"Very early the next morning, almost before the first streaks of dawn, Captain Abner was awakened by a voice under his window.
"'Shipmate ahoy!' said the voice, which was Sam Twitty's. In a moment Abner's head was out of the window.
"'Cap'n Abner,' said Sam, 'I'm goin' with you.'
"Abner did not immediately answer, but presently he replied: 'Look here, Sam Twitty; you come around after breakfast and tell me that ag'in.'
"Promptly after breakfast Sam appeared.
"'Look a' here,' said Captain Abner, when they had lighted their morning pipes, 'that ain't a bad notion of yours. Somethin' might turn up when I'd want advice, and you might give me some like you gave me about the king conch-shell and the gilded idol. It ain't a bad idea, and, as you say so, I'd like you to come along.'
"Sam did not reply with the alacrity that might have been expected of him. He puffed silently at his pipe and gazed upon the ground. 'You said you was a-goin' in a buggy,' he remarked.
"'Yes; that's what I'm expectin' to do.'
"'Then how am I to get back?' inquired Sam.
"'That's so,' said Abner. 'I never thought of that.'