an
anchor-watch was set, and all hands turned in for the night.

VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER THREE.

THE SAMPAN.

Towards six bells in the morning watch the intense violet sky of the
east began to pale into those shades of green and grey which note the
departure of night, the bright twinkling stars that had up to then lit
up the firmament disappearing one by one as day broke. Then, rapidly,
streaks of warm, salmon-tinted clouds rose across the eastern horizon,
shot with bright golden gleams of fire, making the water of the Pearl
River glow as if with life, and lighting up the distant house-tops and
pagodas of Canton that could be seen far away from Jardyne Point; and
then, up danced the sun from beyond the paddy fields, mounting higher
and higher in the heavens each moment with majestic strides, as if he
wanted to get his day's work done early, so as to get a siesta in the
afternoon!

With the rising of the sun, all is bustle and excitement on board the
_Hankow Lin_; for the captain before turning in had told Mr Scuppers
that they were to sail at daybreak.

"Whee--eo! Whee--eo! Whee--ee!" The boatswain's shrill whistle was
heard piercing through every nook and cranny of the ship.

"Tumble up, there! Tumble up! All hands up anchor!" shouted out Bill
Martens in stentorian tones that supplemented the call of his whistle.
"Now, you Lascar beggars, show a leg, will you? All hands on deck, and
up anchor. Here, look alive, serang! Man the capstan-bars, and be
sharp with it. Cheerily, men; cheerily ho! Walk her up to her anchor.
Now she rides--heave, men, with a will. Belay!"

The ship by this time has been brought up, with all the slack of the
cable in; and the chief mate now lends his voice to add to the bustle
and movement of the scene.

"'Way aloft there, men; loose topsails; let fall. There! Now, serang,
heave with a will! heave with a will! Now it's free; heave away, my
hearties!" and the anchor was run up to the bows with a will, and
secured with tackles; when, the ship's head being now loosed from her
hold of the ground, she began to pay off, with her bows dancing up and
down, as if she were bidding a polite adieu to the Celestial Empire and
all its belongings.

"Man the topsail halliards; up with the jib; loosen those courses; set
the spanker sharp, will you? Hurrah! there she fills!" The sails
bellied out and drew; and the ship bore round to her course, and began
to move, at first slowly, and