Tales of the Fish Patrol | Page 4

on top.
"You'd better get out your gun and make them bail," I said to George.
But he shook his head and showed all too plainly that he was afraid.
The Chinese could see the funk he was in as well as I could, and their
insolence became insufferable. Those in the cabin broke into the food
lockers, and those above scrambled down and joined them in a feast on
our crackers and canned goods.
"What do we care?" George said weakly.
I was fuming with helpless anger. "If they get out of hand, it will be too
late to care. The best thing you can do is to get them in check right
now."
The water was rising higher and higher, and the gusts, forerunners of a
steady breeze, were growing stiffer and stiffer. And between the gusts,
the prisoners, having gotten away with a week's grub, took to crowding
first to one side and then to the other till the Reindeer rocked like a
cockle-shell. Yellow Handkerchief approached me, and, pointing out
his village on the Point Pedro beach, gave me to understand that if I
turned the Reindeer in that direction and put them ashore, they, in turn,
would go to bailing. By now the water in the cabin was up to the bunks,
and the bed- clothes were sopping. It was a foot deep on the cockpit
floor. Nevertheless I refused, and I could see by George's face that he
was disappointed.
"If you don't show some nerve, they'll rush us and throw us overboard,"
I said to him. "Better give me your revolver, if you want to be safe."
"The safest thing to do," he chattered cravenly, "is to put them ashore. I,
for one, don't want to be drowned for the sake of a handful of dirty
Chinamen."
"And I, for another, don't care to give in to a handful of dirty Chinamen

to escape drowning," I answered hotly.
"You'll sink the Reindeer under us all at this rate," he whined. "And
what good that'll do I can't see."
"Every man to his taste," I retorted.
He made no reply, but I could see he was trembling pitifully. Between
the threatening Chinese and the rising water he was beside himself with
fright; and, more than the Chinese and the water, I feared him and what
his fright might impel him to do. I could see him casting longing
glances at the small skiff towing astern, so in the next calm I hauled the
skiff alongside. As I did so his eyes brightened with hope; but before he
could guess my intention, I stove the frail bottom through with a
hand-axe, and the skiff filled to its gunwales.
"It's sink or float together," I said. "And if you'll give me your revolver,
I'll have the Reindeer bailed out in a jiffy."
"They're too many for us," he whimpered. "We can't fight them all."
I turned my back on him in disgust. The salmon boat had long since
passed from sight behind a little archipelago known as the Marin
Islands, so no help could be looked for from that quarter. Yellow
Handkerchief came up to me in a familiar manner, the water in the
cockpit slushing against his legs. I did not like his looks. I felt that
beneath the pleasant smile he was trying to put on his face there was an
ill purpose. I ordered him back, and so sharply that he obeyed.
"Now keep your distance," I commanded, "and don't you come closer!"
"Wha' fo'?" he demanded indignantly. "I t'ink-um talkee talkee heap
good."
"Talkee talkee," I answered bitterly, for I knew now that he had
understood all that passed between George and me. "What for talkee
talkee? You no sabbe talkee talkee."

He grinned in a sickly fashion. "Yep, I sabbe velly much. I honest
Chinaman."
"All right," I answered. "You sabbe talkee talkee, then you bail water
plenty plenty. After that we talkee talkee."
He shook his head, at the same time pointing over his shoulder to his
comrades. "No can do. Velly bad Chinamen, heap velly bad. I
t'ink-um--"
"Stand back!" I shouted, for I had noticed his hand disappear beneath
his blouse and his body prepare for a spring.
Disconcerted, he went back into the cabin, to hold a council, apparently,
from the way the jabbering broke forth. The Reindeer was very deep in
the water, and her movements had grown quite loggy. In a rough sea
she would have inevitably swamped; but the wind, when it did blow,
was off the land, and scarcely a ripple disturbed the surface of the bay.
"I think you'd better head for the beach," George said abruptly, in a
manner that told me his fear had forced him to make up his mind to