But in latter years it had spread itself out in soft, porous, red excrescences, to such an extent as to make it really deserving of considerable attention.
No stranger ever passed Captain Cuttwater in the streets of Devonport without asking who he was, or, at any rate, specially noticing him.
It must, of course, be admitted that a too strongly pronounced partiality for alcoholic drink had produced these defects in Captain Cuttwater's nasal organ; and yet he was a most staunch friend of temperance.

No man alive or dead had ever seen Captain Cuttwater the worse for liquor; at least so boasted the captain himself, and there were none, at any rate in Devonport, to give him the lie.

Woe betide the midshipman whom he should see elated with too much wine; and even to the common sailor who should be tipsy at the wrong time, he would show no mercy.

Most eloquent were the discourses which he preached against drunkenness, and they always ended with a reference to his own sobriety.

The truth was, that drink would hardly make Captain Cuttwater drunk.