ith your own weapon," said
the big man.

"Thank you," I answered, "but I am not a tailor."

"No--ho, ho, ho,--perhaps not; but you are little more than the ninth
part of a man," said the giant.

"The ninth part of you, you mean; but I am half as big as most men now,
and hope to be a whole man some day, and a captain into the bargain."

"Then I take it you are that important character, a new fledged
midshipman," observed my huge companion.

"Judging of you by your size, I should suppose on the same grounds that
you are nothing less than an admiral," I retorted.

"I should be, if I had my deserts, boy," he replied, drawing himself up,
and swelling out his chest.

"Then are you only a captain?" I asked.

"I once was, boy," he replied with a sigh which resembled the rumbling
of a volcano.

"Captain of the main-top," said the gentleman on the box without turning
round.

"What are you now, then?" I asked.

"A boatswain," uttered the gentleman on the box.

"Yes, young gentleman, as our friend there says, I am a boatswain," he
exclaimed in a voice of thunder, "and a very important person is a
boatswain on board ship, let me tell you, with his call at his mouth,
and colt in his hand, as your silent companion there will very soon find
out, for I presume, by the cut of his jib, that he is not a midshipman."

"And what is a boatswain on board ship?" I asked, with unfeigned
simplicity.

"Everything from truck to kelson, I may say, is under his charge," he
replied consequentially. "He has to look after masts, spars, rigging,
sails, cables, anchors, and stores; to see that the men are kept under
proper discipline, and make them smart aloft. In my opinion a
man-of-war might do without her captain and lieutenants, but would be no
man-of-war without her boatswain."

The gentleman on the box laughed outright, but the boatswain took no
notice of it. I began to think in spite of his coarseness that he must
be a very important personage, and probably I showed this in my manner,
for he went on enlarging on his own importance.

"I tell you, young gentleman, it's my belief that I have been round the
world oftener and seen more strange sights than any man living."

"I should like to hear some of your adventures," I said.

"I dare say you would, and if you like to pay me a visit on board the
Doris frigate, and will inquire for Mr Jonathan Johnson, the boatswain,
I shall be happy to see you and to enlighten your mind a