o spake Mr. Mordacks, wishing
to confuse ideas; for the speech of Bob misliked him.

"The corners of the body is the Lord's good-will," old Joe answered,
with his feelings hurt; "He calleth home a piece to let the rest bide
on, and giveth longer time to it--so saith King David."

"It may be so; but I forget the passage. Now what has your son Bob to
say?"

Bob was a sailor of the fine old British type, still to be found even
nowadays, and fit to survive forever. Broad and resolute of aspect, set
with prejudice as stiff as his own pigtail, truthful when let alone,
yet joyful in a lie, if anybody doubted him, peaceable in little things
through plenty of fight in great ones, gentle with women and children,
and generous with mankind in general, expecting to be cheated, yet not
duly resigned at being so, and subject to unaccountable extremes of
laziness and diligence. His simple mind was now confused by the general
factor's appeal to him to pronounce his opinion, when he had just now
pronounced it, after great exertion.

"Sir," he said, "I leave such things to father's opinion; he hath been
ashore some years; and I almost forget how the land lays."

"Sea-faring Robert, you are well advised. A man may go round the world
till he has no limbs left, yet never overtake his father. So the matter
is left to my decision. Very good; you shall have no reason to repent
it. To-night you have liberty to splice the main-brace, or whatever
your expression is for getting jolly drunk; in the morning you will be
sobriety itself, sad, and wise, and aching. But hear my proposal, before
you take a gloomy view of things, such as to-morrow's shades may
bring. You have been of service to me, and I have paid you with great
generosity; but what I have done, including dinner, is dust in the
balance to what I shall do, provided only that you act with judgment,
discipline, and self-denial, never being tipsy more than once a week,
which is fair naval average, and doing it then with only one another.
Hard it may be; but it must be so. Now before I go any further, let me
ask whether you, Joseph, as a watchman under government, have lost your
position by having left it for two months upon a private spree?"

"Lor', no, your honor! Sure you must know more than that. I gived a old
'ooman elevenpence a week, and a pot of beer a Sunday, to carry out the
dooties of the government."

"You farmed out your appointment at a low figure. My opinion of your
power