Joe Nighthead and the Mummies
"Well, well, don't be angry, old friend," said Mr. Winterbottom, himself somewhat offended; "there's no occasion for being hot upon it; but, if you are, you may go to —— and cool yourself!"
"And a precious queer place that 'ud be for a cold-bath," said the carpenter: "but let's have no contentions, gentlemen. What do you take the brig to be, Mr. Winterbottom?"
"A ship with her mizen-mast out, bound to Bombay, with a cargo of warming-pans," replied the young officer.
"That arn't being over civil, anyhow," whispered Bob to his messmate; "though mayhap they may want warming-pans in Bumbay as much as they do in the West Ingees. To my thinking, she's a treasure-craft laden with mummies."
"Did you ever fall athwart any o' them there hanimals, Bob?" inquired Joe Nighthead.
"What hanimals do you mean, Joe?" returned Martingal. "For my part, I've seen a little somut of everything."
"I means the mummies," replied Joe, as he squatted down in amidships just before the foremast, in preparation for a yarn, and was soon surrounded by the rest;—"I means the mummies, my boyo."