regarded collectively, the chinese may safely be classified under the head of unpleasant races. most people who have had personal dealings with them will doubtless admit that, while there are to be discovered among them a tiny sprinkling of really decent men and women, taken “by and large” they are, to westerns at any rate, anathema. and yet, when due allowance is made for environment, and for hereditary peculiarities of many strange kinds—for which, of course, the individual is in no way responsible—it may not be too bold an assertion that the chinese are a people who only need a little real leadership on western lines to become a truly great nation. they possess all the necessary qualifications for such a splendid future and few of the drawbacks. many virtues that are among us only inculcated by much laborious tuition are with the chinese sui generis. no one will deny that they know how to die; were it possible to teach them how to live, such a revolution would be felt in the progress of the world as it has never yet witnessed. of course, this does not touch the vast question as to whether such a resurrection of china is to be welcomed or dreaded.
54
but my intention in these pages is far from that of discussing the economic future of china. such a task would be indefinitely beyond my powers, besides being utterly unnecessary and out of place here. besides, i do not really feel sufficiently interested in the chinese collectively. my story is about a single chinaman who played a very important part in my own history, and who well deserved a far more powerful testimony than any i am able to bear to his virtues.
but, first, in order to launch my story properly, i must premise that in one of my vagrom voyages, while i was only a puny lad of thirteen, i was flung ashore in liverpool, penniless, and, of course, friendless. for many days i lived—or, rather, i did not die—by picking up, bird-like, such unvalued trifles of food as chance threw in my way while i wandered about the docks; but as there were many more experienced urchins with sharper eyes than mine on the same keen quest, it may be well imagined that i did not wax overfat upon my findings. unfortunately my seafaring instincts kept me near the docks at all times, where most of my associates were as hunger-bitten as myself; had i gone up town i should probably have fared better.
however, i had put a very keen edge indeed upon my appetite one bitter november afternoon, when, prowling along the coburg dock quay, i was suddenly brought up “all standing” by a most maddening smell of soup. with dilated nostrils i drew in the fragrant breeze, and immediately located its source as the galley of a barque that lay near, loading. i must55 have looked hungry as i swiftly came alongside of her, for the broad-faced cook, who was standing at his galley-door swabbing his steaming face after his sultry sojourn within, presently caught sight of me and lifted a beckoning finger. i was by his side in two bounds, and before i had quite realized my good fortune i was loading up at a great rate from a comfortably-sized dish of plum soup. my benefactor said nothing as the eager spoonfuls passed, but lolled against the door placidly regarding me with much the same expression as one would a hungry dog with a just-discovered bone. when at last i was well distended, he asked me a few questions in a queer broken english that i immediately recognized as the german version. what was i? where did i come from? would i like to go to sea? and so on. eagerly and hopefully i answered him, much to his amazement; for, like every other seaman i fell in with in those days, he found it hard to believe that i had already been nearly two years at sea, so small and weak did i appear. but the upshot of our interview was that he introduced me to the skipper, a burly north german, who, looking stolidly down upon me, between the regular puffs of smoke from his big pipe, said—
“vell, poy; ju dinks ju like du komm in a cherman scheep—hein?”
i faltered out a few words, not very coherently, i am afraid, for the prospect of getting any ship at all was just like a glimpse of heaven to me. fortunately for my hopes, captain strauss was a man of action, so, cutting short my faltering reply, he resumed: “all56 righdt. ve yoost loosd a leedle engelsch boy lige ju. he pin mit me more as ein jeer, gabin-poy, und mein vife lige him fery vell. ju do so goot as him, ju vas all righdt. vat ju call jorselluf—hein?”
“tom, sir,” i answered promptly.
“ya; den ve call ju dahn. dat oder poy ve calls dahn, und so ju gomes all der same for him—aind it?”
that seemed to settle the matter, for he turned away abruptly and was gone. i hastened to my friend the cook, and told him what the skipper had said, with the result that in another five minutes i was busy laying the cloth for dinner in the cabin as if i had been the original dan just come back. a pretty, fair-haired little girl of about ten years of age watched me curiously from a state-room door with the frank, straightforward curiosity of a child; and i, boy-like, was on my mettle to show her how well i could do my work. presently she came forward and spoke to me; but her remarks being in german, i could only smile feebly and look foolish; whereupon she indignantly snapped out, “schaafskopf,” and ran away. she returned almost directly with her mother, a buxom, placid-looking dame of about thirty-five, who addressed me in a dignified tone. again i was in a hole, for she spoke only german also; and if ever a poor urchin felt nonplussed, i did. this drawback made my berth an uncomfortable one at first; but, with such opportunities as i had and such a powerful inducement to spur me on, i soon picked up enough57 to understand what was said to me, and to make some suitable reply.
the vessel was a smart-looking, well-found barque of about six hundred tons, called the blitzen, of rostock, and carried a crew of fourteen all told. each of the other thirteen was a master of mine, and seldom allowed an opportunity to slip of asserting his authority; while the skipper’s wife and daughter evidently believed that i ought to be perpetually in motion. consequently my berth was no sinecure; and, whatever my qualifications may have been, i have no doubt i earned my food and the tiny triangular lair under the companion-ladder wherein i crept—i was going to say when my work was done—but a rather better term to use would be, in the short intervals between jobs.
now, the story of the next nine months on board the blitzen is by no means devoid of interest; but i have an uneasy feeling that i have already tried the reader’s patience enough with necessary preliminaries to the story of you sing. after calling at several ports in south america, looking in at algoa bay, visiting banjœwangie and cheribon, we finally appeared to have settled down as a chinese coaster, trading between all sorts of out-of-the-way ports for native consignees, and carrying a queer assortment of merchandise. finally we found ourselves at amoy, under charter for ilo-ilo with a full cargo of chinese “notions.” owing, i suppose, to the docility of the german crew, and the high state of discipline maintained on board, we still carried the same crew that we left58 england with; but i must say that, while i admired the good seamanship displayed by the skipper and his officers, i was heartily weary of my lot on board. i had never become a favourite, not even with the little girl, who seemed to take a delight in imitating her father and mother by calling me strange-sounding teutonic names of opprobrium; and i was beaten regularly, not apparently from any innate brutality, but from sheer force of habit, as a london costermonger beats his faithful donkey. the only thing that made life at all tolerable was that i was fairly well fed and enjoyed robust health; while i never lost the hope that in some of our wanderings we should happen into an english port, where i might be able to run away. that blissful idea i kept steadily before me as a beacon-light to cheer me on. happily, dread of losing my wages in such an event did not trouble me, because i had none to lose as far as i knew; i did not stipulate for any when i joined.
it was on a lovely night that we swung clear of amoy harbour and, catching a light land-breeze, headed across the strait towards formosa. many fishing sampans were dotted about the sleeping sea, making little sepia-splashes on the wide white wake of the moon. little care was taken to avoid running them down; nor did they seem to feel any great anxiety as to whether we did so or not, and as a consequence we occasionally grazed closely past one, and looked down curiously upon the passive figures sitting in their frail craft like roosting sea-birds upon a floating log. without any actual damage to them, we59 gradually drew clear of their cruising-ground, and, hauling to the southward a little, stood gently onward for cape south, the wind still very light and the weather perfect. but suddenly we ran into a strange heavy mist that obscured all the sea around us, and yet did not have that wetness that usually characterizes the clinging vapour of the sea-fog. through this opaque veil we glided as if sailing in cloudland, a silence enwrapping us as if we had been mysteriously changed into a ghostly ship and crew. then a quick, strong blast of wind burst out of the brume right ahead, throwing all the sails aback and driving the vessel stern foremost at a rate that seemed out of all proportion to its force.
for a few moments the watch on deck appeared to be stupid with surprise. then the skipper, roused by the unusual motion, rushed on deck, and his deep, guttural voice broke the spell as he issued abrupt orders. all hands were soon busy getting the vessel under control, shortening sail, and trimming yards. but, to everybody’s speechless amazement, it was presently found that entangled alongside lay a small junk, a craft of some twenty to thirty tons, upon whose deck no sign of life was visible. all hands crowded to the rail, staring and muttering almost incoherent comment upon this weird visitor that had so suddenly arisen, as it were, out of the void. as usual, the skipper first recovered his working wits, and ordered a couple of the men to jump on board the junk and investigate. they obeyed unquestionably, as was their wont, and presently reported that she was unmanned,60 but apparently full to the hatches of assorted chinese cargo in mats and boxes. the skipper’s voice took an exultant ring as he ordered the vessel to be well secured alongside, and her contents to be transferred on board of us with all possible despatch. meanwhile the strange mist had vanished as suddenly as it had arisen, and the full bright moon shone down upon the toiling men, who with wonderful celerity were breaking out the junk’s cargo and hurling it on to our decks. such was their expedition that in half an hour our decks were almost impassable for the queer-looking boxes and bales and bundles of all shapes disgorged from the junk’s hold. then they invaded the evil-scented cabin, and ransacked its many hiding-places, finding numerous neatly-bound parcels wrapped in fine silky matting. and, last of all—they declared he must have suddenly been materialized, or words to that effect—they lighted upon a lad of probably sixteen years of age. he showed no surprise, after the fatalistic fashion of his countrymen, but stood gravely before them like some quaint mongolian idol carved out of yellow jade, and ready for any fortune that might await him. with scant ceremony, he too was man-handled on deck, for the command was urgent to finish the work; the busy labourers followed him, and the junk was cast adrift.
some sort of rough stowage was made of the treasure-trove thus peculiarly shipped; and, the excitement that had sustained their unusual exertions having subsided, the tired crew flung themselves down anywhere and slept—slept like dead men, all except the officer of61 the watch and the helmsman. they had at first little to do that might keep them from slumber, for the wind had dropped to a stark calm, which in those sheltered waters, remote from the disturbing influence of any great ocean swell, left the ship almost perfectly motionless, a huge silhouette against the glowing surface of a silver lake. but presently it dawned upon the mate who was in charge of the deck that, although the vessel had certainly not travelled more than a mile since the junk was cast adrift, that strange craft was nowhere to be seen; and, stern martinet though he was, the consciousness of something uncanny about the recent business stole through him, shrinking his skin and making his mouth dry, until for relief he sought the helmsman and entered into conversation with him on the subject. that worthy, a stolid, unemotional dutchman named pfeiffer, scanned the whole of the palpitating brightness around before he would assent to the mate’s theory of any sudden disappearance of our late companion; but, having done so, and failed to discover the smallest speck against that dazzling surface, he, too, was fain to admit that the thing was not comforting. right glad were those two men when the interminably long watch was over, and the sharp, business-like notes of the bell seemed to dissipate in some measure the chilling atmosphere of mystery that hemmed them in. to the second mate the retiring officer said nothing of his fears, but hastened below, hurriedly scratched a perfunctory note or two on the log-slate, and bundled, “all standing”—that is, dressed as he was—into his bunk, pulling the62 upper feather-bed right over his head, as if to shut out the terror that was upon him. slowly the remainder of the night passed away; but when at last the tiny suggestion of paleness along the eastern horizon gave the first indication of the day’s approach, no change, not even the slightest, had occurred to increase the mystery whose environment all felt more or less keenly. as the advancing glory of the new day displaced the deep purple of the night, the awakening crew recalled, as if it had been a lifetime ago, the strange happening of the past few hours. but it was not until the clear light was fully come that the significance of the whole affair was manifest. for there, seated upon a mat-bound case, stamped all over with red “chops,” was the chinese youth, whose existence had up till now been unnoticed from the time he was first bundled on board. impassive as a wooden image, he looked as if the position he had held throughout the night had left him unwearied, and, to all appearance, the strange and sudden change in his environment possessed for him no significance whatever. but now, when the surly-looking mate approached him and looked him over with evident distaste, he slid off his perch, and, kneeling at the officer’s feet, kissed the deck thrice in manifest token of his entire submission to whatever fate might be dealt out to him. the mate stood silently looking down upon him, as if hardly able to decide what to do with him. while this curious little episode was being enacted the skipper appeared, and, hastening to the mate’s side, addressed the grovelling celestial in what he63 supposed to be the only possible medium of communication—“pidgin” english, which, coupled to a german accent, was the queerest jargon conceivable.
“vell,” he said, “vot pelong ju pidgin—hay? ju savvy vork, vun dime?”
lifting his yellow mask of a face, but still remaining on his knees, the waif made answer—
“no shabbee. you sing.”
