d, he carried with it a
bluff heartiness of manner, which gave an impression of solidity not,
I fear, wholly sustained on demand. There was no such doubt about the
fun, however, or his own huge enjoyment of his own stories,
accompanied by a running fire of guffaws, which pointed the
appreciation we easily gave. But it was all of the same character,
broad farce; accounts of mishaps such as befall in children's
pantomimes,--which their seniors enjoy, too,--practical jokes equally
ludicrous, and resulting situations to match. Comical as such tales
were at the time, and many a pleasant pipeful of Lynchburg tobacco in
Powhatan clay though they whiled away, they lacked the catching and
fixing power of the boatswain's shrewd sayings. I can remember
distinctly only one, of two small midshipmen, shipmates of his in a
sloop-of-war of long-gone days, who had a deadly quarrel, calling for
blood. A duel ashore might in those times have been arranged, unknown
to superiors--they often were; but the necessity for speedy
satisfaction was too urgent, and they could not wait for the end of
the voyage. Consequently, they determined to fight from the two ends
of the spritsail-yard, a horizontal spar which crossed the bowsprit
end, and gave, or could admit, the required number of paces. Seconds,
I presume, were omitted; they might have attracted unnecessary
attention, and on the yard would have been in the way of shot, unless
they sat behind their several principals, like damsels on a pillion.
So these two mites, procuring each a loaded pistol, crawled out
quietly to their respective places, straddled the yard, and were
proceeding to business, when the boatswain caught sight of them from
his frequent stand-point between the knightheads. He ran out, got
between them in the line of fire, and from this position of tactical
advantage, having collared first one and then the other, brought them
both in on the forecastle, where he knocked their heads together. The
last action, I fancy, must be considered an embellishment, necessary
to the dramatic completeness of the incident, though it may at least
be admitted it would not have been incongruous. In telling this
occurrence, which, punctuated by his own laughter, bore frequent
repetition, the carpenter used to give the names of the heroes. One I
have forgotten. The other I knew in after life and middle-age, still
small of stature, with a red face, in outline much like a paroquet's.
He was not a bad