Bill Adams being on duty in the sick-bay, there wasn' no difficulty
in sewin' up a dummy in Eli's place; an' the dummy, sir, nex' day we
dooly committed to the deep, Cap'n Crang hisself readin' the service.
The real question was, what to do with Eli? Whereby, the purser and
me bein' friends, I goes to him an' says, 'Look here,' I says, 'we'll
be paid off in ten days or so, an' there's a trifle o' prize-money,
too. 'What price'll you sell us a cask o' the ship's rum--say a
quarter-puncheon for choice?' 'What for?' says he. 'For shore-going
purposes,' says I. 'Bill Adams an' me got a use for it.' 'Well,'
says the purser--a decent chap, an' by name Wilkins--'I'm an honest
man,' says he, 'an' to oblige a friend you shall have it at
store-valuation rate. An' what's more,' said he, 'I got the wind o'
your little game, an'll do what I can to help it along; for I al'ays
liked the deceased, an' in my opinion Captain Crang behaved most
unfeelin'. You tell Bill to bring the body to me, an' there'll be no
more trouble about it till I hand you over the cask at Plymouth.'
Well, sir, the man was as good as his word. We smuggled the cask
ashore last evenin', an' hid it in the woods this side o' Mount
Edgcumbe.
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