'Oh, poor savidge werry sorry then, werry sorry,' sez the King, sez he, lookin' fur all the world as ef he was a-goin' to cry; 'but have to eat sailor then.'
"'Wee-ow-ow!' sez the court, werry mournful.
"'May I never see blue water ag'in!" sez the Cap'n.
"'Werry likely you won't,' sez the King, an' with that he jess blubbered an' cried like a babby.
"Waal, them bloomin' beggars eat enough to sink a lighter, an' then they went ashore an' sent off the fam'ly. The steward he were jess about half crazy; an' the head cook he really were a ravin' lunatic, an' jess didn't do nothin' but dance around yellin' orders to cook things. Nex' day it were the same thing all over ag'in, and nex' day, too. All the time that one-epauletted King kept his gang a-workin' on that breakwater, an' inside o' a week it were puffickly certain the Queen o' Spades were shut up in that bloomin' little harbor fur to stay. Waal, to make sight o' land at the other side o' this 'ere yarn wot I'm a-tellin' ye, I'll say that this 'ere sort o' thing kep' a-goin' fur three weeks, an' then the steward he went to the Cap'n, an' he sez to he, sez he, 'There ain't more'n another three days' grub aboard.' An' the Cap'n, sez he, 'Arter dark to-night we'll put that into the boats an' go to sea, an' leave the Queen o' Spades here till we can send a gunboat arter her.' Half an hour later the King come aboard ag'in, an' he were so thin now that the red coat hung around him like a wet rag, w'ile his blessed court looked like a section o' picket-fence turned up on end. Them fellers was just wastin' away a-carryin' sich loads o' good grub. W'en the King see the Cap'n he went up to him with tears in his eyes, and sez he to he, sez he:
"'My dear, dear brother, poor savidge see man put food in boat. You go to go away at night. Don't. My canoes catch you, an' then we eat you all the sooner.'
"An' with those words the King commenced cryin' an' shakin' his head, an' the court set up another wee-ow-owin' like a convoy o' cats in a Noo Yawk aryway. Waal, we made up our minds we'd got to die, and yet none on us didn't want to die 'less he were obleeged to."
The Old Sailor paused as if overcome by his recollections, and George said, in a suppressed tone,
"But you didn't die, did you?"
"My son," answered the Old Sailor, "I ain't no ghost; I'm a peaceable, hard-workin' sailor-man. An' may I never live to see a four-horned grampus ag'in ef this 'ere ain't the circumstigious picooliarity o' our escape. The next mornin' the hull sea an' sky was a sickly green; the sun were a sort o' greenery-yaller; an' it were dead calm, with a big swell outside. The Cap'n sez he to me, sez he, 'We're a-goin' to have a fearful gale or a hearthquake or somethin'.' He hadn't more'n got them words out o' his mouth w'en we seed the hull island rockin' an' shakin', an' heerd a termenjous rumblin', like a freight train goin' past. 'Look! look!' yelled the quartermaster. An' lookin' w'ere he p'inted, we see astarn o' us a wave fifty feet high rollin' in from the sea. It come right on over old Kingsy's breakwater, an' pickin' the Queen o' Spades up as though she were a yaller chip, it carried her right over one o' the p'ints o' the harbor an' into the deep water outside.