?"
"Can't say, sir," said Jack, touching his cap. "I suppose some of the
Lascars' friends bidding them good-bye!"
"That so?" said the captain. "It isn't discipline, but I suppose we can't
help it;" and he resumed his conversation with the passenger and Mr
Scuppers.
By