"They found Willie, who had wandered off while Jim was drinking. The boy had walked the streets all night, not caring much about the ship, and because a Chinaman would not cut off his queue and make him a present of it, the boy had jumped him with a knife he had procured and tried to take it by force. The interference of the police was all that saved the boy's life, for the man's friends helped him hold the lad, and they were just in the act of cutting his throat when help arrived. I was almost sorry for the interference, but I remembered the words of his father.
"Jim being unable to take further care of him for the present, I locked him up myself and turned in, being tired from the night's work. The next evening I saw Mr. Rose dragging Willie aboard the ship. How he got adrift I don't know, but he carried in each hand an oil can, while the mate, holding him, forced him aboard.
"'Say, Bo, whatcher think I done--hey? Just watch dat junk dere lyin' in de next dock--see? Aw, chee, dem Chinks is de limit. Dat feller what got me in Dutch last night is aboard dere, an'--well, you jest watch him now and tell me what youse t'ink o' me, anyways. I remembers him, but most all Chinks looks alike to me. Anyhow, I fire her up fer fair--you watch her--see? Oh, say, Bo, what a pipe----'
"Even while he spoke the black smoke poured from the fated junk. She burned like a box of matches. She was full of camphor wood and grease, and she fired the entire dock, burning six other vessels and making it so hot we were forced to warp into the stream.
"No, I didn't give the boy up. I suppose I might have done so and seen him hung properly. I said nothing, and Rose was a very quiet man. The damage he had done apparently took the lad's mind off his former troubles, and on the way home I let him go back to his watch. He took to the rigging like a monkey. I will say here he was the best sailor I had ever seen. There was nothing he could not learn about seamanship. He would always take the weather earing in a blow and no man dared to send him in. When Jim was on deck the old seaman kept him under his eye in case of trouble, and Mr. Rose was always most vigilant. The mate had determined to kill the lad at the first sign of danger. I tried again and again to win his confidence, but he seemed to look upon me as his enemy. He refused to take me for a friend, and my little talks were futile.
"'Aw, tell it to yer gran'mother,' he would say to me. 'Don't try to stuff me, Bo. Youse had your innings at that--now fergit it before you git inter the soup ag'in. I knows youse, an' I ain't done wid youse yet, either--see? Youse done me dirt--youse done me when I first come in de ship. I ain't decided just what I'll do to youse yet, but youse better keep yer eye liftin' fer me. Don' try to razzle-dazzle me none. I ain't afraid of youse at all. You ain't got de noive to do me--see? But I got it in fer youse all hunk, now don't make no mistake erbout dat. I'll let youse off easier the better we gets erlong--see? If we gets erlong all right I may let youse down easy--if not, I'll kill you as sure as I breathe, an' that goes as it lays. Do youse git it right?'
"Here was a boy, now sixteen, telling the master of a ship he would kill him if things were not to his liking. What do you think of it, anyway? I never could work it out I couldn't lock him up any more for it would have killed him--and I must not kill the lad--I don't know----
"The whole affair was insane. It was grotesque. But there was my shattered arm, and there was Bowles limping about--that fire at Hong-Kong--and I must bring Willie back home. I'm telling you a true story. I'm telling you of a boy, an apprentice.
"When we struck the rough weather of the high latitudes Willie was happy. He was worked out to a gantline by Jim, and he was beginning to run the men a bit. It was amazing and absurd to hear that kid yelling orders to the men aloft. Slack-away' or 'clew up,' whatever the order was, and he was very smart. He could beat the best of them to the royal yard; and he was taking pride in it. His voice was at that stage when it cracks and goes into a treble, and no one laughed. Even the mate watched it all with gloomy eyes, never saying a thing, and never even smiling. And it was amazing how the men obeyed him. If a man failed to do so, only an apology and the reception of a kick upon the stern would save him from a fracas, for Willie kept right after them. Yes, he inherited all the masterly qualities of his father. He was a wonder at seamanship. One day a dago didn't like the way Willie trod upon his feet when they were both hauling a brace. They mixed, and it was the closest shave for the lad. He came out with a bad cut, for the dago at sea takes to a knife like a babe to milk. That night, while in his bunk, the dago was slammed over the head with a handspike, and we had to keep him off duty until the ship docked.
"When we came in Jim brought his charge aft to sign off, as is the custom, you know, for their slop chest accounts. Willie came up.