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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
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