Page:Doctor Syn - A Smuggler Tale of the Romney Marsh.djvu/199

 over 'em both I closed the lid. Then seein' as how he was unconscious through the drubbin' he had had, and the awful fright, I left him and went home to bed at the house of the friends of my friend, gettin' in as I had got out—through the window. Well, next morning the sly dog turned up and said that the gods had visited him in the night and that the coffin was to be buried twelve feet deep in the merchant's field, and that he was so overjoyed at having conversed so very pleasantly with the gods that he must insist on returning the gold to the merchant. This the good merchant, of course, refused to accept, so the priest was obliged, according as he had been commanded, to hand it to the white stranger wot sojourned with the merchant and who was your humble servant, Captain. That day I went back to Shanghai loaded with presents, not only from my friend, but from the friends of my friend, at whose house we had sojourned, and with every gold piece out of that sly dog's pocket, for although a sly dog he certainly was, he was also a cowardly dog, too, and didn't dare to go against the will of that terrible late lamented uncle of the bereaved one wot was now, and still is, I expect, lying twelve foot down in the field of my inestimable smug-faced merchant who was my friend. And that's the story of the funniest funeral I was ever at, and there ain't many wot ever seed a funnier one, I should say."

"I should think not," said the captain, and filling