an affair of the greatest importance, that would admit of no delay;
upon which he ordered the stranger to be told that he was engaged,
and that he must send up his name and business. To this demand he
received for answer a message importing that the person's name was
unknown to him, and his business of such a nature, that it could
not be disclosed to any one but the commodore himself, whom he
earnestly desired to see without loss of time.

Trunnion, surprised at this importunity, got up with great reluctance,
in the middle of his meal, and descending to a parlour where the
stranger was, asked him, in a surly tone, what he wanted with him
in such a d--d hurry, that he could not wait till he had made an
end of his mess? The other, not at all disconcerted at this rough
address, advanced close up to him on his tiptoes, and, with a look
of confidence and conceit, laying his mouth to one side of the
commodore's head, whispered softly in his car, "Sir, I am the attorney
whom you wanted to converse with in private."--"The attorney?"
cried Trunnion, staring, and half-choked with choler. "Yes, sir,
at your service," replied this retainer of the law; "and, if you
please, the sooner we despatch the affair the better; for 'tis an
old observation, that delay breeds danger."--"Truly, brother," said
the commodore, who could no longer contain himself, "I do confess
that I am very much of your way of thinking, d'ye see, and therefore
you shall be despatched in a trice." So saying, he lifted up his
walking-staff, which was something between a crutch and a cudgel,
and discharged it with such energy on the seat of the attorney's
understanding, that if there had been anything but solid bone, the
contents of his skull must have been evacuated.

Fortified as he was by nature against all such assaults, he could