Now, it so happened that the latter gentleman was enjoying a strange nightmare, in which it seemed to him that Rasp had, out of spite, forced him into one of the diving suits, made him go to the bottom of the sea, and had then suddenly cut off the supply of air. He fought, he struggled, he grunted, he made every effort he could to breathe, but all in vain, and in the horror of the suffocating sensation he awoke to find that a hand was pressed heavily upon his mouth, while another seemed busy at his breast.
Story 1--Chapter XXV.
’Pollo’s Report.
Oakum was not a man to shout for help, but to act, and act he did on the instant by turning sharply round, and seizing his assailant by the throat. He lowered his hands, though, in a moment, for a thick voice whispered—
“Don’t make ’tupid bobbery, Mass’ Sam Oakum, sah, or you wake de oder gentlemen.”
“What’s up, ’Pollo?” said Oakum, in the same low tone, for he was awake now to the fact that something was wrong. “Injins?”
“No, sah, I tink not; but you come out here, sah, where de oder gentleman not hear, and I tell you.”
Oakum squabbled with ’Pollo every day, but they were very old shipmates, and the rough sailor had the most abundant confidence in the black, so he drew on his trousers, and cautiously followed him to the foot of the steps, where ’Pollo sat down, and Oakum knelt by his side.