Manuel looked at the Captain as if he read something doubtful in his countenance, and turned away with a pitiful look of dissatisfaction. It seems that through his imperfect knowledge of English, he had misconceived the position of the celebrated Thomas Norman Gadsden, whom he imagined to be something like an infernal machine, made and provided by the good citizens of Charleston to catch bad niggers. “Nora-ma Gazine no catch-e me, Cap-i-tan, if me go ashore, 'case me no make trouble in no part de world where me sail, Oh! no, Cap-i-tan, Manuel know how to mine dis bisness,” said he returning again to the Captain.
“Yes, yes, Manuel, but we can't let the crew go ashore 'till we get through the custom-house; you must content yourself to-night, and in the morning 'twill be all right. I'm afraid you'll get sick again-the night-air is very bad in this climate; old Gadsden won't trouble you. He don't walk about at night.”
Manuel walked forward, not very well satisfied with the manner in which the Captain put him off. The latter felt the necessity of caution, fearing he might infringe upon some of the municipal regulations that the pilot had given him an account of, which accounted for his refusal Manuel sat upon the main-hatch fondling Tommy, and telling him what good things they would have in the morning for breakfast, and how happy they ought to be that they were not lost during the gales, little thinking that he was to be the victim of a merciless law, which would confine him within the iron grates of a prison before the breakfast hour in the morning. “I like Charleston, Tommy,” said Manuel; “it looks like one of our old English towns, and the houses have such pretty gardens, and the people they say are all so rich and live so fine. Tommy, we'll have a long walk and look all around it, so that we can tell the folks when we get home. The ship, owes me eleven pounds, and I mean to take some good things home for presents, to show what they have in South Carolina.”
“You better buy a young nigger, and take him home as a curiosity to show among the Highlands. You can buy a young Sambo for any price, just the same as you would a leg of mutton at the butcher's; put him in a band-box, lug him across, and you'll make a fortune in the North country. But I'd rather buy a young wife, for the young niggers are more roguish than a lot o' snakes, and al'a's eat their heads off afore they're big enough to toddle. They sell gals here for niggers whiter than you are, Manuel; they sell 'em at auction, and then they sell corn to feed 'em on. Carolina's a great region of supersensual sensibility; they give you a wife of any color or beauty, and don't charge you much for her, providing you're the right stripe. What a funny thing it would be to show the Glasgow folks a bright specimen of a bought wife from the renowned State of South Carolina, with genuine aristocratic blood in her veins; yes, a pure descendant of the Huguenots!” said the mate, who was leaning over the rail where Manuel and Tommy were seated, smoking a segar and viewing the beautiful scenery around the harbor.
“Ah!” said Manuel, “when I get a wife and live on shore, I don't want to buy one-it might be a dangerous bargain. Might buy the body, but not the soul-that's God's.”
CHAPTER VIII. A NEW DISH OF SECESSION.
ABOUT a quarter past eight o'clock in the evening, Master George, as he called himself, the little pedantic man, came skipping down the wharf. As soon as he approached the brig, he cried out at the top of his voice, “Captain! Captain!!”
The Captain stepped to the gangway, and the little fellow, who had stood crossing and working his fingers, reached out his hand to assist him ashore. This done, he took the Captain's arm, and commencing a discourse upon the wonderful things and people of South Carolina they wended their way to the Charleston Theatre. The company then performing was a small affair, and the building itself perfectly filthy, and filled with an obnoxious stench. The play was a little farce, which the Captain had seen to much perfection in his own country, and which required some effort of mind to sit out its present mutilation. Yet, so highly pleased was Master George, that he kept up a succession of applauses at every grimace made by the comedian. Glad when the first piece was over, the Captain made a motion to adjourn to the first good bar-room and have a punch. It was agreed, upon the condition that the little man should “do the honor,” and that they should return and see the next piece out. The Captain, of course, yielded to the rejoinder, though it was inflicting a severe penalty upon his feelings. There was another piece to come yet, which the little fellow's appetite was as ready to devour as the first. The Captain, seeing this, could not refrain expressing his surprise. This was taken as a charge against his taste, and George immediately commenced a discussion upon the subject of the piece, the intention of the author, and the merits of the principal performers, whose proper adaptation he admired. The Captain knew his subject, and instead of contending in detail, advised him to take a peep into the theatres of New York and London. Not to be undone, for he was like all little men, who insist upon the profoundness of their own opinions, he asserted that it could be only the different views which individuals entertained of delineating character, and that the Charlestonians were proverbially correct in their judgment of music and dramatic performances.
“I pity the judgment that would award merit to such a performance as that,” said the Captain.