parrot-like formula of his when coming at twelve
o'clock for his daily stimulant, without which he would never set about
his afternoon work.

"U'm come, rum!" was all he would say ever since he had been taken over
by my father with the other belongings of the plantation; and, as he was
an old "hand," the former proprietor related, and had always been
similarly indulged with a quartern of rum at mid-day as far back as he
could recollect, old Pompey--and precious old he must have been by this
reckoning--had evidently grown into the habit, so that it was part of
himself.

Entering the house through one of the low window-less windows which
opened out on to the verandah, like the ports in the side of a ship--
ventilation being everything in the tropics and closed doors and shut-up
rooms unheard of, as everybody was free to walk in and out of the
different apartments just as they pleased--I soon brought out a case-
bottle from the sideboard where it stood handy for the purpose. Then,
filling the old darkey's footless wine-glass, which he held with a
remarkably steady hand considering his age, he tossed off the contents
without drawing breath, the fiery liquor disappearing down his throat
with a sort of gurgling "gluck, gluck," as if it had been decanted into
the capacious orifice, Pompey not even winking once during the
operation.

"Tank you, Mass' Tom," said he, when he had sucked in the last drop;
when, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he stalked off across
the terrace again towards the stable to fetch his cutlass to cut the
guinea-grass for the horses, according to his usual habit at this time
of day. This Jake well knew, by the bye, when he said he thought he
would be able to return from his mission before the old fellow should
have started, Pompey being as regular as clockwork in his movements,
carrying out his daily routine most systematically.

I did not expect to see him again until later on in the afternoon on his
return from the mountain at the back of the house, laden with a bale of
provender for the stable, which he had charge of; but, what was my
surprise a few minutes afterwards, to see him hurrying up again to the
house, without his customary companion the cutlass and in a state of
great excitement most unaccountable in one generally so phlegmatic.

"Hullo, Pompey! what's the matter now?" I called out as he began to
ascend the steps leading up to the terrace, his boots coming down with a
he