98 THE BOY CAPTAIN.

The man looked at him with a vacant expression on his
face, and Ben added sharply :

“T know very well you do, from the way you acted
when you were first found on board. I’ve got a perfect
right to treat you just as we treated some of your friends
this afternoon, and the law would uphold me in it without
any question. Instead of having you hanged for attempted
piracy, I propose to pay for your services until we reach
Hong Kong, which is a good deal more than most ship-
masters would do; but there is a chance I might change
my mind about that, even now, so it stands you and your
friends in hand to walk pretty straight. Tell me, do you
know the coast from here to Hong Kong?”

The fellow waited an instant, as if trying to decide
whether it would be advisable to admit he understood
what was said, and then it may have been the look of
determination in the young captain’s eye which warned him
it would be neither wise nor safe to continue as he had
begun, therefore he replied in the villainous dialect called
“ pidgin-English, ” that he had piloted vessels to Macao.

«Were you never in Hong Kong?”

Ben understood him to say he had visited that city,
but could not be trusted to pilot a vessel there.

“Can you take this brig into Macao without difficulty ?”

The man nodded his head in a positive manner.

“But what good would it do to go to Macao when the
consignees are in Hong Kong?” Miss Dunham asked, as
Ben hesitated a moment, evidently considering whether or
no he should utilise this prisoner of his as a pilot.