ng. With them tucked akimbo, he could take up two of the heaviest men
in the ship, and run along the deck with them as lightly as he would
have done with a couple of young children. He had a generous, kind
heart, could tell a good story, and troll forth a ditty with any man;
and as to his bravery, where all were brave, I need scarcely mention it,
except to say that I do no not think anyone beat him at that.
Boatswain's mate though he was, Toby Kiddle had a heart as gentle as a
lamb's. He scarcely seemed cut out for the post, and yet there was a
rough crust over it which enabled him to do his duty, and when he had to
lay on with the cat, to shut his eyes, and to hit as hard as he was
ordered. And yet I always have pitied a kind-hearted boatswain's mate,
though he is not after all worse off than the captain and officers, who
have to stand by and see men punished. However, I will not say anything
about that matter just now. Time went on, and I grew bigger, and began
to chew beef and bacon with the rest of the ship's company becoming more
and more independent of my mother in every way. Yet I loved her, as
such a mother deserved to be loved. As I grew bigger I made more and
more friends. The Captain himself very frequently took notice of me,
and patted my head, which was beginning to get curls upon it, and often
gave me cakes and other Chinese manufactured delicacies which he had got
from the shore. Captain Cobb was a short man, and since he came out to
China had grown very round and stout. His face, as a boy, had been
probably pink and white, but it had now been burnt into a deep red
copper colour. His eyes, which were small, were bloodshot, with a
ferrety expression, and altogether his outward man was not attractive.
His uniforms, which had hung loosely on him when he left home, had been,
by the skill of the tailor, let out and out to meet the demands of his
increasing corpulency; but no art or skill could do more for them; and
as he was unwilling to procure others till those were worn out, he
looked, when walking the quarter-deck, very much as if he had on a
straight waistcoat.

Captain Cobb was not disregardful of his creature comforts, and in order
to supply himself with milk for breakfast and tea, he had shipped on
board, some time back, a she-goat, which fully answered his wishes.
Seamen will make pets of everything--monkeys, babies, lions, pigs,
bears, dogs, and cats. The goat had become a favourite, for