. There may be, and probably are, Chinamen
who are as honourable, upright, and honest as the average Englishman,
but my experience, such as it has been, is that they are not to be found
aboard a junk. The Chinese seaman is, as a rule, drawn from the lowest
stratum of his people, and among such men the moral sense, if not
absolutely lacking, is very nearly so. They are barbarian, and all
their instincts are primitive. Honour and honesty are words that have
no meaning for them; they are, before all things else, intensely
acquisitive, and if they want a thing they will take it if they can, and
woe betide the owner if he resists them. In a word, the Chinese seaman
is by instinct a pirate, and a cruel, bloodthirsty one at that; hence my
feeling of disappointment at the sight of that junk; for how could I
hope that our treasure would remain inviolate if placed in the power of
such men as I have endeavoured to describe? They would cut our throats
without scruple in order to possess themselves of the contents of our
chests, the very appearance of which was irresistibly suggestive of
treasure. It took me not a moment to determine that, rather than expose
ourselves to such possible risks, we would have nothing whatever to do
with the junk if we could avoid it.

But could we? The junk was heading straight for the group, running
before a light easterly breeze which would probably give her a speed of
about three knots, and in the course of the next three hours she would
be close enough to enable her crew to see the bungalow, the existence of
which it was impossible to conceal, built as it was high up on the hill-
side with a passage through the reef immediately opposite it. Was it at
all reasonable to suppose that _any_ craft would sail past the group
without calling to investigate? There was, of course, the possibility
that the junk in sight might be perfectly harmless, and that if she
entered the lagoon it would be merely to satisfy curiosity and perhaps
to obtain a little fruit or to replenish her stock of fresh water; and,
if so, well and good. But if not--if her crew happened to be composed
of such ruffians as I have endeavoured to picture, what then? Could I
hope that they would be satisfied merely to come up to the bungalow, ask
a few questions in pidgin English, and depart, leaving us unscathed? To
suppose any such thing would be--to say the least of it--foolishness.
The probability was that they would attack us,