Willoughby, an you love me. I will soon get
whitewashed, I hope."

The Captain, taking the hint, ordered a suit of sailor's clothes to be
got up, which Sam without delay put on, and then doing up his Moorish
dress in a bundle, hove it overboard, exclaiming, "I hope that I may not
wear such duds as those again; and now, Captain, just to show that I am
turned into a Christian once more, I shall feel greatly obliged if you
will give me a glass of honest liquor. To say the truth, I have not
dared to touch a drop since I turned Moor."

"With all my heart," said the Captain, and he ordered a glass of strong
waters to be handed to Sam, who quaffed it off at once, giving a deep
sigh as he reached the bottom.

"Come, that does a fellow good; I feel once more like Sam Stokes instead
of the rascally Mustapha Mouser I was turned into."

As soon as the ship had been put to rights a course was shaped for
Cadiz, to which port Captain Benbow told his young friends he was bound
when attacked by the Sallee rover.

"Now that you have come on board, Master Willoughby, I shall be glad to
fulfil my promise and keep you if you desire to remain," he said to
Roger. "I was heartily sorry to have to leave you behind, as I knew how
much you would be disappointed, but I was many months absent from
England, and when I got back there was no time to send down to
Dorsetshire and have you up, should you have been still willing to come;
however, a promise is not broken as long as there is time to fulfil it,
and so you are welcome to remain on board the _Benbow_ frigate."

Roger warmly expressed his thanks, and said that he would rather serve
with Captain Benbow than go on board any other ship. He made the same
offer to Stephen, who, however, having no wish to follow the sea as a
profession, declined accepting it, though he begged that he might return
home. Sam was at once duly entered as belonging to the ship. Jumbo,
when he first came on board, had fixed his big round eyes on the Captain
with an inquiring glance, but had been apparently too much awed to speak
to him, and now he came aft, and making a profound bow, said, "Me tink
you remember Jumbo, Captain Benbow; serve on board dis ship to sweep
cabin when little boy."

"Cannot say that I recollect your face; to my eyes, one nigger is much
like another; but I have no doubt about the truth of your story, and am
pleased to have you aboard again, and will enter you on the ship's books
as one