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

KKSTORAl'ION OF rEAriC.
scend at a time, and tliroiigli this hole lie eoinpelled all the coolies who
were then on deck to pass. Then he told the interpreters to say that they
might burn the ship as soon as they liked, and the crew would leave in the
boats. The boats were made I'eady for lowering; and, as we were not far
from the coast, and the wind was fair, thei'e was not much doubt of our
getting safe to llongdcong. Not a coolie would escape, and we should
take good care that the lire would be so far advanced before we left that
it could not be put out.
"In an hour we received another message, written in blood, like the
first. It promised to deliver the ringleaders of the mutiny, to bo kept in
irons till we arrived at our destination, and also promised that there should
be no more attempts to set tire to the ship. The captain was to fix the
number of men to be on deck at one time, and they were to obey his
orders without question. In fact, the surrender was complete.
" We had no troulde after that ; but we only allowed fiftj' men on
deck at one time, and those under a strong guard. You can be sure we
were in a hurry to finish the voyage, which \vc did without accident. I
had had all I wanted of the coolie-trade, and ue\'er went on another voy-
age like that."
THb IVTEKPRETIlRS