After our misadventure off Newfoundland our voyage was prosperous.  Coming on deck one sunny morning we saw land, which was Cape Ray, and before the sun set we were in the Gulf of St Lawrence.  We were not alone now, for every few hours we sighted ships.  They were part of the Spring fleet to Quebec, now on their voyage home with cargoes of timber.  One passed us so close that the captains spoke, and when the homeward captain shouted he was for the Clyde there were passengers who wished they were on board her, and the tear came to their eyes when they thought of Scotland and of those who were there.  The Bird Rocks were quite a sight to us, but the Ayrshire folk held they were not to be compared with Ailsa Craig.  On the Gulf narrowing until we could see land on both sides, a white yacht bore down to us and sent aboard a pilot.  He was a short man, with grizzled hair.  Being the first Frenchman we had seen, we gathered round him with curiosity and listened to his broken English with pleasure, for the tone was kindly and he was so polite, even to us boys.  He brought no very late news, for he had left Quebec ten days before, when the weather was so hot that laborers loading ships dropped in the coves from sunstroke.  Each tack that brought the brig higher up the river changed the scenery, a range of forest-clad trees on the north bank, and on the south bank a row of whitewashed cottages, so closely set that they looked as if they lined a street, broken at intervals by the tin-covered roof and steeple of a church.  There were discussions among our farmers as to the narrowness of the fields and what kind of crops were on them, for they looked patchy and were of different colors, which the pilot was generally called on to decide, and it was funny to watch his difficulty in understanding their broad Scottish speech.  Reaching where the ebb tide was stronger than the breeze, anchor was dropped for the first time.  Before the tide turned, the pilot cried to dip up water, and there was a shout of delight when we tasted it and found the buckets were filled with fresh water.  Wasn’t there a big washing that day!  As much splashing as the porpoises made who gambolled at a distance.  Cool, northerly breezes helped us on our way, and exactly five weeks from the day we left Troon we came to anchor off Cape Diamond, which disappointed us, for we looked for a higher rock and a bigger fort.  On the ship mooring, the pilot sat down, and in a frenzy of delight at his success in bringing her up safely, flourished his arms and chuckled in his own language.  Darting from a wharf came a fine rowboat with four oarsmen, and an official in blue with gilt buttons holding the helm.  We were so engrossed in watching it, that we did not notice Mr Snellgrove had joined us, decked out grandly in finest clothes.  Before the captain could say a word to the customs-officer, Mr Snellgrove asked him whether the governor-general was at his residence, and on being told he was, said he would accompany