ent. Quickly folding up a blanket, I carefully
placed it over the long rent, and kneeled down upon it to keep it in
place. The man in the front of the canoe put down his paddle, and,
taking up the kettle, baled as rapidly as he could, while the Indian in
the stern, and myself in the middle, plied our paddles for dear life.
We turned towards the Spider Islands, which were over a mile away, and
by vigorous work succeeded in reaching one of them, although our canoe
was half full of water. Then could we enter into David's words, as for
life we struggled, and our little craft was tossed on the cross sea in
our efforts to reach a place of safety: "They reel to and fro, and
stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry
unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their
distresses."

We paddled up as far as we could on a smooth granite rock that came out
gradually in the water. Then out we sprang, and strong hands dragged
our little canoe up beyond the reach of the waves. We hastily pulled
out our dripping blankets and soaked food and other things, and then,
overturning the canoe, emptied it of water; and as we saw the large
break in the bottom, we realised as we had not before the danger we had
been in, and the providential escape which had been ours. So, with glad
hearts, we said, "We do `praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His
wonderful works to the children of men.'"

We quickly built a fire, and melted some pitch, a quantity of which is
always carried ready for such emergencies. The long rent was covered
over with a piece of cloth well saturated in the boiling pitch, a
quantity more was poured over, and the whole was carefully smoothed out
over the weak place. Soon it cooled and hardened, and the work was
done. We ate a little food, and then launched our frail craft and
pushed on. No serious accidents again troubled us, and we ended this
long canoe trip, as we had done many others, thankful that we had such
blessed opportunities to go to the remote places as heralds of the
Cross, and doubly thankful when we were safe at home again.

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On one of my canoe trips, when looking after pagan bands in the remote
Nelson River District, I had some singular experiences, and learned some
important lessons about the craving of the pagan heart after God.

We had been journeying on for ten or twelve days whe