CHAPTER NINE.
PREPARATIONS.
"At last!" he cried. "I began to think your eyelids were sewed up.Dress yourself, sir; do you hear? Do you suppose that the juniorofficers of the _Teaser_ are kept here on purpose to set a bad exampleto the men?"
"Breakfast ready?" I said, yawning.
"Of course it is, sir. Kidneys and fried soles done to ashade. Fresh water-cresses, hot rolls, and all kinds ofdon'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 wakenedfrom sleep, began to feel a grim satisfaction in seeing my messmaterobbed 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 meturn 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 ourtail between our legs. Skipper seems to think it's of no use trying anylonger; and you mark my words, as soon as we're gone those beggars willcome out of their creeks and begin murdering and burning every tradingvessel 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'swhat 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 onlywish 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. Isay, if you were skipper, we'd share the cabin with you, and have ajolly 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 whilethere was a pirate on the east coast."
"Well, there won't be when we've done. I say--oh dear me!--how is itthe legs of your trousers will get tangled when you want to put 'em onin 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, therewas a lowering look upon every face; and the officers were all snappish,the men discontented, and scowling at the two figures marching up anddown the quarter-deck side by side.
I felt disappointed, for we had been looking forward to the excitingmoments when we should first overhaul some piratical junk. Of course Iknew that there might be some danger, but I foresaw very little: ourwell-armed ship, with its strong, highly-disciplined crew, wouldover-ride every opposition offered by the half-savage Chinamen, I feltsure; and, like most people in the service, I felt that, if any one washurt, it would be some one else. And now there was to be no furthersearch for the pirates. We were going south again, probably toHong-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 thetaffrail 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 whata noodle I must have looked, when I heard my name uttered in thecaptain's short, sharp voice.
I turned and saluted, to find that Mr Reardon had gone forward.
"I only want to repeat my caution to you, Mr Herrick," said thecaptain. "You will not say a word to any one about your visit to melast night."
"No, sir," I said.
"You have not spoken to your messmates?"
"No, sir; not a word."
"But they asked you why I summoned you to my cabin?"
"Yes, sir; but they think it was to snub--reprove me, sir, for making somuch of the Chinaman."
"Oh, I see. But snub would have done, Mr Herrick. Reprove soundspedantic. That will do, but bear in mind my wishes."
"Oh, there you are, Mr Herrick," said the first lieutenant, a fewminutes later. "I want you. Find that Chinaman and the ship's tailor,and bring them both to my cabin."
"Yes, sir," I said, wondering; and I hunted them out, told them tofollow me, and led the way to Mr Reardon's cabin.
"Shut the door," he said sharply.
I obeyed, and the lieutenant consulted a scrap of paper upon which hehad pencilled a few memoranda.
"Now, tailor," he said, "you will have an order for a sufficiency ofwhite duck."
"Yes, sir."
"And by this time to-morrow I want twenty loose frocks cut and madeafter the fashion of this man's blue cotton blouse thing."
"Couldn't be done, sir, in the time," said the tailor respectfully.
"They must be done, my man. I don't care how roughly they are made, norhow badly sewn, but they must be cut to this pattern. Get as many menas you require to sew, and begin work at once. I'll send this boy toyou soon, for you to get the pattern of his garment."
The tailor saluted, and went off wondering; while I wondered no less, asI stood waiting with Ching for what was to come; but for some momentsMr Reardon sat there studying his notes.
All at once he looked up sharply.
"Now, Ching," he said, "can you understand all I say?"
The Chinaman nodded.
"Then look here: I have ordered twenty duck-frocks, as you heard."
"Yes, sir. Velly like Chinaman."
"Exactly. Well, these are for twenty of our men to wear. I want themto look like Chinese."
Ching shook his head.
"Blue flock," he said; "all blue, no white."
"We have no blue, and the white must do."
"Velly well."
"That point is settled, then. Now, then, about their heads."
"Cut hair all off, and glow pigtail."
"That would take years, my man, and I wanted them ready to-morrow."
"How glow pigtail one day?" cried Ching scornfully; and pulling roundhis own, he held it out, fully four feet in length--a long black plait,with a bit of ribbon tying it at the end.
"Thi'ty yea' long," said Ching. "No one day."
"You must get some oakum, and dye it black. Plait it up, and fastenthat on the men's heads."
"With bit o' stling," said Ching, nodding his head. "Go act play--makefleatre 'board ship?"
"Yes, we are going to act a play," said the lieutenant sternly; and Ifelt the blood come into my face with excitement.
"Shave men's head--shave face; makee look allee same Chinaman."
"Oh, we can manage that," said Mr Reardon, giving me a meaning look."You can pick out men and boys enough, Mr Herrick, to make twentysmooth-faced ones."
"Yes, sir, I think so," I said.
"Then something must be mixed up, whiting and tallow ought to do it."
"Yes, Ching see; makee head velly white."
"That will do, then."
"No," said Ching sharply. "No tlouser, no boot?"
"That will not matter, my man, so long as they are right in their upperrigging."
"Light in upper ligging!" said Ching. "Ah, you go cheat, gammonpilate?"
Mr Reardon gave him an angry look.
"You go and do--no, stop. You are quite right, my man, but don't talkabout it. Get the work done."
"Ching see. Make nineteen twenty men look like Chinese boy.
Pilatecome along, say, `Big tea-ship. Come aboard,' and get catchee likee latin tlap."
"Yes, that's it, my man. Do you think it a good plan, Mr Herrick?" headded drily.
"Oh yes, sir," I cried excitedly. "May we begin at once?"
"Ye-es," said the lieutenant thoughtfully. "I think that's all you cando. Yes," he said decidedly; "take the job in hand, Mr Herrick, andhelp it along. I want to have twenty men looking like a Chinese crew byto-morrow."
"Come along, Ching."
"Yes," he said. "Do it velly well. Chinese pilate velly cunningfellow. You go gettee two junk, put men on board."
"You go and get the men ready," said Mr Reardon shortly. "That willdo."
Directly after I had Ching supplied from the purser's stores with plentyof fine oakum and a couple of bottles of ink. This latter he madeboiling hot and poured over the oakum, hanging it to dry by the cook'sfire; and while he was doing this I arranged with the cook to have abucket of tallow and whiting mixed ready for use when required, so thatthen all necessary would be to warm it up.
I was just going aft again when "Herrick" was shouted, and I turned, tosee Barkins and Smith coming after me. But Mr Reardon heard the hail,and came striding after us.
"You leave Mr Herrick to the business he is on, young gentlemen, andattend to your own," he cried. "Go on, Mr Herrick. This is no timefor gossiping."
I hurried off, and began my next task, that of selecting twenty menwithout beards; and there was no difficulty, for I soon picked sixteenand four big lads, upon whose heads the ship's barber was set to work tocut the hair pretty short, the men submitting with an excellent grace,Jack being ready enough to engage in anything fresh, and such as wouldrelieve the monotony of shipboard life.
They were ready enough to ask questions, but I had nothing to tell; andthe preparations went merrily on, but not without my having learned thatwe were steaming right away out of sight of land.
But long before we had reached this pitch, I found that orders had beengiven, and the men were busy up aloft, lowering down the main-topgallantmast, and then laying the maintop mast all askew, as if it were snappedoff at the top. After which the yards were altered from their perfectsymmetry to hang anyhow, as if the ship were commanded by a carelesscaptain. The engine was set to work to squirt water thickened withcutch, and the beautiful white sails were stained in patches, and thenroughly furled.
Towards evening, when the sea appeared to be without a sail in sight, welay-to; platforms were got over the side, and men hung over with theirpaint-pots and brushes, working with all their might to paint out thestreak, while others smeared over the gilding and name at the stern, butwith a thin water-colour which would easily wash off.
Then came the turn of the great funnel, which was painted of a dirtyblack. The bright brass rails were dulled, ropes hung loosely, and inevery way possible the trim gunboat was disfigured and altered, so thatat a short distance even it would have been impossible to recognise heras the smart vessel that had started from the neighbourhood of theburned ship so short a time before.
But even then Mr Reardon did not seem to be satisfied, for he set themen to work hauling water casks from the hold, and make a pile of themamidships. Lastly, a couple of the boats were turned bottom upward onimprovised chocks placed over the deck-house and galley.
I have not mentioned the guns, though. These were completely hidden,the lesser pieces being drawn back, and spare sails thrown over the twobig guns forward.
"There," said Mr Reardon quietly to me; "what do you say to that, MrHerrick? Think this will deceive them?"
"There's one more thing I should do, sir," I said, as I looked aloft.
"One more? Nonsense; there is nothing more to be done."
"Yes, sir," I said, smiling; "I'd have some shirts and trousers hung upin the rigging to dry, just as if the men had been having a wash."
"To be sure," he cried. "What else?"
"It wouldn't be bad if we could catch a few big fish, and let them behanging over the stern rail as if to keep them fresh."
"I'll set Mr Barkins and Mr Smith to try and catch some," he saideagerly. "The idea's splendid, my lad; and if it turns out to besuccessful, I'll--there, I don't know what I won't do for you."
Soon after, I had the pleasure of seeing a lot of the men's garmentshung on a couple of lines in the rigging, and Barkins and Smith hard atwork fishing, in which they were so wonderfully successful that I longedto go and join them; but I was too busy over my task of disguising thetwenty sailors, and consequently my two messmates had all the sport tothemselves, dragging in, every few minutes, an abundance of good-sizedfishes, which were at last strung upon a piece of stout line and hungover the stern rail.
That night the crew were all in an intense state of excitement, androars of laughter saluted my party of sham Chinamen, some of whom wereparaded in the newly-made frocks, two being in the full dress ofwhitened head and pigtail, and looked so exactly like the real thing ata short distance that no doubt was felt as to the success of this partof the proceedings.
Officers and men had been a little puzzled at first, but in a very shorttime they were all talking about the cleverness of the "captain'sdodge," as they called it; and the low spirits of the morning gave placeto eager talk about the adventures which all felt sure must come now.
The ship's head had been turned and laid for the islands we had solately left; but our progress was purposely made exceedingly slow, thescrew just revolving, and the water parting with a gentle ripple toright and left.
Meanwhile the tailor and his mates were hard at work by the light of theswinging lanterns, and, upon my being sent by Mr Reardon to makeinquiries, the tailor answered that he should be up to time with thetwenty Chinee gownds, and went on stitching again as if for his verylife.
I was on the watch that night, and stood listening for long enough tothe yarns of one of the men, who had not been in Chinese waters before,but "knowed a chap as had;" and he had some blood-curdling tales to tellof the cruelties perpetrated by the desperate gangs who haunted thecoast in fast-sailing junks.
"But they're an awfully cowardly lot, arn't they, Billy?" said another.
"Well," said the man, "it's like this, messmet; they is and they arn't,if you can make that out. They'll scuttle away like rats if they can;but if they can't, they'll fight that savage that nothing's like it; andif it is to come to a fight, all I've got to say is, as the chap ashasn't got his cutlash as sharp as ever it can be made 'll be very sorryfor it."
"Oh, I don't know," said another; "there won't be much cutlashing;'tain't like it used to was in the old days. Most everything's donewith the big guns now; and if they do get alongside to board, why, aman's cutlash is always stuck at the end of his rifle, just as if it wasa jolly's bag'net growed out o' knowledge, and then it's all spick andspike."
"Maybe," said the man; "but you mark my words, they're a nasty lot whenthey gets wild, and you'll have to look pretty sharp if you don't wantto get hurt."
It was not cheering, after a very wearying day and a very short nightbefore, to listen to such talk, and I began to wonder whether thecaptain would take sufficient precautions to keep the Chinese off, for Ifelt that to properly carry out the plan, the fighting men must be keptwell out of sight till the very last; but I soon came to the conclusionthat I need not worry about that, from the spirited way in whicheverything possible to disguise the ship had been done.
Then, as I leaned over the side looking over the black water, in which afaint star could be seen from time to time, I began to smile to myselfat the quiet, dry way in which my ideas had been taken up; but I frowneddirectly after, as I thought of what a little credit I was getting forit all, and that the captain or Mr Reardon might have said anencouraging word or two to show that they appreciated my efforts.
It was laughable, too, the way in which I had heard the captain's dodgediscussed by Barkins and Smith, who never once associated my summons tothe cabin with all that had been done.
The
time was going along slowly, and I was beginning to feel verydrowsy, so I had a walk up and down a few times, and then came suddenlyupon something like a big bundle under the weather bulwark.
"Why, Ching," I said, "you here?"
"Yes; velly hot down below, no sleepee sleepee. Come on deck, niceecool. You have fightee morrow?"
"I hope so," I said; but asked myself the next moment whether I reallydid hope so.
"Velly bad fightee, bad pilates come, and captain killee whole lot.Allee velly bad man, killee evelybody."
"Do you think they will come out of hiding?"
"Ching don'tee know. Ching thinkee muchee so. Now go sleepee. Vellymuch tire."
He curled himself up, drawing his tail round out of the way, and seemedto go off directly; while I rejoined the officer of the watch, whohappened to be Mr Brooke, and we walked right forward to the bows, andsaw that the men were keeping a bright look-out.
"Well, Herrick," he said, "got your dirk sharp?"
"No," I said. "Don't laugh at me, please, Mr Brooke."
"Oh no, I will not laugh at you, my lad," he said; "but as it is quitelikely that we may have a bit of a scrimmage to-morrow, if thescoundrels are lured out of their holes, and grow desperate on findingthat they have made a mistake, you had better keep out of the way."
"But--"
"Oh yes, I know what you are going to say; but you are very young yet,and what chance would you have against a great strong savage Chinaman--for there are plenty of powerful fellows among these scoundrels. Youmust wait a bit before you take to fighting."
I felt uncomfortable. He seemed to be looking down upon me so, in spiteof my being an officer; but I could not boast of my strength, andremained silent for a time.
"Do you think they are likely to get on board, sir?"
"Oh no," he said. "We shall not give them a chance. Once the captainis sure that they are the pirates, if we are lucky enough to lure themwell out from the shore, the men will be ordered up to the guns, and weshall give them a few broadsides, and sink them."
"It sounds horrid, sir," I said. "Then they'll never have a chance tofight us?"
"Not if we can help it, my lad. But, as you say, it does sound horrid,and rather cowardly; but what would you do with a poisonous snake? Youwould not give it a chance to strike at you first, if you met it and hada loaded gun in your hands?"
"Of course not, sir," I said quickly.
"Well, these wretches are as dangerous as venomous serpents, and, afterwhat you saw on board that barque, you do not think we need be squeamishabout ridding the earth of such monsters?"
"No, sir, not a bit," I said quickly.
"Neither do I, Herrick. I should like to aim the gun that sends a shotthrough them between wind and water."
"Light on the port bow!" announced the look-out forward; and, upon usinghis night-glass, Mr Brooke made out the vessel, which showed the lightto be a large junk, with her enormous matting-sails spread, and glidingalong faster than we were, and in the same direction.
As we watched the light, it gradually grew fainter, and finallydisappeared, while all through our watch the screw kept on its slowmotion, just sending the gunboat onward.
Toward what? I asked myself several times; and, in spite of mydetermination to acquit myself manfully if we did go into action, Icould not help hoping that the next night would find us all as safe aswe were then. But all the same the thoughts of our preparations werewell in my mind, and never once did I hope that we should not encounterthe enemy.
All the same, though, when my watch was at an end and I went below,perhaps it was owing to its being so hot, as Ching said, for it was along time before I could get off to sleep.