"These here two Cimmarons, you-alls says, is man-eaters, an' one of 'em is locoed," interrupted Broncho solemnly. "Wall, I'm shore thankful a whole lot they ain't more numerous. Mebbe, though, these two Marquesas sports have done roasted an' eaten the rest of the outfit--they looks hungry enough to chaw up a whole bunch of Navajo bucks without battin' an eye nor yet fallin' victims to indegeestion. I reckon they regyards humans the same as we-alls do pra'rie hen, ba'r stakes, terrapins, an' sech-like high-flung eadibles, as bein' plumb full of relish. They don't look to me as if they'd pass up their hands or quit s'long as thar's an uneaten cawpse idlin' around; no, siree, they jest sharpens their carvin' knives an' sits right into business." "They used to be cannibals; they are not now," went on Jack. "These two men are harpooners. Tari here knows Big Harry, whose mate I was for three years trading among the Islands----" "You don't say!" "He says the _Ocmulgee_ has been out three years with only three hundred barrels of oil to her credit. She lost her mate and three men in a fight with a solitary bull-whale in the Japanese seas; then scurvy broke out whilst they were away to the south'ard; and, to make matters worse, they got jammed in the ice the whole winter. When they finally got clear there were only the captain and five men left. The captain bore up all he knew to make northing. They had a long spell of foul weather; then he died, and the other three men and these two have been alone on the ship for a whole moon, drifting under bare poles." "Wall, I reckon as how they've been sittin' in pretty dirty luck; but do you-alls mean to relate as how Destiny allows these here tattooed, man-chewin' pagans to win through, whilst white men has to go donnin' wings or tails, harps or hot pitchforks, as the case may be, in the etarnal beyond? Fortune shore deals a queer game." "That's about the size of it," said Jack. "Can this here aboriginal speak English?" "He can talk Beach-le-mer, a kind of pidgin English of the South Seas." "Same as that flapjack-tossin' Chink, Lung?" "Pretty much the same." "Wall, I surmise he regyards that 'ere hunchbacked, ebony mannikin as havin' pulled him through this devastatin' holocaust, scurvy, which downs the rest of the band so free an' easy," remarked the cowboy musingly. "What are we goin' to do, Jack?" asked the boy, with chattering teeth. "Can't we rout out some dry duds? I'm near froze standin' here talkin'." "That's certainly the first thing to be thought about," agreed the rolling-stone. "Then, when we've overhauled the ship below, we'll have a powwow." Leaving the two Kanakas on deck, they descended the companion-way, and found themselves in a fair-sized cabin, with doorways opening out of it.