Previous - Next

"Knife oh!" shouted Uncle Salters, at last. Penn doubled up,
gasping among the fish, Manuel bowed back and forth to supple
himself, and Long Jack leaned over the bulwarks. The cook
appeared, noiseless as a black shadow, collected a mass of
backbones and heads, and retreated.

"Blood-ends for breakfast an' head-chowder," said Long Jack,
smacking his lips.

"Knife oh!" repeated Uncle Salters, waving the flat, curved
splitter's weapon.

"Look by your foot, Harve," cried Dan, below.

Harvey saw half a dozen knives stuck in a cleat in the hatch
combing. He dealt these around, taking over the dulled ones.

"Water!" said Disko Troop.

"Scuttle-butt's for'ard, an' the dipper's alongside. Hurry,
Harve," said Dan.

He was back in a minute with a big dipperful of stale brown water
which tasted like nectar, and loosed the jaws of Disko and Tom
Platt.

"These are cod," said Disko. "They ain't Damarskus figs, Tom
Platt, nor yet silver bars. I've told you that every single time
sence we've sailed together."

"A matter o' seven seasons," returned Tom Platt, coolly. "Good
stowin's good stowin' all the same, an' there's a right an' a
wrong way o' stowin' ballast even. If you'd ever seen four hundred
ton o' iron set into the -"

"Hi!" With a yell from Manuel the work began again, and never
stopped till the pen was empty. The instant the last fish was
down, Disko Troop rolled aft to the cabin with his brother; Manuel
and Long Jack went forward; Tom Platt only waited long enough to
slide home the hatch ere he too disappeared. In half a minute
Harvey heard deep snores in the cabin, and he was staring blankly
at Dan and Penn.

"I did a little better that time, Danny," said Penn, whose eyelids
were heavy with sleep. "But I think it is my duty to help clean."

"'Wouldn't hev your conscience fer a thousand quintal," said Dan.
"Turn in, Penn. You've no call to do boy's work. Draw a bucket,
Harvey. Oh, Penn, dump these in the gurry-butt 'fore you sleep.
Kin you keep awake that long?"

Penn took up the heavy basket of fish-livers, emptied them into a
cask with a hinged top lashed by the fo'c'sle; then he too dropped
out of sight in the cabin.

"Boys clean up after dressin' down, an' first watch in ca'am weather
is boy's watch on the 'We're Here'." Dan sluiced the pen
energetically, unshipped the table, set it up to dry in the moonlight,
ran the red knife-blades through a wad of oakum, and began
to sharpen them on a tiny grindstone, as Harvey threw offal and
backbones overboard under his direction.

At the first splash a silvery-white ghost rose bolt upright from
the oily water and sighed a weird whistling sigh. Harvey started
back with a shout, but Dan only laughed. "Grampus," said he.
"Beggin' fer fish-heads. They up-eend thet way when they're
hungry. Breath on him like the doleful tombs, hain't he?" A
horrible stench of decayed fish filled the air as the pillar of

Previous - Next