r his eyes were blinking like the orbs of
an owl in the sunshine, and in his walk he placed his right foot where
his left should have gone, and his left foot where his right should have
gone, occasionally making a little run forward to save himself from
tumbling on his nose, and then pulling suddenly up, and throwing up his
arms in order to avoid falling on his back. Sometimes he halted
altogether,--and swayed to and fro, gazing, meanwhile, pensively at the
ground, as if he were wondering why it had taken to rolling and
earthquaking in that preposterous manner; or were thinking on the
bald-headed mother he had left behind him in the African wilderness.
When the loud laugh of the men saluted his ears, Jacko looked up as
quickly and steadily as he could, and grinned a ghastly smile--or
something like it--as if to say, "What are you laughing at, villains?"

It is commonly observed that, among men, the ruling passion comes out
strongly when they are under the influence of strong drink. So it is
with monkeys. Jacko's ruling passion was thieving; but having, at that
time, no particular inducement to steal, he indulged his next ruling
passion--that of affection--by holding out both arms, and staggering
towards Phil Briant to be taken up.

A renewed burst of laughter greeted this movement. "It knows ye, Phil,"
cried Jim Scroggles.

"Ah! then, so it should, for it's meself as is good to it. Come to its
uncle, then. O good luck to yer purty little yaller face. So it wos
you stole the brandy, wos it? Musha! but ye might have know'd ye
belonged to a timp'rance ship, so ye might."

Jacko spread his arms on Briant's broad chest--they were too short to go
round his neck--laid his head thereon, and sighed. Perhaps he felt
penitent on account of his wickedness; but it is more probable that he
felt uneasy in body rather than in mind.

"I say, Briant," cried Gurney.

"That's me," answered the other.

"If you are Jacko's self-appointed uncle, and Miss Ailie is his adopted
mother, wot relation is Miss Ailie to you?"

"You never does nothin' right, Gurney," interposed Nikel Sling; "you
can't even preepound a pruposition. Here's how you oughter to ha' put
it. If Phil Briant be Jacko's uncle, and Miss Ailie his adopted
mother--all three bein' related in a sorter way by bein' shipmates, an'
all on us together bein' closely connected in vartue of our bein'
messmates--wot relation is Gurney to a donkey?"

"That's a puzzler,"