, p'inting toward Lobelia's island:

"'Ooman your wife?'

"'No, no, no,' says he, shaking his head like it would come off, 'ooman
no wife. Wife there,' and he p'inted about directly opposite from my
way. 'Ooman,' he goes on, 'she no wife, she--'

"Just here the Malay come up from the fo'castle, grinning like a chessy
cat and hugging a fat jug of this here palm wine that natives make. I
don't know where he got it from--I thought Hammond and me had rummaged
that fo'castle pretty well--but, anyhow, there it was.

"Whiskers passed the jug to me and I handed it over to Hammond. He stood
up to make a speech.

"'Feller citizens,' says he, 'I rise to drink a toast. 'Ere's to the
beautchous Lobelia 'Ankins, and may she long hornament the lovely island
where she now--'

"The Malay at the wheel behind us gave an awful screech. We all turned
sudden, and there, standing on the companion ladder, with her head and
shoulders out of the hatch, was Lobelia 'Ankins, as large as life and
twice as natural.

"Hammond dropped the jug and it smashed into finders. We all stood
stock-still for a minute, like folks in a tableau. The half-breed
skipper stood next to me, and I snum if you couldn't see him shrivel up
like one of them things they call a sensitive plant.

"The tableau lasted while a feller might count five; then things
happened. Hammond and me dodged around the deckhouse; the Malays broke
and run, one up the main rigging, two down the fo'castle hatch and one
out on the jib-boom. But the poor skipper wa'n't satisfied with any of
them places; he started for the lee rail, and Lobelia 'Ankins started
after him.

"She caught him as he was going to jump overboard and yanked him back
like he was a bag of meal. She shook him, she boxed his ears, she pulled
his hair, and all the time he was begging and pleading and she was
screeching and jabbering at the top of her lungs. Hammond pulled me by
the sleeve.

"'It'll be our turn next,' says he; 'get into the boat! Quick!'

"The little boat that the crew had come in was towing behind the
schooner. We slid over the stern and dropped into it. Hammond cut the
towline and we laid to the oars. Long as we was in the hearing of the
schooner the powwow and rumpus kept up, but just as we was landing on
the little island that the Malays had left, she come about on the port
tack and stood off to sea.

"'Lobelia's running things again,' says Hammond.

"Three days after this we was took off by