“And confound both the wig and boots, say I,” sung out Mr Bang. “Look at my Sunday coat. Why, who set the ship onfire, Tom?”
Here his eye caught mine, and a few words sufficed to explain how we were situated, and then the only bother was how to get ashore, and where we were to sojourn, so as to have our clothes dried, as nothing could now be done until daylight. I therefore got our friends safely into a Nassau boat alongside, with their wet trunks and portmanteaus in charge of their black servants, and left them to fish their way to their lodging-house as they best could. By this, the wounded and the sound part of the crew had been placed on board of two merchant brigs, that lay close to us; and the masters of them proving accommodating men, I got them alongside, as the tide flowed, one on the starboard, the other on the larboard side, right over the Wave; and next forenoon, when they took the ground, we rigged two spare topmasts from one vessel to another, and making the main and fore rigging of the schooner fast to them, as the tide once more made, we weighed her, and floated her alongside of the sheer-hulk, against which we were enabled to heave her out, so as to get at the leak, and then by rigging bilge-pumps, we contrived to free her and keep her dry. The damaged plank was soon removed; and, being in a fair way to surmount all my difficulties, about half-past five in the evening I equipped myself in dry clothes, and proceeded on shore to call on our friends at their new domicile. When I entered. I was shown into the dining hall by my ally, Pegtop.
“Massa will be here presently, sir.”
“Oh—tell him he need not hurry himself:—But how are Mr Bang and his friends?”
“Oh, dem all wery so so, only Massa Wagtail hab take soch a terrible cold, dat him tink he is going to dead; him wery sorry for himshef, for true massa.”
“But where are the gentlemen, Pegtop?”
“All, every one on dem, is in him bed. Wet clothes have been drying all day.”
“And when do they mean to dine?”
Here Pegtop doubled himself up, and laughed like to split himself.
“Dem is all dining in bed, Massa. Shall I show you to dem?”