I will ask him--"What is a sternutation?" (words being his weapons)
"What is a sternutation?" He shall answer learnedly by the card--"A
sneeze," the nose or stem being the organ. Then he shall ask Jem
Sparkle "What is a sternutation?"--You laugh, old gentleman; but your
devil's "mistack" looks every inch as queer to a sailor as our topman's
answer would sound to you.
Yours with all cordiality, notwithstanding,
"THOMAS CRINGLE."
CHAPTER IV
Scenes on the Costa Firme.
"Here lies a sheer hulk, poor Tom Bowline."
CHARLES DIBDIN,
"Tom Bowling," LINE 1.
I was awakened by the low growling, and short bark of the dog. The night
was far spent; the tiny sparks of the fire--flies that were glancing in
the doorway began to grow pale; the chirping of the crickets and lizards,
and the snore of the tree--toad, waxed fainter, and the wild cry of the
tiger--cat was no longer heard. The terral, or land--wind, which is
usually strongest towards morning, moaned loudly on the hillside, and came
rushing past with a melancholy sough, through the brushwood that
surrounded the hut, shaking off the heavy dew from the palm and cocoa--nut
trees, like large drops of rain.
The hollow tap of the woodpecker; the clear flute--note of the Pavo del
monte; the discordant shriek of the macaw; the shrill chirr of the wild
Guinea fowl; and the chattering of the paroquets, began to be heard from
the wood. The ill--omened gaflinaso was sailing and circling round the
hut, and the tall flamingo was stalking on the shallows of the lagoon, the
haunt of the disgusting alligator, that lay beneath, divided from the sea
by a narrow mud--bank, where a group of pelicans, perched on the wreck of
one of our boats, were pluming themselves before taking wing.
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