LETTER VII.
MOODY DICK'S SISTER LOUISA.
FROM PIDGIE TO BENNIE.
Schooner Go-Ahead, August 1st, 1846.
You will think from my last letters, dear Bennie, that I have lost all
interest in Moody Dick; and to be sure I did forget his story in the
excitement of our visit to the Cunard steamer.
The evening after that great event was so pleasant, that David and I,
who in general are great sleepy-heads, had no desire to rest; perhaps
from having seen so much that was new during the day. The sailors are
too used to such visits to think any thing about them; and, besides,
they are a mighty independent set of men, and care as little for the
world as the world for them. Clarendon sat on one end of the schooner
reading some English papers by the moonlight, which was intensely
bright, while at the other end Brown Tom and some of his friends were
regaling themselves with a smoke and a long yarn. I had not seen Dick
since morning to notice him, but could not help observing him now, as he
walked about with the air of a man who is trying to free himself from
some melancholy thought. I did not interrupt him, when he passed the
place where I was sitting with David, but two or three times he halted
as he came by us. My Yankee friend was giving me a lively description of
a clam-bake at Swampscot, in return for a picture I had drawn of life on
a plantation in Virginia; but though it was most amusing, I could not
help pitying Dick.
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