"I did nothing, sir, but eat my dinner, and drink that claret you were kind enough to give me."
"That half-bottle of claret?"
"Yes, sir, the very same."
"Well, there was nothing to hurt you in that," I said. "Did you take it half and half with water, as I told you?"
"I did indeed, sir."
"And what did you eat for your dinner?"
"Some pigeon-peas, and some rainbow fish."
"Sure, nothing else?"
"God's truth, sir."
"It's very funny," I said. And then as he began to writhe and stiffen, I called out to Tom: "Get some rum, Tom, and make it boiling hot, quick—quick!"