"De razzer ob mine is in de locker, toe de right," suggested Bill.
Wah Lee was quickly tied fast and his hair cut close. Then a lather was made, and before many minutes his head was shaved as clean as a fairly good razor could shave it.
"Next!" called Bahama Bill, in the tone of a barber.
All went through the same operation, two of the pigtails being kept as souvenirs of the occasion. The débris was thrown overboard.
"Now yo' Chinks git out de soap an' de water—show 'em where dey is kept, Heldron—an' I wants toe see dishear ship washed fo' an' aft—see? Heap sabbee? I wants toe see dishear ship come inter Jacksonville lookin' like a yacht; lookin' like she was something toe be proud ob. Git toe work."
The wind held fair, and for two days the Sea-Horse ran up the coast, making six or seven knots, raising the jetty off the bar the third day out. The sloop had been scrubbed alow and aloft, her decks rubbed white, her spare sails even scrubbed clean, and she looked good to a nautical eye as she rounded the sea-buoy and stood up the St. John's River for town.
The inhabitants of Mayport and Pilotown were treated to the novel sight of a heavily built sloop manned by a crew large enough for a four-master, the officers uniformed in bright-coloured pajamas, which fitted not at all, and the larger part of the hands distinctly Mongolian. The customs officer stopped her and boarded her without delay.
"Where do you come from—China?" asked the official, in amazement.
"Yo' surely ain't forgot de ole Sea-Horse, Marse Hennery," said Bahama Bill, coming on deck and recognizing an old acquaintance in the boarding officer. "We got a consignment ob ca'tridges—American ammunition—here's de papers, an' de crew we shipped in a hurry, without gittin' time toe sign 'em on in regular shape; but dey is all right; dey belongs right in dishear State."
As it is not necessary to sign on hands in small vessels coasting unless there is especial reason for it, the officer left without further remark, and the Sea-Horse proceeded on her way.