of Mr. Skertchley. Captain Funkal, I have already
acquainted you with the facts, and you were kind enough to say that you
accepted my statement.'

'I did, sir, and I do,' answered the captain. 'As for _you_,' he went
on, 'Mr. Professor Jenkins, when you found that your game was dangerous,
indeed likely to be ruinous, to this scientific expedition, and to the
crew of the _George Washington_--damn you, sir--you should have dropped
it. I don't know that I ever swore at a passenger before, and I beg your
pardon, you two English gentlemen, for so far forgetting myself. I don't
know, and these gentlemen don't know, who made the corner, but I don't
think our citizens want either you or your exhibits. The whole
population of the States, sir, not to mention the live stock, cannot
afford to go about wearing cocoa-nut pearls, a precaution which would be
necessary if I landed these venomous Berbalangs of yours on our shores:
man and wife too, likely to have a family of young Berbalangs. Snakes
are not a patch on these darkeys, and our coloured population, at least,
would be busted up.'

The captain paused, perhaps attracted by the chance of thus solving the
negro problem.

'So, I'll tell you what it is, gentlemen; and, Professor Jenkins, I'll
turn back and land these two native exhibits, and I'll put _you_ on
shore, Professor Jenkins, at Cagayan Sulu. Perhaps before a steamer
touches there--which is not once in a blue moon--you'll have had time to
write an exhaustive monograph on the Berbalangs, their manners and
customs.'

Jenkins (who knew what awaited him) threw himself on the floor at the
feet of Captain Funkal. Horrified by the abject distress of one who,
after all, was their countryman, Bude and Logan induced the captain to
seclude Jenkins in his cabin. They then, by their combined entreaties,
prevailed on the officer to land the Berbalangs on their own island,
indeed, but to drop Jenkins later on civilised shores. Dawn saw the
_George Washington_ and the _Pendragon_ in the port of Cagayan Sulu,
where the fetters of the two natives, ill looking people enough, were
knocked off, and they themselves deposited on the quay, where, not being
popular, they were received by a hostile demonstration. The two vessels
then resumed their eastward course. The taxidermic appliances without
which Jones Harvey never sailed, and the services of his staff of
taxidermists, were placed at the disposal of his brother savants. By