Page:The land of enchantment (1907, Cassell).djvu/112



beans and spices. ‘Now,’ says I, ‘put ’em ashore on Salamander Island, give ’em the beans, and let ’em shift for themselves.’ ‘ Benjamin,’ says the skipper, ‘I admire your figurehead, so tip us your flipper, and as you say so shall it be!’

“Whereupon, Master Charles, we shaped our course for Salamander Island, and when we got there we landed the pirates, every mother’s son. Each man was given a couple of bushels of beans, and a quart or so of red pepper pods. ‘There! That'll warm their insides, I'll be bound,’ says the skipper, with a grin; ‘they’ve peppered others, so it is but fair to pepper them; and the beans, though hard, are filling diet, so they won’t starve. Likewise,’ says he, ‘they can plant and sow, and the crops will remind them of their misdeeds; and who can tell,’ says the skipper, says he, ‘but what in time they may repent?’ ‘ Admiral,’ I answers him, ‘ you never said a truer word, and so I won’t deceive you.’

“So we hoisted in the boats, and with the furrin barque in tow, off we sailed; and ever since, when I see that there admiral, me and him has a quiet chuckle together over how we ‘ gave the pirates beans.’ ”