g, and went on
at such a rate, that he quite won the hearts of our guests. Tom was
not noisy, and he was slow in his talk, but he had the knack of telling
a good story; he never used a wrong word, or a word too many, and,
having a great deal of humour, men could not help listening when he
began to talk.

After this we had a dance, and here I became useful, being able to play
Scotch reels and Irish jigs on the fiddle. Then we had songs and yarns
again. Some could tell of furious fights with whales that made our
blood boil; others could talk of the green fields at home, until we
almost fancied we were boys again; and some could not tell stories at
all. They had little to say, and that little they said ill; and I
noticed that many of those who were perfect bores would cry loudest to
be heard, though none of us wanted to hear them. We used to quench
such fellows by calling loudly for a song with a rousing chorus.

It was not till the night was far spent, and the silver moon was
sailing through the starry sky, that the Yankees left us, and rowed
away with a parting cheer.

CHAPTER X

RETURN HOME

Six months after our "gam" with the Yankees Tom Lokins and I found
ourselves seated once more in the little garret beside my dear old
mother.

"Deary me, Robert, how changed ye are!"

"Changed, Mother! I should think so! If you'd gone through all that
I've done and seen since we last sat together in this room, you'd be
changed too."

"And have ye really seen the whales, my boy?" continued my mother,
stroking my face with her old hand.

"Seen them? aye, and killed them too--many of them."

"You've been in danger, my son," said my mother earnestly, "but the
Lord has preserved you safe through it all."

"Aye, Mother, He has preserved my life in the midst of many dangers,"
said I, "for which I am most thankful."

There was a short silence after this, during which my mother and I
gazed earnestly at each other, and Tom Lokins smoked his pipe and
stared at the fire.

"Robert, how big is a whale?" enquired my mother suddenly.

"How big? why, it's as big as a small ship, only it's longer, and not
quite so fat."

"Robert," replied my mother gravely, "ye didn't use to tell untruths;
ye must be jokin'."

"Joking, Mother, I was never more in earnest in my life. Why, I tell
you that I've seen, aye, and helped to cut up, whales that were more
than sixty feet long, with heads so big that their mouths could have