g-spears, and
cutlasses, you know."

As he thus responded, Captain Delano again glanced at Don Benito, but
the latter's eyes were averted; while abruptly and awkwardly shifting
the subject, he made some peevish allusion to the calm, and then,
without apology, once more, with his attendant, withdrew to the opposite
bulwarks, where the whispering was resumed.

At this moment, and ere Captain Delano could cast a cool thought upon
what had just passed, the young Spanish sailor, before mentioned, was
seen descending from the rigging. In act of stooping over to spring
inboard to the deck, his voluminous, unconfined frock, or shirt, of
coarse woolen, much spotted with tar, opened out far down the chest,
revealing a soiled under garment of what seemed the finest linen, edged,
about the neck, with a narrow blue ribbon, sadly faded and worn. At this
moment the young sailor's eye was again fixed on the whisperers, and
Captain Delano thought he observed a lurking significance in it, as if
silent signs, of some Freemason sort, had that instant been
interchanged.

This once more impelled his own glance in the direction of Don Benito,
and, as before, he could not but infer that himself formed the subject
of the conference. He paused. The sound of the hatchet-polishing fell on
his ears. He cast another swift side-look at the two. They had the air
of conspirators. In connection with the late questionings, and the
incident of the young sailor, these things now begat such return of
involuntary suspicion, that the singular guilelessness of the American
could not endure it. Plucking up a gay and humorous expression, he
crossed over to the two rapidly, saying:--"Ha, Don Benito, your black
here seems high in your trust; a sort of privy-counselor, in fact."

Upon this, the servant looked up with a good-natured grin, but the
master started as from a venomous bite. It was a moment or two before
the Spaniard sufficiently recovered himself to reply; which he did, at
last, with cold constraint:--"Yes, Senor, I have trust in Babo."

Here Babo, changing his previous grin of mere animal humor into an
intelligent smile, not ungratefully eyed his master.

Finding that the Spaniard now stood silent and reserved, as if
involuntarily, or purposely giving hint that his guest's proximity was
inconvenient just then, Captain Delano, unwilling to appear uncivil even
to incivility itself, made some trivial remark and moved off; again and
again turning ove