he
foc's'le say that she is the rottenest trawler on the North Sea. The
engines are patched up, and they have to be very careful of them.'

'Then the skipper intends to swindle the man over the sale of her?'

'Of course he does.'

'I hope that the man won't buy her.'

'So do I, but the skipper is confident that he will. If he doesn't, the
skipper's temper will be worse than ever next voyage. I shall take very
good care not to make another trip with him.'

'Do you like a fisherman's life?'

'No. I dislike it very much indeed.'

'Then why are you aboard this ship?'

'Did you not tell me that one must do something for a living?'

'That is true; but, at the same time, I cannot understand why an
educated Chinaman should travel so many thousands of miles to become a
fisherman.'

'I came to England to make my fortune,' Ping Wang declared. 'I thought
that when I got to London, I should be able, having an English
education, to get employment in the office of some merchant doing
business with China. But I soon found that nobody wanted me. The only
offers I received were not to my liking. One was a place in a laundry,
and the other was to stand outside a tea merchant's and distribute
bills. No one seemed to think that it was possible for a Chinaman to be
a gentleman, or to have any self-respect. At last, when all my money was
gone, I got a job as steward on board a pleasure boat. The owner became
bankrupt, and I was paid off at Yarmouth. I walked from Yarmouth to
Grimsby, and, after I had been hanging about the docks for a few days,
the skipper of this boat took me on.'

'Then he is not such a heartless brute as I imagined,' Charlie remarked.

'It was not out of compassion that he took me,' Ping Wang answered. 'He
said that as I had never been on a trawler, he would have to give me
small wages. After I had been at sea three days I could do my work as
well as any of the other men, but I only received half the wages that
they did. He knew very well that I should be able to do my work after a
few days' practice, and by taking me on he made a saving in his wages
bill. This trip he is giving me three-quarters of what he pays the other
men. We were only in dock for two or three days, and I had no time to
find another job, but I have made up my mind never to go to sea again on
a trawler, even if I have to starve. When we get back to Grimsby I shall
go to London, and see if the Chinese Embassy or the Home for Asiatics
will