Mr. Foker was pleased with the new comer. "It's the man who would sing the Malay song at the Back-Kitchen," he whispered to Pen. "Try this pine, sir," he then said to Colonel Altamont; "it's uncommonly fine."
"Pines! I've seen 'em feed pigs on pines," said the colonel.
"All the Nawaub of Lucknow's pigs are fed on pines," Strong whispered to Major Pendennis.
"O, of course," the major answered. Sir Francis Clavering was, in the mean while, endeavoring to make an excuse to his brother guest, for the new comer's condition, and muttered something regarding Altamont, that he was an extraordinary character, very eccentric, very—had Indian habits—didn't understand the rules of English society; to which old Welbore, a shrewd old gentleman, who drank his wine with great regularity, said, "that seemed pretty clear."
Then the colonel seeing Pen's honest face, regarded it for a while with as much steadiness as became his condition, and said, "I know you, too, young fellow. I remember you. Baymouth ball, by Jingo. Wanted to fight the Frenchman. I remember you;" and he laughed, and he squared with his fists, and seemed hugely amused in the drunken depths of his mind, as these recollections passed, or, rather, reeled across it.
"Mr. Pendennis, you remember Colonel Altamont, at Baymouth?" Strong said; upon which Pen, bowing rather stiffly, said, "he had the pleasure of remembering that circumstance perfectly."
"What's his name?" cried the colonel. Strong named Mr. Pendennis again.
"Pendennis!—Pendennis be hanged!" Altamont roared out, to the surprise of every one, and thumping with his fist on the table.
"My name is also Pendennis, sir," said the major, whose dignity was exceedingly mortified by the evening's events—that he, Major Pendennis, should have been asked to such a party, and that a drunken man should have been introduced to it. "My name is Pendennis, and I will be obliged to you not to curse it too loudly."
The tipsy man turned round to look at him, and as he looked, it appeared as if Colonel Altamont suddenly grew sober. He put his hand across his forehead, and in doing so, displaced somewhat the black wig which he wore; and his eyes stared fiercely at the major, who, in his turn, like a resolute old warrior as he was, looked at his opponent very keenly and steadily. At the end of the mutual inspection, Altamont began to button up his brass-buttoned coat, and rising up from his chair, suddenly, and to the company's astonishment, reeled toward the door, and issued from it, followed by Strong: all that the latter heard him utter was, "Captain Beak! Captain Beak, by jingo!"