210 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



about Hilltop and Seaside would be secured to him. 

 This I gladly promised, and it was in a very happy 

 frame of mind that w^e parted from our friend and 

 took to the woods again. We slept that night at the 

 cave where the peccaries had treed me, and the next 

 day reached our hut on the hill. 



Everything was apparently as we had left it ; but 

 Polly Psittacus, after wild demonstrations of delight 

 at our return, waddled up in front of me and said, 

 bobbing his head with great solemnity : " Man here ; 

 bad man here ! " This set Thomas Ned to looking 

 about, and he soon contirmed Polly's statement by 

 ocular evidence. 



'' It am fac', sho 'nuff ; somebuddy been hyar 

 while we gone ; um see um track 'bout de house." 



" What um tell you ? " screamed Polly Psit- 

 tacus. " Bad man ; black man, same Thomas 

 Ned." 



Friday ignored this aspersion, but he made a point 

 in favor of his chei-ished superstition : " Massa, ef 

 yo' only let um put jumbie cha'm on de do', den 

 no brack nigger come nigh dat do', dat um tell 

 you ! " 



There was nothing missing, so far as we could 

 ascertain ; but it was evident that some one had been 

 prowling about, probably with sinister motive, and so 

 I told Thomas Ned that if he thought he could ade- 

 quately protect us and our property by the use of 

 jumbie charms, he was welcome to hang up as many 

 as he pleased. And thus it came about, before sun- 

 set that day, that I, an American and a Christian, had 



