198 AUGUSTINE BAY. 



at Tent Rock could not give me leave to get 

 water at the head of the river. Another tribe 

 from that quarter would come along directly and 

 I must get rid of present company before that. 

 But how the rascals hung on ! They haggled 

 over prices hour after hour. They were like a 

 batch of Soloman Levis. Indeed, I believe they 

 were descended from the long-lost tribes of Israel. 



I was pretty well driven to destraction, when 

 suddenly Rover burst the bonds of his imprison- 

 ment. 



Out he bounded into the cabin and then — oh, 

 lands and seas, how those chumps did scoot ! 

 They had never seen a dog before ! They jumped 

 out of that cabin like electrified jack-rabbits. 

 Rover followed hard and the whole tribe, save 

 only the chief, made off over the ship's bows, 

 each one taking the cloth he had held at the 

 moment of Rover's appearance — some content 

 with only a fathom, others counting themselves 

 lucky with a strip three yards long. 



As for the chief, his knees were knocking 

 together and his eyes were starting from their 

 sockets. He made terms in a hurry. 



But when the up-river folk came off, I had to 

 be generous. I wanted to tow our raft of casks a 

 long way up their river to get fresh water, and I 



