eave land behind us until we reach the northern shore of
the Gulf."

"Yes?"

Although she gazed pensively over the water, and with conspicuous
amiability, something seemed to suggest that the present conversation
had reached a natural end. So the skeleton moved away.

With Pats a hint was enough. During the remainder of the voyage, at
meals, and the few occasions on which he met the lady, he also was
genial and outwardly undisturbed; but he took every care that she should
be subjected to no annoyance from his companionship. This outward
calmness, however, bore no resemblance to his inward tribulation. Such
was his desire for her good opinion that this sudden plunge from favor
to disgrace--or at least, to a frigid toleration--brought a keen
distress. Moreover, he was mortified at having allowed himself, under
any pretext, to jeer at her religion.

"Ass, ass! Impossible ass!" he muttered a dozen times that day.

Meanwhile, the _Maid of the North_ was driving steadily along,
always to the north and east. On the morning of the second day her
passengers had caught glimpses, to the larboard, of the shores of Nova
Scotia. Later they rounded Cape Breton, and then, against a howling wind
and a choppy sea, headed north into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The
_Maid of the North_ was a sturdy boat, and though she pitched and
tossed in a way that disarranged the mechanism of her passengers, she
did nothing to destroy their confidence.

It was the evening of this last day of the voyage, when Pats, feeling
the need of companionship in his misery, descended for a final interview
with Solomon. Through a dismal part of the steamer he groped his way,
until his eyes became accustomed to the gloom. Solomon heard his step
and knew him from afar. He whined, pulled hard at his chain, and stood
up on his hind legs, waving his front ones in excited welcome.

"There is _somebody_ glad to see me, anyway," thought Pats, as he
sat on an anchor bar with the dog's head between his knees. There had
always been more or less conversation between these two: not that
Solomon understood the exact meaning of all the words, but he did
thoroughly understand that trust and affection formed the bulk of the
sentiments expressed. And these things being the basis of Solomon's
character rendered him a sympathetic and grateful listener. The
monologue, address, oration, confidence--or whatever--was delivered in a
low tone, accompanied by strokings of the listener's