scorn to speak to such a low, mean, pitiful thief!"

"Don't put yourself into such a passion, Captain," said Lyndsay. "The
man does not deserve it; it would gratify him to know that he could
annoy you by his impertinence. Just send Sam up with the empty tea-pot,
and your compliments, and tell him that the tea is all out, and he is
quite welcome to the use of the pot for the rest of the voyage."

"Ha, ha!" said the Captain, rubbing his hands; "that's the way to
exasperate him. Thank you, Mr. Lyndsay, for the suggestion. Go, Sam, and
make the experiment."

In a few minutes Sam returned with a very rueful face, holding his hand
to his head, minus the tea-pot.

"Well, what did the rascal say?"

"He broke my head with the tea-pot; and worse than that, Sir, it will be
of no further use to any one, for he pitched it into the sea, and wished
us both in h----."

"Very civil, truly. And what did you say?"

"Thanked him for his good wishes, and hoped that we might have a
pleasant voyage. You know, Sir, I am deaf of one ear, and I pretended to
misunderstand him, on purpose to anger him the more. But he let out, and
swore loud enough to make the dead hear."

"Were you born deaf, Sam? or did you owe it to sickness or accident?"
said Flora.

"Why, Ma'am, that's rather a hard point to determine. It was a queer way
in which I lost my hearing," said honest Sam, with a grin; "I'm sure it
will make you laugh when I tell you how it happened, but it is true for
all that. My old grandmother, who brought me up (for my father and
mother died when I was very young), was a pious woman, and very anxious
that I should turn out a good boy. She made me attend the Sunday-school
regularly, and beat me soundly if I dared to stay away unknown to her.
We used to learn texts from the Scriptures, which were printed on small
thin pieces of pasteboard. One day, instead of learning my text, which
was very hard, and the weather was hot, and I felt particularly lazy, I
put it into my ear, and pretended that I had lost it, when the teacher
called me up to say my task. I don't know how I contrived it, but I had
thrust it in so far that I could not get it out; and I was afraid to
tell Granny what had happened. This brought on an inflammation in my
ear, which nearly cost me my life. The doctor extracted the text, but I
have been deaf o' that ear ever since."

"And the text?" demanded James Hawke; "was it--'Those who have ears to
ear, let them hear?'"