ve more, or
appeared to do so with more malice, as his countenance was radiant with
good-humour, at the very time when his knuckles were taking away your
breath. What made it worse, was, that he had a knack of seizing the
coat lappet with the other hand, so that escape was difficult; and when
he had exhausted all his reasoning, he would follow it up with a
pressure of his knuckles under the fifth rib, saying, "Now you feel the
force of my argument, don't you?" Everybody did, and no one would
oppose him unless the table was between them. It was much the same with
his jokes: he would utter them, and then with a loud laugh, and the
insidious insertion of his knuckles, say, "Do you take that, eh?" Mr
Sleek had also his peculiarity, and was not an agreeable person to argue
with, for he had learnt to argue from his many years' constant
companionship with the head of the firm. Mr Sleek was a spare man,
deeply pock-marked in the face, and with a very large mouth; and, when
speaking, he sputtered to such a degree, that a quarter of an hour's
conversation with him was as good as a shower-bath. At long range Mr
Sleek could heat his superior out of the field; but if Mr Small
approached once to close quarters, Mr Sleek gave in immediately. The
captains of the navy used to assert that this fibbing enforcement of his
_truths_, on the part of Small, was quite contrary to all the rules of
modern warfare, and never would stand it, unless they required an
advance of money; and then, by submitting to a certain quantity of digs
in the ribs in proportion to the unreasonableness of their demand, they
usually obtained their object; as they said he "knuckled down" in the
end. As for Mr Sleek, although the best man in the world, he was their
abhorrence; he was nothing but a watering-pot, and they were not plants
which required his aid to add to their vigour. Mr Sleek, even in the
largest company, invariably found himself alone, and could never imagine
why. Still he was an important personage; and when stock is to be got
on board in a hurry, officers in his Majesty's service do not care about
a little spray.

Mr Small was, as we have observed, a navy agent--that is to say, he was
a general provider of the officers and captains of his Majesty's
service. He obtained their agency on any captures which they might send
in, or he cashed their bills, advanced them money, supplied them with
their wine, and every variety of stock which might be