Part 4 (1/2)
”Yes, that's right 'Bout six-sevenths is under water Lemme tell you, the fellers that sail a schooner like this up to the fishi+n' grounds have gotta knohat they're about Ever hear about the _Queen_ an'
how she got wrecked?”
”No”
”Well, it was a fog like it is over yonder, an' the _Queen_ was off Gull Island, close to Cape St John She didn't knohere she was
They didn't have no lighthouse in the toward Christmas an' the as howlin' like a pack o' wolves The poor little shi+p--she wa'n't er'n this here boat o' ours--drove pluers, one of 'em a lady One of the ot off the boat when she drove ashore an' they climbed up onto the top o' the island They didn't have nothin' with 'em 'ceptin' only an old piece of a sail What was that to feed on, all winter? They knew there wouldn't be anybody co
”The crew, they stayed on board: they said they was goin' to get off some o' the stuff for 'em all to eat while they was cooped up on the island waitin' for spring
”But the storm done 'em dirt The wind came on to blow harder'n ever, an' pretty soon the sea she just picked up the shi+p an' hauled her off and--crickety-crack!--she went sla to pieces on the Old Harry Shoals Didn't have noat a picnic No sir, there weren't one man saved out o' the whole crowd
”So there was them six people stuck up on top o' the rock”
”Did they have to stay there all winter?”
”Now you wait ain April there was a hunter come that way duck-shootin'
”He shot a duck an' it dropped in the big waves runnin' and juet it--an' it weren't there!
”'Mercy on us!' says he 'I shot that duck just as sure as I'ht here What's becoone to?'
”He looked round and looked round like Robinson Crusoe huntin' fer somebody He looked up an' he looked down, an' it wa'n't no use
Wa'n't no duck there
”'It ic Somethin' queer about this place!'
”Then he sees little pieces o' wood churnin' around in the foam
”'What's happened here?' he says to himself 'Musta been a shi+p went to pieces here some time' 'Cause he found some o' the splinters had letters on 'em showin' they used to be parts o' boxes, an' pretty soon he finds a life-preserver that says on it '_The Queen_, St John's'
”'Guess I'll climb up to the top o' the rock an' take a look,' says he So up he climbs, the birds flappin' round hioin' to hurt their eggs
”Up an' up he clureen an' the soft yellow buttercups is pretty--but what he sees lyin' there in the buttercups ain't pretty at all
”Six dead bodies lyin' there stretched out, with the piece o' the old torn sail over 'eers o' one is some flesh torn out o' the next one to it
”Then he finds a little book ritin' in it where one of 'e as he could what happened
”Well sir, what the writin' said was this He couldn't hardly make it out it was so faint It said by an' by they drew lots to see as to be killed for the rest to eat”
Here the h and said: ”That's a fine kind of a country to be colad I ain't in Doc Grenfell's rubber boots He's goin' to stay I thank et back to Yarround, but it's heaven compared to e're comin' to”
”Wait a minute, wait a minute!” said the other, ”I ain't finished tellin' you Leh I was sayin', they drew lots, an'--the lot fell to the lady”