"Yes, not a fragment remained; but he had more beef, so he cut off
another; and, as his head had got a little middled with the grog, he
thought it just possible that he might have capsized the gridiron into
the fire, so he quietly recommenced the operation."
"And the second steak disappeared like the first?" "Yes, Master Fritz,
with this difference--there was a dead man's thigh-bone in its place."
"An awkward transformation for a hungry man," said Jack.
"'Here's a go!' cried Sam, like to burst his sides with laughing,
'they expect to frighten me with bones, do they? they've got the wrong
man--been played too many tricks of that kind at sea to be scared by
that sort of thing. Ha, ha, ha! capital joke though.'"
"Your friend Sam must have been a merry fellow, Willis."
"Yes, but he was hungry, and wanted his supper; so he continued
supplying the gridiron with steaks as long as the beef lasted, but
only obtained human shin-bones, clavicles and tibias.
"'Never mind,' said Sam to himself, 'they will tire of this game in
course of time.'
"When the beef was done, he kept up a supply of rashers of bacon, and
threw the bones as they appeared in a corner, consoling himself in the
meantime with his pipe and his grog."
"He must have been both patient and persevering," remarked Jack.
"This went on till a skull appeared on the gridiron.
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