Billy Norris, Masulipatam"--The singer was in the middle of the stave
when Desmond, rounding a privet hedge, came upon the scene. A patch of
greensward, sloping up from a slipway on the riverside; a low,
cozy-looking inn of red brick covered with a crimson creeper; in front of
it a long deal table, and seated at the table a group of some eight or
ten seamen, each with a pewter tankard before him. To the left, and
somewhat in the rear of the long table, was a smaller one, at which two
seamen, by their garb a cut above the others, sat opposite each other,
intent on some game.

Desmond's attention was drawn towards the larger table. Rough as was the
common seaman of George the Second's time, the group here collected would
have been hard to match for villainous looks. One had half his teeth
knocked out, another a broken nose; all bore scars and other marks of
battery.

Among them, however, there was one man marked out by his general
appearance and facial expression as superior to the rest. In dress he was
no different from his mates; he wore the loose blouse, the pantaloons,
the turned-up cloth hat of the period. But he towered above them in
height; he had a very large head, with a very small squab nose, merry
eyes, and a fringe of jet-black hair round cheeks and chin.

When he removed his hat presently he revealed a shiny pink skull, rising
from short, wiry hair as black as his whiskers. Alone of the group, he
wore no love locks or greased pigtail. In his right hand, when Desmond
first caught sight of him, he held a tankard, waving it to and fro in
time with his song. He had lost his left hand and forearm, which were
replaced by an iron hook projecting from a wooden socket, just visible in
his loose sleeve.