"You can tell Cheditafa," said the captain, quickly, "that if I want him to stay he'll stay, and if I want him to go he'll go. He has nothing to say about that. So much for him. Now, what do you think?"
"Like boy," said Maka, "but not for boss."
The captain was silent for a moment. Here was a matter which really needed to be settled. If he had felt that he had authority to do as he pleased, he would have settled it in a moment.
"Cap'n big man. He know everyt'ing," said Maka. "But when cap'n go 'way, boy t'ink he big man. Boy know nothin'. Better have woman for boss."
Captain Horn could not help being amused. "Which woman?" he asked.
"I say old one. Cheditafa say young one."
The captain was not a man who would readily discuss his affairs with any one, especially with such a man as Maka; but now the circumstances were peculiar, and he wanted to know the opinions of these men he was about to leave behind him.
"What made you and Cheditafa think that way?" he asked.
"I t'ink old one know more," replied the negro, "and Cheditafa t'ink wife make bes' boss when cap'n gone, and young one make bes' wife."
"You impertinent black scoundrels!" exclaimed the captain, taking a step toward Maka, who bounced backward a couple of yards. "What do you mean by talking about Miss Markham and me in that way? I'll—" But there he paused. It would not be convenient to knock the heads off these men at this time. "Cheditafa must be a very great fool," said he, speaking more quietly. "Does he suppose I could call anybody my wife just for the sake of giving you two men a boss?"