Carlin emphatically shook his head. "No, _sir_. A year once. And I don't
want to be that long away again. Were you--before this cruise?"
"Five years one time."
"F-i-i-ve! Whee-eee! Pretty tough that."
"Tough? More--inhuman. A man can get fat on war, but five years from
your family--!" He raised his face to the stars and whoofed his despair
of it.
"My year away from home," said Carlin, though not immediately, "was in
the Philippines--where I first met you--remember? The night you landed
from the little tug you were in command of and a bunch of us--war
correspondents we called ourselves--were gathered around a big fire."