Dyce of Ythan
by R. L. S.


O, Shovel - Shovel waits his turn, he and his ancestors. I
would have tackled him before, but my STATE TRIALS have never
come. So that I have now quite planned:-


Dyce of Ythan. (Historical, 1750.)
Sophia Scarlet. (To-day.)
The Shovels of Newton French. (Historical, 1650 to 1830.)

And quite planned and part written:-

The Pearl Fisher. (To-day.) (With Lloyd a machine.)
David Balfour. (Historical, 1751.)

And, by a strange exception for R. L. S., all in the third
person except D. B.

I don't know what day this is now (the 29th), but I have
finished my two chapters, ninth and tenth, of SAMOA in time
for the mail, and feel almost at peace. The tenth was the
hurricane, a difficult problem; it so tempted one to be
literary; and I feel sure the less of that there is in my
little handbook, the more chance it has of some utility.
Then the events are complicated, seven ships to tell of, and
sometimes three of them together; O, it was quite a job. But
I think I have my facts pretty correct, and for once, in my