The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

398
THE BOY TUAVELLERS.
THB WKITISG IN BLOOD.
ail hour's time to make a proposal for surrender, wliicli Avas allowed
tlieiii.
' Looking tlirongli the hatch, we could see them grouped together and
engaged in earnest conversation. Two were dead or dj'ing, and from one
of them there was a stream of blood slowl)- oozing. A coolie who ap-
peared to be a ringleader among tliem dij^ped his pen in the blood and
wrote on a sheet of paper :
" 'We want tliiee hundred coolies to be allowed on deck at a time. Tlie sliip must go back
to tlie coast, and allow ns to land at Wbampoa, below Canton, ^\'e pion)ise to make no trouble
if lliis be done, but will burn tlie ship at once unless the captain agree to it.'
" We knew that any promise they made would not amount to anything
when they were once in possession of the deck, and, besides, to go back to
Cliina would be a coni])lete surrender of the voyage. The captain did not
liesitate a moment in his answer to tin's demand.
"He opened one of tlie hatclies just enough to allow one man to de-