the
black at whom it was aimed sprang in among the bushes and disappeared,
while the guide trotted on to where the hoe had fallen and picked it up,
shouting in through the thick growth--

"You let me catch you 'way from your work, you ugly, lazy, black
rasclum, I crack you cocoanut!" Then striking the haft of the hoe he
had picked up against the tree-trunk to tighten the loosened head, he
turned again to the approaching boat crew. "Lazy black rasclum," cried
the grinning guide, as if for the benefit of all the newcomers. "Jupe
gib um toco catch him again. Massa come along now.--Black dog! Let me
catch um again!"

The lieutenant frowned and glanced at the two midshipmen, who were
exchanging glances which meant a great deal. Then with a shrug of his
shoulders he made a sign to the black guide to go on, a sign which was
grasped at once, and the fellow stepped out with his heavy hoe
shouldered and a grin at the lads.

"Jupe make um run fas'," he said. "Jupe teach um leave um work!"

"Look sharp, sir, and show the way," cried the chief officer angrily.

"Yes, massa; yes, massa," cried the fellow, grinning. "Jupe show massa
de way. Jupe de boy teach de black fella do de work. Lazy rasclum.
Ketchum 'sleep under tree."

"Here, May," cried the lieutenant angrily, "take this black brute
forward a dozen yards and make him show the way and hold his tongue the
while."

"Ay, ay, sir!" growled the sailor, with a grim look, as giving his
musket a hitch and then turning it in his hands he brought the butt
roughly against the guide's chest. "Now then, Ebony," he cried,
"for'ard it is, and drop all that there palaver. Lead on and show the
way."

"Yes, sah; Jupe show de--"

"D'yer hear, you black swab!" cried the sailor. "Show the way to your
master's house, and keep that talking box of yours shut up, or--"

May made an offer at the black as if to bring the butt of the musket he
carried down upon his toes, and accompanied it with so meaning a look
that the guide's eyes opened widely and he was in the act of making a
dash sidewise into the cane brake at the side, but the sailor's free
hand came down upon the fellow's shoulder with a loud clap.

"Ah, would you!" he cried. "None of that! Bullets run faster than
legs, my lad."

"That will do, May," cried the lieutenant; "but mind he does not slip
through your fingers."

"No, sir; right, sir," said the sailor, keeping a firm grip upon the
black's shoulder and s