ur
baggage till I come back, and you may look for me wherever I am."

"You can't do it, skipper," said the American smoking away quietly.

"Oh, can't I, sir?" cried the captain. "You'll see."

"No, I shan't, skipper. It would be murder, I tell you, to set me
ashore, and double murder to sail away with my luggage."

"Bah!" cried the captain.

"You see, there's that cask. What about it?"

"Hang your cask! I'll have it thrown overboard."

"Oh, I say, you mustn't do that," cried the American, with some slight
display of energy; "the water would get in through those holes bored in
the top, and spoil the contents."

"What's that to me, sir?" cried the captain.

"Murder number three, because I have warned you not to do it in the
presence of witnesses."

"Murder!" cried the captain, looking startled. "Why, what's in it?"

"Only my servant."

"What!" came in a chorus.

"My boy--my servant," said the American coolly; "and he ought to be let
out now, or he'll be smothered. I found it very hot down there, sitting
among the boxes and chests. I dunno how he finds it, shut up in a
cask."

"_I_ say, gentlemen," said the captain, with a gasp; "is this fellow an
escaped lunatic--is he mad?"

"Not I," said the American, answering for himself; "I was, though, down
there when I got in."

"Hah! broke in," cried the captain sharply.

"That I didn't. I found the door open when I left the berth where I lay
down when I first came aboard. Pretty sort of a thick-headed chap it
was who stowed that cask. Made me mad as a bull in fly-time. There
were the holes to guide him to keep this side upwards, but he put the
poor fellow upside down. Nice job I had to turn him right in the dark,
and all wedged in among casks. I hope he ain't dead, because it would
be awkward for you, skipper."

"Look here, sir," cried Sir Humphrey angrily, while Brace stood fuming;
"do you mean to tell me in plain English that you did such a barbarous,
criminal act as to shut up a man or boy in a cask to bring him aboard
this brig?"

"Barbarous! criminal! Nonsense, sir. He liked the fun of it, and I
made him as comfortable as I could. Plenty of air-holes, cushion and a
pillow to sit on and rest his head. Plenty to eat too, and a bottle of
water to drink. I told him he'd better go to sleep as much as he could,
and he said he would. He must have been asleep when I came up a bit
ago, for I couldn't make him hear."

"Captain Banes," crie