So far there was not a hitch . The workpeople , to be sure -- riggers and what not -- were most annoyingly slow ; but time cured that . It was the crew that troubled me . I wished a round score of men -- in case of natives , buccaneers , or the odious French -- and I had the worry of the deuce itself to find so much as half a dozen , till the most remarkable stroke of fortune brought me the very man that I required . I was standing on the dock , when , by the merest accident , I fell in talk with him . I found he was an old sailor , kept a public-house , knew all the seafaring men in Bristol , had lost his health ashore , and wanted a good berth as cook to get to sea again . He had hobbled down there that morning , he said , to get a smell of the salt . I was monstrously touched -- so would you have been -- and , out of pure pity , I engaged him on the spot to be ship 's cook . Long John Silver , he is called , and has lost a leg ; but that I regarded as a recommendation , since he lost it in his country 's service , under the immortal Hawke . He has no pension , Livesey . Imagine the abominable age we live in ! Well , sir , I thought I had only found a cook , but it was a crew I had discovered . Between Silver and myself we got together in a few days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable -- not pretty to look at , but fellows , by their faces , of the most indomitable spirit . I declare we could fight a frigate . Long John even got rid of two out of the six or seven I had already engaged . He showed me in a moment that they were just the sort of fresh-water swabs we had to fear in an adventure of importance . I am in the most magnificent health and spirits , eating like a bull , sleeping like a tree , yet I shall not enjoy a moment till I hear my old tarpaulins tramping round the capstan . Seaward , ho ! Hang the treasure ! It 's the glory of the sea that has turned my head .
So now , XXXXX , come post ; do not lose an hour , if you respect me .
Bristol French Hawke Livesey Silver buccaneers days frigate ho workpeople