here for some time, for I heard a
slight noise at that window soon after I came in; and I am confident he
had been there ever since. I confess that I do not like the fellow very
much, for I have seen him skulking about the deck with a hang-dog look
which I don't admire. I have suspected him of something, though I don't
know what, since the first day he came on board. While I am in for it,
Alick, I might as well add that Cornwood is just such another fellow."

"Cornwood?" I asked, very much surprised, for I had not noticed
anything in either the Floridian or the waiter to attract my attention.

"I don't know anything about Cornwood; and I suppose you looked up his
record before you engaged him. At any rate, he acts like a snake, in my
way of thinking," added the mate, whom none could accuse of covering up
anything he believed or thought.

"I did inquire about him in St. Augustine: people thought well of his
knowledge and ability, though they agree that he is a brag and a
boaster."

"If there were nothing worse than that about him, I should only laugh.
But I think he is a snake."

"What makes you think so?"

"I don't know; I only know that I do think so."

"But you are not a fellow to think ill of anybody without some reason
for it."

"I have no reason, except his looks and actions," replied the mate. "I
make no charges against him, and I can prove nothing; but Cornwood is a
fellow that will bear watching."

"That is just what the Hon. Pardon Tiffany took the trouble to tell me
this afternoon," I added, relating the particulars of my interview with
that gentleman.

"I am glad there is some one besides myself who has an opinion on the
subject," said Washburn.

"Cornwood was in Captain Boomsby's rumhole when I came down stairs
after the row in the attic," I added, watching the face of my friend to
notice the effect of this announcement.

"That's the best place for him; only this fellow will do a piece of
treachery better than Boomsby can. Cornwood will not get drunk when he
has a heavy job of iniquity on his hands. Boomsby is a wolf: this
fellow is a snake. Cornwood reminds me of a kind of reptile they have
in these parts, called the small rattlesnake. He is a little fellow,
and you can't hear his rattle; but his bite will kill you as quick as
that of a five-footer. You can't see or hear him, and the first thing
you know you are a dead man. That's Cornwood's style, as I understand
him."

"You are rough on