“Arrah, shure, Masther Green, it’s meself, Paddy Casey, is delighted to see ye; though little was I after thinking, when I last set eyes on ye, that the next time ye’d see me I’d be turned into a wild savage!” he exclaimed.
“What! Pat Casey, my man,” cried Green; “of course, I remember you right well; though I confess I shouldn’t have expected to see you, one of the smartest hands on board the Tudor, in your present style of dress.”
Pat, looking at himself, gave a broad Irish grin.
“Shure enough, yer honour; and bad luck to them who left me here, thinking I’d be killed and cooked and eaten, about which I’ll be after telling yer honour when there’s more time than at present. I’ve just been informing these black friends of mine that they were fools to come and attack you, seeing that you belong to a mighty big ship, which would come and blow them and their island right out into the sea in a quarter less than no time; and now I’ve got them to be peaceable, it will be as well to take advantage of the opportunity to get the boats afloat, for, by my faith, they’re not the most dependable of people, and in another moment they may again change their minds.”
“I am much obliged to you, old shipmate,” answered Green; “and if you can manage to keep the blacks quiet, we will have the boats in the water in a few minutes. Tell them that we were driven by the storm on their island; that we wish to be good friends with them, as with all the people in these parts, and, provided they behave well to us, we will do them no harm.”
“Shure, yer honour, I’ll tell them all that, and just anything else that may come into my head at the same time, and I’ll answer for it that they’ll be decently behaved as long as you stay,” said Pat.
“Just keep them in play, then, while we get the boats afloat; and make them understand that we go away because it is our good pleasure, and not because we are afraid of them,” said Green.
“Shure, yer honour, I’ll do that,” answered the Irishman, with one of his inimitable grins, which possibly had been the means of enabling him to preserve his life.
While he went back to his black friends, the two crews, uniting their strength, got first one boat afloat and then the other. Green felt greatly relieved, for, whatever turn events might take, he and his party would be able to get away without having to fight for their lives.
Casey now returned.