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Petrak started off to the left of him to circle and get behind me, and Long Jim began to draw near, cocking his pistol again and raising it and leering at me. "Don't ye turn about or move!" he said. "Turn yer 'ead and yer a dead 'un!" He was within five yards of me, and I saw him making a signal to Petrak, who was approaching me from behind.
I stood before them for a few seconds, wondering what I should do, and then my rage got possession of me, and I reached for a pistol, intending to hold Meeker under the muzzle of it and make him confess his true character and admit that Petrak was his friend rather than mine. As I threw my hand back, my wrist was seized and I turned to see Rajah behind me, holding my arm in a firm grip.
I could hear Thirkle calling to Petrak, and then the screaming of Chinese, shots in rapid succession, and the patter of bare feet scampering on the iron deck-plates.
"I was looking for it at dinner the minute we cast off; and what a scrimmage there would have been at that table if you had drawn one of those pistols! Why, Petrak and Buckrow and Long Jim were in the passage with pistols ready to come in, and I would have shot you first, and then Trego, for I knew Captain Riggs had no arms on his person.
Something in his tones a suggestion of suspicion that everything was not right thrilled me. Petrak did not hear him as he was fumbling with the block in the sand and muttered about a jammed rope. "Petrak!" "Aye," said Petrak. "I'll give ye a hand next minute, sir." "Come here," commanded Thirkle with a hand on a pistol. "What's up?" demanded Petrak, getting to his feet.
They shouldered the pole again and went on, and I followed them for a time, trying to estimate the position of Captain Riggs on the trail from where I was; but in the excitement of following Petrak and Long Jim I had lost my bearings.
Now wouldn't that be the way with him once he got at the gin? Hey, Bucky?" "He could be watched and his lip kept shut," said Buckrow. "Would you want to trust yer neck to Petrak's close lip? Tell me that, Bucky. Could ye sleep with Petrak and his bragging, and Long Jim and his bragging, and the two of 'em whispering together, considering the friends they make when drunk. Why, Bucky, man!
"You fool, he'll kill you as I told you he would, but you are too late now." "Oh, Thirkle's all right," he grumbled; but he seemed worried since he had given up the pistols, and he saw plainly enough that Thirkle's manner had changed in no undecided way since Petrak had surrendered his weapons. "All clear," said Thirkle, as we came out.
Grab one and then the other so ye'll git 'em separate: and keep 'em separate, so they can't talk it over, or ye'll have a peck of trouble on yer hands." "It's no small matter to put passengers in irons, Mr. Harris. They would make trouble for me when they get into port." "They'll make a cussed sight more trouble for ye aboard here, is my way of lookin' at it. We got Petrak, anyway, for a start.
But, remembering that I had left the bed of the creek to follow Long Jim and Petrak, I came to the conclusion that the pirates had abandoned the creek, or had turned off from it to cache the gold. I started down it, hoping that it was the one which would lead me to the captain.
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