Their astonishment
could only be equalled by that of Snarleyyow himself. But that was not
all; it appeared as if wonders would never cease, for when Smallbones
came up to receive his master's provisions, after the others had been
served and gone away, the corporal not only kindly received him, but
actually presented him with a stiff glass of grog mixed with the
corporal's own hand. When he offered it, the lad could not believe his
eyes, and even when he had poured it down his throat, he would not
believe his own mouth; and he ran away, leaving his provisions,
chuckling along the lower deck till he could gain the forecastle, and
add this astonishing piece of intelligence to the other facts, which
were already the theme of admiration.
"There be odd chops and changes in this here world, for sartin,"
observed Coble. (Exactly the same remark as we made at the end of the
previous chapter.)
"Mayn't it all be gammon?" said Bill Spurey.
"Gammon, for why?" replied Jemmy Ducks.
"That's the question," rejoined Spurey.
"It appears to me that he must have had a touch of conscience," said
Coble.
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