their feet in heaps of clothing, kicking broken wood; but before they
could get hold of him Jukes emerged waist deep in a multitude of clawing
hands. In the instant he had been lost to view, all the buttons of his
jacket had gone, its back had got split up to the collar, his waistcoat
had been torn open. The central struggling mass of Chinamen went over to
the roll, dark, indistinct, helpless, with a wild gleam of many eyes in
the dim light of the lamps.

"Leave me alone--damn you. I am all right," screeched Jukes. "Drive them
forward. Watch your chance when she pitches. Forward with 'em. Drive
them against the bulkhead. Jam 'em up."

The rush of the sailors into the seething 'tween-deck was like a splash
of cold water into a boiling cauldron. The commotion sank for a moment.

The bulk of Chinamen were locked in such a compact scrimmage that,
linking their arms and aided by an appalling dive of the ship, the
seamen sent it forward in one great shove, like a solid block. Behind
their backs small clusters and loose bodies tumbled from side to side.

The boatswain performed prodigious feats of strength. With his long arms
open, and each great paw clutching at a stanchion, he stopped the rush
of seven entwined Chinamen rolling like a boulder. His joints cracked;
he said, "Ha!" and they flew apart. But the carpenter showed the greater
intelligence. Without saying a word to anybody he went back into the
alleyway, to fetch several coils of cargo gear he had seen there--chain
and rope. With these life-lines were rigged.

There was really no resistance. The struggle, however it began, had
turned into a scramble of blind panic. If the coolies had started up