Newkirk a versatile, roving genius; he
had been a schoolmaster at home, captain of a lake schooner once, had
practised medicine, and preached some, I think; and what else I do not
know. He had tried many things for a living, but, like the proverbial
moving stone had failed to accumulate. "Matters," said the Canadian,
"were getting worse and worse even, till finally to keep my head above
water I was forced to go under the sea," and he had struck it rich, it
would seem, if gold being brought in by the boat-load was any sign. This
man of many adventures still spoke like a youngster; no one had told him
that he was growing old. He talked of going home, as soon as the balance
of the treasure was secured, "just to see his dear old mother," who, by
the way, was seventy-four years old when he left home, some twenty years
before. Since his last news from home, nearly two decades had gone by.
He was "the youngest of a family of eighteen children, all living," he
said, "though," added he, "our family came near being made one less
yesterday, by a whale which I thought would eat my boat, diving-bell,
crew, money and all, as he came toward us, with open mouth.
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