"Massa gib dat silver so dat you not be burned, sah. Noah will hab
eber so much more bimeby, 'nuff to buy him free, sah."

Cludde looked at me inquiringly.

"'Tis true, Cludde," I said. "I had to buy you off."

"But I don't understand," he said. "A crown piece?"

"Oh!" said I, feeling a little uneasy lest he should probe this
matter of the crown piece too far, "the negro has the mind of a
child. The price of his freedom is five hundred dollars: he
wouldn't take my word for that sum, but the sight of a coin was
enough."

"But you told me the buccaneers stripped you of your money," he
said, with a look of puzzlement.

"So they did, but I happened to have this crown piece slung about
my neck under my shirt, and it escaped their attention."

"Egad, I should never have believed you were superstitious," he
said with a laugh, and I laughed back, glad enough that I had
escaped further interrogation.

I returned the coin to Noah, assuring him that I had no further
need of it, and he went away well pleased, assured of the
protection of the white man's duppy--the token of the good spirits
which he venerates as much as he fears the bugaboos.