Part 16 (1/2)
”Can a schooner like this go right across to Africa?” said Harvey
”Go araound the Horn ef there's anythin' worth goin' fer, and the grub holds aout,” said Disko ”My father he run his packet, an' she was a kind o' pinkey, abaout fifty ton, I guess,--the Rupert,--he run her over to Greenland's icy mountains the year ha'af our fleet was tryin'
after cod there An' what'swith him,--to show her haow the money was earned, I presoom,--an' they was all iced up, an' I was born at Disko Don't remember nothin' abaout it, o'
course We co, but they named me fer the place Kinder mean trick to put up on a baby, but we're all baound to make ging his head ”All baound to make mistakes, an' I tell you two boys here thet after you've made a mistake--ye don't 's to own up to it likeJack winked one tremendous wink that embraced all hands except Disko and Salters, and the incident was closed
Then they made berth after berth to the northward, the dories out ale of the Grand Bank in thirty-to forty-fatho steadily
It was here Harvey first met the squid, who is one of the best cod-baits, but uncertain in his ht by yells of ”Squid O!” fro over his squid-jig--a piece of lead painted red and armed at the lower end with a circle of pins bent backward like half-opened umbrella ribs The squid--for so, and is hauled up ere he can escape from the pins But as he leaves his home he squirts first water and next ink into his captor's face; and it was curious to see the e the shot
They were as black as sweeps when the flurry ended; but a pile of fresh squid lay on the deck, and the large cod thinks very well of a little shi+ny piece of squid-tentacle at the tip of a claht many fish, and met the Carrie Pitman, to whom they shouted their luck, and she wanted to trade--seven cod for one fair-sized squid; but Disko would not agree at the price, and the Carrie dropped sullenly to leeward and anchored half aon to so till after supper, when he sent Dan and Manuel out to buoy the ”We're Here's” cable and announced his intention of turning in with the broad-axe Dan naturally repeated these remarks to a dory fro their cable, since they were not on rocky bottom
”Dad sez he wouldn't trust a ferryboat within five it out, then'? Who's hinderin'?” said the other
”Cause you've jest the same ez lee-bowed him, an' he don't take that frourry-butt as you be”
”She ain't driftin' any this trip,” said the rily, for the Carrie Pitround-tackle
”Then haow d'you make berths?” said Dan ”It's her best p'int o'
sailin' An' ef she's quit driftin', what in thunder are you doin' with a new jib-boorinder, take your monkey back to Gloucester Go back to school, Dan Troop,” was the answer
”O-ver-alls! O-ver-alls!” yelled Dan, who knew that one of the Carrie's crew had worked in an overall factory the winter before
”Shrimp! Gloucester shrimp! Git aout, you Novy!”
To call a Gloucester man a Nova Scotian is not well received Dan answered in kind
”Novy yourself, ye Scrabble-towners! ye Chatham wreckers' Git aout with your brick in your stock in'!” And the forces separated, but Chatham had the worst of it
”I kneould be,” said Disko ”She's drawed the wind raound already Sohter put a deesist on thet packet She'll snore till ittin' our sleep she'll strike adrift Good job we ain't croith craft hereaways But I ain't goin' to up anchor fer Chatham She may hold”
The wind, which had hauled round, rose at sundown and blew steadily
There was not enough sea, though, to disturb even a dory's tackle, but the Carrie Pitman was a law unto herself At the end of the boys' watch they heard the crack-crack-crack of a huge lory, hallelujah!” sung Dan ”Here she comes, dad; butt-end first, walkin' in her sleep same's she done on 'Queereau”
Had she been any other boat Disko would have taken his chances, but now he cut the cable as the Carrie Pitman, with all the North Atlantic to play in, lurched down directly upon theave her no more room than was absolutely necessary,--Disko did not wish to spend a week hunting for his cable,--but scuttled up into the wind as the Carrie passed within easy hail, a silent and angry boat, at thebroadside of Bank chaff
”Good evenin',” said Disko, raising his headgear, ”an' haow does your garden grow?”
”Go to Ohio an' hire a mule,” said Uncle Salters ”We don't want no far Jack