to answer, amidst a burst of cheering, which kept on
breaking out again and again whenever the man essayed to speak, and at
last he turned round angrily.

"Lookye here, mates," he cried, "hadn't you better come and say it
yourselves? You've about cheered it out o' me, and made me forget what
I meant to say."

"All right, matey," cried one of the men merrily, "let 'em have it;
we've done now."

"Well, gentlemen," said Lenny, taking off his straw hat and looking in
it as if the lost words had come through his skull to get hidden in the
lining. "We all on us feels like this--as it wouldn't be English to let
a lot o' lubbers o' niggers, who arn't got half a trouser to a whole
hunderd on 'em, lick us out of the place. 'Sides, we arn't half seen
the island yet, and 'bout ten on us has got a sort o' wager on as to who
shall get up atop o' the mountain first and look down into the fire."

"Hear, hear, hear!" cried the men, and encouraged by this, Lenny began
to wave his arm about and behave like a semaphore signalling to distant
crews in his excitement.

"You see, gentlemen, we say it seems foolishness to come all this way to
find what you wants, and then let these black warmint scare us off; when
we arn't scared a bit, are we, mates?"

"No," came in a roar.

"So that's about all, gentlemen. We like the place and we're very
comfor'ble, and if it's all the same to you, we'd like to stop and go
fishing and shooting and storing; and--and--and--that's all, arn't it,
mates?"

"Hooray! Well done, Billy," shouted the man who had tried to be funny
before.

"Thank you, my lads," said Sir John, "and I hope you will have to run no
more risks."

"Don't you say that, sir," cried Lenny; "we likes a bit o' fun
sometimes; it's like pickles and hot sauce to our reg'lar meat."

"Ay, ay, mate, that's so," cried another, and there was another cheer,
followed by the joking man stepping out before his companions to say
quite seriously--

"And some on us, sir, think as you might hoist the British colours atop
o' the mountain, and when we go back for you to go and give the island
to the Queen."

"We'll think about all that," said Sir John. "Then my son and I
understand that you are quite willing to stay in spite of the risk?"

"O' course, sir," said Lenny. "We'll go with you anywheres; won't we,
mates?"

A burst of cheers greeted this speech, and Sir John said that they would
stay in spite of all the canoes which might com