"You can't see the _Teaser_, sir?" I said. "No, my lad; I was looking at the weather. I fear it is going to blow a hurricane. The sky looks rather wild." I had been thinking that it looked very beautiful, but I did not say so. Certainly, though, the wind had risen a little, and I noticed that Tom Jecks kept on glowering about him in a very keen way. Just then Mr Brooke shook out the little Union Jack which we had brought from our sinking boat, and held it ready to signal the coming junk, which was now only about a mile away, and came swiftly along, till our leader stood right forward, holding on by a stay, and waved the little flag. "Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!" muttered Tom Jecks. "Look at that now. We in this here little cock-boat just shows our colours, and that theer great bamboo mountain of a thing goes down on her marrow-bones to us, metty-phizickly. See that, Mr Herrick, sir?" "Yes, Tom," I said excitedly; "and it's something to be proud of too." For, in obedience to our signals, I saw one of the many Chinamen on board wave his hands as he seemed to be shouting, and the great vessel slowly and cumbrously rounded to, so that in a few minutes we were able to run close alongside. "Tell them to heave us a rope, Ching," said Mr Brooke, and the interpreter shouted through his hands, with the result that a heavy coil came crashing down, and was caught by Tom Jecks, who was nearly knocked overboard. "We said a rope, not a hawser," growled the man, hauling in the rope. "Better shy a few anchors down too, you bladder-headed lubbers!" "Now, say I want to speak to the captain," said Mr Brooke. A showily-dressed Chinaman leaned over the side of the huge tower of a poop, and smiled down on us. "Are you the captain?" cried Mr Brooke, and Ching interpreted. "Say he the captain," said Ching; "and you please walkee up top sidee big junk." "Yes, it will be better," cried Mr Brooke. "Come with me, Herrick. You too, Ching, of course. There, keep her off a bit, Jecks, or you'll have the boat swamped." He seized the right moment, and began to climb up the junk's side. I followed, and Ching was close at my heels, the clumsy vessel giving plenty of foothold; and we soon stood upon the deck, where some dozen or so Chinese sailors pointed aft to where the captain stood, bowing and smiling. We had a rough set of bamboo steps to mount to the clumsy poop-deck, and there found the captain and half-a-dozen more of his men waiting. "Now, Ching, forward," I said. But he hung back and looked strange. "Don't be so jolly modest," I whispered; "we can't get on without you to interpret." At that moment there came a loud hail from our boat, invisible to us from where we stood, and there was a tremendous splash.