New Nick Carter Weekly, No. 9 — page 5: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

NEW NICK CARTER WEEKLY. 3 around the steamer, holding up their| Then he thought that they might have hands and trying to make sales by shout-|friends among the passengers, but again ‘ing out the prices, tossing the article on this did not seem likely, for they all had board and receiving the money for it/dark faces, ragged clothes, and the gen- when thrown by the passengers. Some little business was done in this eral appearance of uncivilized natives. Once ‘Trim saw that Dobbin had his way, for quite a number of the passengers/eyes on these men and that he was look- _ were eager to bity. The officers of the steamship, however, for some reason or other did not like the than proceeding, and gave orders that the boatmen should keep at a distance. hese orders were shouted from the|made no reply. bos’ns, but the men in the| was just then taken by an energetic trader rail by the small boats paid little attention. ing at them in a displeased way. ‘“'Those fellows look more like Malays Africans, don’t they, Dobbin??? - Trim asked. ; Dobbin shrugged his shoulders, but The sailor’s attention who had pushed his boat almost under Wherever they saw a knot. of passten- him. gers leaning over thé rail they rowed Dobbin turned his hose of hot water their boats there, and kept up a constant|upon the trader, and for the next half yelling as they tried to drive bargains. minute or so was occupied in driving the At last the captain impatiently ordered | fellow away. that hose be attached to the boilers and! Trim watched that proceeding for a streams of hot water turned upon the| moment, and then glanced again at the small boats so as to keep them away from! boat’containing the dark men. ethe ship’s_sides. They were resting on their oars, and It so happened that Dobbin had charge|two of them were gesturing with their of a hose pipe. ; hands. His brown face was on the grin as he | They were waving them in such a way directed a stream of hot water in one|that it was very apparent that they had direction and another, sometimes wetting | discovered somebody on board whom they the traders alongside and in all instances knew, and it looked as if they were -try- compelling them to retreat. ‘ing to givé them some kind of instruc- _Half a dozen streams were turned upon | tions. the small boats from various parts of the) Just as most persons will turn their ship, but in spite of that the traders per- heads if they see somebody looking in- sist in coming close under the rail and tently in a certain direction, Trim looked driving such bargains with the passen-| greund to make out what the dark- vers as they could. *) Trim was greatly amused by the scene, | ~ although his sympathy was considerably pose. aroused for the poor boatmen. | d ins st upon keeping them at a dis- fance, —_ "a ___ Presently his attention was attracted by _ a boat containing half a dozen men that ed all around the steamer two or had cire | three times, but without coming close enough to permit of any bargaining. — directed to the steamer’s decks, as if they were looking for somebody. _ At first Trim supposed that they were traders like the rest, observed that they Ody. - -nothing in their , but after a time he’ iy skinned men were doing. His boyish curiosity served a good pur- . As he turned he saw that the Malays in He could net see that they were doing the crew were in a group not far from arm and wondered why the officers | him. They had their eyes upon the men in the boat, and as the latter waved their hands they looked along the deck toward © the spot where Dobbm was. standing with the hose pipe. | _ Then one of the Malays’made a quick -. eee | gesture, pointing toward Dobbin, and _.__ The men in the boat all had their eyes a 2 looking inquiringly at the boat. "The-men there nodded and sat down, laying their hands upon the oars as if they were ready to row away at an instant’s notice. . This struck Trim as very peculiar, and » boat, which was a large one, for sale. _ [he was on the alert for something to hap- = oy ae, elt er at < == . ¥ s 2% » 7 > 4 ne li feat Be cot. ‘ icbooks.com