But if the captain takes us for a cargo o' sandal-wood to the Feejees he'll get a taste o' these black gentry in their native condition.

For my part I don't know, an' I don't care, what the gospel does to them; but I know that when any o' the islands chance to get it, trade goes all smooth an' easy; but where they ha'nt got it, Beelzebub himself could hardly desire better company." "Well, you ought to be a good judge," cried another, laughing, "for you've never kept any company but the worst all your life!" "Ralph Rover!" shouted a voice down the hatchway.

"Captain wants you, aft." Springing up the ladder I hastened to the cabin, pondering as I went the strange testimony borne by these men to the effect of the gospel on savage natures;--testimony which, as it was perfectly disinterested, I had no doubt whatever was strictly true.
On coming again on deck I found Bloody Bill at the helm, and as we were alone together I tried to draw him into conversation.

After repeating to him the conversation in the forecastle about the missionaries, I said,-- "Tell me, Bill, is this schooner really a trader in sandal-wood ?" "Yes, Ralph, she is; but she's just as really a pirate.

The black flag you saw flying at the peak was no deception." "Then how can you say she's a trader ?" asked I.
"Why, as to that, she trades when she can't take by force, but she takes by force, when she can, in preference.