Three at last he found: Peter Plum, Bob Robins, and Tom Tuck. Joe was
admiral; Plum, coming next, combined a number of grades. He was
captain, first lieutenant, and boatswain. Robins was the ship's
working company, and Tom Tuck cooked and was the all-round handy man
of the _Tom Bowling_.
It was Mr. Joe Westlake's intention to live on board his cutter; he
furnished his cabin plainly and comfortably, and laid in a plentiful
stock of liquor and tobacco. As he was to cruise under his own flag,
and was indeed an admiral on his own account, he conferred with his
first lieutenant, Peter Plum, on the question of a colour: what
description of flag should he fly at his masthead? They both started
with the understanding that nothing under a fathom and a half in
length was worth hoisting. After much discussion it was agreed that
the device should consist of a very small jack in the top corner, and
in the middle a crown with a wooden leg under it--the timber toe being
in both Westlake's and Plum's opinion the most pregnant symbol of
Britannia's greatness that the imagination could devise.
Within a few months of his landing from the frigate out of which he
had been paid, Mr.
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