"Here you be, Mr. Balker," said Captain Sullendine when the party reached the quarter-deck; and he was so lively in his movements, and so glib in his speech, as to provoke the suspicion that he had imbibed again at the conclusion of his oration on shore. "Here, you, Sopsy!" he continued in a loud voice. A lantern was burning on the companion, which enabled the party to see that the waist of the vessel was compactly packed with bales of cotton. The schooner seemed to be of considerable size, and Christy thought she must be loaded with a very large cargo of the precious merchandise. In answer to the captain's call, Sopsy, who proved to be the negro cook of the vessel, presented himself. "All these people want something to eat, Sopsy. Let the crew eat in the deck-house for'ad, and bring a lunch into the cabin right off," continued Captain Sullendine. "Yis, sar," replied the cook with emphasis. "Git 'em quicker'n a man kin swaller his own head. Libes dar a man wid soul so dead"-- "Never mind the varse, Sopsy," interposed the captain. "--As never to hisself have said"-- "Hurry up, Sopsy!" "He don't say dat, Massa Cap'n," added the cook, as he shuffled off over the bales of cotton. "Hullo there, Bokes! Where are you, Bokes?" called the captain again. "On deck, Cap'n," replied a white man, crawling out from a small opening in the bales. "Wake up, Bokes! You ain't dead yet." "No, sir; wide awake's a coon in a hencoop," added the man, who appeared to be one of the two left on board by the deserters, the cook being the other. "Be alive, Bokes! Here, wait a minute!" and the captain ran down the companion ladder to the cabin, from which he presently appeared with a bottle in each hand. "Do you see them men on the cotton, Bokes?" he asked, pointing with one of them at the six Belleviters, who stood where they had taken their stations after hoisting up the quarter-boat. "I see sunthin over thar," replied the seaman, who seemed to be hardly awake yet. "Them's the new crew I shipped to-night--six on 'em, or seven with the second mate," added the captain. "Show 'em over to the deck-house, and let 'em pick out their bunks." "Seven on 'em; the cook and me makes nine, and they ain't but eight berths in the deck-house, Cap'n," replied Bokes, who seemed to be afraid of losing his own sleeping quarters. "You can sleep on the deck, then. These are all good men, and they must have good berths," added the captain. "You can sleep as well in the scuppers as anywhere else, Bokes; and you ain't more'n half awake any time." "Must have my berth, Cap'n, or I go ashore," persisted the seaman. "Small loss anyhow," growled the captain. "How is the cabin, Captain Sullendine?" interposed Graines. "Two staterooms and four berths," replied the master. "Then why can't the second mate take one of the berths in the cabin?" suggested the new mate. "He is a first-rate fellow, and I reckon he's a better sailor than I am, for he's been to sea about all his life."