"No, certainly not!" shouted the angry captain. "I suppose I’m still in charge here, even if the ship is gone. Do you think I haven’t any judgment? By God, between a timid mate and a crazy steward.... Give way, boys, there’s nothing to be afraid of!" The breeze had by this time died away, the junk was scarcely moving. A moment later their oars rattled against the side. Captain Sheldon scrambled aboard. He gave a rapid glance along the low maindeck, but saw nothing to arouse his suspicion. A man, evidently the captain of the craft, was advancing toward him; the crew were crowding around to overhear the conversation. But all this was only natural. An ordinary trading junk, of course; heaven alone knew what all these native craft really were doing. After a moment’s scrutiny, he dismissed from his mind any thought that may secretly have been aroused by Wang’s warning and the mate’s unfortunate remark. "You losee ship—ha?" The captain of the junk accosted him in good pidgin English. "Yes—she burned this morning. I want you to take me to Hong Kong" Within half an hour the bargain had been struck, and they were comfortably established on the new deck. The breeze had freshened, the junk’s head had been put about, the two ship’s boats trailed astern in single file at the end of a long line. The _Retriever’s_ company had partaken of a Chinese supper; many of them were spending the last hour of daylight in examining the queer craft, passing remarks on her strange nautical points, while the native crew watched their movements with furtive gaze. Captain Sheldon paced to and fro on the high poop deck, chewing the end of a cigar and ruminating on the unaccountable turns of fortune. The adventure of boarding the junk had for a time broken the savage current of his thoughts; but now, with the affair settled and night closing in, the mood of anger and bitterness claimed him again with redoubled intensity. The mate ranged up beside him with a friendly air. He felt the need of a reconciliation. "You’ll be interested to hear, Captain, that old Wang has found a pipeful of opium" "The devil you say! I wondered where the old rascal had disappeared to. How do you know?" "He’s been hanging around the Chinese crew, sir, ever since we came aboard. I went through their quarters down below forward a while ago, and there he lay in one of their bunks, dead to the world, with the pipe across his chest" "The useless old sot!" exclaimed Captain Sheldon "I had made up my mind to get rid of him this time, anyway. You know he has been in the family, so to speak. But I don’t like the idea of his going off with his native gang. Combined with the opium business, it looks suspicious. You’d better keep an eye on him. He’s got a grudge against me, you know, since I took away his stuff" "I guess they’ll all bear watching, sir"