Captain Scraggs; Or, The Green-Pea PiratesKyne, Peter B. (Peter Bernard)
General
Captain Scraggs; Or, The Green-Pea Pirates
Kyne, Peter B. (Peter Bernard)
Pirates -- Fiction; Sea stories
"I'd love to see them giving the bounce to McGuffey," said
Captain Scraggs musingly. Mr. Gibney had a swift mental picture
of such a proceeding and chuckled happily. Had he been permitted
a glance at McGuffey at that moment he might have observed that
worthy sweltering in the heat of the forward hold of the _Maggie
II_, for he was busy getting his guns on deck. From which it will
readily be deduced that B. McGuffey, Esquire, was following the
advice of his paternal ancestor and getting an anchor out to
windward.
One might go on at great length and describe the triumphal entry
of Commodore Gibney and Captain Scraggs into the capitol of
Kandavu; of how the king, an undersized, shrivelled old savage,
stuck his bushy head out the window of his bungalow when he saw
the procession coming; of how a minute later he advanced into the
space in the centre of his wari, where in the olden days the
populace was wont to gather for its cannibal orgies; how he
greeted his distinguished visitors with the most prodigious
rubbing of noses seen in those parts for many a day; of the feast
that followed; of the fowls and pigs that garnished the festive
board, not omitting the keg of Three Star thoughtfully provided
by Mr. Gibney.
Tabu-Tabu acted as interpreter and everything went swimmingly
until Tabu-Tabu, his hospitality doubtless strengthened by
frequent libations of the Elixir of Life, begged Mr. Gibney to
invite the remainder of his crew ashore for the feast. Mr.
Gibney, himself rather illuminated by this time, thought it might
not be a bad idea.
"It's a rotten shame, Scraggsy," he said, "to think of that fool
McGuffey not bein' here to enjoy himself. I'm goin' to send a
note out to him by one of Tabu-Tabu's boys, askin' him once more
to come ashore, or to let the first mate and one or two of the
seamen come if Mac still refuses to be civil."
"Good idea, Gib," said Captain Scraggs, his mouth full of roast
chicken and yams. So Mr. Gibney tore a leaf out of his pocket
memorandum book, scrawled a note to McGuffey, and handed it to
Tabu-Tabu, who at once dispatched a messenger with it to the
_Maggie II_.
Within half an hour the messenger returned. He was wildly excited
and poured a torrent of native gibberish into the attentive ears
of Tabu-Tabu and the king. He pointed several times to the point
of his jaw, rubbed the small of his back, and once he touched his
nose; whereupon Mr. Gibney was aware that the said organ had a
slight list to port, and he so informed Captain Scraggs. Neither
of the gentlemen had the slightest trouble in arriving at the
correct solution of the mystery. The royal messenger had been
incontinently kicked overboard by B. McGuffey, Esquire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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