So they marooned him upon the Little Mangles to the south of the
Mysteriosa Bank, and there he was found by a Portobello trader, who
brought him in. There was talk of sending him to Jamaica to be tried,
but our good little Governor, Sir Charles Ewan, would not hear of it.
'He's my meat,' said he, 'and I claim the cooking of it.' If you can
stay till to-morrow morning at ten, you'll see the joint swinging."
"I wish I could," said the captain, wistfully, "but I am sadly behind
time now. I should start with the evening tide."
"That you can't do," said the agent with decision. "The Governor is
going back with you."
"The Governor!"
"Yes. He's had a dispatch from Government to return without delay.
The fly-boat that brought it has gone on to Virginia. So Sir Charles
has been waiting for you, as I told him you were due before the rains."
"Well, well!" cried the captain in some perplexity, "I'm a plain seaman,
and I don't know much of governors and baronets and their ways. I don't
remember that I ever so much as spoke to one. But if it's in King
George's service, and he asks a cast in the _Morning Star_ as far as
London, I'll do what I can for him. There's my own cabin he can have
and welcome. As to the cooking, it's lobscouse and salmagundy six days
in the week; but he can bring his own cook aboard with him if he thinks
our galley too rough for his taste.
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