Bob
I had the same thing happen to me recently as detailed in post
#144. It was the retaining spring that also causes the pawls to spread outwards. The C ring spring pushes inwards on the axles of the pawls which are shaped in such a way as to make their ends spread out and click into the teeth on the hub. Due to a lack of grease there was wear on the spring which broke resulting in one pawl getting in the works. Even free hubs with multiple springs (one for each pawl) are however not difficult to fix if you have the parts so you may wish to try it yourself next time. Replacing the C spring only took about 15 minutes.
It may be a good idea to take ones free hubs apart from time to time, or once a year, to clean and re-grease them.
The Chinese shop/manufacturer sort of intimated that they would be sending me a new free hub but it still has not arrived. I fear it may be simply a stalling tactic so that I don't post negative feedback within the feedback time limit!
Tim