ords, muskets, pistols,
blunderbusses, and other weapons for "general scrimmaging," he so
wrought upon the nerves of his hearers that they quivered with emotion,
and when at last he drove Apollyon discomfited from the field, like
chaff before the wind, there burst forth a united cheer of triumph and
relief, Dan McCoy, in particular, jumping up with tumbled yellow locks
and glittering eyes in a perfect yell of exultation.

But, to return from this digression to the story of Robinson Crusoe. It
must not be supposed that Adams exhausted that tale in one night. No;
soon discovering that he had struck an intellectual vein, so to speak,
he resolved to work it out economically, and with that end in view,
devoted the first evening to a minute dissection of Crusoe's character
as a man and a seaman, to the supposed fitting out and provisioning of
his ship, to the imaginary cause of the disaster to the ship, which,
(with Bligh, no doubt, in memory), he referred to the incompetence and
wickedness of the skipper, and to the terrible incidents of the wreck,
winding up with the landing of his hero, half-dead and alone, on the
uninhabited island.

"Now, child'n," he concluded, "that'll do for one night; and as it's of
no manner of use sending you all to bed to dream of bein' shipwrecked
and drownded, we'll finish off with a game of blind-man's-buff."

Need we say that the disappointment at the cutting short of the story
was fully compensated by the game? Leaping up with another cheer,
taught them by the best authorities, and given with true British
fervour, they scattered about the room.

Otaheitan Sally was, as a matter of course, the first to be blindfolded.

And really, reader, it was wonderful how like that game, as played at
Pitcairn, was to the same as performed in England. To justify this
remark, let us describe it, and see whether there were any points of
material difference.

The apartment, let it be understood, was a pretty large one, lighted by
two nut-candles in brackets on the walls. There was little furniture in
it, only a few stools and two small tables, which were quickly thrust
into a corner. Then Sally was taken to the centre of the room by Adams,
and there blindfolded with a snuff-coloured silken bandana handkerchief,
which had seen much service on board of the _Bounty_.

"Now, Sall, can you see?" asks Adams.

"No, not one bit."

"Oh, yes you can," from Charlie Christian, who hovers round her like the