very different intentions; and after that was finished, he fell sound
asleep in the stern-sheets, only to be awakened by the chill of the
dawn. Sitting up, he saw that the Sound was covered by a dense mist, and
all around him were flocks of wild ducks, settled upon the water, but
which flew off as soon as he moved.

While he sat looking at the sky, growing brighter in the east, and
trying to make up his mind in what direction Plymouth lay, he heard the
dip of a paddle, and then he saw coming up through the mist a dug-out
canoe, in which sat a venerable-looking old negro.

[Illustration:
"I'VE RUN AWAY FROM A SCHOONER ABOVE HERE,
AND I WANT TO GET TO PLYMOUTH."]

"Hillo!" said Lee.

The old fellow started as if he had been shot and peered about until he
saw the boat.

"Hillo, sah! hillo!" he answered, and then paddled nearer. "Now I can't
say as I rightly knows you, sah; an' I knows most everybody round here.
Duck-shootin' maybe? Is you one o' de Talbots?"

"No; I'm not duck-shooting, and I'm not one of the Talbots."

"What you doin' out here in de cold mornin', den, boy? Dat boat come
from some wessel, I see. An' dear knows it would be quare if you _was_ a
Talbot, an' I didn't know you. I belonged to old man Talbot onst."