been reading Longfellow's Hiawatha, for you know Waywassimo
was the lightning, and Annemeekee the thunder," Katherine replied.
"Only there was nothing grand nor terrible about this Waywassimo.
He was simply a miserable-looking Indian with a most dreadful
cough."

Miles began to laugh in a hugely delighted fashion, but it was some
time before Katherine could get from him the cause of his mirth.
At length, with many chuckles, he commenced to explain.

"There has been a wretched-looking Indian hanging about Seal Cove
for the last two or three days, stealing pretty nearly everything
he could lay his hands on, and Mrs. Jenkin told me that last night
he broke into Oily Dave's fish-house and cleared off with every bit
of dried fish there was."

"So I have been buying stolen goods. How horrid!" exclaimed
Katherine with a frown. "Now I suppose it is my duty to hand at
least a part of that fish back to Oily Dave. Oh dear, I would
rather it had been anyone else, for I do dislike him so much!"

"Don't fret yourself; wait until you hear the end of my story, and
then you will see that for once the biter has been bitten,"
answered Miles, with so much chuckling and gurgling that he seemed
to be in a fair way to choke himself. "Mrs. Jenkin says she is
quite positive that Oily Dave stole that fish, because his
fish-house was quite empty a week ago, as she saw with her own
eyes, but yesterday, when she was cleaning his house for him, she
saw that he had a lot of fish. He told her then that he had bought
it to sell again. She knew how much of that to believe, however,
and asked me if we had missed any of our fish."

"What did you say?" asked Katherine, who then began to wonder if
their fish had really wasted through being stolen, instead of
having merely been used too fast.

"Oh, I didn't commit myself! Mrs. Jenkin has a good heart, but her
head is as soft as blubber, so I was pretty careful not to say
much," Miles answered, with a wag of his own head, which he thumped
with his fist to show that at least he was not topped with blubber.

"It is maddening whichever way one looks at it!" cried Katherine.
"If Oily Dave stole our fish, and Waywassimo stole it from him
again, then I have been buying our own property, and paying for it
at a rather stiff price. I simply could not beat that poor wretch
down, he looked so sad and hungry. Oh, Miles, what shall we do?
If this business leaks out we shall just be the laughing-stock of