edgment of my thanks,
but continued to linger near me; and presently it dawned upon me that he
had something further to say. So I turned to him and inquired--

"Is there anything particular that you wish to say to me, Simpson?"

"Well, yes, sir, there is, if I only knowed how to say it," answered the
man, in a low, cautious tone of voice and with a somewhat hesitating
manner. He paused for a second or two, as though in consideration, and
then, looking me full in the face, said--

"I hopes you'll excuse me askin' of you the question, Mr Dugdale, but
might you be a-thinkin' of gettin' away out o' this here brigantine,
supposin' that you sees a good chance for to do so? I ain't askin' out
of any impertinence or curiosity, sir, I beg you to believe; but my
meanin' is this here, if so be as it happens that you _was_ thinkin' of
any such thing, I was wonderin' whether we mightn't be able to go
together, and be of sarvice to one another in a manner of speakin'."

"Oh," said I, "that is your idea, is it? Are you not satisfied with
your present berth then, Simpson?"

"No, sir, I'm not, to tell the truth of it," answered the man. "I know
that it's rather a risky thing to say aboard of this here wessel; but
the truth is that I _ain't_ satisfied at all, and haven't been for a
long while; not since Mr Arrowsmith--or Senor Mendouca, as he now calls
hisself--took up to the piratin' business. So long as it was just a
matter of runnin' a cargo of slaves across the Atlantic, I didn't mind
so much, for there was plenty of dollars goin', and I didn't see that
there was much harm in it, for I don't suppose the poor beggars is any
worse off on the sugar and 'baccy plantations than they are in their own
country. But when it comes to work like what's been done to-day, I
wants to be out of it; and I don't mind sayin' so to you straight out,
Mr Dugdale, because you're a naval hofficer, you are, sir, and of
course as such you're bound to be dead against such things as has
happened since you've been aboard here. Besides, I've been a-watchin'
of you, sir--askin' your pardon for the same, Mr Dugdale--and I've seen
that this ship and her doin's ain't no more to your taste than they are
to mine."

"You are right, Simpson, they are not," said I; "and since you have been
so frank with me, I will be equally so with you. You have rightly
guessed that I would gladly make my escape from this accursed
brigantine, if I could; and I had quite ma