Part 20 (1/2)
”Do-on't, Dan! We're right on top of him now 'Wish I was safe aboard, bein' pounded by Uncle Salters”
”They'll be lookin' fer us in a little Gimme the tooter” Dan took the tin dinner-horn, but paused before he blew
”Go on,” said Harvey ”I don't want to stay here all night”
”Question is, haow he'd take it There was a man frum down the coast told me once he was in a schooner where they darsen't ever blow a horn to the dories, becaze the skipper--not the man he ith, but a captain that had run her five years before--he'd drownded a boy alongside in a drunk fit; an' ever after, that boy he'd row alongside too and shout, 'Dory! dory!' with the rest”
”Dory! dory!” a ain, and the horn dropped from Dan's hand
”Hold on!” cried Harvey; ”it's the cook”
”Dunno what made me think o' thet fool tale, either,” said Dan ”It's the doctor, sure enough”
”Dan! Danny! Oooh, Dan! Harve! Harvey! Oooh, Haarveee!”
”We're here,” sung both boys together They heard oars, but could see nothing till the cook, shi+ning and dripping, rowed into them
”What iss happened?” said he ”You will be beaten at home”
”Thet's ant Thet's e're sufferin' for,” said Dan
”Anything hoh fer us We've had kinder depressin'
company” As the cook passed them a line, Dan told him the tale
”Yess! He come for hiss knife,” was all he said at the end
Never had the little rocking ”We're Here” looked so deliciously hos, rowed theht fro smell of food forward, and it was heavenly to hear Disko and the others, all quite alive and solid, leaning over the rail and pro But the cook was a black et the dories aboard till he had given theas he backed and bumped round the counter how Harvey was the mascot to destroy any possible bad luck
So the boys came overside as rather uncanny heroes, and every one asked the trouble Little Penn delivered quite a speech on the folly of superstitions; but public opinion was against hihost-stories to nearly ht Under that influence no one except Salters and Penn said anything about ”idolatry” when the cook put a lighted candle, a cake of flour and water, and a pinch of salt on a shi+ngle, and floated them out astern to keep the Frenchman quiet in case he was still restless Dan lit the candle because he had bought the belt, and the cook grunted andpoint of flame
Said Harvey to Dan, as they turned in after watch: ”How about progress and Catholic superstitions?”
”Huh! I guess I'ressive as the next man, but when it comes to a dead St Malo deck-hand scarin' a couple o' pore boys stiff fer the sake of a thirty-cent knife, why, then, the cook can take hold fer all o'all, except the cook, were rather asha gruffly to one another
The ”We're Here” was racing neck and neck for her last few loads against the ”Parry Norle that the Fleet took sides and betted tobacco All hands worked at the lines or dressing-down till they fell asleep where they stood--beginning before dawn and ending when it was too dark to see They even used the cook as pitcher, and turned Harvey into the hold to pass salt, while Dan helped to dress down Luckily a ”Parry Nor down the fo'c'sle, and the ”We're Heres” gained Harvey could not see how one more fish could be crammed into her, but Disko and Tom Platt stowed and stowed, and planked thestones from the ballast, and there was always ”jest another day's work” Disko did not tell them when all the salt etted He rolled to the lazarette aft the cabin and began hauling out the big -sail was down and the side with letters for hoood fortune At last she cleared decks, hoisted her flag,--as is the right of the first boat off the Banks,--up-anchored, and began to move Disko pretended that he wished to accommodate folk who had not sent in theirthe schooners In reality, that was his little triu it shohat kind of mariner he was Dan's accordion and Toic verse youtill all the salt is wet:
”Hih! Yih! Yoho!
Send your letters raound!
All our salt is wetted, an' the anchor's off the graound!
Bend, oh, bend your mains'l!, we're back to Yankeeland-- With fifteen hunder' quintal, An' fifteen hunder' quintal, 'Teen hunder' toppin' quintal, 'Twix' old 'Queereau an' Grand”
The last letters pitched on deck wrapped round pieces of coal, and the Gloucester es to their wives and womenfolk and owners, while the ”We're Here” finished thelike a ood-bye