t of his throat, but when
he had fairly broken the ice with the word "Scots!" he faltered no more.

The boatswain was cheated a second time of his malice. Alister could not
sing in the least like Dennis, but he had a strong manly voice, and it
had a ring that stirred one's blood, as he clenched his hands, and
rolled his Rs to the rugged appeal:

"Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victory!"

Applause didn't seem to steady his legs in the least, and he never moved
his eyes from the sea, and his face only grew whiter by the time he
drove all the blood to my heart with

"Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let him turn and flee!"

"GOD forbid!" cried Dennis impetuously. "Sing that verse again, me boy,
and give us a chance to sing with ye!" which we did accordingly; but as
Alister and Dennis were rolling Rs like the rattle of musketry on the
word _turn_, Alister did turn, and stopped suddenly short. The captain
had come up unobserved.

"Go on!" said he, waving us back to our places.

By this time the solo had become a chorus. Beautifully unconscious, for
the most part, that the song was by way of stirring Scot against Saxon,
its deeper patriotism had seized upon us all. Englishmen, Scotchmen, and
sons of Erin, we all shouted at the top of our voices, Sambo's fiddle
not being silent. And I maintain that we all felt the sentiment with
our whole hearts, though I doubt if any but Alister and the captain knew
and sang the precise words:

"Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or freeman fa',
Let him on wi' me!"

CHAPTER VIII.

"'Tis strange--but true; for truth is always strange--
Stranger than fiction."--BYRON.

"Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows."--GRAY.

The least agreeable part of our voyage came near the end. It was when we
were in the fogs off the coast of Newfoundland. The work that tired one
to death was not sufficient to keep one warm; the cold mist seemed to
soak through one's flesh as well as one's slops, and to cling to one's
bones as it clung