56 APPOINTED GUARDIAN OF "GODBOUT" 



the offside of the boat, I held on to one of the 

 side leg pins. After being there for two or three 

 minutes I made for another of the boats further 

 down, to which I clung again for a while. By 

 this time several of the men were getting quite 

 anxious. I could hear their exclamations. Some 

 said: "he is drowned, sure!" Others thought I 

 had been hurt on some anchor or fouled in one of 

 the ropes. Creuset, however, was maintaining 

 that I was all right. At last some of them could 

 stand it no longer in spite of Creuset 's assur- 

 ance, and said, "let us hurry down and look for 

 him." As soon as I heard them get into the small 

 boat, I let go and made as good a dive as I could 

 towards the western side of the river (they were 

 on the east side.) On coming up I turned on my 

 back and began singing a Canadian boat song, 

 "C'est la belle Francoise." I never saw anyone 

 more astonished than those fellows were. They 

 simply stood there gaping, and old Creuset was 

 exclaiming, "Didn't I tell you so? He's a regu- 

 lar seal!" 



While on this subject I will relate another ex- 

 perience of mine that occurred some years later. 

 Mr. Allan Gilmour, one of the former proprie- 

 tors of the Godbout, had brought down with him 

 a copy of the London "Field," the date of which 

 I have forgotten. It contained an article, stat- 

 ing that an angler, with salmon rod and tackle, 

 could land a strong swimmer; play him out like a 



