Many people have their special antipathies. There are instances on record of one fainting at the scent of heliotrope; of another becoming hysterical at the mewing of a cat; and so on, and so on, ad infinitum. The Scotch, as a rule, are anything but a nervously susceptible nation, taken either collectively or individually. Nor have I heard that those members of it who follow the sea as a calling are more so than their shorekeeping compatriots.
Still, to the present day, and probably to the day of his departure, John M‘Cracken, retired master mariner, of Aberdeen, becomes signally and powerfully moved by the cry of the domestic duck, rendered universally and approximately as ‘Quack!’ His red face grows redder, his light blue eyes glower menacingly, and his hands open and close nervously, as if longing for some missile wherewith to annihilate the unconscious fowl—or its human imitator.
The Sparrowhawk, barque, M‘Cracken master, was chartered to convey returning Chinese passengers from Singapore to Amoy.
92I think the regulations as to space, numbers, etc., etc., could not, in those days, have been very strict. Be this as it may, Skipper M‘Cracken filled up until he could fill no more. The ’tween deck was like a freshly-opened sardine tin; on the main deck they lay in double tiers. Many roosted in the tops. The boats on the davits and the long-boat on the skids swarmed with the home-going children of the Flowery Land. The better class, merchants, tradesmen, etc., had secured everything aft, from the captain’s cabin to the steward’s pantry, for which accommodation fabulous sums found their way into the pockets of M‘Cracken and his mates. For’ard, the crew had vacated the forecastle in consideration of sundry handfuls per man of dollars, which they had subsequently discovered to be ‘chop.’
The mild-eyed heathen in his leisure moments had amused himself by punching pellets of good silver out of them, and filling the holes up with lead. From taffrail to bowsprit-heel, from waterways to keelson, the Sparrowhawk seethed and stank with a sweltering mass of yellow humanity. Every soul had a square of matting and a water-jar, also an umbrella. They also all had money—more or less. The fellows aft, with the flowing silk gowns and long finger-nails, owned chests of it, all in silver specie, stowed snugly away in the lazarette. The herd carried their little fortunes, hardly earned by years of incessant toil as sampan men, porters, or what not, in the great border city on the sea, hidden upon their persons.
The vessel looked grotesque to a degree. She was flying light, and towered loftily out of the water. Upon 93her deck, amidships, rose two big arrangements after the nature of boilers. These were for cooking rice, and were occasionally the scenes of fierce fighting, during which the Europeans would clamber into the rigging, leaving a clear field, and applaud vociferously. They were a harmless people, and fought like sheep-dogs, rarely doing one another much harm.
From the barque’s side protruded curious cage-like structures connected with the sanitary affairs of the multitude. This last lay everywhere, pervaded everything. If you wanted a rope you had to dislodge half-a-dozen grunting, naked bodies. Trimming the yards o’ nights the watches tripped and fell amongst the prostrate ranks.
The passengers, however, bore it all placidly. They had paid M‘Cracken so many dollars per head for a piece of his deck, and the situation of it was quite immaterial. Moreover, were they not homeward bound after years of separation from wives and little ones with fortunes made beyond the sea? Men in such circumstances are apt to be good-tempered. A heavy squall would probably have caused the loss of the Sparrowhawk and all on board. But Captain M‘Cracken took the risk—and the dollars. He slept on an old sail folded across the cuddy skylight. His mattress he had leased along with his state-room to one of the merchants who, he understood, was a convert to Christianity. The wind kept light, with showers at intervals. At the first drop, up would go every umbrella; and, looking from aloft, the sight was a queer one.
On leaving Singapore the skipper had been warned 94that pirates were still to be met with in Chinese waters, and, short though the passage was, advised to arm, at all events in some sort, his ship and crew. This he did. At a marine store he bought, second-hand, a couple of cannon—three pounders—also several dozen of grape shot. In exchange for a worn mizzen-topsail and the fat saved by the cook (of usage the latter’s perquisite) on the passage out, he procured some old Tower muskets, a few boarding-pikes, and three horse-pistols for his own and his officers’ especial use. These last had flintlocks and mouths like a bell. Thus equipped, he declared himself ready for any piratical attack.
The ship’s agents smiled meaningly, and winked at each other; but, knowing their man, forbore further advice, well recognising the inutility of it. A Scotchman who owns a full half interest in his ship, who hails from Aberdeen, and habitually comes ashore in latitude 0 with a Glengarry cap on, no umbrella, and naked feet, is not a being to stand argument.
One night the moon rose full, and right aft. She rose, too, with a big black spot in her disc that had no right to be there.
There was too much samshoo aboard for a very sharp look-out to be kept for’ard. That native spirit gets into men’s eyes and weakens them. But aft the skipper caught sight of the object.
‘It’ll be a junk, I’m thinkin’!’ he said presently, after working away for a while with his glass; ‘an a muckle ane at that. She’s fetchin’ a breezie wi’ her, whilk’s a comfort.’
95Some of the long-nailed aristocrats were lounging about the poop. They needed no glass to make out the approaching vessel. Gathering in a group, they cackled noisily, pointing and gesticulating among themselves.
Then, coming up to the captain, one—it was his Christian friend—plucked him by the arm and uttered laconically, with extended digit, ‘Prat!’
‘Weel, Johnnie,’ replied old M‘Cracken coolly, as he gathered the other’s meaning, ‘pireet, or no pireet, gin he come a wee closer, we’ll just pepper the hide o’ him wi’ cauld airn.’
Without more ado, the Chinaman dived into his cabin and in a minute or two reappeared with a most hideous idol and a bundle of perfumed paper. Placing the thing right under the skipper’s nose, he lit a yard of paper and began to screech an invocation. As of good Presbyterian stock, M‘Cracken was irritated and shocked.
‘Mon, mon,’ he exclaimed, ‘what wad ye be at! Hae ye niver been tauld that a’ graven eemages is an abomination in the sicht o’ the Lord? An’ I thocht ye was a Christian.’ So saying, he seized the joss and flung it far overboard into the silvery water, just rippling under the coming breeze. The worshipper uttered a yell of dismay. But there was no time to lose, and, rushing below, he brought up another god, ten times as hideous as the first one, and, descending to the main deck, aroused the ship with his devotions.
Then arose the sound of a multitude waking in fear—an impressive sound and a catching. Up the open hatchways from the steaming, f?tid ’tween decks they 96streamed in hundreds, like disturbed ants, with cries of alarm and grief, and strong callings upon their gods. In a minute the ship was alive with lights burning before idols of every description. A thousand half-naked figures crouched cowering from the break of the poop right for’ard. Aft, a handful of rugged Scotch seamen gazed quietly at the black spot over the water. Presently the two little guns were crammed half up to the muzzle with powder and grape, and placed each in a socket cut out for it after leaving Singapore. The remainder of the weapons were, with a stock of ammunition, divided amongst the crew. Hot irons were put in the galley fire; and the skipper, having thus placed his ship in a thorough state of defence, felt complacent, and half-inclined to shorten sail, wait for the pirates to come up, and then give them a lesson. Old seaman though he was, he was a new hand in these Eastern waters.
Confiding his notion to the second mate, who was also carpenter, also sailmaker, a grizzled ancient shellback of much experience and endless voyaging, the other laughed aloud, but not mirthfully.
‘If,’ said he, ‘yon’s a “prat,” as Johnnie there ca’s it, we’ll a’ be meat for the fishes afore the sun’s risen!’
‘Hoots!’ exclaimed the skipper angrily, ‘whaur’s yer pluck, Davie, mon! I didna think ye’d be for showin’ the white feather a’ready, an’ ye a Newburgh lad as weel’s mysel’! What’s a handfu’ o’ naked salvages like yon, in compare wi’ us an’ oor arteelery?’
‘An’ hoo mony men micht she carry yonder, div ye think?’ queried the other, taking a squint at the junk, 97whose huge oblong sails shone whitely under the moonbeams.
‘Mebbe a score or sae,’ replied M‘Cracken, ‘airmed maistley wi’ spears, an’ skeens, sic, as I’ve been tauld, bein’ their usual weepons.’
The other chuckled hoarsely as he said, ‘If she’s a pireet, she’ll hae at the vera leest a guid twa ’unnered aboord, a’ airmed wi’ muskets an’ swords, forbye things they ca’ gingals, takin’ a sax-ounce ball, to say nothin’ o’ stinkpots an’ ither deviltries. Mon, I’ve seen ’em wi’ guns they cannonies there wadna mak’ rammars for. But if that chap has ony, I doubt we sud ha’ heard frae him ere the noo.
‘I was ance,’ continued he, ‘lyin’ in Hongkong Harbour, when they cut oot the Cashmere, a bouncin’ ocean steamer, in the braid daylicht, an’ murthered ivery soul on boord o’ her. Na, na, skipper; let her but get a haud on us, and ye’ll see the deil gang o’er Jock Wabster sure aneuch.’
The skipper listened silently. Then, wetting his finger and holding it up, he said,—
‘Perhaps, after a’, Davie, mon, ye might ’s weel set they t’g’nt stun’s’ls, gin ye can get them up, wi’ sic an awfu’ rabble as is aboot the deck.’
The breeze had died away again. There was only just enough of it to keep the sails full. The fresh canvas, however, sent the Sparrowhawk through the water half a knot faster, and she was beginning to perceptibly leave the junk astern, when suddenly out from her sides flashed a long row of sweeps, under 98whose impulse she recovered her lost ground very quickly. If there had been any doubt about the character of the stranger, there remained none now; and the uproar, which had partially ceased, arose with tenfold vigour.
Some of the passengers went down into the lazarett............