210 SHIP-DOCTOB. 



or connections; only that he had been a 

 ship-doctor. This of itself was sufficient 

 to raise my curiosity, and justify, as I 

 thought, my intrusion. Accordingly, one 

 hot summer's morning I called, intending 

 to introduce myself. 



After knocking at the door, and waiting 

 some little time, beyond what I thought 

 was necessary, I was about to raise the 

 knocker a second time, when I heard a 

 heavy tread approaching. The door was 

 next opened wide, and an object presented 

 itself to my view that I shall not easily 

 forget a huge specimen of the genus homo, 

 in his shirt and trousers the former with 

 the sleeves tucked up and the collar un- 

 buttoned and thrown back, exhibited a 

 chest and pair of shoulders that reminded 

 me of the boatswain, whose extraordinary 

 feat I have related in the second chapter. 

 His throat and neck were like the mutilated 

 statue of Hercules in the Disney collec- 



