The Island Treasure | Page 8

stoo'ad's place do dat; me ship's cook,
not one black niggah slabe!"
"He's always at me, too," I chorussed, in sympathy with this complaint.
"Mr Flinders is harder on me than even Captain Snaggs, and he's bad
enough, in all conscience."
"Dat am true," replied the cook, who had been my only friend since I
had been on board, none of the others, officers or men, having a kind
word for me, save the carpenter, a sturdy Englishman, named Tom
Bullover, and one of the Yankee sailors, Hiram Bangs, who seemed
rather good-natured, and told me he came from some place `down
Chicopee way'--wherever that might be. "But, never yer mind, sonny;
needer de cap'n nor dat brute ob a mate ken kill us no nohow."
"`Cheer up, Sam! Don' let your 'perrits go down--'
"Guess, dough, I'se better go aft at once, or Cap'n Snaggs 'll bust his
biler!"
And so, humming away still at the refrain of his favourite ditty, he
clambered along the bulwarks, making his way to the poop, where the
captain, I could see, as I peered round the corner of the galley, was still
waiting for him at the top of the ladder on the weather side, holding on
to the brass rail with one hand, and clutching hold of a stay with the
other.
I pitied the negro; but, of course, I couldn't help him. All I could do was
to look on, by no means an uninterested spectator, though keeping
cautiously out of sight of Captain Snaggs' watchful eye.
The wind was not making such a noise through the shrouds now, for
one could distinguish above its moaning whistle the wash of the waves

as they broke with a rippling roar and splashed against the side like the
measured strokes of a sledge-hammer on the ship breasting them with
her bluff bows, and contemptuously sailing on, spurning them beneath
her fore foot; so, I was able to hear and see nearly all that passed, albeit
I had to strain my ears occasionally to catch a word here and there.
He had waited so long that perhaps his anger had cooled down a bit by
this time, for Captain Snaggs began on Sammy much more quietly than
I expected from his outburst against him when I was up on the poop.
He was quite mild, indeed, for him, as I had learnt already, to my cost,
during the short acquaintance I had of his temper since we had left the
Mersey--as mild as a sucking dove, with a vengeance!
"Ye durned nigger!" he commenced; "what d'ye mean by not answerin'
when I hailed ye?"
"Me no hear yer, mass' cap'n."
"Not haar me, by thunder," screeched the other, raising his voice. "Ye
aren't deaf, air ye?"
"Golly, yeth, massa," said Sam eagerly. "I'se def as post."
"Ye ken haar, though, when grog time comes round, I guess!" retorted
the captain. "Whar wer ye when `all hands' wer called jest now?"
"Down in de bread room, gettin' out de men's grub wid de stooard,"
answered the cook, with much coolness; "me no hear `all hands' call."
"Thet's a lie," said Captain Snaggs, furiously. "The stooard wer up hyar
on deck, so ye couldn't hev been down below with him, ye durned
nigger! I've a tarnation good mind to seize ye up an' give ye four dozen
right away."
"Me no niggah slabe," said Sam proudly, drawing himself up and
looking up at the captain, as if daring him to do his worst. "I'se one
'spectacle culled gen'leman, sah!"

"Ho! ho! thet's prime!" laughed out the skipper, astounded at his cheek;
while the first-mate sniggered his aggravating "he! he!" behind him.
"Oh, ye're `a 'spectable coloured gentleman,' air ye?"
"Yeth, massa; me free Jamaica born, an' no slabe," repeated Sam,
courageously, the first-mate's chuckle having put him on his mettle
more than the captain's sneer. "I'se a free man!"
"Guess ye've come to the wrong shop then, my bo," said Captain
Snaggs; "ye'll find ye ain't free hyar, fur I'm boss aboard this air ship,
an' want all hands to know it. Ye shipped as cook, hey?"
"Yeth, massa," replied Sam, as sturdily as ever. "I'se jine as cook fo' de
v'yage to 'Frisco at ten dollar de month."
"Then, Master Sam, Sammy, Sambo Clubfoot, ye'll be kinder good
enuff to take yer traps out of the galley an' go furrud into the fo'c's'le, as
one of the foremast hands. As ye wouldn't turn out when all hands wer
called jist now, ye'll hev the advantage of doin' so right through now,
watch in an' watch out all the v'yage! D'ye hear thet, Sam Clubfoot?"
"Dat not my name," said the other indignantly. "I'se chris'en Sam
Jedfoot."
"Well then, d'ye underconstubble what I've sed, Mister Jedfoot, if