I HAVE A PAIN" 95

THE YOHO 100

THEY ATE THE ENTIRE BOOT 108

HE HAD TAKEN THE STRANGER IN 117

HE FROZE HIS TOE IN BED 127

A LONG WAY ON THE HEAVENWARD ROAD 131

THE SEVENTH SON 140

ITS ACTION WAS PROMPT AND POWERFUL 141

IT WAS HIS LAST BULLET 153

A PUFFIN GHETTO 180

THE BEAR BIT HIS LEG OFF 189

P.S. 199

_From drawings by Dr. Grenfell_

LE PETIT NORD

OR

ANNALS OF A LABRADOR HARBOUR

_Off the Narrows, St. John's_

_June 10_

DEAR JOAN

The Far North calls and I am on my way:--
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail.
There gloom the dark broad seas.
* * * * *
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks.

Why write as if I had taken a lifelong vow of separation from the
British Isles and all things civilized, when after all it is only one
short year out of my allotted span of life that I have promised to
Mission work? Your steamer letter, with its Machiavellian arguments
for returning immediately and directly from St. John's, was duly
received. Of my unfitness for the work there is no possible doubt, no
shadow of doubt whatever, and therein you and I are at one. But you
will do me the justice to admit that I put very forcibly before those
in charge of the Mission the delusion under which they were labouring;
the responsibility now lies with them, and I "go to prove my soul."
What awaits me I know not, but except when the mighty billows rocked
me, not soothingly with gentle motion, but harshly and immoderately. I
have never wavered in my decision; and even at such times it was to
the bottom of Father Neptune that I aspired to travel rather than to
the shores of "Merrie England."

The voyage so far has been uneventful, and we are now swaying
luxuriously at anchor in a dense fog. This I believe is the usual
welcome accorded to travellers to the island of Newfoundland. There is
no chart for icebergs, and "growlers" are formid