6 THE GREW SC LE tie

“Heck of a business having to take bootleg rum
into Canada from Canada. Wish the Alaskan Pan-
handle were in blazes. We need more than one
bottle on a trip like this. Besides, Britons should
damn well own their coast-lines. I object on prin-
ciple.”

“Fat lot of good your objections are. What a
coast, anyway ! Did you ever see anything so utterly
miserable2”’

“Look out! The canoe’s adrift.”

It was scudding crazily about on the waves. It
tilted and darted and ducked and doubled, while
the gas-boat circled in an effort to come alongside.
For half an hour the game went on in the rain and
dismal wind before the canoe was captured and
secured.

“Next item on the programme, complete
petrifaction. And after that we get stuck on the
flats.”

“If you can’t be cheerful, shut up.”

There was silence, while the distance diminished
between us and the dim line of the coast. We could
see the trees now, and the flatness of the Stikine
delta.

* * *

The interior of the gas-boat was small and smelly,