I suppose they thought there was nowhere for me to run to, so one night I steals down to the shore, gets into a canoe, puts in a lot of roots which I had dug up and hidden away in readiness, and so makes off.

I rowed hard all night, for I knew they would be after me when they found I had gone.

Them straits is sometimes miles and miles across; at other times not much more than a ship's length, and the tide runs through 'em like a mill race.

I had chosen a time when I had the tide with me, and soon after morning I came to one of them narrow places.

I should like to have stopped here, because it would have been handy for any ship as passed; but the tide run so strong, and the rocks were so steep on both sides, that I couldn't make a landing.