The Penang Pirate | Page 7

was saying to those two beggars in the boat."
"Did you?" said the captain and Mr Meredith, the passenger, almost together, eagerly. "What was it? what did the rascal say?"
"You may well say rascal, sir," said Jack. "For though I did not hear all their conversation, from what I gathered I think they're up to some mischief. I first heard the chap in the boat say, `And how about the passengers?' or something like that as far as I could make out; and the serang said, `There's only one come on the ship.'"
The captain nudged Mr Meredith here, and the first mate, and all three chuckled.
"And then the man in the boat said, `You are certain there are not more aboard?' And the serang answered, `No, only that one passenger'--`strange man,' he called him--`and twelve men besides the boy officer,'--I suppose meaning me, sir. And then the man in the boat, who seemed to have some authority over the serang, said, `In about ten days, if the wind is good or fair; and don't be in a hurry, but wait for the signal!' and then the Malay chap turned and saw me, and the boat shoved off."
"Very good, Harper," said the captain; "we'll keep an eye on him, never fear;" and then, as Jack went off again to his post he turned to Mr Meredith: "I confess that I was wrong, and you and the admiral right, sir!" he said. "And now we must contrive to outwit these yellow devils, and as they're half-Chinese and ought to know, show them how to catch a Tartar!"
"Ay," said Mr Meredith, laughing, "we'll give them a lesson they'll never forget, too, while we're about it! But, captain, we have plenty of time before us--ten days or more, just as I calculated; and all we have to do now is to look out sharp for squalls in the meantime."
"Right, sir," said Captain Morton, "we'll all have to look out sharp, for they're treacherous rascals at the best, and these seem to be the worst! Keep your weather eye open, Scuppers, and give Sprott a hint-- although not a word, mind you, to the men yet, with the exception of Bill Martens, who can be trusted to bide his time, as he knows already as much as ourselves. As to little Jack Harper, he's a 'cute boy, and is not likely to forget what he has heard." And there the conversation ended and the subject dropped.
All that day the Hankow Lin was working her way down the river from Canton, which lies some eighty miles from its mouth; and at nightfall the ship again anchored, the navigation being somewhat intricate and the breeze dying away; but next morning it was up anchor and away again with everything hoisted that could draw and the wind right astern, the vessel making such good progress through the water that long before mid-day she had passed through the Bocca Tigris, or "tiger's mouth" passage, and was out in the open ocean.
The nor'-east monsoon, which blows in the China seas as regularly as clockwork from October to April, and is the great trade-wind of the tea- ships, had nearly blown out its course; but still, for a time it was all in the Hankow Lin's favour, and she went through the water at a fine rate. Although she was pretty well laden, and was rather deep for a vessel of her size, she walked along as if, as the sailors said, the girls at home had got hold of the tow-rope; and when the log was hove at noon she was going twelve knots with all sail set--not a bad pace that for a trader; but, in the old days, before steam transformed the trade through the Red Sea, these tea-ships were built for speed as well as freight room.
Sundown came, and the great orb of day set in a crescent of ruby light, making the sea like a gorgeous pantomime sea of molten gold as far as the eye could reach; and still the wind held up fair and strong, and the vessel careered over the expanse of ocean, that looked like living fire, without slackening her rate of progress, rising and falling to the waves with pendulum-like rhythm. And now night came on with its azure sky, sprinkled with innumerable stars all glorious with scintillating light, and the ship preserved the even tenor of her way; morning came again with its freshness of roseate hues and golden sun-risings, and purple mists, and transparent haze; and yet, onward--onward, without pause--she flew upon the wings of the wind like a great white dove released from some fowler's snare and panting for the untrammelled freedom of the wide wide sea.
So day after day passed, and everything went on in regular routine on