The Indian, who had not recovered sufficient strength to endure much excitement or hardship, was in a high state of feverish bewilderment.  The Captain said:  “Paul, what gave you such a fright?” He replied, “that when he first saw the fish approaching, he thought that they were a lot of canoes paddled by evil spirits from the dark, dismal hunting grounds of thieving and murderous Indians, and that they were after him to carry him away over the great waters to live in misery among them, because he had left the wigwam and forsaken his mother’s grave before two moons were gone.”

Early next morning Mrs. Godfrey relieved her husband at the helm; Charlie assisting her.  The Captain went below to rest, asking to be called if anything out of the ordinary occurred.  He had hardly closed his eyes during the voyage, but fell asleep at his post during the previous night, when the weather fortunately was fine and the sea quite peaceful.

At about ten o’clock, a.m., Paul sighted something in the distance.  He called to Mrs. Godfrey to look in the direction of his hand, which he was pointing over the port bow.  She could see nothing, but she headed the sloop in the direction that Paul gave, and in an hour’s time had the satisfaction of seeing what she supposed to be the outline of rocks or land.  She kept the vessel headed in toward what she supposed to be land, and at three o’clock called her husband on deck.  The Captain judged his vessel to be on the east coast of Nova Scotia.

Margaret called her children around her, and asked Paul to sit down with them.  She opened the old service book and read a portion of scripture.  The deck was made an altar of the living God.  From the deck fervent prayer mingled with the voice of the ocean and with the sighing wind ascended on high.  Margaret said to Paul:  “You and I were rescued at the gate of death.  When our frail bark was tossing and labouring hard for life in her lone path over the surging billows and through the blackness of the night, a kind hand overshadowed us and kept us, and now not one of the ship’s company is lost.”

Full of bright hope, she turned to her husband and said:  “I now am satisfied we shall safely reach port, and once again we and our dear ones shall see our native lands.  English civilization and English justice will do rightly by us in our misfortunes.  We, who have lost all our possessions,—­in an hour stripped of all that we owned,—­and have been compelled to endure hardships and face death itself in an English colony, may in confidence look to the old land for succor.”

The next two days the wind continued favourable, and the little vessel ran along in sight of the coast.

The following day an adverse wind blew and a storm seemed brewing, but the wind only freshened a bit, and all day the vessel beat about in sight of land.  Paul, who had now sufficiently recovered, appeared to take a great interest in everything about the sloop; the sun shone brightly and the clouds were lifted high in the heavens.  All around was perfect peace.