“English navee makee—finish,” he rejoined, and went on to enlarge upon his statement.
It gave the midshipman an insight into the Chinese opinion of foreign navies; for the pirate recalled the time when British, Russian and German fleets in the Far East had matters almost entirely their own way. He touched upon the rise of Japan’s navy, which owed its birth and development to Great Britain; how the Japanese fleet first destroyed that of his own country and next annihilated that of Russia in the Tsushima Strait; next, Japan’s action in clearing the Germans out of Chinese waters during the Great War.
Then Raxworthy was told how the short-sighted policy of certain British statesmen then in power had had its repercussions upon the teeming masses of China. Then he heard of the drastic reductions in the British Navy; how the powerful fleet that once sailed under the white ensign in Far Eastern waters diminished in both the size and numbers of its ships, while that of Japan increased by leaps and bounds.
“V’ly soon,” concluded the pirate, “no Englis’ shipee left. Before they makee go I takee you p’risoner. Fifty t’ousand dollar, p’laps hundred t’ousand dollar. We makee see!”
“You won’t,” said Raxworthy defiantly.
He was highly indignant, not merely because he had been ignominiously captured and was to be held to ransom, but chiefly because of the pirate’s scorn for that which he prized above all things—the honour of the British Navy.
“Then,” continued the Chinaman, as he passed his forefinger over the tip of his nose, “we makee cut one time. If no good, p’laps one ear; p’laps two. You makee see?”
Raxworthy understood. If the demanded ransom were not forthcoming his captors would deprive him first of the tip of his nose and then both ears, sending the severed portions to the midshipman’s superior officers just to show that the maritime bandits meant business!
V
The pirate chief went off, letting the full significance of his cold-blooded threats sink in.