hey really have dared do such a thing?" asked Cabot, to whom
the idea of foreign interference in the local affairs of Newfoundland
was entirely new.

"Certainly they would. The French dare do anything they choose on this
coast, and no one interferes."

"Well," said Cabot, "it seems a very curious situation, and one that a
stranger finds hard to understand. However, so long as the French
possess such a power for mischief, I congratulate you more than ever on
having escaped them. At the same time I am disappointed at not being
able to land at St. Pierre, and should like to know where you are going
to take me next."

"I declare! In my hurry to get out of that trap, I forgot all about
you wanting to land," exclaimed White, "and now there isn't a place
from which you can get to St. Johns short of Port aux Basques, which is
about one hundred and fifty miles west of here."

"How may I reach St. Johns from there?"

"By the railway across the island, of which Port aux Basques is the
terminus. A steamer from Sidney, on Cape Breton, connects with a train
there every other day."

"Very good; Port aux Basques it is," agreed Cabot, "and I shan't be
sorry after all for a chance to cross the island by train and see what
its interior looks like."

So our young engineer continued his involuntary voyage, and devoted his
time to acquiring all sorts of information about the great northern
island, as well as to the study of navigation. In this latter line of
research he even succeeded in producing a favorable impression upon
David Gidge, who finally admitted that it wasn't always safe to judge a
man from his appearance, and that this young feller had more in him
than showed at first sight.

While thus creating a favorable impression for himself, Cabot grew much
interested in the young skipper of the schooner. He was surprised to
find one in his position so gentlemanly a chap, as well as so generally
well informed, and wondered where he had picked it all up.

"Are there good schools at Pretty Harbour?" he asked, with a view to
solving this problem.

"There is one, but it is only fairly good," answered White.

"Did you go to it?"

"Oh, no," laughed the other. "I went to school as well as to college
in St. Johns. You see, father was a merchant there until he bought a
great tract of land on the west coast. Then he gave up his business in
the city and came over here to establish a lobster factory, which at
that time prom