leaned
over the taffrail, close beside me, I said to him:

"Bill, why is it that you are so gloomy? Why do you never speak to any
one?"

Bill smiled slightly as he replied, "Why, I s'pose it's because I hain't
got nothin' to say!"

"That's strange," said I musingly. "You look like a man that could
think, and such men can usually speak."

"So they can, youngster," rejoined Bill somewhat sternly; "and I could
speak too if I had a mind to, but what's the use o' speakin' here? The
men only open their mouths to curse and swear, and they seem to find it
entertainin'; but I don't, so I hold my tongue."

"Well, Bill, that's true, and I would rather not hear you speak at all
than hear you speak like the other men. But I don't swear, Bill; so you
might talk to me sometimes, I think. Besides, I'm weary of spending day
after day in this way, without a single soul to say a pleasant word to.
I've been used to friendly conversation, Bill, and I really would take
it kind if you would talk with me a little now and then."

Bill looked at me in surprise, and I thought I observed a sad expression
pass across his sunburned face.

"An' where have you been used to friendly conversation?" said Bill,
looking down again into the sea. "Not on that Coral Island, I take it?"

"Yes, indeed," said I energetically. "I have spent many of the happiest
months in my life on that Coral Island;" and without waiting to be
further questioned, I launched out into a glowing account of the happy
life that Jack and Peterkin and I had spent together, and related
minutely every circumstance that befell us while on the island.

"Boy, boy," said Bill in a voice so deep that it startled me, "this is
no place for you!"

"That's true," said I. "I am of little use on board, and I don't like
my comrades; but I can't help it, and at any rate I hope to be free
again soon."

"Free?" said Bill, looking at me in surprise.

"Yes, free," returned I. "The captain said he would put me ashore after
this trip was over."

"_This trip_! Hark'ee, boy," said Bill, lowering his voice, "what said
the captain to you the day you came aboard?"

"He said that he was a trader in sandal-wood, and no pirate, and told me
that if I would join him for this trip he would give me a good share of
the profits, or put me on shore in some civilised island if I chose."

Bill's brows lowered savagely as he muttered, "Ay, he said truth when he
told you he was a sandal-wood trad