188 THE GAM. 



" There in the cabin — I mean, there in the 

 parlor, — was the Ay-rab's wife and daughter, 

 with not more'n half their standin' riggin' on, 

 naked from their waists up ! Heavens, wa'n't they 

 gallied ! They jumped for safety like a brace o' 

 jack-rabbits. 



" Then that Ay-rab begun cussin' worse' n forty 

 pirates on a raft ! Thunder an' lightnin', but 

 didn't he give it to the old man ! but the old 

 man just keeps a' talkin' business — so many 

 fathom o' cotton cloth for so many live hogs, so 

 many pounds o' gunpowder for so many cords o' 

 wood, an' so on an' so on — till at last the brown 

 man cools off as cool as a cask o' sperm oil all fit 

 to be coopered. 



" An frien's an' fellow cit'zens, as they say in 

 town-meetin' back in old Vermont, that's how I 

 have the honor (a-hem) to be sailin' under the 

 only live Yankee that ever saw a woman in 

 Johanna." 



There was an evident demand for Johanna 

 stories. The Clara BelVs men liked to hear the 

 captain's prowess enlarged upon. The strangers 

 liked to learn all they could about Johanna so as 

 not to be altogether green when they came into 

 port, and every Jack Tar of them was vowing in 

 his innermost heart of hearts and swearing by all 



