h, however, he spoke, the wild cheer of the hands spurring him
up and giving an impulse to the slow current of his thoughts and words--
the Dane not being prone, like Captain Snaggs, to talking for the mere
pleasure of hearing his own voice.

"I vill egshblain vat I means," he began, in his deliberate way,
answering the skipper's question, but speaking as if addressing all of
us collectively, his deep tones getting deeper and increasing in volume
as he proceeded, so that all could hear. "I vas shpeak vat I reat in ze
book dat Cap'en Shackzon vas bringt mit him vrom Guayaquil in ze
schgooners dat time. I vas likevise rec'lect vat I zees here ven we vas
arrife, an' Cap'en Shackzon's vas murter't, and ze mans vas kill ze
ozers, and dere vas nuzzing but bloot and murter; vor, ze schgooners vas
go down, mit only meinselfs dat vas eshgape mit mein lifes--and zo I
zays to meinselfs, dere vas a curse on ze golt and ze dreazure of ze
boocaneer vrom ze bloot of ze schlave dat vas murter't!"

"Guess I don't foller ye yet, mister," said the skipper. "Who kil't
thet air darkey ye air a-talkin' on, hey?"

"Ze boocaneer," promptly replied Jan. "Dey vas burit ze schlave vere
dey vas burit ze dreazure."

"An' what did the cusses dew thet fur?"

"It vas to make ze Sbaniards and ze ozer beebles not vor to dig oop ze
dreasure, or vor to go vere it vas burit. Zey vas zink dat ze sbirit of
ze black man vas harmt dem and vork mizcheef, ze zame as vas done to
hims, bekos he vas murter't vor ze dreazure. `Bloot vor bloot' vas ze
law of ze boocaneer, and dey vas zink dat ze black mans vas hab ze bloot
of ze ozer mans dat coom vere his sbirit vas!"

"Oh, thet's the yarn ye hev got holt on!" exclaimed Captain Snaggs, with
a grin on his face, winking round to us. "Guess ye ain't sich a durned
fule ez ter swaller all thet bunkum, hey?"

"I doos belief it, vor it vas droo," answered Jan Steenbock very
impressively. "Oh, yase, I vas zee it meinselfs. It vas droo as droo!"

"Wa-al," drawled out the skipper, with a snigger, which raised a
sympathetic laugh from some of the men standing by, "thet beats
ev'rythin' I ever know'd, it dew! Jest ter think of a straight
up-an'-down coon like ye, mister, with raal grit in ye, a-believin' in
sich a yarn ez thet!"

"I beliefs it, vor it vas droo," repeated the Dane, in no way
discomposed by the other's ridicule. "I vas hab ze cause to beliefs!"

"What! Thet a durned nigger buried two hunder