g that the men had brought away
plunder from the town; and they were ordered to deliver it up, that it
might be sent back to the inhabitants, whom, as he said, he had no
intention of injuring.

Dick Driver, who among others had been seen to come aboard with a
bundle, was ordered aft.

"Please, sir," said Dick, as he presented himself, holding a fine child
in his arms of about four years old, "it ain't any booty, but a lawful
gift. I was axed to take care of it, and I promised I would, and so I
have."

"I do believe it's a little girl," exclaimed the captain, examining the
delicate features and somewhat feminine appearance of the child, which
had long fair locks hanging down over its shoulders.

"Lord bless you, no, sir! If it had been a she I shouldn't have known
what to do with her--but it's as fine a youngster as I ever set eyes
upon, barring his curls: and we will soon dock them, seeing they will be
in his way, and not suited for the smart little tarpaulin I am going to
make for him."

"What, my man, you don't expect to keep the child?" exclaimed the
captain. "We must send him on shore with the rest of the property
brought away."

"But, sir, he was given to me to look after by his dying mother,"
exclaimed Dick, forgetting for the moment that the child was white, and
that the woman who had given it to him was as black as his shoe. "He is
not like the rest of the booty, and if I may make so bold, I would like
to keep him, and bring him up as one of the ship's company. We are all
agreed that we will take precious good care of him, and he will be a
greater favourite among us than either Quacho, or Jocko, or the old goat
that went overboard in the last gale, or the pig as was killed when we
were short of fresh provisions. Do, sir, let us keep him? We wouldn't
part with the little chap for all the prize-money we have made this
cruise."

Dick, in his anxiety to keep the child, had become desperate, and spoke
with greater freedom than he would otherwise have ventured to do when
addressing his captain. "If he were to be sent ashore there's no one
might own him," he continued; "then what would become of the poor little
chap? he might be taken to the workhouse, or just brought up nohow."

The captain, however, was not to be moved by all Dick's arguments.

"You did very rightly, my man, in saving the child's life, and you
deserve a reward," he observed; "but we cannot turn the ship into a
nursery, and he must