'It is made in exactly the same way as the other tea you have had during the day,' Charlie declared.
'Then I must have drunk wash before. But I won't drink this. Here, Chinee, you drink it.'
'Me no want any, skipper,' Ping Wang answered.
'Don't want it, eh? What does that matter? Drink it at once.'
Ping Wang shook his head, and the skipper immediately flung the contents of his mug full in the Chinaman's face. The tea was very hot, and with a cry of pain Ping Wang ran at his tormentor. Stepping backwards quickly, to avoid him, the skipper stumbled over the weather-board at the entrance to the galley, and fell heavily on to the deck.
The mate, who had been pacing the deck, ran to pick him up. 'What's the matter, skipper?' he asked.
'That Chinee has knocked me down,' the skipper declared.
'He did nothing of the kind,' Charlie declared, and related to the mate exactly what happened.
'You'd better get an hour or two's sleep before we haul,' the mate said to the skipper, and, taking his arm, led him away.
'I think we had better turn in also,' Ping Wang said, and Charlie at once went forward with him.