Already he had determined that he would
mount the hawk in the attitude of swooping down upon a lapwing.
It turned out that Captain Gordon was interested in birds, and knew
a good deal about their habits. I remember he told us of a swallow
which had once flown on board his ship when they were over a
thousand miles from any land, and of how the bird, exhausted by its
long flight, allowed him to hold it in his hand and feed it with
small insects taken from the decayed timbers of the ship.
When we were seated at the table over our meal of fried trout, I
had to relate my experiences of the afternoon, which I did from
beginning to end, omitting only the circumstance of my fight with
Kinlay. I did not wish to say anything against a schoolmate, and an
account of the fight would have involved unpleasant explanations.
The two men listened with attention to my account of the sealing;
but they were incredulous when I told them about finding the hidden
silver. When the table was cleared, however, and I spread out the
contents of the seal's skin, Grace and they gathered round in
astonishment and eagerly examined the curiosities by the light of
the hanging lamp and the flaming peats.
Captain Gordon weighed the bars of silver in an imaginary balance
in his hand, and gave his opinion as to their weight.
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