Last of the Huggermuggers | Page 9

or his wife--if we
could slip a noose under his legs and throw him down--or carry along
the great net and trap him while he war down on the beach arter his
clams, and manage to tie him and carry him off in my ship! He'd kick, I
know. He'd a kind o' roar and struggle, and maybe swamp the biggest
raft we could make to fetch him. But couldn't we starve him into
submission? Or, if we gave him plenty of clams, couldn't we keep him
quiet? Or couldn't we give the critter Rum?--I guess he don't know
nothin' of ardent sperets--and obfusticate his wits--and get him reglar
boozy--couldn't we do any thing we chose to, then? An't it worth tryin',
any how? If we could catch him, and get him to Ameriky alive, or only
his skeleton, my fortune's made, I cal'late. I kind o' can't think that
young fellow's been a gullin' me. He talks as though he'd seen the awful
big critters with his own eyes. So do the other six fellows--they couldn't
all of 'em have been dreamin'."
So Zebedee had a conversation one day with the Captain of the Nancy
Johnson, and found out from him that he had taken the latitude and
longitude of the coast where they took away the shipwrecked sailors.
The Captain also described to Zebedee the appearance of the coast; and,
in short, Zebedee contrived to get all the information about the place
the Captain could give him, without letting it appear that he had any
other motive in asking questions than mere curiosity.
CHAPTER TEN.
ZEBEDEE AND JACKY PUT THEIR HEADS TOGETHER.
Zebedee now communicated to Little Jacket his plans about sailing for

the giant's coast, and entrapping Huggermugger and carrying him to
America. Little Jacket was rather astonished at the bold scheme of the
Yankee, and tried to dissuade him from attempting it. But Zebedee had
got his head so full of the notion now, that he was determined to carry
out his project, if he could. He even tried to persuade Little Jacket to go
with him, and his six companions, and finally succeeded. The six other
sailors, however, swore that nothing would tempt them to expose
themselves again on shore to the danger of being taken by the giant.
Little Jacket agreed to land with Zebedee and share all danger with him,
on condition that Zebedee would give him half the profits Barnum
should allow them from the exhibition of the giant in America. But
Little Jacket made Zebedee promise that he would be guided by his
advice, in their endeavors to ensnare the giant. Indeed, a new idea had
entered Jacky's head as to the best way of getting Huggermugger into
their power, and that was to try persuasion rather than stratagem or
force. I will tell you the reasons he had for so thinking.
1. The Huggermuggers were not Ogres or Cannibals. They lived on fish,
frogs, fruit, vegetables, grains, &c.
2. The Huggermuggers wore clothes, lived in houses, and were
surrounded with various indications of civilization. They were not
savages.
3. The Huggermuggers spoke English, with a strange accent, to be sure.
They seemed sometimes to prefer it to their own language. They must,
then, have been on friendly terms with English or Americans, at some
period of their lives.
4. The Huggermuggers were not wicked and blood-thirsty. How
different from the monsters one reads about in children's books! On the
contrary, though they had little quarrels together now and then, they did
not bite nor scratch, but seemed to live together as peaceably and
lovingly, on the whole, as most married couples. And the only time he
had a full view of their faces, Little Jacket saw in them an expression
which was really good and benevolent.
All these facts came much more forcibly to Jacky's mind, now that the

first terror was over, and calm, sober reason had taken the place of
vague fear.
He, therefore, told Mr. Nabbum, at length, his reasons for proposing,
and even urging, that unless Huggermugger should exhibit a very
different side to his character from that which he had seen, nothing like
force or stratagem should be resorted to.
"For," said Little Jacket, "even if you succeeded, Mr. Nabbum, in
throwing your net over his head, or your noose round his leg, as you
would round an elephant's, you should consider how powerful and
intelligent and, if incensed, how furious an adversary you have to deal
with. None but a man out of his wits would think of carrying him off to
your ship by main force. And as to your idea of making him drunk, and
taking him aboard in that condition, there is no knowing whether drink
would not render him quite furious, and