"I've always understood, sir," said Mr. MacFarlane, whose humor was apt to take a pragmatical turn, "that it's only one sort o' sirpint what's shy o' sand." 

 The Old Man eyed the second mate sullenly. 

 "O' course it is," he said, "and that's the on'y sort they've got on the Island o' San Pedro. The long, round-bellied sort, as don't bite but squeeges." 

 "And swallers yer?" said Mr. Thompson. 

 "And swallers yer. Pythons, I think they're called, or am I thinkin' o' boar constrictors?" 

 "Pythons, sir," said Mr. MacFarlane.  "What swallows a bullock as easy as it swallows a baby." 

 "Yes, that's right."  The Old Man turned to grin at the boy, but there was pathos in his voice.  "Sailor, my bye, you must keep out o' the trees. Promise me, Sailor, you'll keep out o' the trees." 

 The boy had to hold on by the table. The laughter that rang in his ears could only have one meaning. He knew that the Old Man with the drink in him would be as good as his word. Suddenly, by a queer trick of the mind, Henry Harper was again a newsboy crying, "'Orrible Crime on the 'Igh Seas," along the streets of Blackhampton. 

 

 

 XVI 

 Sailor didn't sleep that night in his bunk in the half-deck but lay in the lee of the chart-house looking up at the stars. Now and again, he could hear little plop-plops in the water, and these he knew were sharks. It was a night like heaven itself—not that Sailor had had much experience of heaven so far—wonderfully calm, with the stars so bright that even as he lay he could see the outline of the Island of San Pedro. It was so clear in the starlight that he could see little dark patches here and there rising to the skyline. These were trees he was sure. 

 He didn't try to sleep, but lay waiting for the dawn, not thinking of what he should do, or what he ought to do. What was the use? He was alone and quite helpless, and he was now in a state altogether beyond mere terror; he was face to face with that which his mind could not meet. But he was as sure as those stars were in the sky, that as soon as it was light the Old Man would put him ashore on the Island of San Pedro, and that even Mr. Thompson would raise no protest. 

 Once or twice he tried to 

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