Part 35 (2/2)

”I am really afraid that we are caught in our own trap,” said Jack. ”I thought that pig-tailed, pig-eyed skipper of ours, when he looked in on us just now, smiled very complacently at our sleek skins. We must get Jos to tell him that if we grow too fat we shall be worth very little.

There is nothing like moderation in all things.”

”There is nothing like honesty and telling the truth,” said Murray.

”We should have starved if we had strictly stuck to it in this case,”

answered Jack.

”No matter, we should probably have been much sooner liberated,”

answered Alick. ”Depend on it, whenever a person tells an untruth he sets a trap to catch his own feet.”

”You are always right, Alick,” said Jack, with honest warmth. ”And suppose all this time they have been giving us stewed babies and young alligators to eat, how doubly punished we should be.”

The junk on board which the mids.h.i.+pmen were prisoners was a curious piece of marine architecture. She was flat-bottomed, flat-sided, flat-bowed, and flat-sterned. She was of course narrower at the bow than at the stern, where indeed she was very broad. The rudder was wide and fixed in a hollow in the stern, to which it was hung by ropes or hawsers, so that it could with perfect ease be lifted out of its place and slung alongside. There was no stem, but a huge green griffin or dragon, or monster of some sort, projected over the bows, on each side of which were two large eyes--Chinaman's eyes in shape: and as Jos remarked about them, ”s.h.i.+p no eyes, how see way?”

The sides, though flat, extended gradually outward as they rose, so that on deck there was considerable beam. The deck was composed of loose planks easily removed. At the p.o.o.p and forecastle were a succession of little sloping decks, gradually narrowing as they rose in height, and enclosed to form cabins. The bulwarks were high and surrounded with large round s.h.i.+elds of wood, and leather, and bra.s.s k.n.o.bs, and curious devices painted on them. The anchors were curious contrivances, made of some hard wood, very large and c.u.mbrous, the flukes only being tipped with iron. Outside at the bows was a wonderfully awkward-looking winch for getting up the anchor; and as Jack observed, when he came to be made Lord High Admiral of the Chinese fleet, there were a good many things he saw that he should have to alter. The sails were made of matting, with laths placed across them. When it was necessary to reef or lower the sails the seamen climbed up these laths, and standing on the upper yards pressed them down, no down hauls being necessary. Bowlines, however, were used to stretch them out. Had Jack and Murray not been prisoners, with the possibility of the pirates changing their minds and cutting their throats, they would have been excessively amused at watching the proceedings of the crew, and rather enjoyed their cruise on board the pirate. On deck there was an erection like a diminutive caboose, but which was a temple or joss-house. The sailors were constantly making offerings before it, apparently as the caprice seized them, by burning gilt paper, or thin sticks, or incense.

One day the junk was caught in a calm, and as a sail appeared in sight in the distance which the Chinamen thought might be an enemy, they were very anxious for a breeze to make their escape. The mids.h.i.+pmen saw that they were very busy about something, and soon every man appeared with a model junk, which he had constructed of gilt paper. A boat was lowered and these frail barques were carefully placed on the surface of the deep, the men endeavouring to blow them away, so that they might be clear of the s.h.i.+p.

Jack was much amused, and asked Jos the meaning of the ceremony. Jos answered--

”For why you don't know? Dere is one great lady, queen, they call her, lives up in de sky, and she like to see dese paper junks; and so when she see dem, den she send breeze to blow junk along.”

Jack was highly amused at this account.

”Well, I never thought much of a Chinaman's wit,” he observed; ”but I did not think he was such a goose as to fancy that a breeze would be sent merely because he put some twisted-up bits of paper on the water.”

Jos, who understood some of these remarks, looked at him, and remarked--

”When I 'board English s.h.i.+p I hear sailors whistle, whistle, whistle when dere is calm. I ask why dey do dat? Dey say, 'Whistle for a wind.' Now, I tink Chinaman just as wise as English sailor. Anybody whistle, cost nothing. Chinaman spend money, buy gold paper, make junk, much trouble. Dat please Chinaman's lady-G.o.d more dan empty whistle can Englishman's fetish, or whatever he whistle to.”

”Excellent,” exclaimed Murray. ”The Malay has. .h.i.t us very hard. That whistling for a breeze is, in most cases, merely a foolish trick, but it is too indicative of unsound principles to be witnessed without pain.

If we really considered the matter rightly, we should feel that every time we whistle for a breeze, we are offering a senseless insult to the Great Ruler of the universe. It is a remnant, I suppose, of some superst.i.tion of our Scandinavian ancestors, who thought by whistling they were addressing some demon or spirit of the elements.”

”That is taking the matter seriously, Alick; but I suppose you are right,” said Jack.

”Nothing that leads to error, or that encourages superst.i.tion, or that leads a person to rely on any other power or influence than that of G.o.d's merciful providence, can be treated too seriously, my dear Jack,”

answered Murray. ”Here have we, worthless fellows, had our lives providentially preserved; and we ought to do our utmost in every way to employ them in His service, and to do His will and to make known His truth. Depend on it that it is a very useless sort of religion, or seriousness, which a man adopts only when he is on the point of death or feels himself too ill to enjoy life.”

”Well, well, Alick, I will do my best to log that down in my memory and stick to it,” answered Jack, who always felt the force of Murray's remarks, which had already had a very considerable influence on him for good; more, probably, than Murray himself was aware of. However, he went on in faith, speaking faithfully to his friend, a.s.sured that he was doing his duty.

Jack and Murray did their best to make out in what direction they were going, and from the very rough calculation they were able to form, they conjectured that they had arrived at a group of islands within some hundred and fifty miles of the lat.i.tude of Canton. They were not allowed to go on sh.o.r.e, but were permitted occasionally to quit their little cabin in the stern and to walk about the deck; but the crew had communication with the land and brought off all sorts of provisions, by which they benefited.

Once more the fleet, consisting of about a dozen junks, put to sea. The next morning it was almost a calm; and as daylight came on a brig was seen, apparently a merchantman, with her foremast gone and otherwise much disabled. There could be little doubt that she had got into her present condition from having encountered one of those partial squalls which occasionally occur in those seas. A long consultation was held among the captains of the pirate fleet, in which the crews as well as the officers took considerable part. There was an immense amount of talking and gesticulation, and flouris.h.i.+ng of creeses, and daggers, and swords, and various other weapons; and at last the sweeps were got out, and the junks began to move in a body towards the devoted brig. Jack asked Jos, the Malay, what the Chinamen were about to do.

”Cut de troat of ebery moder's son of dem, take de cargo, and burn de brig, den no one get away to tell news,” was the answer.

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