"Aye, and he keeps his treasure 'ere—when so be he has any," he whispered throatily.
"Doth he never come here?"
"Not he. Nor the naygurs, neither. Only Ben Gunn."
"What shall we do for food?"
Ben wiggled with embarrassment.
"Jest you leave that to Ben Gunn. He'll feed ye well, my master, as spoke kind to him and promises to take him out o' livery-shuits. Aye, that he will. And fetch ye clothes from the cabin. But don't 'ee forget the promise, sir. Oh, say ye won't!"
"I won't," I assured him. "But you must get back to the cabin and tidy up the mess we made. Haste, man!"
He scampered up the ladder as if the devil were after him—or Paradise within view.
And during the two days of our stay in the wine-cellar of the Royal James he was as good as his word. He fed us well. He brought me a sufficiency of clothing. And he procured for Peter a quantity of linen and cotton cloth, with thread and needles, with which the Dutchman fashioned himself garments to cover his inconveniently large body.
On the evening of the second day, having learned from Ben that the James had logged several hundred knots since leaving the Rendezvous, we decided 'twould be safe to appear before Murray, and we took an opportunity whilst Ben was serving his dinner to ascend through the galley and present ourselves in the main cabin.