Part 4 (2/2)
”Ah! the boy's off his head! D'ye hear me? Are ye deaf and mad?”
”No,” I replied; ”neither, I think.”
”Ye _think_! Ye're not sure! Then bedad _I_ think ye're mad. What made ye jump out o' bed, then, like a lunatic?”
”I was wondering where I was, and thinking of those queer letters. I am better now. I was confused when I woke up.”
”Oh, that's better! Sure it was a miracle ye woke at all; we all thought ye dead as Kerry mutton. What's ailing ye?”
”Nothing, except those queer letters.”
”What! The s.h.i.+p's name, is it? That's nothing but _Feng-Shui_, and it's written in Chinese besides.”
”Oh, thank you, I see. I couldn't make it out. What does it mean?”
”_Wind and Weather_, and a lot more, in China. Ye'll see in time. Be easy now, I tell ye.”
”In time! What do you mean?” I asked, starting up.
”What I say. In time! By and by,--when ye get there.”
”Get where? To China?”
”That's it,” replied my new acquaintance. ”Ye've hit it plumb.”
”But _I_ am _not going_ to China!”
”Aren't ye, bedad! Well, we'll agree to differ on that.”
”What rot!” I exclaimed rudely. ”Surely you're going to London?”
”Not till I get back, round the East. Then, maybe I will.”
”Do you mean to say that this vessel is bound to China?”
”I do; and ye're bound to go with it.”
”Then I _won't_! I want to go home to Beachmouth. Can't you put me ash.o.r.e anywhere?--I don't care where it is.”
”Can ye swim?” he asked, looking at me with a funny wink.
”I can, of course. Well?”
”Then ye must swim home. We're away in the Channel, and France is on the port-beam, if ye know what that is.”
”Of course I do. Do you think me an idiot?”
”I did--a while ago. If ye're not a fool ye'll stay where ye are. Of course, ye're a bit mad now, but by the mornin' ye'll be well. Lie quiet now, and I'll send ye some food.”
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