He first ran a tilt against Pam be Civil, and shot
him like a rocket into the sea; the Monkey fared no better; the Ballahoo
had to swim for it; and having thus opened a way by main force, I at
length got safely moored in the stern sheets; but just as we were shoving
off, Mr Callaloo, the clergyman of Port Royal, a tall yellow personage,
begged for a passage, and was accordingly taken on board. As it was high
water, my boatmen chose the five foot channel, as the boat channel near to
Gallows Point is called, by which a long stretch would be saved, and we
were cracking on cheerily, my mind full of my recent promotion, when,
scur, scur, scur, we stuck fast on the bank. Our black boatmen, being
little encumbered with clothes, jumped overboard in a covey like so many
wild--ducks, shouting, as they dropped into the water, "We must all get
out,--we must all get out;" whereupon Mr Callaloo, a sort of Dominie
Sampson in his way, promptly leaped overboard up to his waist in the
water. The negroes were thunderstruck.
"Massa Parson Callaloo, you mad surely, you mad!"
"Children, I am not mad, but obedient--you said we must all get out"
"To be sure, massa, and you no see we all did get out?"
"And did you not see that I got out too?" rejoined the parson, still in
the water, and somewhat nettled.
"Oh, lud, massa! we no mean you--we meant poor nigger, not white man
parson."
"You said all, children, and thereupon I leaped," pronouncing the last
word in two syllables--"be more correct in your grammar next time.
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