was a hearty, jolly, reckless fisherman, with warm
feelings, enthusiastic temperament, and no principle; a man who, though
very ready to do a kind act, had no particular objection to do one that
was decidedly objectionable when it suited his purpose or served his
present interest. He was regarded by his comrades as one of the
greatest madcaps in the district. Old Maggot was, as we have said, a
blacksmith to trade, but he had also been bred a miner, and was
something of a fisherman as well, besides being (like most of his
companions) an inveterate smuggler. He could turn his hand to almost
anything, and was "everything by turns, but nothing long."

Sauntering down to Priests Cove, on the south of Cape Cornwall, with his
hands in his pockets and his sou'-wester stuck carelessly on his shaggy
head, he fell in with a comrade, whom he hailed by the name of John
Cock. This man was also a fisherman, _et cetera_, and the bosom friend
and admirer of Maggot.

"Where bound to this mornin', Jack?" inquired Maggot.

"To fish," replied John.

"I go with 'ee, booy," said Maggot.

This was the extent of the conversation at that time. They were not
communicative, but walked side by side in silence to the beach, where
they launched their little boat and rowed out to sea.

Presently John Cock looked over his shoulder and exclaimed--"Maggot, I
see summat."

"Do 'ee?"

"Iss do I."

"What do un look like?"

"Like a dead corp."

"Aw, my dear," said Maggot, "lev us keep away. It can do no good to
we."

Acting on this opinion the men rowed past the object that was floating
on the sea, and soon after began to fish; but they had not fished long
when the dead body, drifted probably by some cross-current, appeared
close to them again. Seeing this they changed their position, but ere
long the body again appeared.

"P'raps," observed Maggot, "there's somethin' in its pockets."

As the same idea had occurred to John Cock, the men resolved to examine
the body, so they rowed up to it and found it to be that of an elderly
man, much decomposed, and nearly naked. A very short examination
sufficed to show that the pockets of such garments as were still upon it
were empty, and the men were about to let it go again, when Maggot
exclaimed--

"Hold fast, Jack, I see somethin' tied round the waist of he; a sort o'
belt it do seem."

The belt was quickly removed and the body released, when it sank with a
heavy plunge, but ere long