He had been carried down in his hammock,
and looked very bad; but, he insisted on
being stood there on his feet; and I saw
him, myself, come off in the boat, sitting
upright in the stern-sheets, as if nothing was
wrong with him.

A quick sort of council was held, and
Captain Maryon soon resolved that we must
all fall to work to get the cargo out, and,
that when that was done, the guns and heavy
matters must be got out, and that the sloop
must be hauled ashore, and careened, and
the leak stopped. We were all mustered
(the Pirate-Chace party volunteering), and
told off into parties, with so many hours of
spell and so many hours of relief, and we all
went at it with a will. Christian George King
was entered one of the party in which I
worked, at his own request, and he went
at it with as good a will as any of the
rest. He went at it with so much heartiness,
to say the truth, that he rose in my
good opinion, almost as fast as the water
rose in the ship. Which was fast enough,
and faster.

Mr. Commissioner Pordage kept in a red
and black japanned box, like a family
lump-sugar box, some document or other
which some Sambo chief or other had got
drunk and spilt some ink over (as well as I
could understand the matter), and by that
means had given up lawful possession of the
Island. Through having hold of this box,
Mr. Pordage got his title of Commissioner.
He was styled Consul, too, and spoke of
himself as "Government.'"

He was a stiff-jointed, high-nosed old
gentleman, without an ounce of fat on him, of a
very angry temper and a very yellow
complexion. Mrs. Commissioner Pordage, making
allowance for difference of sex, was much the
same. Mr. Kitten, a small, youngish, bald,
botanical and mineralogical gentleman, also
connected with the mine—but everybody
there was that, more or less—was sometimes
called by Mr. Commissioner Pordage, his
Vice-commissioner, and sometimes his
Deputy-consul. Or sometimes he spoke of Mr.
Kitten, merely as being "under Government."

The beach was beginning to be a lively
scene with the preparations for careening the
sloop, and, with cargo, and spars, and rigging,
and water-casks, dotted about it, and with
temporary quarters for the men rising up there
out of such sails and odds and ends as could be
best set on one side to make them, when Mr.
Commissioner Pordage comes down in a high
fluster, and asks for Captain Maryon. The
Captain, ill as he was, was slung in his
hammock betwixt two trees, that he might
direct; and he raised his head, and answered
for himself.

"Captain Maryon," cries Mr. Commissioner
Pordage, "this is not official. This is not
regular."

"Sir," says the Captain, "it hath been
arranged with the clerk and supercargo,
that you should be communicated with, and
requested to render any little assistance that
may lie in your power. I am quite certain
that hath been duly done."

"Captain Maryon," replies Mr. Commissioner
Pordage, "there hath been no written
correspondence. No documents have passed,
no memoranda have been made, no minutes
have been made, no entries and counter-
entries appear in the official muniments.
This is indecent. I call upon you, sir, to desist,
until all is regular, or Government will take
this up."

"Sir," says Captain Maryon, chafing a
little, as he looked out of his hammock;
"between the chances of Government taking this
up, and my ship taking herself down, I much
prefer to trust myself to the former."

"You do, sir?" cries Mr. Commissioner
Pordage.

"I do, sir," says Captain Maryon, lying
down again.

"Then, Mr. Kitten," says the Commissioner,
"send up instantly for my Diplomatic coat."

He was dressed in a linen suit at that
moment; but, Mr. Kitten started off himself
and brought down the Diplomatic coat, which
was a blue cloth one, gold-laced, and with a
crown on the button.

"Now, Mr. Kitten," says Pordage, "I
instruct you, as Vice-commissioner, and
Deputy-consul of this place, to demand of
Captain Maryon, of the sloop Christopher
Columbus, whether he drives me to the act
of putting this coat on?"

"Mr. Pordage," says Captain Maryon,
looking out of his hammock again, "as I can
hear what you say, I can answer it without
troubling the gentleman. I should be sorry
that you should be at the pains of putting on
too hot a coat on my account; but, otherwise,
you may put it on hind-side before, or inside-
out, or with your legs in the sleeves, or your
head in the skirts, for any objection that I have
to offer to your thoroughly pleasing yourself."

"Very good, Captain Maryon," says Pordage,
in a tremendous passion. "Very good,
sir. Be the consequences on your own head!
Mr. Kitten, as it has come to this, help me
on with it."

When he had given that order, he walked off
in the coat, and all our names were taken, and
I was afterwards told that Mr. Kitten wrote
from his dictation more than a bushel of
large paper on the subject, which cost more
before it was done with, than ever could be
calculated, and which only got done with
after all, by being lost.

Our work went on merrily, nevertheless,
and the Christopher Columbus, hauled up,
lay helpless on her side like a great fish out
of water. While she was in that state, there
was a feast, or a ball, or an entertainment, or
more properly all three together, given us in
honor of the ship, and the ship's company,
and the other visitors. At that assembly, I
believe, I saw all the inhabitants then upon