They would have us at a terrible disadvantage.

We must keep to the ship.

I can only fight these wretches with guns." He was turning away, when a thought struck me, and, forgetting my awe of the captain, and the fact that a proposal from a midshipman to such a magnate might be resented as an unheard-of piece of impertinence, I exclaimed excitedly-- "I beg pardon, sir." "Yes ?" "I think I know how it could be done." "Eh?
You, Mr Herrick! Pooh! Stop," he said sharply, as, feeling completely abashed, I was shrinking away, when he laid his hand kindly on my shoulder.

"Let's hear what you mean, my boy.

The mouse did help the lion in the fable, didn't he ?" "Yes, sir." "Not that I consider myself a lion, Mr Herrick," he said good-humouredly, "and I will not insult you by calling you a mouse; but these Chinese fiends are too much for me, and I really am caught in the net.