“Oh, dear! oh, dear!” he cried like a child, “what shall I do? Oh! why did I ever leave Amsterdam? The captain should have left provisions on board; I will make my complaint to the Governor-General at Batavia.”
Now, while he was thus soliloquizing, I was standing—watching, listening, and laughing—behind a sail; but, seeing something in the distant horizon which looked like a ship, an idea that might result in advantage to myself occurred to me; so, stepping forward, and touching my cap in mock respect, I said:
“A ship in sight, sir; her captain will, perhaps, spare you some of his provisions.”
“A ship in sight! Dear me, that’s good news, for we may get some pork,” he replied; then, having swept the horizon with his glass, he said:
“It is a Chinese junk, and she flies the Dutch flag; she must, therefore, thank God, be in the Governor-General’s service: moreover, she seems at anchor among yonder islands.”
Thus, the prospect of a leg of pork being nearer, assuming his usual consequential air, he said—yes, that little whipper-snapper, who did not stand above five feet three in his shoes, said to me, who stood nearly six feet without shoes:
“Now, you boy, do you think I could trust you?”
“Aye, aye, sir!” replied I, touching my cap, and with great difficulty suppressing a laugh.
“Well, well,” he replied, “I believe I can, for you are not like that other rascal—you have a civil tongue in your head. But do you know what a pig is?”
“I believe I should know one if I saw it, without it was like the wolf in sheep’s clothing.”