, 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