It's no doubt a mad business anyway, and I'm not sure I've the right to endanger in it any other lives than my own." "No, sar," said Tom; "I came with you, you have treated me right, and I am going to see you through." "You're the real thing; God bless you, Tom," I exclaimed.

"But I doubt if I've the right to take advantage of your goodness.

I'm not sure that I oughtn't to signal those fellows to take you off with them willy-nilly." "No, sar, you wouldn't do that, I'm sure.

I'm a free man, God be praised, though my mother and father were slaves"-- and he drew himself up with pathetic pride--"and I can choose my own course, as they couldn't.

Besides, there's no one needs me at home; all my girls and boys are well fixed; and if I have to go, perhaps there's some one needs me more in heaven." "All right, Tom, and thank you; we'll say no more about it." And so we let the schooner go by, and turned to the consideration of our plans.
First we went over our stores, and, thanks to those poor dead mouths that did not need to be reckoned with any more, we had plenty of everything to last us for at least a month, not to speak of fishing, at which Tom was an expert.
When, however, we turned to our plans for the treasure-hunting, we soon came to a dead stop.