'What's the meaning of that?' Charlie asked, as he sat up and listened.
Ping Wang shook his head, and in a few minutes was again asleep. Charlie, a little later, lay down and slept; but in about a quarter of an hour they were again awakened, this time by men descending into the saloon. Looking up over the saloon table, they saw two bluejackets, with cutlasses in their hands, at the foot of the ladder. An officer ran down the ladder and joined them.
As soon as Charlie and Ping Wang saw the sailors, they guessed that the coper had been captured in British waters, and in their delight they jumped off the seat on which they had been sleeping and stood up on the cushions. In a moment the officer covered Charlie with his revolver.
'All right,' Charlie exclaimed, 'we are not Dutchmen.'
'I didn't suspect your mate of being one,' the officer replied, smiling, but still covering Charlie. 'Come over here and surrender.'
'With pleasure,' Charlie said. 'We are jolly glad you have boarded this wretched coper.'
'The skipper denies that she is a coper. Possibly you can save us the trouble of hunting for his liquor and tobacco?'
'That is where it is kept,' Charlie declared, pointing to the cupboard. 'The skipper has the key.'
'Throw down the skipper's keys,' Lieutenant Williams sang out to his men on deck.
For two or three minutes the revenue officer sat on the saloon table, dangling his legs and whistling cheerfully.