A Narrow Escape 167 



Guillemot in a bag, we started to row to the other side of the 

 fjord, distant about a mile, but we had not proceeded far 

 before I found that the water was mounting gradually 

 over my boots, and a further examination showed that my 

 young companion's leap had forced a hole through a plank 

 in the bottom of the boat into which the water bubbled 

 faster than we could bale it out. There was nothing left 

 for it but to pull for our lives, and though we reached the 

 mainland in safety, I fear that the fisherman from whom 

 we hired the boat must have found her sunk at her 

 moorings that same evening. After keeping the Guille- 

 mot in a box for two days, I found that I had the steamer 

 almost to myself on my return journey to England, and 

 so I was able to turn the poor bird loose in one of the bath- 

 rooms for the whole of the voyage home. It must quite 

 have made up its mind that it would never float in sea- 

 water again, for on being released from its box, it went 

 through the most curious antics in the bath, swimming 

 first on one side and then on the other, with its pretty 

 crimson feet out of the water, and the diving and splashing 

 which it indulged in were amusing to witness. I got the 

 bird in safety to the Zoological Gardens, but it died a few 

 days after for no apparent cause, except that the change 

 from sea-water to fresh may have had a prejudicial effect 

 upon it. 



