upon the gravel. Here they could cook their meals at midday, and
the gravel would protect the bottom of the boat from heat. A
sufficient quantity of fire-wood was taken aboard, and the provisions
and other equipment stowed under a short deck forward where the things
would be protected from storm and all would be in readiness for an
early start in the morning.

CHAPTER III

"'TIS THE GHOST OF LONG JOHN"

The morning was clear and crisp. Breakfast was eaten by candle-light,
and before sunrise Doctor Joe and the boys, with the tide to help
them, worked the big boat down through The Jug and past the Point into
Eskimo Bay. In the shelter of The Jug, which lay in the lee of the
hills, the sails flapped idly and it was necessary to bring the long
oars into service. But beyond the sheltered harbour a light north-west
breeze caught and filled the sails, the oars were stowed, the rudder
shipped, and with David at the tiller Doctor Joe lighted his pipe and
settled himself for a quiet smoke while Andy and Jamie turned their
attention to their scout handbooks.

It was an inspiring morning. The sky was cloudless. The air was
charged with scent of spruce and balsam fir, wafted down by the
breeze from the forest, lying in dark and solemn silence and spreading
away from the near-by shore until it melted into the blue haze of
rolling hills far to the northward. The huge black back of a grampus
rose a hundred feet from the boat and with a noise like the loud
exhaust of steam sank again beneath the surface of the Bay. Now and
again a seal raised its head and looked curiously at the travellers
and then hastily dived. Gulls and terns soared and circled overhead,
occasionally dipping to the water to capture a choice morsel of food.
A flock of wild geese, honking in flight, turned into a bight and
alighted where a brook coursed down through a marsh to join the sea.

"There's some geese," remarked David, breaking the silence. "They're
comin' up south now. We'll have a hunt when we gets home. They always
feeds in that mesh when they're bidin' about the Bay."

Presently Andy exclaimed:

"I can tie un all! I can tie every knot in the book!"

"I can tie un too!" said Jamie.

"Yes! Yes! There are the scout tests!" broke in Doctor Joe. "Suppose
we all tie the knots and pass the tests."

Andy and Jamie tied them easily enough, and then Doctor Joe tied them
himself to keep pace with the boys, and Andy relieved David at the
tiller t