hey're warning the others," said George, the remaining
patrolman, as he stood beside me in the cockpit.

By this time we were in the thick of the fleet, and the alarm was
spreading with incredible swiftness. The decks were beginning to swarm
with half-awakened and half-naked Chinese. Cries and yells of warning
and anger were flying over the quiet water, and somewhere a conch shell
was being blown with great success. To the right of us I saw the
captain of a junk chop away his mooring line with an axe and spring to
help his crew at the hoisting of the huge, outlandish lug-sail. But to
the left the first heads were popping up from below on another junk, and
I rounded up the _Reindeer_ alongside long enough for George to spring
aboard.

The whole fleet was now under way. In addition to the sails they had
gotten out long sweeps, and the bay was being ploughed in every
direction by the fleeing junks. I was now alone in the _Reindeer_,
seeking feverishly to capture a third prize. The first junk I took after
was a clean miss, for it trimmed its sheets and shot away surprisingly
into the wind. By fully half a point it outpointed the _Reindeer_, and I
began to feel respect for the clumsy craft. Realizing the hopelessness
of the pursuit, I filled away, threw out the main-sheet, and drove down
before the wind upon the junks to leeward, where I had them at a
disadvantage.

The one I had selected wavered indecisively before me, and, as I swung
wide to make the boarding gentle, filled suddenly and darted away, the
swart Mongols shouting a wild rhythm as they bent to the sweeps. But I
had been ready for this. I luffed suddenly. Putting the tiller hard
down, and holding it down with my body, I brought the main-sheet in,
hand over hand, on the run, so as to retain all possible striking
force. The two starboard sweeps of the junk were crumpled up, and then
the two boats came together with a crash. The _Reindeer's_ bowsprit,
like a monstrous hand, reached over and ripped out the junk's chunky
mast and towering sail.

This was met by a curdling yell of rage. A big Chinaman, remarkably
evil-looking, with his head swathed in a yellow silk handkerchief and
face badly pock-marked, planted a pike-pole on the _Reindeer's_ bow and
began to shove the entangled boats apart. Pausing long enough to let go
the jib halyards, and just as the _Reindeer_ cleared and began to drift
astern, I leaped aboard the junk with a line and made fast. He of the