BUILDING 



the workless dogs in the summer time are a nuisance, 

 and it was partly on their account that I had to put 

 railings round the hospital. The roomy porch was 

 a haven of peace for them ; they used to wait on 

 the steps for the door to be opened, and then sneak 

 in and snuggle down in the hope of passing un- 

 observed. More than once they got beyond the 

 inner door, and came slinking into the kitchen, 

 snuffling and whistling at the smell of cookery; 

 and then followed a nightmare chase, we shouting 

 and stamping, they tearing round and round in 

 a blind hunt for the way out. I sometimes dream 

 about them yet ; the din was awful : the great 

 hulking things ran round and round, upsetting chairs 

 and buckets, yelping and squealing, trying to hide 

 in impossible corners and crannies behind the water 

 tanks, getting more and more miserable and fright- 

 ened, until at last they found the door and scrambled 

 through it with terrified faces and drooping tails. 

 By the time the painting was done the cod-fishing 

 had commenced, and the men wanted to be off, 

 so I let them all go but the two carpenters, staid 

 and solid Eskimos both, and clever with their tools. 

 The idea I had in my mind was to put up a series of 

 posts, five feet and six inches high, fixed firmly to 

 a long beam buried in the sand of the foundation ; 

 to these posts we could fix a number of hurdle-like 

 railings, and have them removable so as to store 

 them in the loft before the winter storms began. 

 I fancy that the two carpenters were a trifle jealous 

 of each other, for the younger man was the cleverer, 

 and took the more responsible part of the work. 

 I gave him instructions to make the posts five feet 

 and six inches high, and he set to work amiably 



