Long ago, as you know, we dined at midday; but so swiftly had the hour flown with M. Radisson’s tales of daring that Tibbie was already lighting candles when we rose from the dinner table.

“And now,” cried M. Radisson, lifting a stirrup-cup of home-brewed October, “health to the little gentleman who saved a life to-day!  Health to mine host!  And a cup fathoms deep to his luck when Ramsay sails yon sea!”

“He might do worse,” said Eli Kirke grimly.

And the words come back like the echo of a prophecy.

I would have escaped my uncle, but he waylaid me in the dark at the foot of the stairs.

“Ramsay,” said he gently.

“Sir?” said I, wondering if flint could melt.

“’The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:  the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:  the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace!’”

CHAPTER III

TOUCHING WITCHCRAFT

That interrupted lesson with Rebecca finished my schooling.  I was set to learning the mysteries of accounts in Eli Kirke’s warehouse.

“How goes the keeping of accounts, Ramsay?” he questioned soon after I had been in tutelage.

I had always intended to try my fortune in the English court when I came of age, and the air of the counting-house ill suited a royalist’s health.

“Why, sir,” I made answer, picking my words not to trip his displeasure, “I get as much as I can—­and I give as little as I can; and those be all the accounts that ever I intend to keep.”

Aunt Ruth looked up from her spinning-wheel in a way that had become an alarm signal.  Eli Kirke glanced dubiously to the blasphemy box, as though my words were actionable.  There was no sound but the drone of the loom till I slipped from the room.  Then they both began to talk.  Soon after came transfer from the counting-house to the fur trade.  That took me through the shadowy forests from town to town, and when I returned my old comrades seemed shot of a sudden from youth to manhood.

There was Ben Gillam, a giff-gaffing blade home from the north sea, so topful of spray that salt water spilled over at every word.

“Split me fore and aft,” exclaims Ben, “if I sail not a ship of my own next year!  I’ll take the boat without commission.  Stocking and my father have made an offer,” he hinted darkly.  “I’ll go without commission!”

“And risk being strangled for’t, if the French governor catch you.”

“Body o’ me!” flouts Ben, ripping out a peck of oaths that had cost dear and meant a day in the stocks if the elders heard, “who’s going to inform when my father sails the only other ship in the bay?  Devil sink my soul to the bottom of the sea if I don’t take a boat to Hudson Bay under the French governor’s nose!”

“A boat of your own,” I laughed.  “What for, Ben?”