My throat felt dry at this horrible suggestion, but I knew how true it was. And then once more there was silence, and, like the rest--officers and men--we stood there watching the burning wreck hour after hour, not a soul on board feeling the slightest disposition to go below. It must have been quite a couple of hours later, when I started in the darkness, for something touched my arm, and, looking sharply to my right, I could just make out the figure of Ching close to me, while on looking in the other direction I found that I was alone, for Barkins and Smith had gone forward to a group close to the bows. "You, Ching?" I said, "looking at the mischief your friends have done?" "Fliends burnee ship? No fliends. Velly bad men. Ching feel allee shame. Velly bad men evelywhere. Killee, get dollar. No velly bad men, London?" "I'm afraid there are," I said sadly. "Yes; velly bad men, London. Killee get dollar. You choppee off bad men head?" "No," I said; "but they kill them if they commit murder." "Commit murder? You mean killee get dollar?" "Yes." "Allee light. Plenty bad men evelywhere. Captain going kill pilate?" "If we can catch them," I said. "Yes, velly hard catchee catchee. Captain never catchee in ship. Pilate allee lun away. 'Flaid of big gun. Get two big junk, put plenty sailor boy where pilate can't see. Then pilate come along kill and burnee. Junk steal all along. Jolly sailor jump up and cut allee pilate head off." "Send that boy forward!" cried a stern voice, which made me jump again. "Who's that?" "Herrick, sir," I said, touching my cap, for the captain came forward out of the darkness. "Then you ought to know better, sir. The scoundrel has no business in this part of the ship. What does he want?" "I beg pardon, sir; he came up to propose a way of trapping the pirates." "Eh, what?" said the captain eagerly. "Bah! absurd. Send him below; I hate to see the very face of a Chinaman. No; stop! He ought to know something of their tricks. What does he say?" I told him, and he stood there as if thinking. "Well, I don't know, Mr Herrick. We might perhaps lure them out of their hiding-places in that way, with a couple of Chinese crews to work the junks. But no; the wretches would be equally strong, and would fight like rats. Too many of my poor lads would be cut down. They would have us at a terrible disadvantage. We must keep to the ship. I can only fight these wretches with guns." He was turning away, when a thought struck me, and, forgetting my awe of the captain, and the fact that a proposal from a midshipman to such a magnate might be resented as an unheard-of piece of impertinence, I exclaimed excitedly-- "I beg pardon, sir." "Yes?" "I think I know how it could be done."