ot be so
soon forgotten, at least by me; for, in the evening, when I took in the
cabin dinner and remained to wait at table, in lieu of the steward, who
was too much occupied in cooking to come aft, Captain Snaggs brought up
the subject again.

He was in high spirits at the manner in which the ship was travelling
along, appearing to have quite recovered from his drinking bout; and
when I uncovered the dish that I placed before him, he made a joke about
it to the first-mate, who, according to custom, shared meals with the
skipper in the cuddy and always sat down the same time that he did, the
second-mate having to shift by himself, and eat when he had the chance
between watches.

"Guess thaar ain't no jalap in this lot, Flinders, hey?" said the
captain, with a snigger; "thet thaar cuss of a stooard would be too
skeart of my fixin' him same ez I done thet durned nigger to try on any
games, ye bet!"

"I reckon so, boss," replied the other, with his mouth full, stuffing
away in his usual fashion. "Ye potted the coon nicely, ye did; an'
sarved him right, too, fur meddlin' with the grub. I thought I wer
pizened sure!"

"An' so did I, by thunder!" echoed Captain Snaggs, bringing his fist
down with a bang on the table, that almost made Mr Flinders' plate leap
out of the `fiddle' in which it was placed, to prevent it from spilling
its contents as the ship rolled. "I did so, by thunder! I sw'ar, or
else I wouldn't a' shot the cuss. Them hands furrud thinks I'm going to
be sich a durned fool ez to call in at Bahia or Rio, an' make a
statement of the case, telling how the nigger got overboard; but ye
catch me stoppin' at any a port 'fore I drops anchor in 'Frisco. Ye
knows better ner thet, Flinders, hey?"

The first-mate sniggered sympathetically at this, expressing by a wink
his confidence in the skipper's promise to the men; and the two laughed
with much heartiness and fellow feeling over the credulity of those who
had been so easily satisfied, and gone back to their work, confidently
trusting in Captain Snaggs' word and honour.

A little later on, when the rum bottle was produced, the captain alluded
to his excess of the night before in the same jocular vein:--

"Must keep a kinder stiffer helm this evenin', Flinders," he observed,
helping himself to a tumblerful, and then passing on the bottle to the
mate; "guess I wer a bit sprung yesterday?"

"Aye, cap, ye hed y'r load," replied Mr Flinders, with a grin; addin