LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 583, 2 May 1876, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A CHINESE SPECULATION. 'lt is a tempting offer, Mr Sin-lin-tsi—-very tempting!' said I, hesitating and puzzled. '' Then why you not say, Yes—one great big Yes—and let us shake hands upon the bargain ?' returned the Chinese merchant promptly, but with an odd expression, as I fancied, in those long, sly," sloe-black eyes of his. Now, the proposal in question was a tempting one, addressed to a poor fellow like myself, who had suddenly slipped down some rounds of Fortune's ladder. I, Frank Hepburn, bred to the sea, had lately been chief-officer of a noble clipper-ship, the Swiftsure, and with the certainty of becoming her captain injtwo voyages more. Our owners, fine old-fashioned specimens of the British merchant, had become insolvent through the failure of some bank, and their vessels had been sold for another trade. There was I, reduced to kick my heels on the quays of Shang-hai, waiting for an engagement, while my little venture, as part owner of the Swiftsure, was lost in the general ruin. What made matters worse was, that I was in love, and betrothed to pretty Lilian Travis, the niece of a \\ orthy member of the British mercantile community established in that strange city that the magician Commerce has conjured up at the mouth of the great river, and that now our marriage seemed to be almost hopelessly deferred. I was thirty-two years of age, and had nothing left to me save my robust health and professional knowledge. Quite unexpedly, Sin-lin-tsi, with whom my acquaintance was of the slightest, had accosted me in his blandest manner, and had proposed that I should assume the command of a large and new steamer, the Cassandra, which belonged to himself and partner, and was bound on a coasting voyage to Canton and Singapore, with a valuable cargo and sundry passengers. The salary named was a liberal one, and the position, as I was assured, permanent.

It may seem unreasonable on my part that I hung back, instead of closing eagerly with so advantageous a proposition; but then I had heard old stories coupled with the names of my would-be employers. Ahchang and Sin-lin-tsi had, unless fame belied them, made their money through queer channels, and were deemed to be unscrupulous even beyond the average of their countrymen. Ah-chang was an enormously corpulent and silent old Chinaman, two of whose sons were mandarins ; but the junior partner, who was fluent in th« English tongue, was well known in Shang-hai as a pushing man of business, while both were reputed to be rich. I suppose that Sin (as we familiarly styled him in his absence) read my thoughts, for he lightly laid his claw-like finger-nails on my sleeve, and said : ' Aha ! Why, you say, Mr Hepburn, why Chinese give steamer to you ? Just this—you got stout heart and cool head plenty much. Not do this ' (imitating the action of drinking ) ; and so save ship if storm come or bad thieves come. Chinese trust you !' I began to think it not improbable that such reputation as I had acquired for seamanship and steadiness might, after all, have been the real reason for the preference shown to me. A fine steamer was the Cassandra, glistening in all the freshness of her new paint and trim rigging, as, having acceded to her owner's offer, Sin-lin-tsi took me out in the harbour to inspect the craft of which I was to be commander. Two lighters or rafts lay alongside of her, whence the pig-tailed stevedores were bustling, like so many laden ants, over her gangway. A fine ship, neat and taut, as though turned out of a bandbox, and by no means the sort of vessel likely to belong to Ah-chang and partner. ' Your chief officer,' remarked Sin carelessly, when I had admired the mirrors and gilding of the best cabin, ' will be first-chop seaman. You lidow Bates ?' ' Not the American ? Not Brasidas Bates ?' asked I, with a start. Sin nodded, but I looked and felt grave. That Mr Bates of Baltimore, known as 'Chinaman Bates' in Shanghai parlance, on account of his taste for Chinese customs and associates, was a first-rate seaman, I could not deny. But he bore a dubious character; and had Sin and his ffat partner made him their captain, with secret sailing orders to plunder and scuttle every defenceless junk he sighted, I should have been less surprised than at their selection of myself. •Duckett,' Sin made haste to say, 'is second officer. He your old shipmate.' This was true,' and a good sailor was Bill Duckett, when the brandy bottle was kept out of his reach, but I rather wondered that the cautious Chinese should have viewed his besetting weakness so indulgently. 'And our head engineer ?' I inquired; * and the third mate? for three are needed for so big a steamer.' Sin-lin-tsi very handsomely left the appointment of these two functionaries to myself, and we parted on excellent terms. Throughout the remainder of that day, and the greater part of the next, the question would keep recurring to my mind, as though some haunting demon had whispered it in myjear: Why did Ah-chang and Company seek me out to sail their steamer ? Even dear Lilian's innocent joy, or her uncle's hearty congratulations, could not blind me to the fact that there must be something to account for the extraordinary appreciation of my nautical skill shown by Sin and his partner. The sort of skippers whom Chinese shipowners like to engage are—well ! perhaps the best defined as men of elastic conscience, ready to drop the honest trader at short notice, and to be smugglers, or worse, when crooked courses promise a high profit. It so happened that my doubts were to be solved, and with a vengeance, for as I was making my way homewards, by a short cut, from the house of Mr rravis, I heard my own name mentioned, and mechanically, came to a halt, close to a ruinous godown, or native warehouse, void of goods now, and through the rotten and breached bamboo walls of which I caught a glimpse of two persons in earnest conversation. One wore the flowing robe and satin boots which sufficiently denoted his nationality; the other was in European garb. 'We must cut his throat, said the latter, thoughtfully; ' for. Frank Hepburn's clear grit, though I never liked the dog.' ' Must you indeed Mr Bates ?' thought I, for I had recognised my precious first-officer in the gentleman in black shore-going clothes; ' but, with your leave, there go two words to that bargain. ' You do as you muchy like. You master!' answered Sin, with a crackling little laugh, for cruelty, to a Chinaman's fancy, always suggests itself in the light of a good joke. ' Perhaps more comfortable. No tales tell.' ' But,' said Bates, meditatively, 'it will be a tough job and a ticklish one. There are those forecastle fellows out of the Windsor Castle that you would clap on board.' * Well, well, my dear Bates, returned the Chinese coaxingly; ' would it do for them to say, Ah-chang and partnership no decent hand, only scum of grog-shop, and their own Lascar what you call ? No wonder Cassandra no able make fight of it in the Narrows.' 'Ah, that's it. Hepburn will make a fight of it, and those Windsor Castle chaps will stand by him. Six brass guns, too, and a long rifled gun amidships. I tell you' ' And I tell you,' interrupted the Chinaman, becoming excited; 'you flinch now, and Ah-chang say, Sin say: Bates turned coward, Bates no good; he not get ten thousand silver dollar, nor two, nor one. I say, steamer must be boarded, cargo must be taken, passenger pay ransom, or' and he ended the sentence by passing his yellow hand, edgeways, across his throat. 'And as for guns, why . Sure some one there?' For a bit of bamboo had cracked under my feot, and I thought it wisest to hurry away before my presence on the spot should be detected. What was Ito do ? Nothing was clearer but that the foulest treachery was designed, and that life and property were alike in danger. The Cassandra had on board a valuable freight belonging to native merchants, who were to sail with us, along with other wealthy passengers, European and Chinese. From these latter a heavy ransom, could probably, by threats or torture, be extorted ; while the steamer was no, doubt insured for her full value, and could probably be surreptitiously sold into the Japan or Indian trade, after her cargo had been unloaded, and the evidence of unwelcome witnesses summarily suppressed. [To be continued)