EARLY LIFE 21 



being tired out, I let my feet down to gain bot- 

 tom, which I reached, but with two feet or more 

 of water over my head. I gave a push on the 

 bottom and came to the surface, but only for a 

 moment, and went down again. Then I realized 

 that I was apparently going to be drowned, and 

 the thought occurred to me of trying to reach 

 shore by moving along the bottom on all fours, 

 which I did, as i could see the shelving banks 

 within a few feet of me. My life was thus saved. 

 In the meantime, Nettle, who saw that I was in 

 danger of drowning, had been running around on 

 the beach trying to find something to throw out 

 to me or to drag me ashore with; but unluckily 

 there was nothing at hand, and I wmld certainly 

 have drowned had I not thought of the expedient 

 above described. It was a lesson that I never 

 forgot, and I was careful afterwards in selecting 

 the places where I went in to bathe. In the 

 course of time I grew to be a very strong swim- 

 mer and a good diver, of which I shall have occa- 

 sion to speak in some future chapter. 



And so time wore on until I was eleven years 

 old, shooting, fishing and canoeing, with not a 

 care on my brow, and free as the air that I 

 breathed. Those were happy days, indeed, but 

 like all good things of this world they could not 

 last forever. For me they came to a very abrupt 

 ending. It was in the month of June. A large 

 schooner bound to Quebec with a load of fish, oil 



