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BOOK II
"Who's there? I have nothing here for anyone. Go away!" Such was the
inhospitable greeting with which Isaac Hakkabut received his visitors.
"Hakkabut! do you take us for thieves?" asked Servadac, in tones of
stern displeasure.
"Oh, your Excellency, my lord, I did not know that it was you," whined
the Jew, but without emerging any farther from his cabin.
"Now, old Hakkabut, come
out of your shell! Come and show the governor
proper respect, when he gives you the honor of his company," cried Ben
Zoof, who by this time had clambered onto the deck.
After considerable hesitation, but still keeping his hold upon the
cabin-door, the Jew made up his mind to step outside. "What do you
want?" he inquired, timorously.
"I want a word with you," said Servadac, "but I do not want to stand
talking out here in the cold."
Followed by the rest of the party, he proceeded to mount the steps. The
Jew trembled from head to foot. "But I cannot let you into my cabin. I
am a poor man; I have nothing to give you," he moaned piteously.
"Here he is!" laughed Ben Zoof, contemptuously; "he is beginning his