o, pilot," replied he, "but when I tell you that I fully
believe that these birds are as good as ourselves, you will not be
surprised--"

"How do you mean, as good as ourselves?"

"I believe that they _were_ every one sailors like ourselves in former
times; they are now the sailors' friends, come to warn us of the
approaching storm, and I can tell you a circumstance which occurred in
the West Indies, which fully proves to me that they are not wantonly
killed without a judgment upon those who do so. I never believed it
myself till then; but old Mason, who is now on board, was one of the
seamen of the vessel in which the circumstance happened."

"Indeed!" replied I, "I should like to hear it."

"I can't tell you now," said he; "I must go down and satisfy that puppy
Creole, whose sugars are on board; he will otherwise make such a row
between me and the owners, that I may lose the command of the vessel.
And yet, would you imagine it? although he will not credit what I tell
him about Mother Carey's chickens, the foolish young man firmly believes
in the Obi."

I did not think one superstition more ridiculous than the other, but
still, as I always found that it was useless to argue such points, I
said nothing, and the captain went down into the cabin to pacify. Mr
Higgins.

It was late in the first watch, and when the passengers had retired to
bed, that the captain came on deck. "Well," said he, "I told Mr
Higgins my story, and as there was a bit of Obi nonsense in it, he
believed it, and he has not only made friends, but thanked me for not
having allowed him to shoot the birds; and now I'll tell you the real
story:--

"A schooner was coming down from the Virgin Isles with sugar and
passengers to Antigua, where I was lying with my ship. She had a fine
young fellow of the name of Shedden on board; and, besides other
passengers, there was an old black woman, who, where she resided, had
always been considered as an Obi woman. I saw her afterwards; and you
never beheld such a complication of wrinkles as she was, from her
forehead to her feet, and her woolly head was as white as snow. They
were becalmed as soon as they were clear of the islands; and, as it
happened, some Mother Carey's chickens were flying about the stern.
Shedden must needs get at his gun to shoot them. The old black woman
sat near the taffrail; she saw him with his gun, but she said nothing.
At last he fired, and killed three of them.

"`There a