52 THE BOY CAPTAIN.

his hand on the young captain’s arm imploringly. «TI’se
suah dere’s gwine to be trubble ’roun’ dis yere craf’ ’fore
mawnin’, an’ I spect it’s er cumin’ right soon ef you done
leabe us now.”

“ Look here, uncle, don’t give me any more of that
ghost business till I have time to attend to it. It is—”

“Tt ain’ de ghostes, captin, it ain’t de ghostes; but
dese yere yeller men. Dey’s gwine fo’ to make trubble
mighty soon. I’se bin tryin’ fur to ’pare myse’f to take
keer ob de young missy eber sence dem dish-pans cum
flyin’’roun’. Now dey’s gittin’ ready to swoop down on
dis yere brig. Look dar! An’ dar!” the old darkey
added, as he pointed to the shore where, for the first time,
the young captain observed several sampans in which the
crews were sitting as if waiting some signal before put-
ting off.

There was no necessity now for the steward to urge
Ben to take every precaution.

A descent of the natives upon the defenceless vessel
was what the young captain had feared at the moment of
hearing of the brig’s condition, and, in fact, during the
journey from Hong Kong, almost fancied he should find
she had been captured by the piratically inclined Chinese
from the island.

“ Have any of those fellows boarded the brig since you
have been lying here?”’ he asked, quickly.

«No, sah, but dey hab hung ’roun’ mos'ly all de time
wid dere narrer eyes open des as wide as could be, an’ dey
knows how many ob us are hyar.”