“I pledged him accordingly, and he went on in a very frank, easy way, I thought, considering the case in which we stood.
“ ‘A troublesome coast this to clear, Mr. Miller; the currents hereabouts are as treacherous as the heart of woman. Why,’ said he, seeming a good deal at his ease, as he poured out another glass, though I was in the other case, my eye stealing to the cabin doors in spite of me, ‘I’ve been drifted in this old ship forty miles in-shore, in a thick fog and a calm, between sunset and dawn, and no signs of a set on the surface any more than there is on this deck.’
“ ‘Yes, sir,’ said I, compelling my attention to answer him, ‘in clear weather they keep you continually taking observations—and in a fog, as you say, why—’
“ ‘Try that case-bottle of Bourbon whisky,’ interrupted he, ‘you don’t seem to relish the brandy. Here’s to the sultan! And may he wake up to-night in Paradise.’
“Here he went on in a discursive way to talk of the cholera, saying that he had had a touch of it himself on the Malabar coast.
“ ‘However,’ said he, filling up his glass a third time, ‘hang care—here’s luck!’
“ ‘The fact is, Mr. Miller,’ he continued, setting down his glass, ‘I’ve taken a great fancy to you, during the little time we’ve been together. If it lasts out to the end, depend upon me, I’ll put something handsome in your way.’
“I bowed over my glass without speaking, and he kept on in the same confidential manner, as if he made up his mind to see how we stood at once.
“ ‘I’ve made one prime voyage for my present owners in these seas, and this one—mark you—I intend for myself. Now I want a friend whom I can trust, body and soul, and, if I am not far out of my reckoning, you are the very man.’
“I met his sharp, scrutinizing glance as he said this, and remembering the carpenter’s words in the galley, I now felt sure that the captain had some scheme of villainy in his head in which he wished me to become a partner. There was the more reason to be careful of the grog, since I could not mistake his manner, and the sharp, sinister look full as deep as the occasion called for, whatever that might be. However, I thought it best to affect to do so, and answered accordingly, that I had no fears of further trouble with the crew when we were once clear of the coast.