"Oh, would you?" cried Smith. "We'd see about that. I tell you what, though, if I was skipper, this gunboat shouldn't leave the station while there was a pirate on the east coast." "Well, there won't be when we've done. I say--oh dear me!--how is it the legs of your trousers will get tangled when you want to put 'em on in a hurry." "'Cause you put 'em on with your eyes tangled up. Hear that?" "What, you gabbling?" "No; the screw at work." "Eh? Yes. What does it mean?" "We're going back." "No!" "We are--full speed." "Without yard-arming the beggars who took that ship." "Yes; ain't it a shame?" Barkins made no answer, but kept on dressing--snatching on his clothes, so to speak; and when we went on deck that bright, fine morning, there was a lowering look upon every face; and the officers were all snappish, the men discontented, and scowling at the two figures marching up and down the quarter-deck side by side. I felt disappointed, for we had been looking forward to the exciting moments when we should first overhaul some piratical junk. Of course I knew that there might be some danger, but I foresaw very little: our well-armed ship, with its strong, highly-disciplined crew, would over-ride every opposition offered by the half-savage Chinamen, I felt sure; and, like most people in the service, I felt that, if any one was hurt, it would be some one else. And now there was to be no further search for the pirates. We were going south again, probably to Hong-Kong; and I was sick of hot Hong-Kong, and doing nothing but drill. I partook, then, of the general feeling of dissatisfaction that morning; and, feeling quite glum and vexed with myself, I leaned over the taffrail and gazed down at the bright, clear water in search of fish. "I wish I hadn't spoken as I did last night," I said to myself later on; and I was going over the whole scene in the cabin, and thinking of what a noodle I must have looked, when I heard my name uttered in the captain's short, sharp voice. I turned and saluted, to find that Mr Reardon had gone forward. "I only want to repeat my caution to you, Mr Herrick," said the captain. "You will not say a word to any one about your visit to me last night." "No, sir," I said. "You have not spoken to your messmates?" "No, sir; not a word." "But they asked you why I summoned you to my cabin?" "Yes, sir; but they think it was to snub--reprove me, sir, for making so much of the Chinaman." "Oh, I see. But snub would have done, Mr Herrick. Reprove sounds pedantic. That will do, but bear in mind my wishes." "Oh, there you are, Mr Herrick," said the first lieutenant, a few minutes later. "I want you. Find that Chinaman and the ship's tailor, and bring them both to my cabin." "Yes, sir," I said, wondering; and I hunted them out, told them to follow me, and led the way to Mr Reardon's cabin. "Shut the door," he said sharply.