As I stood beside him I could scarcely control the rage I felt toward the fellow. I saw how slender and insignificant he was compared with me, and I could have strangled him in his tracks. He doubtless divined the thought in my mind, and took an early opportunity to apprise me that the punishment for murder among the Sargassons was drowning in a horrible form. Half a dozen strong men would seize the murderer and crowd him head foremost into a barrel of water, holding him there, despite his struggles, until he slowly suffocated.
After a few turns up and down the deck, we were waited upon by the attendant sailor, and I was informed that I was to have an audience with the Kantoon, or commander, of the vessel. He made his habitation in the captain’s cabin; but I was instructed that he “would be visible” upon the upper deck, astern, over his cabin, and that I might approach him there.
My companion cautioned me especially against any exhibition of temper. He declared that anger was utterly unrecognized among the Sargassons, and if I exhibited any ferocity, it would probably be mistaken for madness, and I would forthwith be drowned without ceremony or hope of intervention on anybody’s part.
So cautioned, I climbed the ladder and passed behind a screen of flowering plants. These grew luxuriantly in a row of boxes that resembled gun cases. The earth in which they grew had been brought from the hold, where it had been placed for ballast in some far-away port.
In the centre of the deck, standing in a barrel of water, was the Kantoon. His grizzly gray beard was carefully trimmed, and his leather cap rested upon his head in a jaunty fashion. In his hand he held a large telescope, with which, when I approached him, he was scanning the distant horizon. I divined instantly that he was looking in the direction of the Caribas; for, with the naked eye, I was able to detect the presence of smoke in the western sky.
I experienced a genuine emotion of hope. If my officers and crew only had sense enough to get up steam, go to sea and abandon me, I would be glad. There would remain some hope of rescue, and I would not suffer the humiliation of having my ship fall into the hands of a class of pirates more heartless than any I had ever read about.
At this instant the Kantoon turned, and, seeing me, said, with a grimace that was filled with chimpanzinity:
“Morning, Senor Captaine. Es usted very good, aujourd’hui? Sitzen sie down.”
“I thank you, captain, but I prefer to stand,” was my snappish reply.
“No me burla!” the Kantoon exclaimed, in an ill-tempered voice, despite the statement of my instructor to the contrary. “Quando, I say, ‘Sitzen sie;’ you squat!”