They had taken turn and turn about at the work of steering, relieving one another every half-hour, so that there were always two of them in attendance upon Ling. He did not speak again until the sun had risen, when he complained that the light was trying to his eyes.
As he had said, he was far too heavy to be moved. They constructed an awning above him, a small sail tied to the mast. He thanked them with Chinese courtesy, and then closed his eyes again, as if he desired to sleep.
A little after, they rounded a bend of the river, and found that they had gained the Pe-kiang, or North River, which joins the West River a little above Canton. And there, lying in mid-stream, like a watch-dog at the mouth of its kennel, was a British gunboat, her paint glistening in the sun, the great muzzle of a 4.5 gun directed at the bows of the junk. They could see the gunners, each man in his place, standing ready to fire.
The junk drifted nearer and nearer to the man-of-war. They could see the commander on the bridge. He shouted to them through a megaphone, ordering them to heave to and drop their anchors, or else he would open fire. When he saw that there were Europeans on board, however, who were free to do what they liked, and that the only Chinaman visible was a man stretched at full length upon the deck beneath an awning, he threw back his head with an exclamation of surprise.
At the commander's side upon the bridge stood a long-coated Chinaman; and as the junk drew alongside, Sir Thomas and his nephew recognised their old servant, Yung How.
A moment later, the lieutenant-commander was on board the junk, listening in astonishment to the extraordinary tale which Frank Armitage had to tell. It was not easy to believe, but there was on board the junk indisputable evidence that the boy spoke the truth. For there was the sack of silver dollars upon the deck, where Ling had thrown it; Cheong-Chau's seven men were below, bound hand and foot; and there was the great Honanese himself, with the spark of life no more than glimmering in that colossal frame.
Whilst Frank was relating his story, Sir Thomas addressed himself to Yung How, who stood upon the deck of the gunboat. The man explained that he had done all in his power to atone for his treachery and ingratitude. He had reached Hong-Kong--as we know--on the same boat as the letters, but had not been able to pluck up sufficient moral courage to present himself before the police authorities until after he had been several hours on the island. The ransom had already been despatched, when the Chief of Police presented himself before Sir John Macintosh, the Governor.