"
"Oho, bring him on board--bring him on board. I knows there be a
man--of--war schooner close aboard of the island somewheres hereabouts. I
sees through it all, smash my eyes!--I sees through it. But what kept
you, Paul? Don't you see the morning star has risen?"
By this time I stood on the deck of the little vessel, which was no above
a foot out of the water; and Obediah, as he spoke, pointed to the small
dark pit of a companion, for there was no light below, nor indeed anywhere
on board, except in the binnacle, and that carefully masked, indicating by
his threatening manner, that I was to get below as speedily as possible.
"Don't you see the morning star, sir? Why, the sun will be up in an hour,
I calculate, and then the sea--breeze will be down on us before we get any
thing of an offing."
The mention of the morning star recalled vividly to my recollection the
scene I had so recently witnessed at the negro wake; it seemed there was
another person beside poor Quacco, likely to be crammed into a hole before
the day broke, and to be carried to Africa too, for what I knew; but one
must needs go when the devil drives, so I slipped down into the cabin, and
the schooner having weighed, made sail to the northward.
CHAPTER VIII
The Chase of the Smuggler
Would I were in an alehouse in London, I would give all my fame for a pot
of ale, and safety.'
HENRY V, III. II. I2--I3.
The crib in which I was confined was as dark as pitch, and, as I soon
found, as hot as the black--hole in Calcutta.
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