who, it was very clear, were making chase after
us. We should have a hard fight for it, even if we should manage to get
off. Presently, however, we saw their sails flapping against their
masts as they came under the headland, whilst we still had a breeze and
went away dancing merrily over the water. I never felt so pleased in my
life, and the Chinamen seemed highly delighted, chattering and jabbering
away like so many monkeys. It was pleasant to see the pirates' sails
sink below the horizon, and pleasanter still to lose sight of them
altogether.

"We ran on day after day. The breeze held fair and we by degrees got
accustomed to our new friends, and could make ourselves understood in a
fashion. We sometimes were sailing between islands, and sometimes on
the open sea. Whereabouts we were we had no idea, though we supposed
that we were approaching the Chinamen's country.

"We had been a fortnight or more on board when dark clouds rose up from
the south-west, and it came on to blow very hard. The sails were
lowered and we ran before the gale. I saw by the looks of the crew that
they didn't like it, nor did we, for it seemed as if at any moment the
clumsy craft might be capsized. We, however, pumped and baled, and
tried to keep her clear of water. It all seemed, however, of no use,
for the seas washed into her and she was leaking terribly.

"We had been driven a long way out of our course. We did our best to
cheer up our shipmates, and set them the example by working harder than
any of them.

"At last the gale ceased, and we once more made sail, but, do all we
could, the water gained on us and the crew began to heave the cargo
overboard to keep the junk afloat. The boats had been washed away, and
we knew that if she went down we should all be drowned. Jack and I
talked of what we could do to save our lives, but we agreed that we
should have to share the fate of the rest. It seemed to us that the
craft would not swim another night, when we made out a sail to the
westward.

"The Chinamen by this time were so knocked up that they were scarcely
able to exert themselves. Jack and I sprang here and there, now
pumping, now baling, now trying to make our companions do the same. It
seemed to us that they would let the craft go down in sight of help.
The stranger we judged by the cut of her sails to be a whaler. The junk
was settling lower and lower in the water. Jack found a flag, an
odd-looking piece of stuf