Cockle and I burst out laughing. "Well, and what did Mrs Rowbottom say to that?" "She jump up, and try to catch me hair, but I bob my head, and she miss; den she say, `You filthy black rascal, you tell you massa, 'pose he ever come here, I break his white bald pate; and 'pose you ever come here, I smash you woolly black skull.'--Dat all, Massa Cockle; you see all right now, and I quite dry wid talking." "All right! do you call it. I never meant to quarrel with the old woman; what d'ye think, Bob--is it all right?" "Why, you must either have quarrelled with her, or married her, that's clear." "Well, then, I'm clear of her, and so it's all right. It a'n't every man who can get out of matrimony by sacrificing a nosegay and two glasses of grog." "Tree glasses, Massa Cockle," said Moonshine. "Well, three glasses; here it is, you dog, and its dog cheap, too. Thank God, next Wednesday's quarter day. Bob, you must dine with me-- cut the service for to-day." "With all my heart," replied I, "and I'll salve my conscience by walking the beach all night; but, Cockle, look here, there is but a drop in the bottle, and you have no more. I am like you, with a clean swept hold. You acknowledge the difficulty?" "It stares me in the face, Bob; what must be done?" "I'll tell you--in the first place, what have you for dinner?" "Moonshine, what have we got for dinner?" "Dinner, sar?--me not yet tink about dinner. What you like to eat, sar?" "What have we got in the house, Moonshine?" "Let me see, sar? first place, we ab very fine piece picklum pork; den we have picklum pork; and den--let me tink--den we ab, we ab picklum pork, sar." "The long and the short of it is, Bob, that we have nothing but a piece of pickled pork; can you dine off that?" "Can a duck swim, Cockle!" "Please, sar, we ab plenty pea for _dog baddy_," said Moonshine. "Well, then, Cockle, as all that is required is to put the pot on the fire, you can probably spare Moonshine, after he has done that, and we will look to the cookery; start him off with a note to Mr Johns, and he can bring back a couple of bottles from my quarters." "Really dat very fine tought, Massa Farren; I put in pork, and den I go and come back in one hour." "That you never will, Mr Moonshine; what's o'clock now? mercy on us, how time flies in your company, Cockle, it is nearly four o'clock; it will be dark at six." "Neber mind, sar, me always ab _moonshine_ whereber I go," said the black, showing his teeth. "It will take two hours to boil the pork, Bob; that fellow has been so busy this morning that he has quite forgot the dinner." "All you business, Massa Cockle." "Very true; but now start as soon as you can, and come back as soon as you can; here's the note." Moonshine took the note, looked at the direction, as if he could read it, and in a few minutes was seen to depart. "And now, Cockle," said I, "as Moonshine will be gone some time, suppose you spin us a yarn to pass away the time."