CHAPTER XVIII. 
WE LEAVE THE COAL-MINE FOR A HUNT, AND ENCOUNTER ANOTHER PARTY 
SIMILARLY ENGAGED "WE RETURN WITH THEM TO THE VILLAGE AND ARK 
HOSPITABLY ENTERTAINED — THE HEADMAN NOT AN ADVOCATE OF TUB 
MAINE LIQUOR-LAW — HOW WE “COALED SHIP,” AND HOW WE RAN A RACE 
WITH A FLOOD-TIDE. 
The last part of the previous chapter was chiefly devoted 
to the difierent formations about the coal-strata in general, 
and the “patent hootjack-mixture” in particular; and 
now I will leave Lawton and his dozen firemen di^aiim 
oo o 
away at its gum-like strength, and carry the reader along 
with the doctor and myself as we started to follow the 
swampy hank of the small river that emptied into the 
bottom of the hook at high-water, and which at low tide 
ran a mile or more over the flats of said hook, until it 
finally reached the sea at the imaginary line previously 
spoken of. 
This hook, as I have already said, formed an inner 
harbour at high-water and an extensive mud-flat when 
the tide was down ; and, as the river widened its channel 
considerably while running over it, thus decreasing its 
depth in proportion, there was no difficulty in crossing 
in a straight line from the coal-mine to the opposite vil- 
lage at low tides. In the present case, however, we de- 
termined to follow the river up into the mountains, in 
the hope of crossing the track of some bear or other 
343 
