the length of
his commander's foot; though he has another favourite in the house,
called Tom Pipes, that was his boatswain's mate, and now keeps the
servants in order. Tom is a man of few words, but an excellent hand at a
song, concerning the boatswain's whistle, husslecap, and
chuck-farthing--there is not such another pipe in the country. So that
the Commodore lives very happy in his own manner; though he be sometimes
thrown into perilous passions and quandaries, and exceedingly afflicted
with goblins that disturb his rest. Bless your honour's soul, he is a
very oddish kind of a gentleman. I don't think he would marry the Queen
of Sheba. Lackaday! sir, he won't suffer his own maids to speak in the
garrison, but turns them into an outhouse before the watch is set."

However, Hatchway entered spiritedly into Miss Grizzle's cause by
working on the fears of the Commodore. He prevailed upon Pipes to get up
on the top of the chimney belonging to the Commodore's chamber at
midnight, and to hollow through a speaking-trumpet, "Trunnion! turn out
and be spliced, or lie still and be damned!" By this, and other
stratagems, Trunnion's obstinacy was overcome. He wiped the sweat from
his forehead, and heaving a piteous groan yielded to the remonstrances
of Hatchway in these words: "Well, since it must be so, I think we must
e'en grapple. But 'tis a hard case that a fellow of my years should be
compelled, d'ye see, to beat up to windward all the rest of his life,
against the current of his own inclination."

Things being brought to this bearing, Miss Grizzle's heart dilated with
joy; the parson was persuaded to perform the ceremony in the garrison,
which all that day was adorned with flags, and at night illuminated by
the direction of Hatchway.

_II.--The Commodore Takes Peregrine Under His Own Care_

Having no hopes of propagating his own name, the Commodore, through his
friendly intercourse with Mr. Gamaliel, contracted a liking for
Peregrine, who, by this time entered the third year of his age, was a
very handsome, healthy, and promising child, with a certain oddity of
disposition for which he had been remarkable even from his cradle.
Almost all his little childish satire was levelled against the
Commodore, but in this he might have been influenced by the example and
instruction of Mr. Hatchway, who delighted in superintending the first
essays of his genius.

One day when the Commodore had chastised the child by a gentle