“So it is, Herrick—very big news. Just what we wanted. It’s time we made another capture. And to Ching has a friend on shore who sent this information?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Not a trap, is it—to get us away?”
“Oh no, sir; Ching is as honest as the day.”
“Humph, yes,” said Mr Reardon, with his fingers to his lips. “I think he is, for he seems to have taken to us and to be working hard in our service. But he may have been deceived. He is cunning enough; but so are his countrymen, and they would glory in tricking the man who has taken up with the English. I don’t know what to say to it, Herrick.”
“But suppose we see two big junks setting sail, watch them with a boat, sir, and find that they take others on board, there could be no mistake then.”
“Oh yes, there could, my boy. We might follow these junks, seize them, and spend a long time in their capture and bringing back into port. Then we should apply to the authorities, and find that we had got into sad trouble, for we had seized two vessels which the occupants could prove were intended for peaceable pursuits. We could not contradict them possibly, and all the time the scoundrels we wanted to take had sailed off upon a piratical expedition, consequent upon our absence. Now, sir, what do you say to that?”
I shook my head.
“I think Ching ought to know best,” I said.
“Perhaps so,” he replied. “We shall see. Come on now to the captain.”