DANIEL AS COOK 



heavy sculling- oar, and I could hear the steady thump 

 of the oars against the thole-pins, and the swish and 

 drip of the water; and, lulled by the measured 

 sounds and rocked by the gentle roll, I fell asleep. 

 I woke in the dark hour before the dawning, and 

 heard the sound of singing; it was Daniel's voice, 

 crooning a favourite hymn. Presently the others 

 took up the song, and sang, so softly, so as not to 

 wake me up, but keeping time to the plashing of 

 their oars. Hymn after hymn they sang to pass the 

 night away. Soon after sunrise we reached the wide 

 open water that narrows towards Nain, and then 

 up went the sail and in came the oars, and with the 

 water hissing past us and the ropes groaning and the 

 mast creaking under the strain of the wind we raced 

 into Nain harbour. 



The people were waiting on the jetty. They 

 shouldered the bags and boxes ; the boatmen stowed 

 away the sail and oars, and anchored the boat, and 

 then went home to sleep, smiling and good-humoured 

 to the end. 



That was the beginning of my closer acquaintance 

 with Daniel; indeed, we are such good friends that 

 I have even heard him talk about his hunting ex- 

 ploits. " Aha," says Daniel, " when I was a young 

 man I met a bear, and hadn't any gun ai, ai" 

 and up went his fingers, stiff and straight, to show 

 how his hair stood on end "ai, ai, I don't know 

 which was the more frightened, I or the bear ; for 

 after we had stood and looked at one another for 

 a long time, the bear turned and ran away. If it 

 had not run away, I suppose I should have run 

 myself. I went home for my gun; and next day 



I found its tracks and shot the bear." 



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