"Oh, my Lordy! I nebber heard you, Massa Craig. By golly, sah, dis yere niggah sure thought he was shot."
"Not yet, Louis," I replied quietly, standing in the opening, one hand still on the latch. "But it is just as well for you to be serious about it—I 've got the weapon all right—see," and I pushed the revolver butt forward into his range of vision. "I don't mean to hurt you so long as you keep still."
"What—what you a-goin' fer to do, sah?"
"Get away from this ship if I can, and you are going to help by remaining right where you are, boy. First, what's in that small boat, hung to davits astern—provisions, I mean?"
His teeth chattered so he could hardly answer, but finally words came through his lips.
"Thar 's a breaker of fresh water, an'—an' a package o' sea-biscuit, sah. Ah—Ah reckon that's all."
"Good; do you happen to know how far we are away from the main coast?"
"A a-bout thirty-five mile, sah."
"Florida?"
"Yes, sah."