e late for the
funeral. His good friend walked down to the wharf with him, carrying a
basket of provisions he had ordered for him; but the skipper did not
feel like eating now. He took the basket, and the Goldwing was soon
standing down the bay.

Of course it was not possible for Dory to think of any thing but the
death of his father as he sailed up the lake. He had no particulars of
the sad event; but now it appeared that his uncle had been in search of
him, and had taken great pains to find him. He regretted very much that
he had avoided him, and he thought more of uncle Royal than ever before
in his life. He had regarded him as a rich man, who was selfish, and who
had neglected his sister, the boy's mother. He had not been in her house
since she was married.

At eleven o'clock the Goldwing was off Colchester Light; and it was
likely to take a couple of hours more to finish the trip. Dory had eaten
his breakfast at five o'clock; and, if he was not hungry, he was faint,
and felt the need of food. Mechanically he opened the basket the
hotel-keeper had given him. It contained the choicest food from the
table of the hotel; and he ate, though rather from a sense of duty than
because he felt much interested in the operation. The lunch made him
feel better, for it seemed to allay a sort of nervousness that troubled
him.

He could not eat all the basket contained. The provision was wrapped up
in a sheet of white paper, and then the parcel was enclosed in a
newspaper. As he was restoring this last wrapper, something printed in
the paper attracted his attention. The article was headed "Suicide of a
Pilot."

Dory was almost paralyzed as he read the piece. He was obliged to stop
to control his emotion several times before he could finish it. He
learned that his father had drowned himself in the lake on Friday, and
his body had been found and sent to Burlington on Saturday morning.

For the first time he read of the disaster to the Au Sable. The
particulars of that event were reviewed in the article. The steamer had
run on the rocks while his father was at the wheel. The paper said that
he was either intoxicated or asleep, or possibly both. It was very
fortunate that no lives were lost, though several persons had been in
great peril.

The pilot was ruined by the catastrophe. The owners of the boat suffered
a heavy loss by allowing him to continue in their employ when his habits
disqualified him for the responsible position