Chapter 69: Death-seeking Sampan
Lin Qian and Zheng Zhilong came down from the watchtower.
The solemnity on Lin Qian’s face had completely vanished, replaced by a sharp look full of confidence.
His gaze swept toward the islander guarding the tower, and that person panicked inwardly, kneeling as he said, “This lowly one missed it; please punish me, Helmsman.”
Lin Qian gave Zheng Zhilong a look, and Zheng Zhilong immediately said, “Get up and await the Helmsman’s judgment!”
The islander guarding the tower rose uneasily. Lin Qian handed him the telescope. “Use this telescope for now. Keep that spy on the reef under surveillance for me—note when he arrives, when he leaves, who he meets, what he eats, what he excretes. Record it all and report to me every day. Understood?”
The islander guarding the watchtower took the telescope and nodded emphatically.
Lin Qian softened his tone a bit. “Do this job well, and it counts as no fault on your part, but merit instead. I’ll reward you with a fishing boat.”
“Really?” The islander guarding the watchtower was overjoyed, then quickly thanked him profusely.
……
On the way down the mountain, Lin Qian said to Zheng Zhilong, “For the next few days, don’t assign anyone else to guard the watchtower. Have him man it during the day, find someone to relieve him at night, and send up several people to deliver daily meals.”
Zheng Zhilong said, “Don’t worry, Helmsman. I understand.”
Even in Manila, telescopes are rare items, let alone in the Great Ming.
While in Manila, Lin Qian had bought several telescopes, most of which he disassembled to make sextants, leaving only two with him.
This made it impossible for him to set up more surveillance posts to watch that spy.
For this reason, the watchtower on the mountaintop was especially important.
After descending the mountain, Lin Qian sent islanders to pretend to fish, sail around to the sea behind that spy’s position for reconnaissance, and they saw no large ships following.
Now that the spy had been found, tailing him from Hu Manor no longer served any purpose, so Lin Qian sent someone ashore to call back Bai Qing.
Two days later, Lin Qian had basically figured out the spy’s routine activities.
Basically, every day from dawn near the reef until just before dark, when he rows back to the southwestern shore.
Since hardly any ships set out to sea at night these days, and visibility is too low in the evening, no night surveillance was arranged.
……
This morning, after roll call, Lin Qian ordered the Santa Ana to weigh anchor and depart.
Lei Sanxiang shouted loudly to the crew members, “Prepare to weigh anchor! Everyone to the winch positions—move, run!”
Chen Jiao looked up at the wind flag on the mast and shouted, “Wind from the southeast, port side favorable.”
Lin Qian said, “Sail along the coastline.”
Chen Jiao said to the helmsman, “Course due west.”
After a long while, the Santa Ana finished weighing anchor, white sails were dropped, and she slowly sailed westward.
After passing Da Jian Mountain west of the island, Chen Jiao ordered again, “Port half rudder, course southwest. Rope men, tighten the starboard turning sail ropes. Watch the sail foot—prepare to change sails!”
With Chen Jiao’s order, the helmsman and rope men moved in sync, coordinating seamlessly as the Santa Ana turned smoothly.
As several loose sails filled with wind again, speed gradually increased.
Lin Qian walked to the stern deck and saw Nan’ao Island growing smaller and smaller, gradually shrinking to a point between sea and sky.
Lin Qian took out the telescope, scanned the horizon, and after searching for a moment, sure enough spotted a sampan directly behind. A person stood on the sampan, rowing vigorously.
Unfortunately, the Santa Ana was sailing at full speed, reaching 8 knots—beyond what human-powered rowing could match.
In the telescope view, the sampan’s silhouette was steadily shrinking.
Lin Qian lowered the telescope and, after a long while, asked, “Where are we now?”
Chen Jiao, standing beside him, said, “Ahead is the southern entrance to E’xi. A bit further and we’ll reach Ma’er Ao.”
“Furl the main topsail and fore topsail,” Lin Qian ordered. “Prepare to anchor temporarily at Ma’er Ao.”
“Got it.” Chen Jiao acknowledged and loudly relayed the order to the rope men.
As the galleon slowed, the sampan rowing desperately behind finally closed some distance.
……
Meanwhile, over ten li behind that sampan.
Bai Qing was also standing on a small boat, rowing forward.
She couldn’t see that sampan at all in her view, much less the Santa Ana. Lin Qian had told her this route in advance.
Thus, when she finally reached Ma’er Ao and spotted the Santa Ana from afar along with a sampan hiding behind a reef, she inwardly rejoiced at not losing them.
Bai Qing imitated the sampan and hid her boat behind a reef.
After hiding, she peeked out and observed quietly.
The person on the sampan ahead had a sturdy build and strong limbs—clearly not a fisherman who lived off the sea.
That person stood barefoot on the boat, staring intently toward the Santa Ana.
Perhaps sensing the gaze, he suddenly turned his head back without warning.
Bai Qing reacted swiftly, jerking her head back and avoiding detection.
After waiting a long time behind the reef, Bai Qing gripped her dagger and peeked out again.
She saw that the person had sat down on the sampan to chew on dried fish.
After eating, he stood up straight, glanced toward the Santa Ana, then bent down to pick up a knife from the sampan and wipe it.
Bai Qing saw clearly: the knife was covered in reddish-brown blood rust that wouldn’t come off no matter how long he wiped.
That was blood rust, and judging by the corrosion, the bloodstains were no more than ten days old.
Bai Qing had a strong hunch: this was one of the ship robbers from Ma’er Ao before. She could swim over in one breath, drag him into the water, and subdue him effortlessly, then force him to reveal Zhou Xiucai’s whereabouts.
But since the Helmsman had only ordered her to surveil, she wouldn’t overstep by acting on her own.
After the Santa Ana anchored at Ma’er Ao, she used small boats to ferry crew members ashore to search.
The shore was desolate and uninhabited, overgrown with endless reeds.
The crew members searched all day to no avail. As the sun slanted westward, a gong sounded from the Santa Ana.
Hearing the gong, the crew members returned to the shore one after another and boarded small boats back to the Santa Ana.
Once all crew members were aboard, the Santa Ana extended her crane arm to recover the small boats, then hoisted sails and set off again.
The person on the sampan had long grown bored from waiting, wiping his knife over and over that afternoon and catching all the crabs and mussels from the nearby reef.
Seeing the Santa Ana return, he finally perked up and rowed to avoid her line of sight.
Just as Bai Qing thought he would row to follow, he stayed perfectly still.
Only after the Santa Ana was far away did he stand and row—straight toward Bai Qing.
Bai Qing’s heart raced. She crouched low, exposing only her eyes through a rock crevice, staring fixedly at him. With one hand she maneuvered the boat oar, slowly circling the reef to stay out of his sight.
Thanks to Bai Qing’s superb boat-handling skills, she rowed single-handedly without a splash, hugging the reef tightly without any collisions.
He sailed right past the reef where Bai Qing was hiding without noticing anything amiss.
Only after he was far away did Bai Qing relax, wiping her forehead—which was covered in sweat.
Peering through the crevice, Bai Qing saw him heading southeast. Suspicion welled up immediately.
That direction was clearly the outer seas, with no islands on the surface. With nightfall approaching, for him to rashly head out in a sampan—was he seeking death?
