of a pet monkey, which drilled to the duty, and armed with a
comb, was posted on his shoulder, with an air as grave, and an eye as
observant, as though he had been regularly educated in the art of the
perruquier; and, every where, some coarse and practical joke proclaimed
the licentious liberty which had been momentarily accorded to a set of
beings who were, in common, kept in that restraint which comfort, no less
than safety, requires for the well-ordering of an armed ship.

In the midst of the noise and turbulence, a voice was heard, apparently
issuing from the ocean, hailing the vessel by name, with the aid of a
speaking-trumpet that had been applied to the outer circumference of a
hawse hole.

"Who speaks the 'Dolphin?'" demanded Wilder in reply, when he perceived
that the summons had fallen on the dull ears of his Commander, without
recalling him to the recollection of what was in action.

"Father Neptune is under your fore-foot."

"What wills' the God?"

"He has heard that certain strangers have come into his dominions, and he
wishes leave to come aboard the saucy 'Dolphin,' to inquire into their
errands, and to overhaul the log-book of their characters."

"He is welcome. Show the old man aboard through the head; he is too
experienced a sailor to wish to come in by the cabin windows."

Here the parlance ceased; for Wilder turned upon his heel, as though he
were already disgusted with his part of the mummery.

An athletic seaman soon appeared, seemingly issuing from the element whose
deity he aspired to personate. Mops, dripping with brine, supplied the
place of hoary locks; gulf-weed, of which acres were floating within a
league of the ship, composed a sort of negligent mantle; and in his hand
he bore a trident made of three marling-spikes properly arranged and borne
on the staff of a half-pike. Thus accoutred, the God of the Ocean, who was
no less a personage than the captain of the forecastle, advanced with a
suitable air of dignity, along the deck attended by a train of bearded
water-nymphs and naiades, in a costume no less grotesque than his own.
Arrived on the quarter-deck, in front of the position occupied by the
officers, the principal personage saluted the groupe with a wave of his
sceptre, and resumed the discourse as follows; Wilder, from the continued
abstraction of his Commander, finding himself under the necessity of
maintaining one portion of the dialogue.

"A wholesome and prettily-rigged