friend of mine."

"Oh, I was speakin' of niggers," returned the skipper promptly. "Forgot we
begun about the Seenor. Sho! niggers was what I was talkin' of. B' th'
way, that puts me in mind 'f one I had for cook once. Jiminy! how that man
would cook! He'd cook a slice of halibut so you wouldn't know it from
beefsteak."

"Dear me! how did he do it?" asked Aunt Maria, who had a fancy for kitchen
mysteries.

"Never could find out," said Glover, stepping adroitly out of his
difficulty. "Don't s'pose that nigger would a let on how he did it for ten
dollars."

"I should think the receipt would be worth ten dollars," observed Aunt
Maria thoughtfully.

"Not 'xactly here," returned the captain, with one of his dried smiles,
which had the air of having been used a great many times before. "Halibut
too skurce. Wal, I was goin' to tell ye 'bout this nigger. He come to be
the cook he was because he was a big eater. We was wrecked once, 'n' had
to live three days on old shoes 'n' that sort 'f truck. Wal, this nigger
was so darned ravenous he ate up a pair o' long boots in the time it took
me to git down one 'f the straps."

"Ate up a pair of boots!" exclaimed Aunt Maria, amazed and almost
incredulous.

"Yes, by thunder!" insisted the captain, "grease, nails, 'n' all. An' then