all his treasure was hid, and make off with it; steal it; ay, ay;
steal it, mind you; as bad as that. Now me, I ain't got no patience
with dishonesty; I'm all for being honest, I am; so, being as I had
learned about this here plan, I went and told the captain. He never
winked an eye, not him, but off he sent his other six men, out of the
way, and made a fine supper here for them thirteen and sat down with
them to it; ay, that he did. But first he gets a little white powder out
of a silver box and takes it to Mother Ketch and orders her to put it in
their food; and she won't, not she, and nothing he can do can make her;
so he comes to me, and being as I hates dishonesty, I puts the powder in
their food, and they eats it. Only, being kind of nervous, as you might
say, I spills about two-thirds of it on my way upstairs in the dark; and
there ain't enough left to do the work complete. What was left I put in
the food on the table, and at that minute up the stairs comes the whole
thirteen with the captain at their head, and I whips into that there
cupboard and shuts the door, a-trembling in my boots for fear of what
the captain's going to do to me when he finds out the powder won't work
only partly. I can hear 'em all set down to the table laughin' hearty,
and the captain's voice a-crackin' jokes and makin' 'em feel at home;
but after a bit I don't hear nobody's voice but only the captain's,
because of the white powder actin' on the others as far as it could, and
them probably a-settin' up stiff and tongue-tied in their chairs, unable
to move a hand, because of the mite of powder, d'ye see, and me
a-settin' quiet in the dark cupboard, a-quakin' all over and wonderin'
what the captain was a-goin' to do to me. And after a bit I don't hear
the captain's voice no more, and there ain't no sound at all. And I
guess the party is over. And in another minute I hears a key turn in the
lock of my cupboard door, very soft and easy, and there I am shut up and
locked in as tight as pitch; and there I've been ever since."

"And serve you jolly well right, too, hif you arsk me," said Mr. Punch,
with great disgust.

"It's the wickedest piece of business all round I ever heard of in my
life," said Aunt Amanda, indignantly. "It's my opinion you're as bad as
any of them."

"Worse, if anything," said the Churchwarden, whose hand was still on his
back pocket.

"It's a pity the captain didn't knife you in the back with the rest of
'em," said T