“Well, the captain sings out, ‘fling the monster overboard, for we won’t have any thing aboard that devours human flesh; and cook you clean that locket and hand, &c., as clean as you can.’ And so I did, and the hand we preserved in rum, and the captain kept all of ’em till we got to port, and then we found out the end on it, and all about it.
“Well, we made port, and then the captain advertises the story of the shark; and the day arter this there come a splendid carriage to the dock, and who should it be but a Spanish lady, and she was in great splendor tu, and she comes aboard and calls for the captain; and he waits upon her with great respect down into the cabin, and her servant goes down with her, and she spoke in broken English, and asks him all about the shark, and then he tells all about it, and then showed her the hand; and when I brought it she broke out into ‘my God!’ and she seemed to be grieved and vexed, and broken down, and yit spunky by turns; and then she’d say, as she looked at the locket and hand and ring, ‘sacra venga,’ and swear, and her face would look red and pale by turns; and finally she turns to the captain and says, ‘Sir, this was my child,’ and says she ‘there was a young Spaniard engaged to my daughter, and they walked out one evening towards the water-side, and that’s the last I’ve heard of my child till now. He went to his own lodgings that night and was inquired of for her, but give no answer, and they made great sarch for her, but nothin’ could we hear. It always seemed to me he killed her, but I couldn’t git any evidence of it, and so I let it rest, and this happened nearly two weeks ago, and to day, you and your crew must come up and testify to the whole transaction.’ So she left.
That arternoon, four gentlemen come in a coach to the ship, and we had to go up to the City Hall, I guess ’twas; a large stone building, and it had great pillars in front on it, and I looked at it _good_ I tell you, for ’twas the handsomest buildin’ I ever see. So we got there, and they put us all into a room and locked us up; and we stayed there till two o’clock, and then a man come and took out the captain, and then me, and I was sworn, and told the whole story; and then all the crew was fetched on, and testified the same thing; and the cabin-boy, when he finished his testimony, says, ‘and I believe this lady was killed and flung overboard by some body,’ and he said it with some courage, tu; and at that a young Spaniard of a dark complexion and long black eyebrows that come round under a curl at the corner of his eye, and oh! how black his eye was, and he had long mustaches on his upper lip, and a big pair of whiskers, and I tell you he looked as though he could murder as easy as you could eat a meal of victuals. But he looked kind’a chopfallen, and up he got, and says he, ‘I’m the man—I flung her off the wharf, and I give myself up to the law;’ you see he had been taken and brought to the bar. Then the king’s Attorney Gineral, spoke to this prisoner, and I tell you he was dressed splendidly. He had on an elegant blue coat and satin vest, and black satin pantaloons, and buff pumps, and he had on a girdle of red morocco, and it had a gold plate in front, and it had a big star on it, and his head was powdered in great style, and he fixes his eyes on the Spaniard like a blaze of fire, and says, ‘prisoner, deliver up that knife in your sleeve;’ and at that the Spaniard slips a ribbon off of his wrist and drew out a knife like what we call a Bowie knife in this country, and handed it to the Attorney, and I tell ye if the Spaniard didn’t look beat!