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“You must not shake so, master. See, Don Amasa, master always shakes when I shave him. And yet master knows I never yet have drawn blood, though it’s true, if master will shake so, I may some of these times.”
Babo delivers this quote to Delano during the scene where Delano watches Babo shave Cereno. This moment perfectly captures Babo’s cleverness and his skills as a performer because he manages to simultaneously threaten Cereno and provide Delano with a plausible explanation as to why Cereno looks scared when Babo holds the shaving implements to his throat. The phrase “if the master will shake so, I may some of these times” is especially effective because he preemptively blames Cereno for any blood drawn, making the moment he does cut Cereno on purpose look like an accident.
“Babo then announced the plan to all his companions, which pleased them; that he then, the better to disguise the truth, devised many expedients, in some of them uniting deceit and defense; that of this sort was the device of the six Ashantees before named, who were his bravoes; that them he stationed on the break of the poop, as if to clean certain hatchets (in cases, which were part of the cargo), but in reality to use them, and distribute them at need, and at a given word he told them; that, among other devices, was the device of presenting Atufal, his right hand man, as chained, though in a moment the chains could be dropped; that in every particular he informed the deponent what part he was expected to enact in every device, and what story he was to tell on every occasion, always threatening him with instant death if he varied in the least.”
This passage occurs towards the end of the novella when Cereno is giving his testimony after Babo and his fellow revolters are ultimately defeated by Delano and his men. Here, Melville outlines Babo’s plan to convince Delano that nothing untoward was going on aboard the San Dominick. This portion of Cereno’s trial highlights just how intelligent Babo is because he managed to orchestrate the perfect charade that fooled Delano until the very end while simultaneously preparing for a fight should he be discovered.
