d
donkey, very apt to put his head between his legs, and chuck us over;
but pride's a fine horse, who will carry us over the ground, and enable
us to distance our fellow-travellers. Mr Chucks has pride, and that's
always commendable, even in a boatswain. How often have you read of
people rising from nothing, and becoming great men? This was from
talent, sure enough; but it was talent with pride to force it onward,
not talent with vanity to check it."

"You are very right, O'Brien; I spoke foolishly."

"Never mind, Peter, nobody heard you but me; so it's of no consequence.
Don't you dine in the cabin to-day?"

"Yes."

"So do I. The captain is in a most marvellous humour this morning. He
told me one or two yarns that quite staggered my politeness and my
respect for him on the quarter-deck. What a pity it is that a man should
have gained such a bad habit!"

"He's quite incurable, I'm afraid," replied I; "but, certainly, his fibs
do no harm; they are what they call white lies. I do not think he would
really tell a lie--that is, a lie which would be considered to disgrace
a gentleman."

"Peter, _all_ lies disgrace a gentleman, white or black, although I
grant there is a difference. To say the least of it, it is a dangerous
habit; for white lies are but the gentlemen ushers to black ones. I know
but of one point on which a lie is excusable, and that is, when you wish
to deceive the enemy. Then your duty to your country warrants your lying
till you're black in the face; and, for the very reason that it goes
against your grain, it becomes, as it were, a sort of virtue."

"What was the difference between the marine officer and Mr Phillott that
occurred this morning?"

"Nothing at all in itself. The marine officer is a bit of a gaby, and
takes offence where none is meant. Mr Phillott has a foul tongue; but he
has a good heart."

"What a pity it is!"

"It is a pity, for he's a smart officer; but the fact is, Peter, that
junior officers are too apt to copy their superiors, and that makes it
very important that a young gentleman should sail with a captain who is
a gentleman. Now, Phillott served the best of his time with Captain
Ballover, who is notorious in the service for foul and abusive language.
What is the consequence? That Phillott and many others who have served
under him have learnt his bad habit."

"I should think, O'Brien, that the very circumstance of having had your
feelings so often wounded by such langu