I’ve stayed in the cabin for two days. The cabin I’m staying in has only been visited by Wick and that strong man. Captain Wick tells me that he has ordered that no other crew can come into my room.

 Later I learned that the strong man is Wick’s engineer and the chief mate of the ship. Wake’s fishing ship has six crew members, and when he rescued me that day, the mate jumped into the sea to save me up.

 And after saving me, only Wick checked the bags in person. He only wanted to see if he could find some documents about me. But when he opened the bag, he was stunned. Fortunately, there were only two people in the room: he and the first mate. That is to say, of the six crew members, only Captain Wick himself and his mate know that there is such a huge sum of money.

 Captain Wick is moved by my offer.

 Seafarers are adventurous!

 I don’t have any injuries, but was extremely tired and lack of nutrition. After a day and a night’s rest, eat some food and drink water, I have recovered. Although I still feel a little weak, but basically my actions have not been affected.

 Captain Wick is a typical smiling tiger, which I can see from the conversation with him these two days. This man is very careful and strict in his work. He forbids the crews to contact me or enter my room. At the same time, he also asks me not to go out of the door.

 Obviously that Captain Wick has a high degree of authority on this ship. No one dares not to listen to his words. At first, I was surprised that after all, the crews saw me on board. Have rescued a suspicious-looking man like me from the sea, I think, in this case, any people would guess my identity. Wouldn’t these crews call the police?

 Later, I carefully tell Captain Wick about my worries. He’s laughing after listening, hesitating for a while and whispering to me: “Mr. Chen Yang (I’ve already told him my name during these two days of communication), I can tell you that you are very safe on my ship.” He is smiling mysteriously, “In fact, your identity as a stowaway is not a problem for my ship or for me.”

 I don’t understand at first, and then I’ve figured out something vaguely! Especially later, when I tell him about what happened to me on the black man’s ship and it was being chased by a gunboat, then we had to jump into the sea to flee. Captain Wick immediately has an angry look on his face. I can see that the anger on his face is not disguised, but the really anger!

 “That ship you mention about, does it have a black hull? There’s no flag hanging on it. The captain is a black man and all the crew members have guns? Oh, God, I know! That ship belongs to Maldin, that son of a bitch!”

 “Maldin?” I look at him with an inquiring eye.

 “Just that Nigger!” Captain Wick is scolding angrily, then he explains immediately, “Mr. Chen Yang, I’m sorry I used the word ‘nigger’. I don’t have racial discrimination myself, but that Maldin, he’s a devil, damn devil!”

 Maldin, I just got the name of the black man I killed.

 “He’s a jerk, not just because of his own misdeeds, but more importantly. He’s a man who broke the rules!” Captain Wick explains, “Actually, I think you should understand that there are many underground companies doing smuggling business in the coastal areas of any country. It’s a very profitable business. There will always be people doing it.”

 I’m nodding to show understanding.

 Then Captain Wick goes on his angrily saying: “That Maldin used to be a smuggler, but he’s not a regular fellow! Even in smuggling business, we should pay attention to the rules. Otherwise, once lost credibility, we would have no business anymore! But that Maldin, such a fool, has done double cross several times, which has damaged his reputation. As a result, the smuggling organizations abroad now have no trust in this area, making the other smuggling companies here facing the situation of no business to do! Mardin is a black sheep! Oh God! There is a saying in the proverb. Well, um, a rat…”

 “A rat’s excrement spoiled a pot of porridge.” I answer him with a smile.

 “Well, yes!” Wick is immediately nodding and laughing, “Mardin is just the rat shit! He has done several things to break the rules, and now the local smuggling organizations have regarded him as a public enemy! He has humiliated all the smuggling organizations here and let us have suffered a lot of losses… Oh, one more thing, it is said that he has been unable to make any smuggling business recently and has taken his crews to rob at sea. He has become a pirate!”

 “A pirate?”

 “Yes, a pirate!” Captain Wick is saying seriously, “When there is a stowaway business, he does the stowaway business. When there’s no business, he’s a pirate robbing at sea! Do you understand what I said?”

 I see, and understand more! Because when I’m looking at Captain Wick’s indignation, I’m suddenly realized. Why does Captain Wick hate that Maldin that much? Why did he say that his crews would not call the police? The answer is simple! Because Wick’s ship is also engaged in smuggling and stowaway business!

 It’s not surprising that a fishing ship to do such a business. Isn’t Old Snake’s ship a fishing ship too?

 “That fellow robbed a fishing ship and shot several crew members. His actions have aroused public indignation. I guess what you said about the gunboat’s pursuit of him is probably the decision of the Coast Guard to exterminate him. Because the Coast Guard doesn’t shoot stowawayships, but the pirates are different! Ha-ha! I think that’s a good thing!” Captain Wick is laughing and picks up a cup of coffee, “Cheers for the peace of this sea area in the future!”

 Having known the answer which I want to know, I’m relieved at last. Then I ask carefully: “Captain Wick, when can your ship reach the harbor?”

 “Very soon! We’ll be ashore early tomorrow morning. To tell you the truth, my ship was going to West previously. But when I met you, I think you must be very anxious to get ashore, so I turned around yesterday.”

 “Thank you!” I sigh.

 “Oh, that’s nothing!” Wick is smiling sly: “Although I can’t catch fish this time, but you’ve given me enough monies to make up for my losses! With these monies, I can even sell my current ship for a bigger one!”

 I’m completely relieved. It seems that Captain Wick, though not necessarily a good man, seems to be a smuggler too; a smiling tiger and a cunning man. But at least he’s disciplined! He also pays attention to credibility in his business. Such a person, I’m willing to deal with him.

 “We’re going around left side of Vancouver Island. By this time tomorrow, we’ll be ashore. I’ll park my ship on the wharf of Little Victoria Harbour.” Captain Wick says slowly, “I must say, Mr. Chen Yang, before you get off the ship, I don’t want you to contact my crews. This is my rule. On my ship, you are my guest, but the guest must also obey my rules! Do you understand?”

 “Yes. It’s fair.” I nod.

 “Do you have any further questions?” Captain Wick looks at me.

 I hesitate for a moment and finally decide: “Maybe I’ve asked too much, but I wonder if you can help me arrange a route to Vancouver. You’d better help me arrange a car or any other transportation?”

 He’s laughing. There’s a hint of pride in his smile. Then he is patting me on the shoulder and saying with an exaggerated smile, “My dear Mr. Chen Yang! You are so interesting! I thought you’d keep not talking about this. That’s OK! In fact, even if you don’t say that, I will ask you too. This is one of my services. What’s more, since you have paid me so much, I will provide you with the best services!”

 Then he’s saying with a smile: “Are you going to Vancouver? Hey, it’s not hard! You can rest assured that I will arrange a safe route for you.”

 He doesn’t lie to me. In his words, he is a reputable businessman. So, the next morning, our ship really docks!

 I have experienced so many days of life and death struggle at sea, I don’t know how many times I thought my life was over! And now, I finally see the land and the ground again!

 “Unfortunately, I can’t send you directly to Vancouver, because my ship has no permission to dock directly at Vancouver Port. I can only send you ashore at the Little Victoria Port.” Captain Wick finally allows me to walk out of the room.

 On the deck, the crews are busy pulling up the sails and untying the cables. At the moment, the sea breezes are very gentle, and the waves on the sea are sparkling. Unfortunately, I will never forget the terrible side of the sea in my life. There are many fishing ships on the dock similar to Wick’s. Captain Wick takes the helm himself and carefully steering the ship to the shore.

 I listen to his arrangement and do not go ashore directly, but hiding in the cabin.

 The crews outside are busy. A van is driving up to the dock. First, several uniformed officers get on board and check, but Captain Wick easily dismisses them. Then Wick lets me wear a dirty uniform, and arrange me to pick up a fish from the ship with the first mate.

 This is a big fish about one and a half meters long. First mate and I take a hook and hooking the fish ashore. I’m wearing that dirty uniform and going across the two inspectors, but they are talking to Captain Wick without looking at me. I see Wick is smiling at me and say to me in silence: “Bon Voyage!”

 The things next are very simple. Together with the first mate, we throw the fish into the basket of the staff on the shore, where someone fills the fishbelly with ice and load it into a truck. I go to the truck with the first mate. He talks to the driver and then they both smoking.

 While the two of them help me to block the views, I immediately get on the truck and jumping into the back of the truck. Five minutes later, the door closes and the truck starts driving.

 The carriage is full of fish, a smell of fishy, and there are a lot of the ice, very cold! I’m shivering with cold, rubbing my hands constantly. Just as I can’t help sighing, I hear a voise coming in front. Then a small window opens. The driver inside is shouting at me: “Welcome to Vancouver, brother!”

 He’s laughing and saying: “You just bear it for a while, by the way… Don’t pee. Those fish need to sell.” Fortunately, he speaks in our language.

 He throws a blanket and a bag through the window, then tells me: “This bag is given to you by Wick.” Then the window closes. I’m immediately wrapping the blanket around myself, warming up a while, and then open the bag. There is a suit of clothes in the bag, although old, but clean. This dress will not be conspicuous when walking on the street. At the same time, there are a stack of banknotes at the bottom of the bag.

 These are the Canadian dollars, about one thousand. I smile. Anyway, I’m very grateful to Captain Wick. He’s not a good man, or even greedy, but at least he’s a good businessman.

 In a way, though, he charged me two bags of dollars, the amount might be millions. It seems unfair to give me only some old cloths and one thousand Canadian dollars. But at least, he does everything according to business rules! I gave him those two packages of dollars on my own initiative.

 And this cloth and a thousand Canadian dollars, even if he does not give me, I can not blame him anything. How to describe his activities?

 Umm, he might be a greedy bastard, but at least he’s a lovely bastard.