Of course I knew that there might be some danger, but I foresaw very little: our well-armed ship, with its strong, highly-disciplined crew, would over-ride every opposition offered by the half-savage Chinamen, I felt sure; and, like most people in the service, I felt that, if any one was hurt, it would be some one else.

And now there was to be no further search for the pirates.

We were going south again, probably to Hong-Kong; and I was sick of hot Hong-Kong, and doing nothing but drill.
I partook, then, of the general feeling of dissatisfaction that morning; and, feeling quite glum and vexed with myself, I leaned over the taffrail and gazed down at the bright, clear water in search of fish.
"I wish I hadn't spoken as I did last night," I said to myself later on; and I was going over the whole scene in the cabin, and thinking of what a noodle I must have looked, when I heard my name uttered in the captain's short, sharp voice.
I turned and saluted, to find that Mr Reardon had gone forward.
"I only want to repeat my caution to you, Mr Herrick," said the captain.

"You will not say a word to any one about your visit to me last night." "No, sir," I said.
"You have not spoken to your messmates ?" "No, sir; not a word." "But they asked you why I summoned you to my cabin ?" "Yes, sir; but they think it was to snub--reprove me, sir, for making so much of the Chinaman." "Oh, I see.

But snub would have done, Mr Herrick.