ture," replied Mr. Darling. "I am a
sailor, not a constable--an officer of the Merchant Marine."

"Aye, sir, I knowed ye for a sailor," said the other; "but there was a
crew of constables along this way back in November, rigged out like
fishermen an' swearin' as how they _was_ fishermen. They went south; an'
they soon come back wid empty hands. We was all t'inkin' in Raggedy Cove
as how some vessel had maybe bin broke up afore it was deserted by the
crew, as is the custom wid some folks in some harbors. An' when I see ye
wid business in Chance Along, sir--well, Black Dennis Nolan do surely
look to me like a man who'd be breakin' into a ship widout waitin' for
her crew to desart her."

Mr. Darling smiled. "You are a smart man, George Wick," he said.

The bully rounded into Witless Bay and worked up to the settlement at
the head of it without accident. Wick handed over his tobacco to Skipper
Walsh; and then, with an eye on Mr. Darling, said he would call in a few
days later for his trade of fish. Darling nodded, and purchased tea,
hard-bread and bacon from the skipper. Later, he and George filled a
small keg with water and put it aboard, and bought two sealing-guns and
a supply of powder and slugs. They headed down the bay at the first gray
wash of dawn. After three hours of hauling across the wind they rounded
the southern headland of the bay. They made an easting of more than a
mile before heading due south. Mr. Darling took the tiller now, and
George manned the sheet. Darling produced a pair of marine glasses and
the chart which he had made from information received from Dick Lynch.
They skirted a lee-shore and had to beat up to windward again and again
to clear themselves. Before sunset they ran into a tiny, sheltered cove
and made camp.

It was shortly after noon of the next day that Mr. Darling, diligently
scrutinizing the shore through his glasses, saw something that caught
his attention. He edged the bully in and looked again.

"By heaven, it is a man's leg!" he exclaimed. He passed the glasses
forward to Wick and pointed the direction.

"Sure," said Wick. "Sure, sir, it bes some poor divil wid a skinnywopper
on his leg--so it bain't nobody from a wrack, ye kin lay to that."

They ran the bully shoreward and lowered the sail. Darling sprang to the
land-wash and found the battered body of a man wedged tight between two
icy rocks at the foot of the cliff. It was frozen stiff; but it was
evident that it had no