“Nuffin, sah, thank yo’, sah. I jess come down heah to thank yo’ fo’ what yo’ done fo’ me, sah. It was werry kind, dat was, sah. An’ I thought I’d tell you dat I ain’t a-gwine to stay on dis ship no longer dan I can help, sah. It ain’t good fo’ my constitution, sah, no, sah!” “That’s right, it isn’t,” laughed Frank. “But you’ll have to stay on board until you strike land. Is that all?” “Yes, sah. Thought I couldn’t go to sleep widout thankin’ yo’ sah, nohow. Please tell dem other gents, will yo’, sah?” “We will.” “Thank yo’, sah, much obliged, sah!” And with these words January Jones sneaked off as noiselessly as he had come. CHAPTER VI AN INTERRUPTION TO SIGHT-SEEING Two days later the _Chester_ slipped into the fine harbor at Kingston and dropped anchor. It was cloudy, but by noon the sun broke forth and the boys had a chance to look at the shipping, which is fairly extensive. As usual in West Indian ports, the flags of many nationalities were flying, and the scene was full of interest. Since the boys had stood up so bravely in defense of January Jones they had seen but little of Captain Sudlip, he evidently making it a point to avoid them. And they also saw but little of January Jones, for the negro was assigned to other work and a strange hand placed to wait on the table and care for their rooms. The service all around was fairly good, but, as Darry expressed it, “nothing to brag about.” “Are we going to get a chance to stretch our legs on shore?” questioned Sam, as he gazed over the rail at the narrow and crowded streets of the town. “The professor has got to find that out,” said Frank, who had just been speaking to Amos Strong. “He says he paid our passage right through to Havana, so we can’t bid good-bye to Captain Sudlip just yet.” A little later Professor Strong joined them with the information that the _Chester_ would remain in Kingston harbor until the following day until three o’clock. “Then we can take quite a look around,” said Mark. “Are there any points of interest to visit?” “A few only. You see, England has tried hard to make something of the island, but as yet there are too many negroes here to suit Americans. But we will take it in for what it is worth.” It was decided that they should put up at the Queen’s Hotel over night and they so notified Captain Sudlip. “All right, do as you please,” he growled. “But it won’t take anything off your passage money.” “I did not expect it would,” replied Professor Strong, coldly. They were soon ashore and walking up the narrow and dirty street leading from the quay. On either side were big warehouses with here and there a low drinking resort, around which hung sailors of many nationalities and crowds of negroes. “This is not very inviting,” was Sam’s comment. “It smells almost as bad as at La Guayra.” “It is not so bad further away from the docks.”