The Ice Pilot

ars merged into the mist. Now and then a grinding jerk of the anchor chain sent a vibrating shudder from stem to jack staff. Below the holystoned decks the

bin. The events of the night and the early morning rushed back to him, and he blinked a

d his clothes hanging from hooks on the ship's sheathing. Donning the clothes, he opened the door and strode out into an alleyway

rail. "About time you're risin'. We're going to ya

ng over the rail, he raised his finger, sniffed for a second ti

n these bunks seamen slept with their arms over their faces and their legs extended. A molasses barrel was lashed to the heel of the foremast, and on top of this b

from the gutter and some from the boarding houses. I gu

ke a policeman pounds on the pavement. "Rise and shine, lads!" he shouted, leaning

"All hands on deck!" he called. "Step lively now

recastle, pans banged, growls and feeble protests rose as the two watc

ff and white bread and bully beef. They're lucky. In my day w

ards and masts, and snow-white canvas looped downward like lingerie on clotheslines. The running rigging

er sea boat afloat, but how about the ice? She's sheathed

w. There's nothing better, and it don't impede her speed to any extent. You ought to have been aboard coming up from Sandy Point-eleven point

olid planking forward and steel sheathing aft to the waist. It was the only c

r. "Simpkins, of Dundee, built them. They're

g gear was all in place; he counted two tubs of whale line which was carefully protected by new tarpaulins. The oars were fully sixteen feet in length, and paddles were ra

. Wouldn't wonder if we have some sport this voyage. Last season was a bad one. It ai

into the engine room and see that triple-expansion dream. Baldwin and Maddox say it's one of the finest e

en stepped to one rail and studied the swinging sheer of the Pole Star. He saw beyond the smoke of the cook'

dropped from Stirling's lips as he

man in view when he dropped anchor in this port. There's a ki

t! But then Marr is an ow

id with reserve. "I'm willin' to venture five plugs of tobacco that one was a woman's voice

lug of select tobacco. "I don't often chew," he said, "but I'll bet

nt below, and she's aboard now. Time will fetch her out. Marr is

ug," he said, sincerely. "I'm a simple man, Cushner. It don't stand to reason that Marr would bring a woman on a whaling

our stumps and get the ship out, smart-like. We'll forget t

he happiness of married life. Stirling, still in his late forties, had thought long and seriously over the matter. He was a man's man, and felt that women, and particularly dashing widows, belonged to another sphere. They were as much o

rd and joined the group upon the forecastle head. Marr stood

ly as the Ice Pilot shot a keen glance upward where the morning sun was breaking through the last

his shoulders and

ea-jacket and well-cut trousers, strode bris

ch!" he shouted.

ain like a giant biting a meal. The ship steadied in the tide which was flowing

ushner called ov

the position. "Put her hard aport.

he single screw thrashed the water astern and the Pole Star rounded

the ship under bare headway. The siren aft the funnel plumed into one short blast,

directly ahead through the fog. The engines raced in reverse, and the Pole Star swung with her dain

ting appeared. To port lay the city-hill after hill of close-packed habitations; to starboard reared the green slopes o

The Cliff House and the seal rocks were thrown astern. The land of California sank to a