It also carried the
mails to and from Hong Kong. The passengers are Chinese gold-diggers,
and have bullion about them. Every voyage the vessel carries a large
amount of gold; on the present trip they had ten boxes of the value of
about L10,000. This was the cargo, and had nothing to do with what the
passengers had. The captain continued:--

"At Singapore we took in forty-two Chinese passengers, who came on board
the morning we left. Our Singapore agents had received a telegram from
Hong Kong, warning them to be careful of what passengers I took. After
leaving Singapore, all went well until about half-past one o'clock PM,
on the 8th inst, when near the Faracel Reefs. The chief officer then
came and told me that the Singapore Chinese passengers were pirates, and
intended to set fire to and plunder the ship. In consequence of this, I
went with the chief officer and interpreter to examine the steerage
passengers. I found a difficulty in separating the Singapore passengers
from the Australians, as they were so mixed. I then ordered a gang to
pick them out and bring them on the poop with their luggage, for
examination. The interpreter knew where the Singapore passengers were
stowed, and he there found ten choppers, and beneath the forecastle,
where eight of the passengers were, he found a box. I ordered the
carpenter to open this box, which was locked, and which no one claimed,
and found on the top beneath some clothes, twenty-five packages with a
fuse attached to each. After counting the packages, I kept one as a
sample, and threw the remainder with the box overboard. I did that as I
was rather afraid to keep so much loose powder on board. I next called
all hands and turned all the Chinese passengers on deck. We then
searched the place where they had been, and the box containing eleven
loaded revolvers and a quantity of ammunition was produced. I
questioned all the passengers, and seventeen of the Singapore passengers
had luggage and dollars, and they gave a satisfactory account of
themselves. The prisoners had no property or money. They could or
would not tell what they had been doing in Singapore, or give any
account of themselves. I then locked them in the mail room--which is of
iron--and placed an armed guard over them."

"There, now, what do you think o' them murderin' rascals now?" asked the
boatswain when he had concluded reading the newspaper extract.

"What do I think o' them, hey? Well, I thi