Bloody Bill there was just such a fellow as
you are, and he's now the biggest cut-throat of us all."
"Take a can of beer, lad," cried another, "and wet your whistle after
that speech o' your'n to the captain. If any one o' us had made it,
youngster, he would have had no whistle to wet by this time."
"Stop your clapper, Jack," vociferated a third. "Give the boy a junk o'
meat. Don't you see he's a'most going to kick the bucket?"
"And no wonder," said the first speaker with an oath, "after the tumble
you gave him into the boat. I guess it would have broke _your_
neck if you had got it."
I did indeed feel somewhat faint, which was owing, doubtless, to the
combined effects of ill-usage and hunger; for it will be recollected
that I had dived out of the cave that morning before breakfast, and it
was now near midday. I therefore gladly accepted a plate of boiled pork
and a yam, which were handed to me by one of the men from the locker on
which some of the crew were seated eating their dinner. But I must add
that the zest with which I ate my meal was much abated in consequence
of the frightful oaths and the terrible language that flowed from the
lips of these godless men, even in the midst of their hilarity and
good-humour. The man who had been alluded to as Bloody Bill was seated
near me, and I could not help wondering at the moody silence he
maintained among his comrades. He did indeed reply to their questions
in a careless off-hand tone, but he never volunteered a remark.
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