"But how-it doesn't seem reasonable," I exclaimed. "Maybe not; but it happened anyhow," said the Skipper. "Very reasonably and simply, too, if it comes to that. You see, the gold mines on the Rand ran short of labour, because the simple Kaffir is a wise man, and he won't work unless he has to. that, you go to work and sort was that, when the ships turned out the worst specimens from up, they just emptied their your collection, you can then jails into them, thus getting be certain you have achieved rid of their criminals, saving a most notable concentration the expense of their keep, and of thugs. Well-that's how making an honest penny or so my cargo of devils was raked for themselves at one sweep. up." You can't beat a Chinaman at that sort of game. Well, that's how the dregs of China came to be dumped into the Transvaal. I've heard they were fine workers, though. They'd drill two holes in a shift against a Kaffir's one, and the mine people were mighty pleased with 'em. They'd escape from their compounds every now and again, of course, and then there'd be murder, robbery, and rape round and about Johannesburg for a bit. I have heard, too, that it paid to be popular with 'em if you worked below ground, on account of a playful habit they had of signalling Man coming on the engine-room bell, and then sending up your severed head in the skip. They were tough, all right, but they did put their backs into their job, and the miners were mighty sorry when they had to send them all back again. He'd work until he'd earned enough to buy a wife to work for him, and then he retired smiling. The mine owners were silly enough to offer higher wages, thinking they'd attract more labour that way, I suppose; but the result was, of course, that the unmarried boys came in and earned their wife-money in less time than ever, and then they retired happy. After that the mines were in the cart -until somebody thought of recruiting labour in China. They went to the Chinese authorities for permission to recruit, and, you can believe me, the authorities were delighted. You know what the beggars are. They jumped at the chance. 'Yes,' they said. 'You bet. And, what's more, we will supply the men. send your ships and we'll fill 'em up with coolies '-at so many dollars a head. You note the graft? The result You "You remember that Chinese slavery fuss in the Home papers? I never quite got the true hang of it myself; but it seemed to me the mine people were happy, and so were the coolies. Apparently the Home politicians weren't, though; so those coolies had to be shipped back again. Some of them didn't want to go at all, and they made trouble. They were mostly men who knew they'd do pretty well as they liked with be shot into prison the moment they landed in China, so you can't very well blame them for kicking. And I must say I don't blame the Chinese authorities either for wanting to make sure of those birds as soon as they arrived, for they weren't the kind of lads any authorities, even Chinese ones, would care to have loose about the country. The Peking Government didn't want 'em back at any price, and I believe they said so officially. In any case, what with one thing and another, the worst bunch of the lot, about eight hundred of 'em, were kept back till the last ship-load; and then, my luck being out as usual, this ship was chartered to load that unholy gang at Durban and take them to Ching-Wan-Tau. That's how I got the most infernal mob of toughs on record loaded on to me. I told you that at first, and you didn't believe it; but, as I said, the explanation's simple." "I see," said I. "They must have been a handful. Did you have much trouble? the ship, you see, and left me powerless to stop 'em. They fitted the after 'tween-decks solid with wooden bunks, and ran up four tiers of berths in Nos. 3 and 4 lower holds. They even built a hospital on top of the wheel-house aft; but, except for fixing a row of rice cookers the size of young donkey-boilers along both sides of No. 2 hatch, they left the fore end of the ship alone. Then they filled the main hold with stores, and put the ship down six inches by the head, and I went to the Agent and protested. I raised Cain. I said they'd made the ship unseaworthy, and the beggar just laughed at me. He said that six inches out of trim wouldn't hurt, and, anyhow, I'd have to lump it, because the fore part of the ship had to be kept absolutely clear of all coolies. 'If we were to give 'em a free run of the deck,' says he, 'it wouldn't be long before they'd take charge of the ship. You'd find them roosting in your bunk, Captain, and they'd certainly make trouble with your Lascar crew. They're dangerous men,' says he. "They aren't safe, and that's a fact. And that's the reason we mean to make the after end of your ship a sort of prison for 'em. We're going to fit an eight-foot iron grill right across your deck amidships, and if you take my advice you won't let any of them get forward of it once you're out at sea.' Then he finished off by telling me that, instead of making difficulties, I ought to be grateful to the charterers for thinking of my safety and comfort so I got the worst of it. That was the first time I'd heard I was going to ship a dangerous cargo, and I remember I went straight out of that office and did something I'd never done in all my life before. I went and bought a revolver. "When I got back aboard I had another surprise. I found the charterers had appointed a man to take charge of my cargo for me! That's just what it amounted to, and you can bet I didn't like it. And I knew, as soon as I saw the fellow they'd put in charge, that I shouldn't like him either. He was the sort of man I haven't got any use for. Finch was his name. A great big bucko of a man, whose only qualification for the job, as far as I could see, was that he could talk Chinese. He seemed to think at first, too, he was going to run the ship, and I had to show him right away there was only one master aboard her-and that was me. He'd brought a dozen or so assorted Chinks along with him -cooks and orderlies' he called 'em, and he comes along worrying me about where he was to stow them. So I told him to run away and ask the Mate, and I could see by the look he gave me that I'd surprised him. "Next morning our cargo arrived alongside-a train-load full; and it took Finch all day to get those coolies aboard. They did the It seems he wasn't taking any chances. He made the shore people march the beggars up our gangway one by one, and as each man reached the deck, Finch and his boys his boys went through him. job properly, too. They stripped every one down pretty well naked, and searched 'em and looked through their bundles of duds and things. I could see those Chinks didn't like it a bit; and whenever Finch came across a knife or a bit of opium or something, they'd give him some mighty dirty looks. Not that Finch cared, bless you. He stood there looking as fierce and tough as he knew how, and every now and again he'd touch up any boy that showed signs of jibbing with his sjambok. And a sjambok's a nasty thing to get hit with. It's a strip of dried rhino hide, and a smack with one on the bare skin will draw blood quick if you aren't careful. And Finch wasn't careful at all. I didn't like it; but that wasn't the time or the place to interfere so I waited. swine's dangerous,' says he. 'He's murdered three men down the Rhineveldt Deep, and the only reason his neck isn't stretched for it 's because they badly want him for some other devilment in Tientsin. He'll get his all right,' says he,' when they get him ashore at the other end; but what I want to know is, what'll I do with him now?' 'Oh, put him in your bunk,' says I, 'and good luck to him.' And with that I laughed, and went up on the bridge and got the ship under way." You don't seem to have liked that man much," said I. "What did he do with his murderer eventually?" was my idea to go easy with them and leave 'em alone and not stir up trouble, and I said so. I told him to take a close reef in that sjambok of his, or one night, as likely as not, he'd be getting his throat cut, to say nothing of the throats of the rest of us white men aboard. I gave him beans, I done, he started. He told me some things that surprised me and made me feel mighty thoughtful. He said he mightn't know much about ships, but he did know how to handle coolies, and that if I thought we would ever get to Ching-Wan-Tau unless he put the fear of death into those Chinks and kept it there, then I was an old fool. Yes. That man sat there in my cabin and called me an old fool! And I sat and listened to him. I had to, for, you see, he was speaking the cold truth and it frightened me. I knew we had a bad crowd aboard all right, and that if they wanted to scupper us they wouldn't have much trouble doing it; but I hadn't worried much, because I never seriously thought they'd want to scupper us. But according to Finch, that was just what they were almost sure to do. Says he, 'There's over 800 of 'em, and they're all bad; but there's one gang a darned sight worse than the rest. They're all due for the clink as soon as they get ashore; but some of them are due for more than that. They won't live long once their police get hold of them and they know it. And if you were in their place, what would you do? Why, you'd get hold of the ship and run her in somewhere handy along the China coast and clear out. It stands to reason; and it's my firm belief that's what tell you. they'll try to do. And as for "And then, when I'd quite getting hold of this ship-it's easy. What does the crew amount to? There's you and me and your three Mates and the four engineers. That's only nine of us whites all told, not counting the Doc., who's a half-caste Macao Portuguese, as far as I can make out, and not to be relied on. And you know better than I do what your Lascar crew is worth; but I bet, if it comes to a scrap, that they'll lie low and try and save their skins-and I don't blame 'em.' "Well, that was bad enough; but as soon as he had got me pretty near frightened to death with talk like that he started off again on a fresh tack. 'Now, here's another thing,' says he. These birds don't get paid their wages till they get to Ching-Wan-Tau. That was a little scheme arranged by our Repatriation people. When I was wangling this job out of them in Pretoria they tried to tell me this bally scheme of theirs was a better insurance against trouble aboard the ship than the armed guard I was asking According to them, the coolies were all going to be good boys, because they knew if they weren't they wouldn't draw their pay. That's why we haven't got a guard. Can you beat it? The Chink authorities jumped at the idea, of course. They get the handling of the cash that way, and a fat lot of it our coolies are likely to see. The trouble is, the beggars know it. They know they haven't a hope of ever touching a bean of their money. And d'you think that's going to make nice good boys of 'em? You bet it isn't. Why, they're ripe for trouble. And the worst of it is that making trouble's worth while for some of them. Knowing what they know, each man must have drawn an advance before they left Jo'burg. Wanted to make sure of getting something, I guess. Anyway, when I was searching them I found nearly every man jack had from five to ten pound stowed away on him. It doesn't sound much; but it means there's from six to eight thousand pounds loose aboard this ship; and what's more, it's all in round, yellow, golden sovereigns. Now, Cap., you can believe me or not, just as you like; but I know we've got men aboard here who'd cut every throat in the ship rather than let a sum like that get away from them. And yet you sit there and tell me to go slow and treat the beggars easy. Why, if I don't show 'em, right from the start, that I'm top dog, and mean to stay there, then you and I and the rest of us white men would be wise to step over the side now. We'd be a darned sight more comfortable there than if we stayed aboard.' |