"I am as grateful to you, Captain Stopfoot, as you were to me less than an hour ago," said Christy, and he removed the gag from his mouth. "I am happy to be able to reciprocate your complimentary speeches."
"I am not aware that I have done anything to merit your gratitude, Mr. Passford," said the chief prisoner.
"You are not? Why, my dear Captain, you could not have arranged everything better than you did for the recapture of the Reindeer," replied Christy.
"I did not think that ten men with their hands tied behind them could do anything to help themselves; but you Yankees are very ingenious, and it seems that you found a way to liberate yourselves. Besides, I had a hand here to watch you, with instructions to call me if there was any trouble," added the captain, in an apologetic tone.
"When the trouble came he was not in condition to call you," the lieutenant explained.
"No, sar! Dem beggars gagged me, and den robbed me of all my money!" howled Quimp, whose greatest grievance was the loss of his fifteen dollars.
"That was hardly justifiable, Mr. Passford," added the captain shaking his head.
"It would not have been justifiable if the rogue had not first swindled me out of the money," replied the naval officer.
"How was that?" asked the chief prisoner.
Christy explained the manner in which he had encountered Quimp, saying that he had paid him five dollars for the loss of his boat, and ten for the information that a steamer was loaded with cotton and ready to sail behind the long key.