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, you contaminating, stave-dubbing, gimlet-carrying, quintessence of a bung-hole! I beg your pardon, Mr Simple, for interrupting the conversation, but when duty calls, we must obey." "Very true, Mr Chucks. It's now striking seven bells, and I must call the master--so good-by." Chapter XVI News from home--A _fatigue_ party employed at Gibraltar--More particulars in the life of Mr Chucks--A brush with the enemy--A court-martial and a lasting impression. A few days afterwards, a cutter joined us from Plymouth, with orders for the frigate to proceed forthwith to Gibraltar, where we should learn our destination. We were all very glad of this: for we had had quite enough of cruising in the Bay of Biscay; and, as we understood that we were to be stationed in the Mediterranean, we hoped to exchange gales of wind and severe weather, for fine breezes and a bright sky. The cutter brought out our letters and newspapers. I never felt more happy than I did when I found one put into my hands. It is necessary to be far from home and friends, to feel the real delight of receiving a letter. I went down into the most solitary place in the steerage, that I might enjoy it without interruption. I cried with pleasure before I opened it, but I cried a great deal more with grief, after I had read the contents--for my eldest brother Tom was dead of a typhus fever. Poor Tom! when I called to mind what tricks he used to play me--how he used to borrow my money and never pay me--and how he used to thrash me and make me obey him, because he was my eldest brother--I shed a torrent of tears at his loss; and then I reflected how miserable my poor mother must be, and I cried still more. "What's the matter, spooney?" said O'Brien, coming up to me. "Who has been licking you now?" "O, nobody," replied I; "but my eldest brother Tom is dead, and I have no other." "Well, Peter, I dare say that your brother was a very good brother; but I'll tell you a secret. When you've lived long enough to have a beard to scrape at, you'll know better than to make a fuss about an elder brother. But you're a good, innocent boy just now, so I won't thrash you for it. Come, dry your eyes, Peter, and never mind it. We'll drink his health and long life to him, after supper, and then never think any more about it." I was very melancholy for a few days; but it was so delightful running down the Portuguese and Spanish coasts, the weather was so warm, and the
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