after which he had not much difficulty in struggling
to his feet, and was thus able to look over the side and see what was
going on.

By the time that he had executed this manoeuvre the junk had left the
main stream of the river and had entered the bight where the pirate
fleet was accustomed to be concealed; and, at the far end of this, about
a quarter of a mile from their present position, Frobisher distinguished
a small wharf, some two hundred feet in length by about thirty wide, and
standing about eight feet out of the water, toward which the junk was
being steered. This was no doubt the jetty where the pirates unloaded
the loot stolen from captured prizes, and whence they took aboard their
own stores of ammunition, provisions, and water. There was quite a
number of bamboo and thatch huts scattered about at the shore end of the
jetty--evidently store-houses--while a stream of flashing, sparkling,
crystal-clear water, tumbling down a narrow gully and cutting a tiny
channel for itself across the sand to the river, was without doubt the
source of the pirates' water supply.

Frobisher noticed that at the end of the jetty a number of the men from
the fort had collected, apparently awaiting the arrival of their
comrades of the maritime department; and as the junk came alongside,
these individuals clambered aboard, and a vociferous conversation
ensued, during which fierce glances and threatening gestures were
directed toward the Englishman, who knew instinctively that the new
arrivals were strongly urging that he should be put to death, as some
sort of a sacrifice to the memory of the dead pirates, in whose
destruction he had played so large a part. Indeed, it seemed at one
moment as though he were to be slaughtered as he stood there, bound and
helpless; for the new-comers surged forward, knives and swords gleaming
in their hands, pushing the junk's crew backward until the whole crowd
had gathered in a circle, with Frobisher in the centre. Frobisher
expected death at any moment, and he was at a loss to understand why the
junk's men seemed reluctant to let the others have their way, seeing
that they themselves had been eager enough to put an end to him but a
short time previously. Presently he noticed that Ah-fu had disappeared
from the deck, and guessed that the men were merely waiting for him to
return before allowing the people from the fort to have their way.

Presently the pirate chief reappeared, and was immedi