POPULAKITY 31 



to shave, an oj^eration that he had not undergone very 

 lately. 



"• But, how's your brother ? " he asked. 



" I was not aware," I replied, " that you knew me or 

 my brother." 



"I knew you," he replied, "the first time I saw you 

 and heard your name, from your likeness to him." 



" What brother ? " I said. 



" Why, the lieutenant, to be sure, Bob — where is he 

 now t 



When I had satisfied him on that liead, I asked him 

 how it was that he had not made himself known to me 

 before ? 



" Why," he said, " to tell you the truth, I thought you 

 were too great a horse." 



This, I should tell my readers, is a common phrase 

 with sailors, when speaking of a person whom they think 

 a little lofty ; but, I thought, very inapplicable at that 

 time, when used by an enlightened disciple of EsculajDius, 

 to one who had become a humble follower of Jehu. 



" But where, may I ask, did you know my brother ? " 



" In the Gyane, with Sir Thomas Staines ; we were 

 messmates in her when he was a middy, and I a doctor's 

 mate — and a fine noble fellow he was. I should very 

 much like to see him again ; he and I were always great 

 cronies ; everybody in the shij) liked him," he said, 

 " from Tommy " — as he familiarly designated the Captain 

 — " down to the loblolly-boy." 



He then ran on in a j^urely nautical strain, smacking a 

 little of the Irish accent, in praise of my brother, whom 

 he described as a thoroughbred sailor, and a brave lad ; 



