human
Wall, boys, he said at length,
gpt
I declar' to goodness I don' know but what you'll think I'm a piratical sort of craft, but--but the fact is that these folks around this yere camp are old shipmates of mine in a manner of speaking, an' so you needn't be a bit afeard. Yer as safe as if you were in your own bunks.
human
Yes, but who are these people?
gpt
How did you get here?
human
And who may Black Bart be?
gpt
And what is that funny pot with a pipe on the top of it over there?
human
One at a time, mates,--one at a time or you'll swamp me, cried Ben, getting back a little of his easy-going manner;
gpt
What?
human
Sure, was the reply,
gpt
Well, go on, Black Bart,
human
Wall, drawled Ben,
gpt
I got here in the Squeegee after I had seen from the _Carrier Dove_ a man snooping around our fire and heard the old 'Hoo-hoo' cry--the owl hail, you know.
human
We heard it in the jungle before we were surrounded,
gpt
That gave me a queer idea--the hearing of the old cry did --went on Ben--
human
Driven out by the government?
gpt
Sure, was the easy reply,
human
Yes, continued Ben in a low voice,
gpt
Were you ever a moonshiner, Ben?
human
Say a friend of the moonshiners, younker, and you'll be near it, he replied.
gpt
I used to keep a kind of traveling store to help the boys out.
human
of moonshine whisky--as the man is called who, at great risks, carries the poisonous stuff into the outer world from the secret mountain stills where it is made. The coincidence of Ben meeting his old friends on the island was after all not so remarkable as it seemed. Since the government has run most of the moonshiners out of the Tennessee and North Carolina mountains hundreds of them have taken refuge in the keys and among the 'glades where their product finds a ready market among the Seminoles--who gladly destroy themselves with