CHAPTER IV.
ANTICIPATING TROUBLE.

CAREFUL survey of the vessel was not calculated
to make the young captain more comfortable in
, mind.

She was short of everything in the way of supplies; it
was necessary very much should be done to the running
gear; the paint was in shocking condition, and when
Eliphalet gave an account of the provisions on hand, Ben
doubted whether there would be sufficient to feed even a
Chinese crew for a week. .

Had he been in port with plenty of money at his com-
mand, it would have seemed like quite a task to get the
brig in proper sailing trim ; but here, where probably little,
if anything, could be procured from the shore, it appeared
a formidable undertaking.

Fortunately, so far as the pockets of the owners and the
fate of the Progressive Age was concerned, he did not
shrink from the task.

The first and most important duty to be performed:
was the hiring of a native crew, and now it was that he
regretted not having insisted that the boatmen remain
to take him ashore. ,

“T can’t understand why those Chinamen gave me the
slip so soon after we got here. It looked as if they were

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