Nor was Pipes exempted from a share in their undertakings; for,
being a trusty fellow, not without dexterity in some cases, and
altogether resigned to their will, they found him a serviceable
instrument for their purpose, and used him accordingly.
The first sample of their art was exhibited upon Mrs. Trunnion.
They terrified that good lady with strange noises when she retired
to her devotion. Pipes was a natural genius in the composition of
discords: he could imitate the sound produced by the winding of a
jack, the filing of a saw, and the swinging of a malefactor hanging
in chains; he could counterfeit the braying of an ass, the screeching
of a night-owl, the caterwauling of cats, the howling of a dog,
the squeaking of a pig, the crowing of a cock; and he had learned
the war-whoop uttered by the Indians in North America. These talents
were exerted successively, at different times and places, to the
terror of Mrs. Trunnion, the discomposure of the commodore himself,
and the consternation of all the servants in the castle. Peregrine,
with a sheet over his clothes, sometimes tumbled before his aunt
in the twilight, when her organs of vision were a little impaired
by the cordial she had swallowed; and the boatswain's mate taught
him to shoe cats with walnut-shells, so that they made a most
dreadful clattering in their nocturnal excursions.
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