Blue Jackets Part 33

"Oh, but we arn't Chinees," growled Billy Wakes.

"Nor arn't likely to be, mate; but we've got heads all the same. I know how I should like to be executed if it was to-day."

The others looked up, and I could not help turning my head at the strangely-expressed desire.

"I'll tell yer," said Jecks, looking hard at me. "I should like it to be same as they did that young chap as we reads of in history. They drowned him in a big tub o' wine."

"Grog would do for me," said Billy Wakes.

"Or beer," cried the others.

"Ask the captain to let you have some tea," I cried, "Quick, haul up the grapnel! Here they come!"

Pipes were knocked out on the instant, the grapnel hauled up, and oars seized; but, in spite of urging on the men, I saw to my vexation that the captain had reached the landing-place first, and I kept him waiting nearly five minutes in the broiling sun.

He did not say anything, only glared at me as he stepped in, followed by his escort. The oars were dropped, and, as we began to row back to the _Teaser_, I saw that his face was scarlet with the heat, and he looked in a regular temper.

"I shall catch it," I thought to myself; but the very next moment my attention was taken to the sh.o.r.e, where a yell of derision arose from the crowd gathered to see the officers embark.

"Brutes!" muttered the captain; and then he sprang up in a rage, for a shower of stones came pattering into the boat, and splas.h.i.+ng up the water all round.

He was so enraged by the insult, that he ordered the marines to load, and a volley of twelve rifles was fired over the people's heads.

The result was that they all ran helter-skelter, tumbling over each other, and by the time they returned and began throwing again we were out of their reach, but they kept on hurling stones and refuse all the same, and shouting "Foreign devils!" in their own tongue.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

AN INTERVIEW.

"Mr Herrick! Come to my cabin," said the captain as he stepped on deck, and I followed him.

"You stupid fellow," whispered Mr Brooke as I pa.s.sed him, "why didn't you keep the boat by the wharf?"

I gave him a comical look, and followed the captain; but I was kept waiting for a few moments at the door while the servant was summoned, and when I did go in my officer was lying back in his chair, with ice on the table, and a great gla.s.s of what seemed to be soda-water and brandy before him, but which proved by the decanter to be sherry.

"Oh," he cried angrily, "there you are, sir! Why didn't you come at once, sir?"

"I did, sir; but was kept waiting till you were ready."

"Well, sir, don't answer in that pert way. It sounds like insolence.

That will not do, Mr Herrick, if you wish to get on in your profession.

Now, sir, your orders were to stop by the landing-place, with the boat in charge, ready for my return, were they not?"

"Yes, sir; but--"

"Silence, sir! How dare you interrupt me? I go up through the broiling heat to have an interview with that wretched, stolid, obstinate mandarin, with his confounded b.u.t.ton and peac.o.c.k-feather; and when I do get back, perfectly exhausted by the heat, half-dead, I find no boat."

"No, sir; but--"

"Silence, sir! Will you let me speak? The consequence is that, because you choose to disobey orders, and take the men off to indulge in some of the disgusting drinks of this wretched country--"

"I beg pardon, sir," I cried; "I--"

"Mr Herrick! am I to place you under arrest? Be silent, sir. I say, I return with my escort from an important diplomatic visit, arranged so as to impress the people, and when I return, almost fainting with the heat, there is no boat, because you have allowed the men to impose upon you; and you are away drinking with them, I suppose?"

"No, sir; I--"

"Mr Herrick!" he roared, "I will not bear it. I say there was no boat; and not only am I forced to submit to the indignity of waiting, and listening to the gibes of the low-cla.s.s Chinese, and to see their scowls, but our delay there--through you, sir--results, I say results, in the miserable wretches taking advantage thereof, and, thinking me helpless, working themselves up to an attack. When at last you do come crawling up with those four men, they are purple-faced from drinking, every one threatened by apoplexy--why, your own face is crimson, sir; and I could smell the men when I stepped on board."

"No, sir--the dirty harbour, sir," I said. "Smells horrid."

"You are under arrest, sir. Go! No; stop and hear me out first, sir.

I say that, through your delay, I am kept there on that wretched wharf; and when I do push off, I have--I, Her Majesty's representative, in the sight of these Chinese scoundrels--I have, I say, to suffer from the insult and contumely of being pelted, stoned, of having filth thrown at me. Look at my nearly new uniform coat, sir. Do you see this spot on the sleeve? A mark that will never come out. That was a blow, sir, made by a disgusting rotten fish's head, sir. Loathsome--loathsome!

While the insult to Her Majesty's flag called upon me to fire upon the mob. Do you know what that means, sir?"

"Yes, sir; a good lesson. They won't be so saucy again."

"You ignorant young puppy!" he cried; "it may mean a serious international trouble--a diplomatic breach, and all through you. There, I was hot and bad enough before, now you have made me worse."

He stretched out his hand for the gla.s.s, but did not drink; and the sight of the cool liquid half-maddened me, for the heat and emotion had made my throat very dry.

"Now, sir," he cried, "I am your commanding officer, and no one on board Her Majesty's cruiser shall ever say that I am not just. Now then, speak out; what have you to say? How came you to let the men go away to drink?"

"I didn't, sir," I said huskily. "They wanted to go, for they were choking nearly, but I wouldn't let them."

"What? Don't seek refuge in a lie, boy. That's making your fault ten times worse. Didn't I see you returning to the wharf?"

"Yes, sir," I cried indignantly; "but the men had not been to drink."

"Then how dared you disobey my orders, and go away?" he roared, furious at being proved wrong.

"I went, sir, because it was my duty."

"What!"

"We stayed till the stone-throwing grew dangerous for us, and then I had the boat rowed out and anch.o.r.ed."

"Oh!"

"But I kept watch till you came in sight, sir; and we were as quick as we could be."

"The mob pelted you too, Mr Herrick?"

"Yes, sir," I said; "and we couldn't fire over their heads, nor yet row right away."

He looked at me angrily, and then his countenance changed.