we found a
wreck. There were bundles of tinned meat on the table and a litter of
ropes and bits of canvas. Bottles of mineral water had been hurled at
the bulkheads and into the sideboard mirror. Curtains were torn down,
table-covers gone, and the pivot-chairs smashed and the fragments piled
in a corner, partly burned.

"They were going to fire her," said Riggs, "but that trouble with the
black gang and the loss of steam made 'em change their minds. They were
afraid the smoke would attract the attention of some passing ship. That's
once Thirkle made a mistake--we never would have got out of her if he
had left this fire going."

We gathered tins of biscuits and bottles of mineral water, and had a
feast out of what the pirates had discarded. Rajah had his kris in the
forecastle. While Captain Riggs and I enjoyed our cigars, Rajah went
out on an exploring trip through staterooms and galley and in the bridge
wheel-house.

"It's near noon now, Mr. Trenholm, and we ought to get away in an hour
or so. The boats they left are smashed, but I can rig a raft with
hatch-covers good enough to take us to the island.

"We'll take plenty of grub and water, and if they don't give us a fight
from shore before we land, we can cache our supplies and take our time
looking for that sweet gang. We'll keep out of sight as much as we can
before we leave, and we might wait until dark, but I'm for getting off in
jig-time, unless we see them coming back."

"I would like to see Thirkle and the others rowing out here," I said,
having a mental vision of an ambuscade for them as they drew alongside in
the boat.

"It's ten to one they will if they ain't too busy hiding the gold or
having a fight over it. All I'm afraid of is they'll get away from us in
their boats; but before they leave it's a sure thing they'll take a look
at the _Kut Sang_ to see if she's topside yet, and then come out to burn
her--which means stand by to repel boarders for us.

"Likely they've got their eyes on us now, or on the ship, but we'll keep
a sharp lookout, and if they come snooping back we'll blow 'em out of the
water. If Thirkle sees the steamer ye can leave it to him to come back
and see how we are and make a clean job of it. I'm not so sure he didn't
plan that, anyway. Devil of a fine joke we'll make of it for him, if he
does come out and thinks we're still cooped up in the fo'c'sle."

We set about the work of getting ready to leave the ship, keeping to the
st