lessing ain't as good as another man's?"

I was glad I had hidden the black flag; I mean, that I had stowed it
away in the cabin of the Frenchman after he was dead. The Yankee needed
but the sight to make his suspicions of the original character of the
_Boca del Dragon_ flame up; and you may suppose that I was exceedingly
anxious he should not be sure that the schooner had been a pirate, lest
he might have been tempted to scrutinize her rather more closely than
would have been agreeable to me.

He asked me if I had met with any money in her: and I answered evasively
that in searching the dead man on the rocks, I had discovered a few
pieces in his pocket, but that I had left them, being much too
melancholy and convinced of my approaching end to meddle with such a
useless commodity. From time to time he would quit me to go to the hatch
and sing down orders to the second mate in the hold. How many casks he
meant to take I did not know; when he asked me how much I would give, I
replied: "Leave me enough to keep me ballasted; that will satisfy me."

The high swell demanded caution, but they managed wonderfully well. They
never swung more than three casks into a boat, and with this cargo she
would row away to the ship that lay hove-to close, and the men in her
hoisted the casks aboard.

The wind remained light till half-past three; it then freshened a bit.
Though all hands had knocked off at noon to get dinner--and a fine meal
I gave them of ham, tongue, beef, biscuits, wine, and brandy--by
half-past three they had eased the hold of ten boatloads of casks,
besides clearing out the whole of the clothes from the forecastle along
with as much of the bedding as we did not require; and I began to think
that my Yankee intended to leave me a clean ship to carry home, though I
durst not remonstrate. Yet was my turn handsomely served too. The pumps
had been cleared and tried, and found to work well, and--which was glad
news to me--the well found dry. The running rigging had been overhauled,
and it travelled handsomely. The sails had been loosed and hoisted and
lowered again, and the canvas found in good condition. The jibboom had
been run out, and the stays set up. The stock of fresh water had been
examined and found plentiful, and the casks in the head brought out and
secured on the main deck. In short, the American boatswain had worked
with the judgment and care of a master-rigger, of a great artist in
ropes, booms, and sails, an