“‘After calling in vain, I went back to the barracks, and inquired of the men for Tilt, but no one appeared to have seen him or noticed his motions.
“‘After perambulating the little island in vain, I happened to ask the sentry if he knew where he was.
“‘Yes, Sir,’ said he, ‘he is buried in the beach.’
“‘Buried in the beach,’ said I, with great anger, ‘who dared to kill him? Tell me, Sir, immediately.’
“‘That large dog did it, Sir. He enticed him down to the shore by playing with him, pretending to crouch and then run after him; and then retreating and coaxing him to chase him; and when he got him near the beach, he throttled him in an instant, and then scratched a hole in the shingle and buried him, covering him up with the gravel. After that he went into the water, and with his paws washed his head and face, shook himself, and went up to the barracks. You will find the terrier, just down there, Sir.’
“‘And sure enough there was the poor little fellow, quite dead, and yet warm.
“‘In the mean time Thunder, who had watched our proceedings from a distance, as soon as he saw the body exhumed, felt as if there was a court-martial holding over himself, plunged into the harbour and swam across to the town, and hid himself for several days, until he thought the affair had blown over; and then approached me anxiously and cautiously, lest he should be apprehended and condemned. As I was unwilling to lose both my dogs, I was obliged to overlook it, and take him back to my confidence. A strange story, ain’t it, Mr Slick.’
“‘Well, it is,’ sais I, ‘but dogs do certainly beat all natur, that’s a fact.’
“But to get back to the ‘Black Hawk:’ as soon as we anchored, I proposed to Cutler that we should go ashore and visit the ‘natives.’ While he was engaged giving his orders to the mate, I took the opportunity of inquiring of the pilot about the inhabitants. This is always a necessary precaution. If you require light-houses, buoys, and sailing directions to enter a port, you want similar guides when you land. The navigation there is difficult also, and it’s a great thing to know who you are going to meet, what sort of stuff they are made of, and which way to steer, so as to avoid hidden shoals and sand-bars, for every little community is as full of them as their harbour. It don’t do, you know, to talk tory in the house of a radical, to name a bishop to a puritan, to let out agin smugglin’ to a man who does a little bit of business that way himself; or, as the French say, ‘to talk of a rope in a house where the squatter has been hanged.’ If you want to please a guest, you must have some of his favourite dishes at dinner for him; and if you want to talk agreeably to a man, you must select topics he has a relish for.
“So,” sais I, “where had we better go, Pilot, when we land?”