“As if I could have, father, when I was so surprised and so happy!” replied Breeze, reproachfully.
Never had a meal tasted better, or been more thoroughly enjoyed by the dorymates than this one, and it seemed as though they could not stop eating. Even Captain McCloud developed a wonderful appetite for a sick man. He ate so heartily that Nimbus, who waddled around them, his face beaming with pleasure, as he brought them this thing or that, began to grow somewhat anxious and exclaimed,
“Take care, cap’n; you’ ’tomach’s powerful weak yet, an’ you mus’n’t s’prise um too much!”
“Which are you now, Nimbus, doctor or cook?” asked Captain McCloud, smiling at the faithful fellow’s anxiety.
“I’se bofe, cap’n. De ship’s doctor and de ship’s cook am de same. P’r’aps de cook tell you eat, an’ de doctor tell you not eat. You min’ um bofe, den you all right. You min’ de cook, you eat too much. Berry bad! You min’ de doctor, you eat too little. Berry bad too! You min’ ole Nim, you all right. Berry good!”
Wolfe was immensely amused at all this, and the negro’s comical appearance, together with his earnest manner, caused the young Irishman to roar with laughter. He declared that Nimbus had more sense in his woolly head than half the white folks he knew, and that if he were as good a doctor as he was a cook, he ought to be a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
“Don’ know nuffin ’bout no surgins, sah,” replied Nimbus, showing the ivory of his teeth in a broad grin, and highly flattered by this praise; “but if de young gemman’s ready for anodder cup ob coffee, I’se got um a-bilin’ in de camboose.”[[G]]
“Will I have another cup of coffee? Of course I will! It’s the best I ever tasted. I tell you what, Breeze, there’s nothing like drifting around a few days without anything to eat to make a fellow appreciate a meal like this.”
“We had the sea-biscuit,” said Breeze.
“Yes, sea-biscuit! But what did they amount to? Dry, tasteless things! I’d almost as soon eat so many chips,” exclaimed Wolfe, in a scornful tone, as he finished the last mouthful of a hot buttered roll.