mistaken my character; for if I really did intend to make a beast of
myself, and devour my species, no one of the smallest knowledge of human
nature would think I'd begin on a nigger! What is your opinion of the
man's mistake, Mr. Leach?"

"It is very plain, sir, that he supposes you mean to broil him, and then
to eat so much of his steaks, that you will be compelled to heave up like
a marine two hours out; and, if I must say the truth, I think most people
would have inferred the same thing from your signs, which are as plainly
cannibal as any thing of the sort I ever witnessed."

"And what the devil did he make of yours, Master Cookery-Book?" cried the
captain with some heat. "Did he fancy you meant to mortify the flesh with
a fortnight's fast? No, no, sir; you are a very respectable first officer,
but are no more acquainted with Joe Bunk's principles of signs, than this
editor here knows of truth and propriety. It is your blundering manner of
soliloquizing that has set the lad on a wrong traverse. He has just
grafted your own idea on my communication, and has got himself into a
category that a book itself would not reason him out of, until his fright
is passed. Logic is thrown away on all 'skeary animals,' said old Joe
Bunk. Hearkee, Leach, I've a mind to set the rascal adrift, condemning the
gun and the knife for the benefit of the captors. I think I should sleep
better for the certainty that he was trudging along the sand, satisfied he
was not to be barbecued in the morning."

There is no use in detaining him, sir, for his messmate, who went off on
the dromedary, will sail a hundred feet to his one, and if an alarm is
really to be given to their party, it will not come from this chap. He
will be unarmed, and by taking away his pouch we shall get some ammunition
for this gun of his, which will throw a shot as far as Queen Anne's