Cornwallis looked at his accuser defiantly.
“What yo’ want wid me, niggah? Is yo’ lookin’ fur trouble? Go ’long ’bout yo’ bizness now, an’ doan’ be comin’ in de cabin whar yo’ betters is. I’s willin’ to obey de Cap’n ob dis craf’, but I tells yo’ now dat I won’t take no sass from lowdown bo’s’uns. Go an’ scar’ de life out ob dose pore debils in de crew, fur all I keer, but doan’ git gay wid me. Huh! Yo’ mus’ tink I’s jes’ turned out!”
“You awoids de subjek’. Dat am a shuah sign ob guilt.”
“Lemme tell yo’ somfin’, yo’ onery niggah! I doan’ sociate wid sech trash as yo’ be, what can’t tell who his own fadder and mudder was. I come from a hono’ble fam’ly what was tole ob in hist’ry. Ef yo’ keeps on probokin’ me to wraf I’ll put pizen in yo’ wittals, dat’s what I’ll do, an yo’ now has fair wahnin’!”
Prince showed signs of wrath himself at this speech, but Pratt interfered before he could answer.
“No more talk about poisoning people, Cornwallis. Answer me this: Where did that brandy go to?”
“Ef it didn’t go in dat sass an’ aroun’ dat puddin’, Cap’n, den I ’lows some ob de crew done stole it. Dem critters ain’t to be trusted, no how. Cockroaches is bery bad in dat galley, too, an’ dey likes sech drinks, I hearn tell. Whose to know if dey wahn’t at de bottle?”
“Why, you black rascal, you said not ten minutes ago that the brandy was put in the sauce and around the pudding!”
“So I did, Cap’n. Ef dat ain’t de truf an’ nothin’ but de truf, I hopes de good Lawd will hab me pah’lized, an’ make me fall dead heah in my tracks.”
“Impious creature! Unworthy descendant of Ham!” cried Warriner.