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The kind gentleman sat by his bedside, and grieved to find that Pambe talked in strange tongues, instead of listening to good books, and almost seemed to become a benighted heathen again till one day he was roused from semi-stupor by a voice in the street by the dock-head. 'My friend he, whispered Pambe. 'Call now call Nurkeed. Quick! God has sent him!

They talked of the best methods of cooking rice. Nurkeed suffered considerably from lack of fresh air during the run to Bombay.

'Command him black nigger when I was in the Saarbruck. Ole Pambe, good ole Pambe. Dam lascar. Show him up, Sar; and he followed into the room. One glance told the stoker what the kind gentleman had overlooked. Pambe was desperately poor. Nurkeed drove his hands deep into his pockets, then advanced with clenched fists on the sick, shouting, 'Hya, Pambe. Hya! Hee-ah! Hulla! Heh! Takilo! Takilo!

Their faces immediately dropped all expression, as is the custom of the Oriental when there is killing on the carpet or any chance of trouble. Nurkeed looked long at the white eyeballs. He was only an African, and could not read characters. A big sigh almost a groan broke from him, and he went back to the furnaces. The lascars took up the conversation where he had interrupted it.

'He wanted one of his own race, said the kind gentleman; and, going out, he called 'Nurkeed! at the top of his voice. An excessively coloured man in a rasping white shirt and brand-new slops, a shining hat, and a breastpin, turned round. Many voyages had taught Nurkeed how to spend his money and made him a citizen of the world. 'Hi! Yes! said he, when the situation was explained.

In the foggy China seas he thought a great deal of Nurkeed, and, when Elsass-Lothringen steamers lay in port with the Spicheren, inquired after him and found he had gone to England via the Cape, on the Gravelotte. Pambe came to England on the Worth. The Spicheren met her by the Nore Light. Nurkeed was going out with the Spicheren to the Calicut coast.

Moreover, in Pambe's case blood had been drawn and food spoiled. Next morning Nurkeed rose with a blank mind. He was no longer Sultan of Zanzibar, but a very hot stoker. So he went on deck and opened his jacket to the morning breeze, till a sheath-knife came like a flying- fish and stuck into the woodwork of the cook's galley half an inch from his right armpit.

'Spit him out, said Nurkeed, leaning over Pambe yet more closely. 'Touching the matter of that fish and onions said Pambe and sent the knife home under the edge of the rib-bone upwards and forwards. There was a thick sick cough, and the body of the African slid slowly from the bed, his clutching hands letting fall a shower of silver pieces that ran across the room. 'Now I can die! said Pambe.

Make fast aft, Pambe. You know, Pambe. You know me. Dekho, jee! Look! Dam big fat lazy lascar! Pambe beckoned with his left hand. His right was under his pillow. Nurkeed removed his gorgeous hat and stooped over Pambe till he could catch a faint whisper. 'How beautiful! said the kind gentleman. 'How these Orientals love like children!

At noon, when all the ship's lascars were feeding, Nurkeed advanced into their midst, and, being a placid man with a large regard for his own skin, he opened negotiations, saying, 'Men of the ship, last night I was drunk, and this morning I know that I behaved unseemly to some one or another of you. Who was that man, that I may meet him face to face and say that I was drunk?