d of so
important a family. But once in a while a qualm of homesickness would
come over him, for Toby, and the Captain, and a big tin basin of warm
milk. And in one of these moods he was suddenly confronted by men.

The herd was loitering off a point which marked the entrance to a
shallow cove, when round the jutting rocks slid a row-boat, with two
fishermen coming out to set lines. They had no guns with them,
fortunately. They saw the seals dive and vanish at the first glimpse
of them, as was natural. But to their amazement, one seal--the
biggest, to their astonished eyes, in the whole North Atlantic--did
not vanish with the rest. Instead of that, after eying them
fearlessly at a distance of some fifty feet, he swam deliberately
straight toward them.

Now there is nothing very terrifying, except to a fish, in the aspect
of even the biggest harbor seal; but to these fishermen, who knew the
shyness of the seals, it was terrifying to the last degree that one
should conduct himself in this unheard-of way. They stopped rowing,
and stared with superstitious eyes.

"Howly Mother!" gasped one, "that b'ain't no seal, Mike!"

"What d'ye s'pose he wants wid us, Barney, annyhow?" demanded Mike, in
an awed voice.

"Sure, an' it's a _sign_ for the one or t'other of us. It's gittin'
back to shore we'd better be," suggested Barney, pulling round hard on
the bow oar.

As the mysterious visitor was still advancing, this counsel highly
commended itself to Mike, who would have faced a polar bear with no
weapon but his oar, but had no stomach for a parley with the
supernatural. In another moment the boat was rushing back up the cove
with all the speed their practised muscles could impart. But still,
swimming leisurely in their wake, with what seemed to them a dreadful
deliberation, the Pup came after them.

"Don't ye be comin' nigh _me_!" cried Mike, somewhat hysterically, "or
I'll bash yer face wid the oar, mind!"

"Whisht!" said Barney, "don't ye be after talkin' that way to a
sperrit, or maybe he'll blast ye!"

"I'm thinkin', now," said Mike, presently, in a hushed voice, "as
maybe it be Dan Sheedy's sperrit, comin' back to ha'nt me coz I didn't
give up them boots o' his to his b'y, accordin' to me promise."

"Shure an' why not that?" agreed Barney, cheered by the hope that the
visitation was not meant for him.

A moment more and the boat reached the beach with an abruptness that
hurled both rowers from their seats. Scram