he could have moved, he would have thrown himself into the sea, but he
was too securely tied. Well, in the morning, the captain, who could
speak a little English, came and ordered that the ropes should be
loosened. 'Now's my time,' said the Old Sailor, and he felt quite
glad, Dan, he says; and he says, too, that he felt as if he could have
died happy if they had given him a chew of tobacco. 'Open your eyes,
pig of an Englishman!' cried the captain, for the Old Sailor kept his
eyes shut all the time. 'I sha'n't, pig of the devil!' roared the Old
Sailor; but, without meaning it, he did open his eyes. 'Look here,
pig,' said the captain, 'you are a strong man, and you ought to be a
good sailor.' 'I'd show you what sort of a sailor I am, if you would
cut these infernal'"--
"O Jo!" said Dan, with a warning finger to his lips.
"That is what the Old Sailor said, Dan," continued Joshua. "'I'd show
you what sort of a sailor I am, if you would cut these--you know
what--ropes, and give me a cutlass or a marlin-spike!' But the captain
only laughed at him; and said, 'Now, pig, listen. You will either do
one of two things. You will either be one of us'-- 'Turn pirate!'
cried the Old Sailor; 'no, I'll be--you know what, Dan--if I do!'
'Very well, pig,' said the captain; 'refuse, and you shall be cut to
pieces, finger by finger, and every limb of you. I give you an hour,
pig, to think of it.' The Old Sailor says that, if he had had a bit of
tobacco, he would have chosen to be killed, even in that dreadful
manner, rather than consent to join them. He never in all his life
longed so for a thing as he longed then for a quid, as he calls it. It
made him mad to see the dark devils chewing their tobacco as they
worked. 'Anyhow,' he thought, 'I may as well live as be killed. I
shall get a chance of escape one day.' So when the hour was up, and
the captain came, the Old Sailor told him that he would oblige them by
not being chopped into mince-meat, if they would give him a chew of
tobacco. They gave it to him, and unbound him; and that is the way he
became a pirate."
"And how did he get away, Jo?" asked Dan.
"That is wonderful, too," continued Joshua. "He was with them for
three months, and saw strange things and bad things, but never took
part in them. They tried to force him to do as they did, but he
wouldn't. And he made himself so useful to them, and worked so hard,
that it wasn't to their interest to get rid of him."
"I think the Old Sailor must be a little bit of a hero, Jo,"
interrupted Dan.
Joshua laughed heartily at this. "You will not say so when you see
him."
"Why? I suppose he is ugly."
Joshua raised his hand expressively.
"And weather-beaten, and all that"--
"And knows," said Joshua, still laughing, "'Which is Saturday, Sunday,
Monday?'"
"Still he may be a hero--not like you, Jo, because you will be
handsome."
"Do you think so?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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