why do you thrust yourself on me?"

"Have _you_ sich a thing as a chaw about ye?" he asked in tremulous
accents. "I'm _that_ done; never a drop has passed my lips for three
days, strike me dead; and I'd give anything for a chaw o' tobacco. A sup
of drink you have _not_ got, Capt'n Hymn-book, axing your pardon for the
liberty?"

"William," I said, "even in this benighted island, you set a pitiful
example. You have been drinking, sir; you are reaping what you have
sown; and only temperance, strict, undeviating total abstinence rather,
can restore your health."

"So help me!" cried the wretched man, "except a drop of Pramneian {76} I
took, the morning I cut and run,--and that was three days ago,--nothing
stronger than castor-oil berries have crossed my lips. It ain't that,
sir; it ain't the drink. It's--it's the Thargeelyah. Next week, sir,
they are going to roast us--you and me--flog us first, and roast us
after. Oh Lord! Oh Lord!"

VII. FLIGHT.

"Flog us first, and roast us afterwards." I repeated mechanically the
words of William Bludger. "Why, you must be mad; they are more likely to
fall down and worship us,--_me_ at any rate."

"No, Capt'n," replied William; "that's your mistake. They say we're both
Catharmata; that's what they call us; and you're no better than me."

"And what are Catharmata?" I inquired, remembering that this word, or
something like it, had been constantly used by the natives in my hearing.

"Well, Capt'n, it means, first and foremost, just the off-scourings of
creation, the very dust and sweepings of the shop," answered Bludger, who
had somehow regained his confidence. To have a fellow-sufferer, and to
see the pallor which, doubtless, overspread my features, was a source of
comfort to this hardened man. At the same time I confess that, if
William Bludger alone had been destined to suffer, I could have
contemplated the decree with Christian resignation.

"I speak the beggars' patter pretty well now," Bludger went on; "and I
see Catharmata means more than just mere dirt. It means two unlucky
devils."

"William?" I exclaimed.

"It means, saving your presence, two poor coves, as has no luck, like you
and me, and that can be got rid of once a year, at an entertainment they
call the Thargeelyah, I dunno why, a kind o' friendly lead. They choose
fellows as either behaves ill, or has no friends to make a fuss about
them, and they gives them three dozen, or more, and take