The Island Treasure | Page 9

ye
like thet better--thet ye're cook no longer, an' will hev to muster with
the rest of the crew in the port watch? I'll put him with ye, Flinders, I
know ye hev a hankerin' arter him," observed the skipper, in a stage
whisper, to the first-mate, who sniggered his approval of this
arrangement. "D'ye understand thet, ye durned nigger, or, hev yer ears
got frizzed agen, makin' ye feel kinder deaf?"
"I'se he-ah, cap'n," replied Sam sullenly, as he turned away from under
the break of the poop, and made his way forward again to where I stood
watching his now changed face, all the mirth and merriment having
gone out of it, making him look quite savage--an ugly customer, I
thought, for any one to tackle with whom he might have enmity. "I'se
he-ah fo' suah, an' won't forget neider, yer bet!"

CHAPTER THREE.
A TERRIBLE REVENGE.
"I'm very sorry for you, Sam," I said, when he came up again to the
galley, making his way forward much more slowly than he had
scrambled aft to interview the skipper. "Captain Snaggs is a regular
tyrant to treat you so; but, never mind, Sam, we'll soon have you back
in your old place here, for I don't think there's any fellow in the ship
that knows anything about cooking like you!"
"Dunno spec dere's am," he replied, disconsolately, speaking in a
melancholy tone of voice, as if overcome at the idea of surrendering his
regal post of king of the caboose--the cook's berth on board a merchant
vessel being one of authority, as well as having a good deal of licence
attached to it; besides giving the holder thereof an importance in the
eyes of the crew, only second to that of the skipper, or his deputy, the
first-mate. The next moment, however, the darkey's face brightened,
from some happy thought or other that apparently crossed his mind;
and, his month gradually opening with a broad grin, that displayed a
double row of beautifully even white teeth, which would have aroused
the envy of a fashionable dentist, he broke into a huge guffaw, that I
was almost afraid the captain would hear away aft on the poop.
"Hoo-hoo! Yah-yah!" he laughed, with all that hearty abandon of his
race, bending his body and slapping his hands to his shins, as if to hold
himself up. "Golly! me nebber fought ob dat afore! Hoo-hoo! Yah-yah!
I'se most ready to die wid laffin! Hoo-hoo!"
"Why, Sam," I cried, "what's the matter now?"
"Hoo-hoo! Cholly," he at last managed to get out between his
convulsive fits of laughter. "Yer jess wait till cap'n want um grub; an'
den-- hoo-hoo!--yer see one fine joke! My gosh! Cholly, I'se one big
fool not tink ob dat afore! Guess it'll do prime. Yah-yah! Won't de `ole
man' squirm! Hoo-hoo!"
"Oh, Sam!" I exclaimed, a horrid thought occurring to me all at once.

"You wouldn't poison him?"
The little negro drew himself up with a native sort of dignity, that made
him appear quite tall.
"I'se hab black 'kin, an no white like yer's, Cholly," said he gravely,
wiping away the tears that had run down his cheeks in the exuberance
of his recent merriment. "But, b'y, yer may beleeb de troot, dat if I'se
hab black 'kin, my hart ain't ob dat colour; an' I wouldn't pizen no man,
if he wer de debbel hisself. No, Cholly, I'se fight fair, an' dunno wish to
go behint no man's back!"
"I'm sure I beg your pardon," said I, seeing that I had insulted him by
my suspicion; "but what are you going to do to pay the skipper out?"
This set him off again with a fresh paroxysm of laughter.
"My golly! Hoo-hoo! I'se goin' hab one fine joke," he spluttered out, his
face seemingly all mouth, and his woolly hair crinkling, as if electrified
by his inward feelings. "I'se goin'--hoo-hoo!--I'se goin'-- yah-yah!--"
But, what he was about to tell me remained for the present a mystery;
for, just then, the squalls ceasing and the wind shifting to the northward
of west, the captain ordered the lee braces to be slacked off, and we
hauled round more to starboard, still keeping on the same tack, though.
Our course now was pretty nearly south-west by south, and thus,
instead of barely just weathering the Smalls, as we should only have
been able to do if it had kept on blowing from the same quarter right in
our teeth, we managed to give the Pembrokeshire coast a good wide
berth, keeping into the open seaway right across the entrance to the
Bristol Channel, the ship heading towards Scilly well out from the land.
She made better weather, too, not rolling or pitching so much, going a
bit free, as she