ys going about, as the saying is."

This circumstantial account, extraordinary as it was, never altered one
feature in the countenance of Mr. Pickle, who, having heard it to an
end, took the pipe from his mouth, saying, with a look of infinite
sagacity and deliberation, "I do suppose he is of the Cornish Trunnions.
What sort of a woman is his spouse?" "Spouse!" cried the other;
"odds-heart! I don't think he would marry the queen of Sheba.
Lack-a-day! sir, he won't suffer his own maids to be in the garrison,
but turns them into an out-house every night before the watch is set.
Bless your honour's soul, he is, as it were, a very oddish kind of a
gentleman. Your worship would have seen him before now; for, when he
is well, he and my good master Hatchway come hither every evening, and
drink a couple of cans of rumbo a piece; but he has been confined to
his house this fortnight by a plaguy fit of the gout, which, I'll assure
your worship, is a good penny out of my pocket."

At that instant, Mr. Pickle's ears were saluted with such a strange
noise, as even discomposed the muscles of his face, which gave immediate
indications of alarm. This composition of notes at first resembled
the crying of quails, and croaking of bull-dogs; but as it approached
nearer, he could distinguish articulate sounds pronounced with great
violence, in such a cadence as one would expect to hear from a human
creature scolding through the organs of an ass; it was neither speaking
nor braying, but a surprising mixture of both, employed in the utterance
of terms absolutely unintelligible to our wondering merchant, who had
just opened his mouth to express his curiosity, when the starting up at
the well-known sound, cried, "Odd's niggers! there is the commodore with
his company, as sure as I live," and with his apron began to wipe the
dust off an elbow-chair placed at one side of the fire, and kept sacred
for the ease and convenience of this infirm commander. While he was thus
occupied, a voice, still more uncouth than the former, bawled aloud,
"Ho! the house, a-hoy!" Upon which the publican, clapping a hand to each
side of his head with his thumbs fixed to his ears, rebellowed in the
same tone, which he had learned to imitate, "Hilloah." The voice again
exclaimed, "Have you got any attorneys aboard?" and when the landlord
replied, "No, no," this man of strange expectation came in, supported by
his two dependents, and displayed a figure every way answerabl