'I asked you not to hurt me, and of course you won't. So you, too, think that poor Bully Hayes is a bloodthirsty pirate! Come, shake hands, my red-faced little fighting-cock. I like you all the better for your pluck. There, that's right;' and seizing the skipper's unwilling hand in his own, he shook it with tremendous vigour; 'but please make your men put away those rifles and cutlasses. I'm such a nervous man, and the sight of any one with a gun in his hand makes me both mad and frightened, so that I can't help knocking him down, just to protect myself.'
'What is it you want on board my ship, Captain Hayes?' said old Sam, pointedly.
'My dear sir, do not look at me in that distant manner,' and he clapped his sun-browned hand on the captain's shoulder, 'it pains me. You've rolling topsails, I see. How do you find them answer? Bonnets trouble you? Mine are perfection. You must come on board and see my ship. Come, now, my dear sir, don't look so angry. I'm not at all a bad fellow, I can assure you, nothing so black as I am painted.'
'Well, you mustn't blame me,' said old Sam, more graciously, 'you've got the name anyway; but I must say you don't look like----'
'Like a cut-throat, Captain----' He paused.
'Hawkins, if you please.'
'Captain Hawkins, I'm glad to meet you. Now, can you sell me a few bags of rice and some casks of molasses for my native passengers? I've a hundred and twenty blackbirds on board, bound for Samoa, and I'm afraid I'll run short of rice.'
'I can do that,' said Hawkins, delighted to find that his visitor had no evil intentions.
'Thank you very much.' Then, going to the side, he hailed his boat's crew and told them to pass up a bag of dollars; and when old Sam asked him below to have a glass of wine, he again laughed in his boyish and apparently unaffected manner. 'Certainly, captain, with pleasure. You have passengers, I see,' he added, indicating Mr. de Caen and Tom, but politely ignoring the pile of rifles lying on top of the skylight.
'Yes,' said the skipper, 'Mr. de Cann, of the French Navy lieutenant of the Cyclope and Mr. Tom Wallis--Captain Hayes.'