till you wondered that it was not out of breath , or till John threw his handkerchief over the cage . `` Now , that bird , '' he would say , `` is , maybe , two hundred years old , Hawkins -- they live forever mostly ; and if anybody 's seen more wickedness , it must be the devil himself . She 's sailed with England , the great Cap'n England , the pirate . She 's been at Madagascar , and at Malabar , and Surinam , and Providence , and Portobello . She was at the fishing up of the wrecked plate ships . It 's there she learned ` Pieces of eight , ' and little wonder ; three hundred and fifty thousand of 'em , Hawkins ! She was at the boarding of the viceroy of the Indies out of Goa , she was ; and to look at her you would think she was a babby . But you smelt powder -- did n't you , cap'n ? '' `` Stand by to go about , '' the parrot would scream . `` Ah , she 's a handsome craft , she is , '' the cook would say , and give her sugar from his pocket , and then the bird would peck at the bars and swear straight on , passing belief for wickedness . `` There , '' John would add , `` you ca n't touch pitch and not be mucked , lad . Here 's this poor old innocent bird o ' mine swearing blue fire , and none the wiser , you may lay to that . She would swear the same , in a manner of speaking , before chaplain . '' And John would touch his forelock with a solemn way he had that made me think he was the best of men . In the meantime , the squire and Captain Smollett were still on pretty distant terms with one another . The squire made no bones about the matter ; he despised the captain . The captain , on his part , never spoke but when he was spoken to , and then sharp and short and dry , and not a word wasted . He owned , when driven into a corner , that he seemed to have been wrong about the crew , that some of them were as brisk as he wanted to see and all had behaved fairly well . As for the ship , he had taken a downright fancy to her . `` She 'll lie a point nearer the wind than a man has a right to expect of his own married wife , sir .
But , '' he would add , `` all I XXXXX is , we 're not home again , and I do n't like the cruise . ''
add cap'n driven learned live look owned say seen wrecked