Where to get food was the question. Hunting along thebeach, however, we found a ham and a small keg of biscuits. We soonfell to on them. Though the biscuits were somewhat soaked with water,in a short time there was little of either one or the other to be seen.Mr. Hanson said that we were on an island, but how we were to get awaywas the question. We could only hope that the _Fawn_ might come andlook out for us, on the possibility of our having escaped. We had justfinished our breakfast, when we heard some cries above our heads, and,looking up, we saw a number of Chinese, who were amusing themselves bygazing down on us. We asked Joss who they were.
"Bad people! bad people!" he answered, shaking his head.
They seemed in a short time to have gained courage, and now some thirtyor forty men, dressed like common fishermen, came down from the heights,and stood round us. Seeing that we were unarmed, they became familiar,and presently one of them signed to Mr. Hanson to take off his coat.This he did, hoping to satisfy them. No sooner did they get it, thanthey set up a shout and laugh, and then signified to Dicky Plumb to dothe same.
"I will do no such thing," he answered, buttoning up his jacket.
On this a couple of fellows seized him and tore it open, and in anotherminute hauled it off his back, in spite of his indignant expostulations.Pleased at their success, they treated us all in the same way, leavingus only our shirts and trousers. Mr. Hanson at length got hold of oneof the men who appeared to be a leader among them, and endeavoured bysigns to explain that if he would take us back to Hong Kong he should behandsomely rewarded. Little Joss, who was very quick in understandingour meaning, came to our assistance. At length the man agreed to takeus for a hundred dollars a head. We had, however, to wait for aconsiderable time before the weather moderated sufficiently, and we werethen all marched to the harbour, at some distance from the place wherewe drove on shore. Here another dispute arose among our captors. Theowners of different boats considered that we ought to be divided amongthem. Finally, Mr. Dicky Plumb, with Ned Rawlings and I, with littleJoss, fell to the share of an old fellow with a remarkably roguishexpression of countenance. We, however, could not help ourselves, andcould only hope that the promise of the reward would induce him to takeus back safely. In the evening we were carried on board differentjunks. Our boat was open amidships, with a small cabin aft, into whichwe were all stowed. Here we spent the night, for we saw from the firstthat our friends had no intention of getting under weigh till daylight.The other junks sailed first, but our old captain showed no dispositionto follow them. We inquired why he did not sail with the others, but heonly grinned and shook his head at us. He was waiting apparently forsome of his crew. At length we got under weigh; and now we began tohope that before the next morning we should find ourselves at Hong Kong.We had not been at sea more than an hour when, coming round a point,there appeared a large mandarin war junk. Our old captain was evidentlyin great trepidation. Still he sailed on as before, hoping that themandarin junk would not overhaul us. A signal, however, from her wasseen, ordering us to heave-to. On this the old captain made signs to usto lie down at the bottom of the boat, and he then covered us up withmats. On came the junk. What was going to happen we could not tell.Presently we heard loud voices and shouts, and we felt that a boat hadcome alongside. We might well have given ourselves up for lost.
"Jack," whispered Mr. Plumb to me, "if we could but get hold of someswords, we would have a fight for it. I should like to die game. Ihave no idea of being killed like a rat in a hole."
I felt very much as he did, but while there was a chance of escapingnotice, I saw that it would be wiser to remain concealed. Presently,however, we found the mats being lifted up off us; concealment was nolonger possible. We sprang to our feet, and there we saw a dozenChinamen, with weapons in their hands, ready to cut us down, should weattempt resistance. Their officer turned upon our unfortunate oldcaptain, who stood at the helm the picture of dismay; the crew weresitting forward, chattering with fear; without another word the officergave a flourish with his sword, and the old man's head rolled off intothe sea; the crew attempted to leap overboard, but were mercilessly cutdown. We fully expected to be treated in the same way; instead of this,the boat was brought alongside the junk, on board of which we were allordered to go. The junk having cast off the fishing-boat, with the bodyof her murdered owner still on board, and those of several of the crew,made sail to the east. What was to be done with us we could not say.With oars and sails the junk made great progress. Our only hope restedon the possibility of being fallen in with by a man-of-war; but eventhen, if hard pressed, our captors were very likely to murder us all.Having got clear of the land, the junk stood away to the north. Wethree were thrust into a little cabin on one side of the deck, so small,that only one could lie down at a time; Joss, however, was allowed tocome to us, and wander about the deck as he liked. How he had escapedwe could not well tell; and now it seemed that no one intended to injurehim. He told us, that, as far as he could make out, we were going tosome place in the north, a long way off. We suspected that the captainof the junk intended to make the most of us, and would probably declarethat, he had taken us from aboard a barbarian man-of-war, we being theonly survivors.
"I do not at all like the look of things, Jack," said Dicky Plumb to me."I am afraid they will be clapping us into cages, and sending us aboutthe country as a show."
"That will be one way of seeing the world," I answered; "and providedthey do not cut off our heads, I dare say, some day or other, we shallbe getting back to our friends."
Day after day we sailed on; in vain we looked out for an Englishman-of-war.
"Very little chance of falling in with one," observed Ned Rawlings."After that typhoon they will all be in harbour, repairing damages."
Ned was right. It was probably owing to that circumstance that weescaped recapture. At length we entered the mouth of a large river, andJoss made us understand that we were being carried to the city ofNankin; we were, in reality, in the great river Yang-tse-Kiang. Fromthe time we had been coming we knew that it must be a long way from HongKong, and our hopes of being retaken now vanished altogether: the windcoming down the river, the junk came to an anchor. I should have saidthat all this time our only food was salt fish and rice. When weanchored, several boats brought off some vegetables, which we had givento us in addition; it was hard fare, however, but after all it did notmuch signify, as it kept body and soul together, and our health did notsuffer. The mandarin, being anxious, apparently, to deliver thedespatches which he carried, as well as to exhibit us, took us on shore,and we were now all three placed in a cart, and driven off into theinterior; as there were no springs, we went bumping and thumping overthe road in a way sufficient to dislocate all our limbs. Just as wewere starting, little Joss, who had managed to get on shore, jumped intothe cart, and we were not sorry to see his merry, good-natured face. Tomake a long story short, at last we arrived at a walled city; it was notNankin, however, but a place supposed to be very strong--Chin Kiang-foo;it was full of Tartar soldiers, who scowled at us as we passed. We hadnot gone far when we stopped before a sort of public office, I suppose,when a man came out and put some large labels round our necks. Whatthey were of course we could not tell, but we made out from what Josssaid, that they were to inform the world, that we were prisoners takenin a bloody fight from an English war ship, which had been sent, by thebravery of the Chinese, to the bottom. Having been carried round thecity, we were taken to a place which we soon found was the publicprison; here we were all four (for Joss was with us) thrown into a smallcell not much larger than our cabin on board the junk.
"No chance of cutting our way out, Mr. Plumb," observed Ned Rawlings.
"I wish there was," said Mr. Plumb.
Little Joss we found looking very sad. He seemed, from what we madeout, to think we were all going to be killed.
"It cannot be helped," said Dicky. "Jack, are you prepared to die?"
"I hope so," I said; "but I would rather live, I co
nfess; and, do youknow, I think we shall, in spite of appearances. The Chinamen wouldgain nothing by killing us, and our keep cannot cost them much."
By such remarks I soon restored Dicky's hopes. We were kept for somedays in our wretched little prison, having our food brought to us, butbeing otherwise left alone; at length, one day, the door opened, andfour soldiers appeared: without saying a word, they seized hold of Ned;he shook himself free of them, however, having an idea, that they weregoing to take him out and kill him. Four finding they could not managehim, six more appeared, who, rushing on him, at length pinioned hisarms, and carried him away out of the cell.
"I hope they will not separate us, Jack," said Dicky. "I am veryunhappy about Ned."
"I hope they will not indeed," I answered. Poor Ned! though he made nofurther resistance
Off to Sea: The Adventures of Jovial Jack Junker on his Road to Fame Page 14