The man took the baler, and began to send the water, which still came in but slowly, over the side; while, after satisfying myself that we should not be obliged to run our boat ashore and tramp back to the city, I kept on directing anxious glances backward to see if we were pursued. "We shan't sink, Herrick," said Mr Brooke, returning to my side; while, after glancing at my very serious, and at the young lieutenant's stern countenance, Ching crept forward under the oars to where the coxswain was baling, and, getting a second tin from the locker, he seated himself, tucked his loose things out of the way, and began meekly to toss out the water as fast as he could scoop it up. "That fellow's a traitor," said Mr Brooke to me in a low voice, after a glance back by Ching. "Oh no, I hope not, sir," I said. "I wish I could hope so too, my lad. There's a deal of cunning in his plans, and he tried hard to make it seem that he was all the time working upon our side; but I feel as if he has led us into a trap, and we were very nearly coming to our end in it without a man left to tell the tale." "But why, sir? What object could he have?" "Plunder, for one thing; our boat, and weapons such as they cannot get. Yes, I believe that he is in league with those pirates." "Oh, I can't think it, Mr Brooke," I cried. "He has served us so well." "Yes, to gain his own ends." "But surely he wouldn't do such a base thing for the sake of getting a paltry share in these rifles and cutlasses?" "He would have the satisfaction of seeing us massacred." "But what satisfaction could that be, sir?" I cried. "We have always been his friends." "The Chinese hate the outer barbarians and foreign devils, as they call us, my lad. They are obliged to tolerate our presence, but the common people, as you know well, would feel an intense pleasure in murdering every European they came across." "All the same, sir," I said, "I don't believe poor old Ching would do anything that was against us." "Well, we shall see. But what an escape, my lad! What a trap we were in!" "And how capital to get out of it without having a man hurt." "It's splendid, my lad. The captain will be delighted at that, and forgive me about the boat." "But we had to run away, sir," I said. "Rather strange running away to charge that boat as we did! But don't you take it into your head, my lad, that it is cowardly to retreat at the proper time. It is madness to go throwing away the lives of your men when you can do no good by fighting. It might sound very grand and heroic for us to have fought both those boats, and then tried to capture the junks; but we must have been cut to pieces in the attempt, and what then--" "We should have been able to say that we did not turn tail upon our enemies."