Part 25 (1/2)
”We lose one hundred a year from Gloucester only, Mr Cheyne,” she said--”one hundred boys an' men; and I've come so's to hate the sea as if 'twuz alive an' listenin' God never o straight out, I take it, and straight hoive a bonus for record passages Tea don't i at sea”
”When he wuz little he used to play at keeping store, an' I had hopes he ht follow that up But soon's he could paddle a dory I knew that were goin' to be denied ers, mother; iron-built an' well found Reits his letters”
”I've never known as Phil told lies, but he's too venturesome (like most of 'eo--fer all o' me”
”She jest despises the ocean,” Disko explained, ”an' I--I dunno haow to act polite, I guess, er I'd thank you better”
”My father--my own eldest brother--two nephews--an'her head on her hand ”Would you care fer any one that took all those?”
Cheyne was relieved when Dan turned up and accepted with ht than he was able to put into words Indeed, the offer s; but Dan thoughtinto far-away harbours
Mrs Cheyne had spoken privately to the unaccountable Manuel in the matter of Harvey's rescue He seemed to have no desire for money
Pressed hard, he said that he would take five dollars, because he wanted to buy soirl Otherwise--”How shall I take iva soiva iva all you can think” He introduced her to a snuffy Portuguese priest with a list of se as his cassock As a strict Unitarian, Mrs Cheyne could not sy the brown, voluble little man
Manuel, faithful son of the Church, appropriated all the blessings showered on her for her charity ”That letta ood absolutions for six irl of the hour and to break the hearts of all the others
Salters went West for a season with Penn, and left no address behind
He had a dread that these ht take undue interest in his companion It was better to visit inland relatives till the coast was clear ”Never you be adopted by rich folk, Penn,” he said in the cars, ”or I'll take 'n' break this checker-board over your head Ef you forgit your na with Salters Troop, an' set down right where you are till I coin' araound after the out with fatness, accordin' to Scripcher”
CHAPTER X
But it was otherith the ”We're Here's” silent cook, for he came up, his kit in a handkerchief, and boarded the ”Constance” Pay was no particular object, and he did not in the least care where he slept His business, as revealed to him in dreams, was to follow Harvey for the rest of his days They tried argument and, at last, persuasion; but there is a difference between one Cape Breton and two Alabaroes, and the matter was referred to Cheyne by the cook and porter The ht need a body-servant some day or other, and was sure that one volunteer orth five hirelings Let the h he called hio back to Boston, where, if he were still of the same mind, they would take him West
With the ”Constance,” which in his heart of hearts he loathed, departed the last reave hietic idleness This Gloucester was a nen in a new land, and he purposed to ”take it in,” as of old he had taken in all the cities froo of that world whence he hailed Theythe crooked street which was half wharf and half shi+p's store: as a leading professional he wished to learn how the noble game was played Men said that four out of every five fish-balls served at New England's Sunday breakfast caures in proof--statistics of boats, gear, wharf-frontage, capital invested, salting, packing, factories, insurance, wages, repairs, and profits He talked with the owners of the large fleets whose skippers were little more than hired uese Then he conferred with Disko, one of the fened their craft, and compared notes in his vast head He coiled hi questions with cheerful, unslaked Western curiosity, till all the water-front wanted to knohat in thunder that man was after, anyhow” He prowled into the Mutual Insurance rooms, and demanded explanations of the mysterious reht down upon him secretaries of every Fisherman's Widow and Orphan Aid Society within the city lied shamelessly, each man anxious to beat the other institution's record, and Cheyne tugged at his beard and handed the-house near Eastern Point--a strange established, apparently, by the boarders, where the table-cloths were red-and-white-checkered, and the population, who seemed to have known one another intiht toof her stay Mrs Cheyne put away her diamond solitaires before she cahtful people,” she confided to her husband; ”so friendly and sih they are all Boston, nearly”
”That isn't si across the boulders behind the apple-trees where the ha, that we--that I haven't got”
”It can't be,” said Mrs Cheyne, quietly ”There isn't a woman here owns a dress that cost a hundred dollars Why, we--”
”I know it, dear We have--of course we have I guess it's only the style they wear East Are you having a good time?”
”I don't see very much of Harvey; he's alith you; but I ain't near as nervous as I was”
”I haven't had such a good tihtly understood that I had a son before this Harve's got to be a great boy
'Anything I can fetch you, dear? 'Cushi+on under your head? Well, we'll go down to the wharf again and look around”
Harvey was his father's shadow in those days, and the two strolled along side by side, Cheyne using the grades as an excuse for laying his hand on the boy's square shoulder It was then that Harvey noticed and admired what had never struck hi at the heart of new matters as learned from men in the street
”How d'youyour head?”