“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 starboard side, which was low in the water and away from the island.  Rajah was posted in the chart-room on the bridge with an old spy-glass Riggs dug up, and the black boy kept steady watch on the island and the channel, with an occasional turn to the open sea in the hope of raising a vessel.

The chronometers were gone, along with the other navigating instruments, the log-book, and manifests.  The cabin clock was stopped at twelve, and Captain Riggs’s watch, which had hung over his bunk, was missing.

We found two dead Chinese in the galley, bullet-splintered woodwork, dried blood, and empty shells and burned rice on the galley stove.  The ship’s carpenter had barricaded himself in his workshop, a little deck-house on the after-deck.  The door was open, and we gathered that he had deserted his stronghold when he heard the water rushing into the hold, but whether he had been shot or drowned we had no way of knowing.