S THE OCEAN; OR, A BOY'S FIRST VOYAGE.

A True Story.

BY J. O. DAVIDSON.

CHAPTER XII.

THE "HEATHEN CHINEE" AT HOME.

The first sight of China--that region of marvel and mystery, where
everything seems exactly opposite to what one sees at home, and the
fashions of three thousand years ago are supreme as ever--is a great
event in any one's life. So thought Frank Austin, who was on the watch
for the Chinese coast long before it came in sight, although the run
from Singapore was an unusually quick one; for the _Arizona_ exerted all
her speed to "get in for a cargo" before a rival steamer, which had kept
close to her all the way, coming so near at times that the respective
officers could exchange a little good-humored "chaff" through their
speaking-trumpets.

[Illustration: A CHINESE TRADING FLEET SAILING WITH THE MONSOON.]

But our hero got a glimpse of the "Celestials" sooner than he expected.
For the last two or three days of the voyage the sea was literally
covered with Chinese junks, large and small, many of them strongly
manned, and armed with cannon, to guard against the countless pirates of
the "China seas." At every moment it seemed as if the _Arizona_ must run
some of them down; but just as the crash was about to come, the junk
would veer, and slide nimbly away. When several of them came by
together, the barking of dogs, crowing of roosters, and shouts of
children made Frank feel quite as if he were in a town instead of on the
open sea. So steadily do the "trade-winds" (here called "monsoons") blow
from one quarter, that these junks, starting at the same time every
year, often make a whole voyage without shifting sail at all.

Frank was delighted with the picturesque sight, and overwhelmed Herrick
with questions, that the old tar answered readily enough.

"That's right, lad," he would say; "keep your eyes open, and when you
don't know a thing, never be ashamed to ask. That's the way to git
on--you see if it ain't! Why, there's that feller Monkey, now: 'stead o'
lookin' about him when we were at Singapore, I found him fast asleep in
the shadder o' the quarter-boat, never knowin' whether he was in Malacca
or Massachusetts! If you'd been one o' _that_ sort, 'stead o' bein'
supercargo, you'd ha' been shovellin' coal down thar yet?'"

* * * * *

For some time past Frank had noticed a curious change in one of the men,
who, after showing himself, a brave and able seaman in