Part 18 (1/2)
”Asleep--dead asleep Turned in like a child,” Salters replied, tiptoeing aft ”There won't be no grub till he wakes, natural Did ye ever see sech a gift in prayer? He everlastin'ly hiked young Olley outer the ocean Thet's my belief Jason was tur'ble praoud of his boy, an' I ment on worshi+ppin' vain idols”
”There's others jest as sot,” said Disko
”That's dif'runt,” Salters retorted quickly ”Penn's not all caulked, an' I ain't only but doin' ry men, three hours, till Penn reappeared with a smooth face and a blankThen he wanted to knohy they were so silent, and they could not tell him
Disko worked all hands mercilessly for the next three or four days; and when they could not go out, turned them into the hold to stack the shi+p's stores into smaller compass, to make more room for the fish The packeddoor behind the fo'c'sle stove; and Disko showed how there is great art in stowing cargo so as to bring a schooner to her best draft The creere thus kept lively till they recovered their spirits; and Harvey was tickled with a rope's end by Long Jack for being, as the Galway man said, ”sorrowful as a sick cat over fwhat couldn't be helped” He did a great deal of thinking in those dreary days; and told Dan what he thought, and Dan agreed with hi for fried pies instead of hooking them
But a week later the two nearly upset the Hattie S in a wild atteri for small fish, and between the three of theot off alive
At last, after playing blind when Disko shouted down the fo'c'sle: ”Hurry, boys! We're in taown!”
CHAPTER VIII
To the end of his days, Harvey will never forget that sight The sun was just clear of the horizon they had not seen for nearly a week, and his low red light struck into the riding-sails of three fleets of anchored schooners--one to the north, one to the ard, and one to the south There must have been nearly a hundred of them, of every possible ed French one to the other Fro away like bees fro of ropes and blocks, and the splash of the oars carried forwater The sails turned all colours, black, pearly-grey, and white, as the sun h the athered in clusters, separated, refor one hile , and the water was speckled with rubbish thrown overboard
”It's a town,” said Harvey ”Disko was right It is a town!”
”I've seen smaller,” said Disko ”There's about a thousand in” He pointed to a vacant space of greenish sea, where there were no dories
The ”We're Here” skirted round the northern squadron, Disko waving his hand to friend after friend, and anchored as neatly as a racing yacht at the end of the season The Bank fleet pass good sea the line
”Jest in time fer the caplin,” cried the Mary Chilton
”'Salt ' Philip
”Hey, Toht?” said the Henry Clay; and so questions and answers flew back and forth Men had , and there is no place for gossip like the Bank fleet They all seemed to know about Harvey's rescue, and asked if he orth his salt yet The young bloods jested with Dan, who had a lively tongue of his own, and inquired after their health by the town--nicknames they least liked Manuel's countrye; and even the silent cook was seen riding the jib-boo Gaelic to a friend as black as hiin is rocky bottoer fro--after they had buoyed the cable, their dories went forth to join the mob of boats anchored about a mile away The schooners rocked and dipped at a safe distance, liketheir brood, while the dories behaved like s
As they drove into the confusion, boat banging boat, Harvey's ears tingled at the co Island, with Portuguese, Neapolitan, Lingua Franca, French, and Gaelic, with songs and shoutings and new oaths, rattled round him, and he seemed to be the butt of it all For the first ti so long with only the ”We're Heres”--a the scores of wild faces that rose and fell with the reeling ss fro of variously painted dories They hung for an instant, a wonderful frieze against the sky-line, and theirarms, and bare chests disappeared, while on another swell caures in a toy theatre So Harvey stared ”Watch out!” said Dan, flourishi+ng a dip-net ”When I tell you dip, you dip The caplin'll school any time fro, shoving, and hauling, greeting old friends here and warning old enemies there, Comeneral crowd, and ian to haul on their anchors with intent to lee-bow the ”We're Heres” But a yell of laughter went up as a dory shot fro
”Give her slack!” roared twenty voices ”Let him shake it out”
”What's the matter?” said Harvey, as the boat flashed away to the southward ”He's anchored, isn't he?”
”Anchored, sure enough, but his graound-tackle's kinder shi+fty,” said Dan, laughing ”Whale's fouled itDip, Harve! Here they come!”
The sea round them clouded and darkened, and then frizzed up in showers of tiny silver fish, and over a space of five or six acres the cod began to leap like trout in May; while behind the cod three or four broad grey-black backs broke the water into boils
Then everybody shouted and tried to haul up his anchor to get ahbour's line and said as in his heart, and dipped furiously with his dip-net, and shrieked cautions and advice to his companions, while the deep fizzed like freshly opened soda-water, and cod,in upon the luckless bait Harvey was nearly knocked overboard by the handle of Dan's net But in all the wild tuot, the wicked, set little eye--so like a circus elephant's eye--of a whale that drove along almost level with the water, and, so he said, winked at his fouled by these reckless mid-sea hunters, and were towed half a mile ere their horses shook the line free
Then the caplin moved off and five minutes later there was no sound except the splash of the sinkers overside, the flapping of the cod, and the whack of theHarvey could see the gli as steadily as they swam Bank law strictly forbids in or the Eastern Shoals; but so close lay the boats that even single hooks snarled, and Harvey found hientle, hairy Newfoundlander on one side and a howling Portuguese on the other
Worse than any tangle of fishi+ng-lines was the confusion of the dory-rodings beloater Eachand rowing round his fixed point As the fish struck on less quickly, each round; but every third man found hihbours To cut another's roding is crime unspeakable on the Banks; yet it was done, and done without detection, three or four tiht a Maine unith an oar, and Manuel served a fellow-countryman in the same way But Harvey's anchor-line was cut, and so was Penn's, and they were turned into relief-boats to carry fish to the ”We're Here” as the dories filled The caplin schooled once ht, when the mad clamour was repeated; and at dusk they rowed back to dress down by the light of kerosene-lae pile, and they went to sleep while they were dressing