THE GAM. 193 



" ' Much good, much good ! ' they'd say an' 

 hold out their cups for more. 



" Well, this sort o' thing made the steward 

 mighty popular, / tell you ; he could 'a' been 

 king o' the island any time he'd say the word ;, 

 but that everlastin' coffee cookin' got to be a, 

 pesky nuisance, an' at last the flunky hit on a 

 trick to chop it off square. 



" So one day he hailed them traders an' says to 

 'em, ' Come down in the cabin, gents, an' splice 

 the main-brace with a cup of Al coffee ! ' 



"So down they climbs, every brown Alladin's 

 son of 'em, an' that cabin was as full of Ay-rabs 

 as the hold was full of casks. An' then the flunky 

 serves out that coffee, made a-purpose, bless his 

 spankin' soul, — black an' hot an' strong — till it 

 lifted their turbans for 'em boys, an' made 'em 

 wiggle in their chairs. ' Much good, much good, 

 much good ! ' they yelled, an' the flunkey kep' 

 a-pourin' an' a-pourin' till he'd emptied the whole 

 blessed pot. 



" ' Well, gents ', he says, ' did you ever swaller 

 such coffee, in all your heathen born days ? Come, 

 gents, did you ? ' an' them Ay-rabs says, * No, 

 most honorable, we never done it.' 



" An' then, boys, what do you think ? That 

 flunky runs a fork down in the coffee pot, and 



