"James Phœbus: he's mother's sweetheart."
"Ce ce ce!" the Captain mused; "your mother lives, then?"
"Yes, sir. She's pore, but Jimmy loves her, and the ghost of father feeds her."
"Quedo! a ghost? what kind of thing is that? Aunt Patty sees them: I never do."
"It comes an' puts sugar an' coffee in the window, an' sometimes a pair of shoes an' a dress. Mother says it's father: I guess it is."
"O Dios!" lisped Van Dorn. "This Phœbus, is he a good man?"
"Brave as a lion, sir; pore as any pungy captain; the best friend I ever had. I hoped mother would marry him, he's been a-waitin' fur her so long. She's afraid father ain't dead."
"O hala, hala! women are such waiters; but this man can wait too. Is he strong?"
"He come mighty nigh givin' Joe Johnson a lickin' last Sunday, sir, in Princess Anne. He hates a nigger-trader. Him an' Samson Hat, a black feller, thinks as much of each other as two brothers."
"And he gave you a boat?"