CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
INFORMATION.
It was too dark to make out the junks, but their direction had been wellmarked, and Mr Brooke took his measures very carefully.
"Perfect silence, my lads," he said. "Perhaps the lives of all heredepend upon it. Now, the sail half up; Jecks, hold the sheet; theothers sit in the bottom of the boat. Every man to have his arms readyfor instant use."
There was a quick movement, a faint rattle, and then all still.
"Good; very prompt, my lads. Mr Herrick, come and take the tiller, andbe ready to obey the slightest whispered command."
I hurriedly seated myself by him in the darkness, and waited while ourleader now turned to the last man to receive his orders.
"You, Ching," he said, "will go right forward to keep a good look-out,ready to give a whispered warning of our approach to the junks. Do youknow what a whispered warning means?"
"Yes; Ching say see junk so lit' voice you can't hear him."
The men tittered.
"Silence! Yes, you understand. Now go, and be careful. But mind this,if our boat is seen and the pirates hail, you answer them in their owntongue; do you understand?"
"Yes; 'peakee Chinee all along."
"That will do."
Ching crept forward, and we were gliding along over the dark sea beforea gentle breeze, which, however, hardly rippled the water.
"Keep a bright look-out for the _Teaser_, Jecks. We may see herlights."
"Ay, ay, sir."
Then on and on in a silence so deep that the gentle rattle and splash ofthe sea against our bows sounded singularly loud, and I almost feltdrowsy at last, but started back into wakefulness on Mr Brooke touchingmy arm and whispering--
"I reckon that we shall be very near them in another ten minutes. Iwant to sail round at a little distance."
I nodded, but doubted whether he could see me in the intense darkness,for there was not a star to be seen, the sky being covered with low downblack clouds, which seemed to be hanging only a short distance above thesea. Right away behind us was a faint glow telling of the whereaboutsof the Chinese city, but seaward there was no sign of the _Teaser's_ orany other lights, for it was like sailing away into a dense black wall,and I began to look forward more and more anxiously as I thought of thepossibility of our running with a crash right on to the anchored junks.
But I was under orders, and waited for my instructions, keeping thelight craft as straight on her course as I could contrive, and graspingthe tiller with all my strength.
All at once there was a faint rustling, and suddenly I felt Ching's softhand touch my knee, and I could just make out his big round face.
"Listen," he said.
Mr Brooke's hand was laid on mine, and the tiller pressed sidewiseslowly and gently, so that the boat glided round head to wind, and welay motionless, listening to the dull creak and regular beat of oars ashort distance to the north. Then came a faint groan or two of the oarsin their locks, but that was all. We could see nothing, hear no othersound, but all the same we could tell that a large boat of some kind wasbeing pulled in the same direction as that which we had taken.
"Men going out to the junks," I said to myself, and my heart beatheavily, so that I could feel it go _throb throb_ against my ribs. Iknew that was what must be the case, and that the men would be savage,reckless desperadoes, who would have tried to run us down if they hadknown of our being there.
But they were as much in the dark as we, and I could hear them pass on,and I knew that we must have been going in the right direction for thejunk. Then I had clear proof, for all at once there was a low, wailing,querulous cry, which sent a chill through me, it sounded so wild andstrange.
"Only a sea-bird--some kind of gull," I said to myself; and then I knewthat it was a hail, for a short way to the southwards a little dull starof light suddenly shone out behind us, for the boat had of course beenturned.
There was the answer to the signal, and there of course lay the junk,which in another five minutes we should have reached.
Mr Brooke pressed my arm, and we all sat listening to the beating ofthe oars, slow and regular as if the rowers had been a crew of ourwell-trained Jacks. Then the beat ceased, there was a faint rattlingnoise, which I know must have been caused by a rope, then a dullgrinding sound as of a boat rubbing against the side of a vessel, andlastly a few indescribable sounds which might have been caused by menclimbing up into the junk, but of that I could not be sure.
Once more silence, and I wondered what next.
Mr Brooke's hand upon mine answered my wonderings. He pressed it andthe tiller together, the boat's sail filled gently once more, and weresumed our course, but the direction of the boat was changed more tothe north-eastward. We were easing off to port so as to get well to theleft of the junks, and for some distance we ran like this; then the handtouched mine again, and the rudder was pressed till we were glidingsouthward again, but we had not gone far when Ching uttered a lowwarning, and I just had time to shift the helm and send the boat glidinground astern of a large junk, which loomed up above us like ebony, as wewere going dead for it, and if we had struck, our fragile bamboo boatwould have gone to pieces like so much touchwood, leaving us strugglingin the water.
"I don't see what good this reconnoitring is doing," I said to myself,as I sat there in the darkness wondering what was to happen next; butsailors on duty are only parts of a machine, and I waited like the restto be touched or spoken to, and then acted as I was instructed. Forfrom time to time Mr Brooke's hand rested upon mine, and its touch,with its pressure or draw, told me at once the direction in which hewished me to steer; and so it was that, in that intense darkness, wesailed silently round those junks, going nearer and nearer till I knewexactly how they lay and how close together. But all the while I was ina violent perspiration, expecting moment by moment to hear a challenge,or to see the flash of a match, the blaze up of one of the stink-potsthe junks would be sure to have on their decks, and then watch it form acurve of hissing light as it was thrown into our boat.
But not a sound came from the junks we so closely approached, and atlast, with a sensation of intense relief, I felt Mr Brooke's hand reston mine for some time, keeping the rudder in position for running somedistance away with the wind, before the boat was thrown up again full inits eye, and we came to a stand, with the mat-sail swinging idly fromside to side.
Hardly had we taken this position, when once more from the direction ofthe river came the low beat of oars. As we listened, they came on andon, passed us, and the sounds ceased as before just where the junks werelying.
This time there was no signal and no answering light, the occupants ofthe boat finding their way almost by instinct, but there was a hail fromthe junk to our left, and we could distinguish the murmuring of voicesfor a time, and the creaking of the boat against the side as the freshcomers climbed on board.
"Ah, good information, Mr Herrick!" whispered Mr Brooke. "We haveseen nothing, but we know that they have received reinforcements, andnow in a very short time we shall know whether they are going to sail orwait till morning."
"How?" I said.
He laughed gently.
"Easily enough. They will not sail without getting up their anchors,and we must hear the noise they make."
"But I don't quite see what good we are doing," I whispered.
"Not see? Suppose we had stopped ashore, we should not have known ofthese men coming to strengthen the crews, and we should not have knowntill daylight whether they had sailed or were still at anchor. Thislast we shall know very soon, and can follow them slowly. Why, if wehad waited till morning and found them gone, which way should we havesailed?"
"I'm very dense and stupid, sir," I said. "I had not thought of that."
"Allee go to s'eep," whispered Ching; "no go 'way to-night."
"What's that mean?" said Mr Brooke in a low voice; and I felt his armacross my chest as he pointed away to the left.
I looked
in that direction, and saw a bright gleam of light from theshore.
"Our fire blazing up, sir," said Tom Jecks softly.
"Yes, I suppose so," said Mr Brooke thoughtfully; and as we watched thebright light disappeared, but only to appear again, and this wasrepeated three times.
"That can't be our fire," said Mr Brooke.
"Fliends on shore tellee pilate what to do," said Ching, with his faceclose to us.
"What do you mean?" said Mr Brooke.
"Ching know. Show big lamp. Mean big junk going sail mollow morning,and pilate go long way wait for them."
"Why? Couldn't they stay here and wait?"
"No; silk-tea-ship see pilate junk waiting for them, and come out lit'way and go back again. 'Flaid to sail away."
"Yes, that sounds reasonable," said Mr Brooke thoughtfully.
Then all at once there came over the black water a peculiar squeaking,grinding sound, followed by a similar noise of a different pitch.
"Pilate not going to s'eep; allee look out for light and go sail awayd'leckly."
"Yes, we have not wasted our time, Herrick," whispered Mr Brooke."They're getting up their anchors."
"And are we going to follow them, sir?" I said softly.
"Yes, my lad; our work has only just begun."
Blue Jackets: The Log of the Teaser Page 38