"Hillo, steward, what do you mean by this, that you let these savages turn us out of house and home in this manner?" cried the fourth lieutenant.--Then addressing the interloper--"My fine fellow, you are a little off your cruising ground, so be making yourself scarce--Bolt--vanish--get on deck with you, or I shall be after swearing a very ugly oath."
"Massa, massa," quoth the man, "easy for you chuck me oberboard--nobody can say you shan't--but only listen leetle bit, and I know you yousef shall say my hargument good for someting."
There was a pause, during which he civilly waited for Lanyard to speak, when finding he had no inclination to do so, he continued--
"Ah I know, and I older man den you, massa; people never should trike when dem blood is up, unless in de case of fight for Kin Shorge. Ah, alway wait, massa, until you see and consider of de reason of de ting."
The good-hearted fellow was rebuked before the poor black savage; I suppose the latter saw it in his face, for all at once he gathered courage, and approached close to him, and placing his large black paw--I noticed the palm was a dingy white--on his arm between the elbow and wrist, he looked up into Dick's face,--
"But, massa, you can fancy yourself to hab one wife."
"Well, den, I go on. Suppose you hab one comfortable house, plenty pig dere, yam grow all round, orange tree blossom close to, plantain trow him cool shadow over all, bending heavily in de breeze, over de house; wid de fruit ready for drop into your mout, when you look up at him; de leetle guinea pig squeak here and snort dere; we hab pineapple and star-apple--oh, wery sweet--de great corn (maise dem call him) grow all round de house; pease cover him like one vine; and your servants are working and singing, and de comfortable sunshine is drying every ting, and closing all de beautiful flowers in him sleepy heat. You yousef are sitting in your chair, wid some small drop of grog, after you hab eat good dinner of goat, and maybe one broiled fis; and just when you take your pipe, light him, and put him into your mout--crack--one musket-shot sing over your head--you jomp--(who would not jomp?--Debil himself would jomp)--and before you can tink--flash--one sailor make blow at you wid him glass-clear cutlass. And ah, massa, suppose de worstest to come, and dese strangers to set fire to your quiet hut, after beating and bruising _you_; and de flames begin to crackle and hiss over de wery apartment where you know your wife is, and are consuming all your goods at de same time; and dem black people _were my goods_: for if you had left we to oursef dis morning, I should have got two hundred doubloon, and five hundred piece of check clot, from de Spanish captain, for dose one hundred and fifty slave; who," (his smile here might have been the envy of the Fiend himself,) "to prevent dem from being miserable as you call in Havanna, you hab sent to be happy in heaven." And he groaned in great bitterness of spirit.