Part 19 (1/2)
”Daown! Hard daown! Let go everything!”
”All hands to the pumps!”
”Daown jib an' pole her!”
Here the skipper lost his te was suspended to answer him, and he heard many curious facts about his boat and her next port of call They asked him if he were insured; and whence he had stolen his anchor, because, they said, it belonged to the Carrie Pitman; they called his boat a hten the fish; they offered to tow hie it to his wife; and one audacious youth slipped almost under the counter, smacked it with his open palm, and yelled: ”Gid up, Buck!”
The cook emptied a pan of ashes on him, and he replied with cod-heads
The bark's crew fired salley, and the dories threatened to come aboard and ”razee” her They would have warned her at once had she been in real peril; but, seeing her well clear of the Virgin, they made the most of their chances The fun was spoilt when the rock spoke again, a half- that would draw and went her ways; but the dories felt that the honours lay with thein roared hoarsely and next ry, white-headed sea, Harvey saw the Fleet with flickeringfor a lead Not a dory was hove out till ten o'clock, when the two Jeraulds of the Day's Eye, i a lull which did not exist, set the exa in the cockly swells, but Troop kept the ”We're Heres” at work dressing-down
He saw no sense in ”dares”; and as the stor wet strangers only too glad to ale The boys stood by the dory-tackles with lanterns, thewave that wouldand hold on for the dear life Out of the dark would come a yell of ”Dory, dory!” They would hook up and haul in a drenched man and a half-sunk boat, till their decks were littered doith nests of dories and the bunks were full Five tiaff where it lay lashed on the boos, and teeth to rope and spar and sodden canvas as a big wave filled the decks One dory was smashed to pieces, and the sea pitched thehis forehead open; and about dahen the racing seas glies, anothernews of his brother Seven extra mouths sat down to breakfast: a Swede; a Chatham skipper; a boy from Hancock, Maine; one Duxbury, and three Provincetownthe Fleet next day; and though no one said anything, all ate with better appetites when boat after boat reported full crews aboard Only a couple of Portuguese and an old man from Gloucester were drowned, but many were cut or bruised; and two schooners had parted their tackle and been blown to the southward, three days' sail A man died on a Frenchman--it was the same bark that had traded tobacco with the ”We're Heres” She slipped away quite quietly one hiteanyhow, and Harvey saw the funeral through Disko's spy-glass It was only an oblong bundle slid overside They did not seeht, at anchor, Harvey heard the that sounded like a hyantine Qui va tourner, Roule et s'incline Pour e Marie, Pour moi priez Dieu! Adieu, patrie; Quebec, adieu!
Tom Platt visited her, because, he said, the dead man was his brother as a Freemason It came out that a wave had doubled the poor fellow over the heel of the bowsprit and broken his back The news spread like a flash, for, contrary to general custom, the Frenchman held an auction of the dead man's kit,--he had no friends at St Malo or Miquelon,--and everything was spread out on the top of the house, from his red knitted cap to the leather belt with the sheath-knife at the back Dan and Harvey were out on twenty-fathom water in the Hattie S, and naturally rowed over to join the crowd It was a long pull, and they stayed soht the knife, which had a curious brass handle When they dropped overside and pushed off into a drizzle of rain and a lop of sea, it occurred to the the lines ”Guess 'twon't hurt us any to be war under his oilskins, and they rowed on into the heart of a white fog, which, as usual, dropped on the
”There's too much blame tide hereabouts to trust to your instinks,” he said ”Heave over the anchor, Harve, and we'll fish a piece till the thing lifts Bend on your biggest lead Three pound ain't any too htened on her rodin' already”
There was quite a little bubble at the bohere some irresponsible Bank current held the dory full stretch on her rope; but they could not see a boat's length in any direction Harvey turned up his collar and bunched hi had no special terrors for him now They fished awhile in silence, and found the cod struck on well Then Dan drew the sheath-knife and tested the edge of it on the gunwale
”That's a daisy,” said Harvey ”How did you get it so cheap?”
”On account o' their blaht blade ”They don't fancy takin' iron frum off of a dead man, so to speak 'See them Arichat French anything off a dead oin' in the teeth o' superstition
That's one o' the advantages o' livin' in a progressive country” And Dan began whistling:
”Oh, Double Thatcher, how are you? Now Eastern Point coirls an' boys we soon shall see, At anchor off Cape Ann!”
”Why didn't that Eastport ressive?”
”Maine? Pshaw! They don't know enough, or they hain't got h, to paint their haouses in Maine I've seen 'em The Eastport man he told me that the knife had been used--so the French captain told him--used up on the French coast last year”
”Cut a man? Heave's the muckle” Harvey hauled in his fish, rebaited, and threw over
”Killed hiet it”
”Christive you a dollar for it when I--get ive you two dollars”
”Honest? D'you like it as”Well, to tell the truth, I kinder got it for you--to give; but I didn't let on till I sa you'd take it It's yours and welcome, Harve, because we're dory-mates, and so on and so forth, an' so followin' Catch a-holt!”
He held it out, belt and all