352 THE JOURNEYMAN. 



ships which, in this part of the country, spirited young 

 men sometimes subject themselves to in quest of amuse- 

 ment. He has lain, in the season of the herring fishery, 

 night after night, in an open boat on the Moray Frith, 

 and watched with his gun for hours together, in the 

 severest weather, for the otter and cormorant. Con- 

 fiding in this strength of constitution without taking 

 into account the difference of climate, he seems to have 

 exposed himself in the same way among the woods and 

 rivers of America. In crossing in a small vessel, late in 

 September, one of the great lakes, he imprudently slept 

 on deck during the night, and on landing was seized by 

 a fever, which carried him off in about ten days. You 

 will forgive me for dwelling so much on so melancholy 

 a subject. I cannot get the poor fellow out of my sight. 

 ' There are a few brief passages in his history that I 

 know would interest you, were I but in the mood of 

 telling them. About four years ago, when engaged in 

 writing my letters on the herring fishery, I went out 

 with him in a little boat to renew my acquaintance with 

 the various phenomena of the Frith, and rowed about 

 twenty miles into the open sea. There came on a dis- 

 mal night of wind and rain, and when, after folding 

 myself in the sail, I had lain down and fallen asleep, the 

 tossing of the boat was such that my covering was un- 

 rolled, fold after fold, until at length I lay exposed to 

 the showers and the spray. I was awakened about 

 midnight by Walter wrapping me up as carefully as a 

 mother would her child, and heard him remark to one 

 of our companions that, come of himself what might, he 

 could not see cousin Miller lie catching his death in that 

 way. " The puir chield," he added, " is better at twa 

 three things than at taking care o' himselY' I cannot 

 tell you how often I think of this incident, or how very 



