TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 125 



Tom, our cabin boy, confided to me that the 

 porridge question was merely a side issue, and the 

 cause of the rumpus lay in the fact that the pilot had, 

 inadvertently, it is to be hoped, drunk the last re- 

 maining bottle of the cook's whisky, his one ewe lamb 

 of a bottle. Tom told each of us in turn, and always 

 as a great secret. He knew, I suppose, that a secret 

 is not thoroughly established as a secret until it has 

 been confided to several people. A one-man secret is 

 a make-believe affair. 



The cook was bribed with a bottle of whisky from 

 our stores, a casual, no-reason-at-all sort of present; 

 so the porridge was forthcoming and the pilot's 

 strength supported, though whether the piloting was 



any better but the Leader wants to talk about that 



before very long. 



Many varieties of ducks paddled about the cove, 

 and helped us in the commissariat department. Pin- 

 tail were the best eating, and very easy to shoot. The 

 male pintail has two great feathers which give the 

 bird much the appearance of a pheasant, and the alert 

 head and jerky movements foster the likeness. Scoters 

 were difficult to bag, as they swim, almost invariably, 

 in " open order." We sampled one of this species 

 Cecily shot it from the dory and it tasted just like 

 flying-fish. Indeed, our mate, who was a tepid 

 Roman Catholic, told us that his church allows scoters 

 to be eaten in Lent because the flesh is fish-like enough 

 for anything. I should think it is a fairly safe per- 

 mission to give to a fasting person. First catch your 

 scoter. 





