No, I am sure I was not; every word I uttered was too sincere, though they chaffed me afterwards, and I have thought since that they felt more seriously than they spoke.
"You chaps didn't go on board that barque," I said quietly; "I did." "Yes; old Dishy's making a regular favourite of you, Gnat," said Barkins.
But I went on without heeding, my eyes fixed on the burning vessel whose flames shone brightly in the clear air.
"And when I saw the splintered wood and chopped doorway, and the smears and marks of blood, it all seemed to come to me just as it must have been when the poor fellows shut themselves up in the cabin." "Did they ?" said Smith eagerly.
"Yes, that was plain enough," I said; "and they must have fought it out there till the pirates got the upper hand." "I bet tuppence the beggars pitched stinkpots down through the cabin skylight, and half-smothered them," said Barkins excitedly.
"I daresay they did," I replied thoughtfully, "for I did see one of the lockers all scorched and burned just by the deck.

Yes, it all seemed to come to me, and I felt as if I could see all the fighting, with the Chinamen hacking and chopping at them with their long swords, the same as those brutes did at us; and all those poor fellows, who were quietly going about their business, homeward bound with their cargo, must have had friends, wives or mothers or children; and it gets horrible when you think of how they must have been in despair, knowing that those wretches would have no mercy on them." "Yes, but how it must have made 'em fight," cried Smith.

"I think I could have done something at a time like that." "Yes, it would make any fellow fight; even you, Gnat." "I suppose so," I said, "for it made me feel as if there wasn't any room in the world for such people." "There ain't," said Barkins.

"Oh, if our chaps could only get a good go at 'em!" "And then I felt," I went on, "as if it couldn't all be real, and that it was impossible that there could be such wretches on the face of the earth, ready to kill people for the sake of a bit of plunder." "But it's just precious possible enough," said Smith slowly.

"Why, out here in China they do anything." "Right," said Barkins; "and I hope the skipper will pay them in their own coin.