foolish conceit, refuses to take advantage of his opportunities remains
a dolt. Read and observe, he said, and you will be able to say and do
when your fellows are helpless. He got cuttings of canvas from the
bosun, shaped them into a blouse, and got me to sew them together. The
other boys laughed at me, and called me the wee tailor, but the blouse
did me good service for many a day. While so much with him, I asked Mr
Kerr about his political trouble. Though a Liberal he belonged to no
club and was against using other than constitutional means to bring
about reforms, and these reforms must come. It could not continue that
Great Britain was to be ruled by a parliament composed of aristocrats
and their creatures, for the great mass of the people had no voice in
it. No Methodist, Baptist, or other dissenter was allowed a seat in
parliament, and there were noblemen who controlled the election of more
members than the city of Glasgow. Manchester and Birmingham have no
members. Half of Scotland is owned by a dozen aristocrats. Whenever you
hear men shout disloyalty and claim to be the only true-blue supporters
of their country, you may be sure they are selfishly trying to hold some
privilege to which they have no right. He told of many of his
acquaintances who had been prosecuted for petitioning for the mending
of political grievances, of a few who had been ruined by imprisonment
and law costs, of the men who had been banished to Australia, and the
three men who had been hanged. Hundreds had fled, like himself, to
escape prosecution.

After our misadventure off Newfoundland our voyage was prosperous.
Coming on deck one sunny morning we saw land, which was Cape Ray, and
before the sun set we were in the Gulf of St Lawrence. We were not alone
now, for every few hours we sighted ships. They were part of the Spring
fleet to Quebec, now on their voyage home with cargoes of timber. One
passed us so close that the captains spoke, and when the homeward
captain shouted he was for the Clyde there were passengers who wished
they were on board her, and the tear came to their eyes when they
thought of Scotland and of those who were there. The Bird Rocks were
quite a sight to us, but the Ayrshire folk held they were not to be
compared with Ailsa Craig. On the Gulf narrowing until we could see land
on both sides, a white yacht bore down to us and sent aboard a pilot. He
was a short man, with grizzled hair. Being the first Frenchman we had