"Yes," said Mr Brooke, looking at me very fixedly, till I avoided his gaze, for I knew he was thinking of my defence of Ching. "Perhaps the bakers' shops are not open," I said at last. "Perhaps this is not London, my lad. It's of no use for you to defend him; I begin to feel sure that he has left us in the lurch." "Oh, wait a little longer, please, Mr Brooke," I cried; and I vainly scanned the increasing crowd upon the platform and shore, and could see, instead of Ching, that the people were growing more and more excited, as they talked together and kept pointing at us. "I shall not wait much longer," said Mr Brooke at last. "He has had plenty of time. Look here, my lads, we have plenty of water, and the business is urgent. You'll have to be content with a drink and a pull at your waistbelts." "All right, sir," said the coxswain; "what's good enough for the orficers is good enough for us. We won't grumble, eh, mates?" There was a low growl here, but not of discontent. "Then in another five minutes, if our Celestial friend does not come back, we shall start. I'll give him that time." "Beg pardon, sir; they're a siggling of us." "Signalling! who are?" "The Chinees, sir." "Yes, look," I said; for, after a good deal of talking and shouting, one man was standing close at the edge of the landing-place, and beckoning to us to come closer in. "Likely," I heard one of our men whisper. "Ducks." "Eh?" said another. "Dill, dill, dill; will yer come and be killed?" "What do they want, Herrick? To inveigle us ashore?" "I know, sir for the reason of their excitement now came to me like a flash, and I wondered that I had not thought of it before." "Well, then. Speak out if you do know, my lad." "That's it, sir. We've got a boat they know, and they think we're stealing it." "Tut, tut, tut. Of course. That explains it. Very sorry, my friends, but we cannot spare it yet. You shall have her back and be paid for the use of it, when we've done with her." The shouts, gesticulations, and general excitement increased, two men now beckoning imperiously, and it was evident that they were ordering us to come to the landing-place at once. "No, my friends," said Mr Brooke, "we are not coming ashore. We know your gentle nature too well. But Ching is not coming, Herrick, so we'll heave up the grapnel and be off." The crowd was now dense, and the excitement still increasing, but the moment they saw our coxswain, in obedience to an order given by Mr Brooke--in spite of an appealing look, and a request for another ten minutes--begin to haul up the rough grapnel, the noise ashore was hushed, and the gesticulations ceased. "Five minutes more, Mr Brooke," I whispered; "I feel sure that Ching will come." "Silence, sir," he said coldly. "It is only what I expected. The man knows he is found out."