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The officer in charge of the bridge pressed the telegraph lever to "stop" and "full speed astern," whilst with his disengaged hand he pulled hard at the siren cord, and a raucous warning sent stewards flying through the ship to close collision bulkhead doors. The "chief" darted to the port rail, for the Sirdar's instant response to the helm seemed to clear her nose from the junk as if by magic.
A miscellaneous, lumbering collection of junk and odds and ends blocked the entry, leaving no more space than was sufficient for bare passageway. Jimmie Dale moved cautiously and once more the flashlight in his hand showed the way for an instant then darkness again.
There are four tribes in the neighbourhood of this coast, viz. the Deys, who extend along the coast twenty-five miles to the northward of Montserado, to the mouth of the Junk about thirty-six miles to the south-eastward. Next, towards the interior, the Queahs, a small and quiet people, whose country lies to the east of Cape Montserado.
Therefore I could have left the island only by going over the tracks of the junk landing. This he proceeded to verify by wading out over them himself, lighting matches as he came along. When he arrived at the point where I had first lain, I knew, by the matches he burned and the time he took, that he had discovered the marks left by my body.
The next minute the crews were piped away to the boats with their complement of marines to each; and as they were lowered down a steady fire was maintained with shell upon the junk. I stood watching the shots, and saw the first of the broadside from one heavy and three smaller guns strike the water close to the junk's hull, fly up, dip again, and then burst over the cliffs.
With a sad heart I returned on deck. I told Blount the state of affairs, and we agreed that our only chance of being preserved was to form a raft, and to lash ourselves to it, so that, when the junk went down, we might have something to keep us afloat. Not a moment was to be lost; so he and Hassan, as the most expert, set to work, while Kalong and I went to the helm.
I got eighteen fifty in cash and the balance was junk. "'Well, says I, 'he's no better'n a road-agent, and I can't help it, nohow. "For all that, I sot in Jim Holt's place of a Tuesday afternoon feelin' low-spirited when I looked at the heap, when who comes sailin' in at the door but Tartar Charlie, wearin' a grin that took two turns and a half around his face. "'Laly comee! says he.
Quite deliberately he scuffled up another cloud of cinders. "I will appreciate it," said Wallie, sharply, "if you won't kick ashes in my gravy!" "And I will appreciate it," Boise Bill mocked him, "if you'll git your junk together and move off my land in about twenty minutes." "I refuse to be intimidated," said Wallie, paling. "I shall begin a contest suit if necessary."
Having spent a month at this place, they sailed on the 21st of April, and after touching at a number of places, on their way they overtook a Chinese junk, which came from Sumatra, fully laden with pepper. From her crew the pirates learned that the English were settled on the island, at a place called Sillabar. On anchoring they saw a small bark at anchor near the shore.
As a boy he had often heard of Chin Pao-ting's annual voyages to the West, while local gossip had so enlarged upon the merchant's wealth that the junk bearing him and his merchandise might well be a veritable treasure ship, so that when still a youth Wang had journeyed to Kiukiang with the deliberate intention of forming a scheme to waylay the annual expedition and thus acquire riches at a single stroke.
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