n the
contrary, his wear was dark blue Guernsey shirt, fitting tight to his
chest, and displaying the fine proportions of his arms and bust. His
neck a sculptor would have admired from its bold regular outline, and
his breast was full and well rounded, though, like that of all sailors,
it was disfigured by tattooing, and over its surface when bare, and on
his arms, you might have observed the usual hieroglyphics of the ship--
the foul anchor, the pair of pierced hearts, with the B.B., and numerous
other initials. A female figure upon the left breast, rudely punctured
in deep-blue, was no doubt the presumed portrait of some black-eyed
"Sal" or "Susan" of the Downs.

Such was Ben Brace, my new-found friend and protector.

How I came to secure his protection was by a chance incident, somewhat
curious. It was thus:--

I had not been long on board before I made a discovery that somewhat
astonished me, which was, that more than half the crew were foreigners.
I was astonished at this, because I had hitherto been under the
impression that an English ship was always manned by English sailors--
including of course Scotch and Irish--either of whom make just as good
sailors as Englishmen. Instead of being all English, or Scotch, or
Irish, however, on board the _Pandora_ (for that I had learnt was the
name of the ship, and an appropriate name it was), I soon perceived that
at least three-fourths of the men were from other countries. Were they
Frenchmen? or Spaniards? or Portuguese? or Dutch? or Swedes? or
Italians? No--but they were all these, and far more too, since the crew
was a very large one for the size of the ship--quite two score of them
in all. There seemed to be among them a representative of every
maritime nation in the world, and, indeed, had every country in sending
its quota selected the greatest scamp within its boundaries, they could
hardly have produced a finer combination of ruffianism than was the crew
of the _Pandora_! I have already hinted at exceptions, but when I came
to know them all there were only two--my protector Brace, and another
innocent but unfortunate fellow, who was by birth a Dutchman.

Among the mixed lot there were several Frenchmen, but one, named "Le
Gros," deserves particular notice. He was well named, for he was a
stout, fat Frenchman, gross in body as in mind, with a face of ferocious
aspect, more that half covered with a beard that a pirate might have
envied--and indeed it was