"After having a glass with my friend at his expense, of course, it was but right for him to have one at mine. We then parted company; and I made tracks for the lodging-house, where I had left you. "Them two glasses of brandy, after working hard all the afternoon in the hot sun, did more for me, than ever the same quantity had done before. I was drunk somewhere, though I was not exactly certain where. "Just before reaching the house where we were staying, I met the first breezer, who, you remember, had knocked me down with the carpenter's mallet. Well! without more ado, I went to work to teach him manners. "While giving him the lesson, I larnt that it was my head that was drunk: for my legs and arms did their duty. I beat and kicked him in a way, that would have rejoiced the heart of any honest man. Just as I was polishing him off, two constables came up, and collared me away to gaol. "The next morning, I was sentenced to one month's imprisonment. Captain Brannon did not like that: for he wanted me back aboard of his ship. But the magistrate, mayor, or whatever he was, that sentenced me, had too much respect for me to allow the captain to have his own way; and I was lodged and fed, free of all expense, until the `Hope' had sailed. "After coming out of the gaol, I went straight to the boarding-house, in hopes of finding you still there; but I larnt that you had gone away, the next day after I was jugged; and the old woman could not give any account of where you had drifted to. I thought that you had joined the `Hope' again, and gone home. I've been everywhere over the world since then; and I don't know how I could have missed seeing you before now! "I came to San Francisco Bay in an English ship--the captain of which tried to hinder the crew from deserting, by anchoring some distance from the city, and keeping an armed watch over them. He thought we were such fools as to leave San Francisco in his ship for two pounds a month, when, by taking another vessel, we could get twenty! He soon found his mistake. We larnt him manners, by tying and gagging him, as well as his first officer, and steward. Then we all went ashore in the ships' boats--leaving the ship where I suppose she is now--to rot in the bay of San Francisco. "After coming up to the diggings, I had no luck for a long time; but I'm now working one of the richest claims as ever was opened." During the day, I told Stormy the particulars of my visit to Dublin; and the trouble I was in concerning the loss of my relatives. "Never mind 'em!" said he, "make a fortune here--and then make a family of your own. I've been told that that's the best way to forget old friends, though, for myself, I never tried it."