THE FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE 23 5 Further along the sea route is Victoria. It is a clean, attractive, friendly little village. The cliffs and soil are a brilliant red. The Micmacs knew why . . . They were coloured by their demigod, Glooscap, for his pleasure, because red promotes cheer and to this island he came when there were annoyances on the mainland. He especially disliked rains, and here on the Happy Isle , all was gay sunshine. But one day, his enemy, Big Beaver, discovered where Glooscap had gone, and persuaded Gull and his brothers to fly over the island and shower him with rainwater carried in birchbark buckets. The gulls found the water very heavy, so they rested on clouds; but the clouds too found the buckets heavy and they dropped lower and lower and began to frown darkly. And to this very day whenever there are low black clouds over the island, it is because Gull and his brothers are perched upon them ready to empty their birchbark buckets. The day was now very close. The leaves hung listlessly on the trees and even the grasshoppers had ceased their chirping. All nature was drowsy. So was I— and thirsty, too. Finally, after I had debated inwardly for quite five minutes, I went into a little house near the road, and asked "the Missus" for a drink of cold, cold water. '' A drink of water? Certainly!'' A shuffling footstep interrupted her errand. A short, black-whiskered man appeared in the doorway. He wasn't feeling very well, he said, and he wondered if there was any whiskey in the house. There was, apparently. From where I sat I could see her in the pantry getting the tonic ready. Mean¬ while, the wistful eye roved hopefully around trying to look really ill . . . She measured it out care-