246 MARTIN RATTLER.

o’ this kind o’ life now, and if ye'll agree to stop here
as overseer, and sind me the proceeds o’ the mine to
Rio Janeiro, a great city on the sea-coast, an’ the
capital o’ Brazil, I'll give ye a good share o’ the
profits. But, says he, ‘ye'll need to pretind ye’re a
Roosian, or a Pole, or somethin’ o’ that kind: for the
fellows in thim parts are great rascals, and there’s a
few Englishmen among them who would soon find
out that ye’re only a Jack-tar before the mast, and
would chate ye at no allowance. But if ye could
spake no language under the sun but the gibberish
pecooliar to the unbeknown provinces o’ Siberia, ye
could escape detection as far as yer voice is consarned ;
and by lettin’ yer beard grow as long as possible, and
dressin’ yersilf properly, ye might pass and be as dig-
nified as the great Mogul.’

“*Musha!’ said L ‘but if I don’t spake me own
tongue I'll have to be dumb altogither,

“No fear, says he; ‘Ill tache ye enough Portu-
guese in a month or two to begin with, an’ ye’ll pick
it up aisy after that. And sure enough I began,
tooth and nail, and, by hard workin’, got on faster
than I expected; for I can spake as much o’ the
lingo now as tides me over needcessities, and I under-
stand most o’ what’s said to me. Anyhow, I giner-

ally see what they’re drivin’ at.”