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ridden man, but convalescent, I hope,
here raises himself on his elbow, and
checks Brooks for being "down in the
mouth." and Brooks after a growling
rejoinder improves his merry remniscences
by turning to me.

"Capn Kane five nights to come one
year you came in upon four of us down
as flat as flounders. I didn't look at
your boots but I knew you wore Esquimaux
ones. It was a hard walk for you
the greatest thing I ever hearn tell of but:-
here he begins to soliloquise - Baker's
dead and Pierres dead, and Wilson
and I. "[Damn it] Shut up Brooks shut up" -
here I broke in whispering across
the boards which separated our matrresses
"You will make the patients uncomfortable."
But no: the old times were strong
upon him, he did not speak loud but
he caught me by both hands and said
in his low base quiet tones, "Doctor you
cried when you saw us, and didn't
pull up till we jabbed the stopper
down the whiskey tin and gave you a
tot of it."

The general tone of the conversation
around me is like this specimen
(above). I am glad to hear my shipmates
talking together again for we have of
late been silent. The last years battle
commenced at this time one year
ago and it is natural that the men
should recal it. Had I succeeded
in pushing my party across the Bay
my success would have been uequalled
(as to daring and efficiency) it was
the true plan, the best conceived and
in fact the only one [alternative] by which