lved to alarm his uncle,
that he might assist in keeping the peace. He accordingly entered the
apartment of the captain, who had been waked by the trumpet, and now
peevishly asked the meaning of that d--ned piping, as if all hands were
called upon deck? Clarke having imparted what he knew of the
transaction, together with his own conjectures, the captain said, he did
not suppose as how they would engage by candlelight; and that, for his
own part, he should turn out in the larboard watch, long enough before
any signals could be hove out for forming the line.

With this assurance the lawyer retired to his nest, where he did not fail
to dream of Mrs. Dolly Cowslip, while Sir Launcelot passed the night
awake, in ruminating on the strange challenge he had received. He had
got notice that the sender was Mr. Sycamore, and hesitated with himself
whether he should not punish him for his impertinence; but when he
reflected on the nature of the dispute, and the serious consequences it
might produce, he resolved to decline the combat, as a trial of right and
merit founded upon absurdity. Even in his maddest hours, he never
adopted those maxims of knight-errantry which related to challenges. He
always perceived the folly and wickedness of defying a man to mortal
fight, because he did not like the colour of his beard, or the complexion
of his mistress; or of deciding by homicide whether he or his rival
deserved the preference, when it was the lady's prerogative to determine
which should be the happy lover. It was his opinion that chivalry was an
useful institution while confined to its original purposes of protecting
the innocent, assisting the friendless, and bringing the guilty to
condign punishment. But he could not conceive how these laws should be
answered by violating every suggestion of reason, and every precept of
humanity.

Captain Crowe did not examine the matter so philosophically. He took it
for granted that in the morning the two knights would come to action, and
slept sound on that supposition. But he rose before it was day, resolved
to be somehow concerned in the fray; and understanding that the stranger
had a companion, set him down immediately for his own antagonist. So
impatient was he to establish this secondary contest, that by daybreak he
entered the chamber of Dawdle, to which he was directed by the waiter,
and roused him with a hilloah, that might have been heard at the distance
of half a league. Da