"He 'peard to want some ole Conyyac what was in the sideboard, and I brung the bottle to him."
"Do you remember whether his vault in the wall was open, when you answered the bell?"
"I didn't notice it."
"Where did you sleep that night?"
"On a pallet in the middle passage, nigh the star steps."
"Was that your usual custom?"
"No, sir. But the boy what had been sleepin' in the house while ole Marster was sick, had gone to set up with his daddy's corpse, and I tuck his place."
"Did you hear any unusual noise during the night?"
"Only the squalling of the pea-fowul what was oncommon oneasy, and the thunder that was ear-splitting. One clap was so tremenjous it raised me plum off'en the pallet, and jarred me to my backbone, as if a cannon had gone off close by."
"Now, Bedney, state carefully all the circumstances under which you found your master the next morning; and remember you are on your oath, to speak the truth, and all the truth."