, who were carrying
my luggage down to town on their heads, in their customary fashion of
bearing all burdens whether light or heavy, were laughing and jabbering
together like a parcel of black crows; but he never spoke a word either
to his dark-complexioned brethren or to me, exhibiting such a striking
contrast to his ordinary demeanour that even dad noticed it and asked
him the reason, wondering what was the matter with him.

"Me not berry well, massa," however, was all the answer he could get out
of Jake; but the faithful fellow looked at me so wistfully whenever I
caught his eye that I recalled what he had said about wishing to go in
the ship with me, on the night when we returned from Grenville Bay.

He had not alluded to the subject since, though, so I really thought he
had forgotten it; and now, as he did not appear inclined to talk, I
believed it best to let him alone, not wishing to hurt his feelings by
dwelling on the impossible.

I could see that he was much put out about something; so I came to the
conclusion that his change of manner, so unlike his usual light-hearted
merry self, was due to his grief at parting with me, he having been my
constant companion ever since I had been able to toddle about, when my
father first settled down on the plantation, at which time I was only a
little five-year-old boy and he a darkey stripling.

There was no racing down the road now at breakneck speed, like that time
when in my hurry to meet dad I had come to grief some two months
previously. Our cavalcade went on at a sober respectable pace, reaching
the town in about an hour and a half from our start.

As we were passing by the bend in the road, opposite Government House,
whence there was such a good view of the harbour below, Jake spoke to me
for the first time during the journey.

"Dar am de ship, Mass' Tom!" he said, pointing out the _Josephine_ lying
out in the anchorage under Fort Saint George.

She was looking much smarter and trimmer, I thought, than when I had
first cast eyes on her in Grenville Bay; for her sails were partly
loosed, making her have the appearance of an ocean bird ready to be on
the wing. I noticed, too, that she floated lower in the water, having
evidently taken in a lot more cargo since I had been on board.

When we reached the lower part of the town by the harbour side, after
descending the perilously steep Constitution Hill, dad escorted us all
to a famed establishment close by, kno