THE HUNTER'S RETURN 



sodden sackcloth overalls ; the two old widows who 

 had been digging in the garden had flung down their 

 spades and were running as fast as their old legs 

 would carry them ; the cooper had dropped his tools 

 and left his shop to join in the excitement ; the 

 chimney-sweep, black and grimy, was scrambling 

 down from the roof, bursting to tell what he had 

 seen from his perch ; the missionary had his head out 

 of window, with a telescope to his eye, trying to 

 make out what was coming ; everybody was shouting 

 and jabbering and laughing. We are a strange folk 

 in Labrador ; ours is a quiet, humdrum sort of life, 

 for the most part, and we get into the habit of 

 making a great to-do about the little varieties that 

 come our way. 



After all, this cry of " A boat " only meant that 

 one of the hunters was coming home ; but it was 

 the first boat of the season, and that made all the 

 difference. The chimney-sweep had seen it first, 

 and had given a shout that roused the blubber- 

 women in the yard below; and so the commotion 

 began. Soon I saw the boat for myself, a small 

 brown speck on the water, near the southern point 

 of the mouth of the bay. " Two masts," said the 

 chimney-sweep : to my eyes the thing was only a 

 brown dot. " Three people at the oars," said a voice, 

 "and a woman sitting in the bows." "Yes, yes 

 (chorus), a woman in the bows." "Jonasekut, 

 immakka " (probably Jonas's people), said the cooper. 

 " Illale " (of course), chorussed the others, " it must 

 be Jonas and his two boys at the oars, and Priscilla 

 in the bows." 



Then there was quiet for a few minutes, while the 

 brown dot grew steadily larger. At last it turned to 



250 



