Still the officers insisted on seeing the contents of the sack.
“No, no,” said the Captain, “I have made up my mind not to show them. I tell you, I never ran any goods since I came to sea, and have no intention of doing so now.”
“We cannot help ourselves, Señor. What you say may be very true, but it is against our orders to allow you to pass. However, as the magistrates are sitting not far off, if you like to declare before them the contents of your sack, the negro may carry them wherever you order him.”
“The very thing I wish,” said the Captain. “I will go before the magistrates, and if they desire to see my salt provisions, they shall be welcome to do so.”
Accordingly, Captain Benbow leading, with his two young friends, Jumbo following with the sack, and the two officers bringing up the rear, proceeded to the custom-house, where a party of grave and reverend Señors were sitting. The officers at once stated what had occurred, when the president, who knew Captain Benbow, greeted him politely, expressed his regret that he should have to inconvenience him for such a trifle, but observed that he must adhere to the laws; that as soon as he had shown what the sack contained he should be at liberty to proceed wherever he might choose.
“Well, Señor, since you insist on seeing my salt provisions, I will show them to you,” said the Captain. “Jumbo, open that sack and throw the contents out on the table.”
Jumbo did as he was ordered, the whites of his eyes glancing, and his mouth at a broad grin, for he was certainly not ignorant of what he had been carrying, and, untying the string, out rolled thirteen gory heads. The magistrates started back, some with amazement, others with horror expressed in their countenances.
“There they are,” cried the Captain, “and at your service.”
“How did you become possessed of them?” asked the president.
“This bright sabre served me to cut the fruit from the branches,” he answered, and then gave an account of how he had been attacked by the Sallee rover, and succeeded in driving her off, after she had lost a large number of her men, besides those who had fallen on the deck of his ship, and whose heads he now exhibited.