s my inseparable and invaluable
companion, I enjoyed my spine-ache _cum dignitate_ till the others were
ready to return.

On the way to the ship an eider sprang up from a steep ridge we were
passing, and fell in a second, Bradford exclaiming, "That's the best
shot to-day!" The yawl soon followed us. Ph---- had taken two eiders on
the wing; we had six in all. Others brought auks and murres; but the
Judge still led the van. Next morning the Colonel and Judge brought in
four eiders,--the last for the entire voyage. Others were afterward
seen, but only seen. The Parson, some weeks later, closed our intrusive
intimacy with them by an attempt to capture some of their young in the
water. It couldn't be done. They were only a few days old, but, rich in
pre-natal instruction, they always waited until the hand was just upon
them,--not to waste any part of their stay beneath water,--and
then--under in a moment. One saw that pirate saddle-back must needs
bestir himself in order to catch them, and one could appreciate the
sagacity of the mother duck in hurrying her brood, almost as soon as
they are born, into the water.

And so farewell, eiders! If all goes to my wish, you shall yet have a
place on other-world islands and seas, where saddle-backs shall not
pillage your nests, nor coat-backs point at you any Long Tom!

* * * * *

We give account only of what was characteristic, and therefore will now
jump five weeks of time and a hundred leagues of space. But since this
is a long leap, a few stepping-stones will be convenient. The Parson,
then, has brought in on the way a nice batch of velvet duck, noticeable
for their extremely large, oval, elevated, scarlet nostrils; we have
shot at seals, and _almost_ hit them in the most admirable manner; we
have hunted for an indubitable polar bear,--and found a dog and a
midnight mystification; we have played at chess, euchre, backgammon,
whist, debating-club, story-telling, nightmare,--one of our number
developing an incomparable genius for the last; we have played at
getting tolerable cooking out of two slovens, one of whom knows nothing,
and the other everything but his business,--and have lost the game; we
have played at catching trout, and found this the best joke of all.
There are beautiful brook-trout on the coast of Labrador. They say so;
it is so. Beautiful trout,--mostly visible to the naked eye! Not many of
them, but enough to gratify an elegant cur