Volume One--Chapter Three.
The Sampan.
Towards six bells in the morning watch the intense violet sky of the east began to pale into those shades of green and grey which note the departure of night, the bright twinkling stars that had up to then lit up the firmament disappearing one by one as day broke. Then, rapidly, streaks of warm, salmon-tinted clouds rose across the eastern horizon, shot with bright golden gleams of fire, making the water of the Pearl River glow as if with life, and lighting up the distant house-tops and pagodas of Canton that could be seen far away from Jardyne Point; and then, up danced the sun from beyond the paddy fields, mounting higher and higher in the heavens each moment with majestic strides, as if he wanted to get his day’s work done early, so as to get a siesta in the afternoon!
With the rising of the sun, all is bustle and excitement on board the Hankow Lin; for the captain before turning in had told Mr Scuppers that they were to sail at daybreak.
“Whee—eo! Whee—eo! Whee—ee!” The boatswain’s shrill whistle was heard piercing through every nook and cranny of the ship.
“Tumble up, there! Tumble up! All hands up anchor!” shouted out Bill Martens in stentorian tones that supplemented the call of his whistle. “Now, you Lascar beggars, show a leg, will you? All hands on deck, and up anchor. Here, look alive, serang! Man the capstan-bars, and be sharp with it. Cheerily, men; cheerily ho! Walk her up to her anchor. Now she rides—heave, men, with a will. Belay!”
The ship by this time has been brought up, with all the slack of the cable in; and the chief mate now lends his voice to add to the bustle and movement of the scene.
“’Way aloft there, men; loose topsails; let fall. There! Now, serang, heave with a will! heave with a will! Now it’s free; heave away, my hearties!” and the anchor was run up to the bows with a will, and secured with tackles; when, the ship’s head being now loosed from her hold of the ground, she began to pay off, with her bows dancing up and down, as if she were bidding a polite adieu to the Celestial Empire and all its belongings.