J830.] Newfoundland Adventures. 655 



Simon sat in the stern of the boat, with his gun cocked in his hand, 

 frowning sternly as he gazed on their hostile array. The fixed expression 

 of his features, as he came within their view, was scornful and severe ; 

 reminding me of the unalterable bearing of some figure-head of a 

 triton, the carved beau-ideal of ocean heroism, engrafted so long since 

 on my memory that I forget how or where. 'Twas the undisguised por- 

 trait of defiance deriving not a little of its formidable aspect from the 

 black sealskin cap he wore. That instant I remembered 'twas Paul's 

 cap ! his keepsake as he lay bleeding to death ! That very instant 

 an Esquimaux seemed to recognize it also. He shouted, in a voice 

 hurried by fear and rage, some jargon, in which his fellows joined as he 

 pointed at the unlucky cap. All at once each loosened his harpoon from 

 the deck, and grasped it with the dexterity of a man accustomed to strike 

 his game at a moment's notice. We were on the alert. Sebastian in- 

 stantly changed his course, steered right on the end of their line of battle 

 (which broke up as if struck by a black squall), and at that moment, 

 while they shook their weapons to hurl at us, we fired at those nearest 

 with steady aim. Sebastian mortally wounded his man. The dart 

 dropped from his hand, his head sank on his shoulder, his body 

 drooped to one side, and the canoe in which he was tied turned with 

 it, and thus quickly drowned him despite his struggles. Both my 

 barrels took effect; but being loaded with shot, the charges spread, shat- 

 tered two canoes, and disabled their owners. The skins with which these 

 boats were covered were pierced through and through in front; the water 

 poured in; the prows in which their feet were stowed sank; but the after- 

 part of each, still buoyant with air, floated, and sustained the wounded 

 savages. Simon's duck -gun had done equal execution. He had levelled 

 at two enemies whom he took in file : one fell on his face on the deck 

 of his canoe, whilst his arms sank helplessly into the water on each side 

 of it ; the other appeared stunned and motionless, and his canoe slowly 

 sinking. An Esquimaux, who had not been near enough to discharge 

 his harpoon, was seen, as the smoke dispersed, paddling back to land 

 with all his might; whilst the seventh and last who had escaped our 

 shot was found endeavouring to extricate his harpoon, which had stuck 

 in the gunwale as he flung it at me from behind, and from mere habit 

 had left it attached by the running line to his reel on deck. Sebastian, 

 who spied him first, seized the boat-axe to cut him down; but the dex- 

 terous Esquimaux instantly paddled backward, cut the line, and escaped 

 after his comrade towards the shore. 



All this passed so rapidly, that we had not time to exchange a word. 

 A glance suffices to gather in a scene which it takes pages to describe. 

 Simon and I had been engaged in recharging our guns, and he was now 

 endeavouring to get a fair shot at the last of the fugitives. The man who 

 had been stunned by his first fire now gradually revived, as the oozing 

 water filled his ruined canoe; and as it slowly sank under the bow of the 

 Grampus, he lifted his spear against his destroyer with all the energy of 

 hatred and despair. I called out to Simon, " Look ahead !" in a tone 

 of voice that I thought would have been sufficient to rouse him to stare 

 his danger in the face. But all his faculties were at that moment ab- 

 sorbed in pulling the trigger at his distant, flying foe. Simon dropped 

 his gun, and fell back with a faint cry, more of surprise than pain. Se- 

 bastian started forward to encounter the unexpected enemy ; but nothing 

 was now to be seen above the water except his grim and death-like visage, 



