f 100
dollars. He sold with the joyous satisfaction of a man making a shrewd
deal.

His ground has changed hands several times since, and the prices paid
have advanced somewhat on his optimistic figure; for example, the
present company bought it for two million dollars.

The ore is not high grade, but is easily obtained, and so can be
handled profitably. In the beginning it was only necessary to turn
over the turf and take what was needed, the labour costing less than a
shilling a ton. Now the mines strike down through the rock of the
island beneath the sea, and the cost of handling is naturally greater.
It is worth noting that prior to 1914 practically all the output of
this essentially British mine went to Germany; the war has changed that
and now Canada takes the lion's share.

It was under the cliffs of Bell Island, near the point where the long
lattice-steel conveyors bring the ore from the cliff-top to the
water-level, that the three warships dropped anchor. As they swung on
their cables blasting operations in the iron cliffs sent out the thud
of their explosions and big columns of smoke and dust, for all the
world as though a Royal salute was being fired in honour of the
Prince's arrival.

III

During the day His Royal Highness went ashore informally, mainly to
satisfy his craving for walking exercise. Before he did so, he
received the British correspondents on board the _Renown_, and a few
minutes were spent chatting with him in the charming and spacious suite
of rooms that Navy magic had erected with such efficiency that one had
to convince oneself that one really was on a battleship and not in a
hotel _de luxe_.

We met a young man in a rather light grey lounge suit, whose boyish
figure is thickening into the outlines of manhood. I have heard him
described as frail; and a Canadian girl called him "a little bit of a
feller" in my hearing. But one has only to note an excellent pair of
shoulders and the strength of his long body to understand how he can
put in a twenty-hour day of unresting strenuosity in running, riding,
walking and dancing without turning a hair.

It is the neat, small features, the nose a little inclined to tilt, a
soft and almost girlish fairness of complexion, and the smooth and
remarkable gold hair that give him the suggestion of extreme
boyishness--these things and his nervousness.

His nervousness is part of his naturalness and lack of poise. It
showed itself then, a