ing towards the town. Mynheer Kloots, as usual, had his
pipe in his mouth, and the smoke which he puffed from it for a time
obscured the lenses of his telescope. Philip went up the poop ladder
and saluted him.

Mynheer Kloots was a person of no moderate dimensions, and the
quantity of garments which he wore added no little to his apparent
bulk. The outer garments exposed to view were, a rough fox-skin cap
upon his head, from under which appeared the edge of a red worsted
nightcap; a red plush waistcoat, with large metal buttons; a jacket of
green cloth, over which he wore another of larger dimensions of coarse
blue cloth, which came down as low as what would be called a spencer.
Below he had black plush breeches, light blue worsted stockings,
shoes, and broad silver buckles; round his waist was girded, with a
broad belt, a canvas apron which descended in thick folds nearly to
his knee. In his belt was a large broad-bladed knife in a sheath of
shark's skin. Such was the attire of Mynheer Kloots, captain of the
_Ter Schilling_.

He was as tall as he was corpulent. His face was oval, and his
features small in proportion to the size of his frame. His grizzly
hair fluttered in the breeze, and his nose (although quite straight)
was, at the tip, fiery red from frequent application to his bottle of
schnapps, and the heat of a small pipe which seldom left his lips,
except for _him_ to give an order, or for _it_ to be replenished.

"Good morning, my son," said the captain, taking his pipe out of his
mouth for a moment. "We are detained by the supercargo, who appears
not over-willing to come on board; the boat has been on shore this
hour waiting for him, and we shall be last of the fleet under weigh. I
wish the Company would let us sail without these _gentlemen_, who
are (_in my opinion)_ a great hindrance to business; but they think
otherwise on shore."

"What is their duty on board?" replied Philip.

"Their duty is to look after the cargo and the traffic, and if
they kept to that, it would not be so bad; but they interfere with
everything else and everybody, studying little except their own
comforts; in fact, they play the king on board, knowing that we dare
not affront them, as a word from them would prejudice the vessel when
again to be chartered. The Company insist upon their being received
with all honours. We salute them with five guns on their arrival on
board."

"Do you know anything of this one whom you expect?"