Gibbie had been sitting all the time on his friend's knee, every now and then stroking his black face, in which, as insult followed insult, the sunny blood kept slowly rising, making the balls of his eyes and his teeth look still whiter.

At length a savage from Greenock threw a tumbler at him.
Sambo, quick as a lizard, covered his face with his arm.

The tumbler falling from it, struck Gibbie on the head--not severely, but hard enough to make him utter a little cry.

At that sound, the latent fierceness came wide awake in Sambo.

Gently as a nursing mother he set Gibbie down in a corner behind him, then with one rush sent every Jack of the company sprawling on the floor, with the table and bottles and glasses atop of them.