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,