"Captains Courageous": A Story of the Grand Banks

ally dependent on the courtesy and wisdom of their neighbours; but one expected better things of steamers. That was after another interesting interview,

re' under her lee and gave the skipper a piece of his mind. "Where might ye be - eh? Ye don't deserve to be anywheres. You barn-yard tramps go ho

about Disko's own eyes. "We haven't had an observation for

come to your lead? Et it? Can't ye sme

pens woke all the farmer in him. "They say they fall off dretful on a v'yage. Dunno as it

rsey as he looked over the side. "What a

up in the fore-rigging, "let me tell y

but I've asked for my reckoning. If the agricultural person with the hair will kindly shut

. He could not stand up to that particular sort of talk, and

id the skipper, as he rang up the engine-room an

" said Disko as the 'We're Here' slid away. "I was jest givin' him my jedgment on lullsikin' round these w

a cattle-boat was practically a barn on blue water, and Disko insisting that, even if this were the case, decency and fisher-pride demanded that he should hav

' bodderin' fwhat t

s fer years - that's all," sai

, Impenitent, reading the farming re

' to all my feelin's,

givin' her her reckonin',- over an' above that, I say,- cud ha' discoorsed wid her quite intelligent on the management av steers an' such at sea? Forgit ut! Av coorse they w

ad been somewhat plastered, "I said I didn't kno

-"right there, I take it, Disko, you should ha' asked him to stop ef the co

who saw his way to an honourable

'd cheerful hev stopped on a hint - not from any leadin' or conviction,

we'd done? Always those blame boys. But I wouldn't have miss

id Disko, and the light of new argument lit in Sa

fwhat Steyning of Steyning and Hare's f'und when he sent Counahan fer skipper on the Manila D. Kuhn, instid

up to the lead. "He used to bum araound the c'mission houses to Boston lookin' fer the Lord to make him captain of a tow

! Tck! Tck! Dead these

hey lay hand to, till they'd seen the bottom av a fifteen-gallon cask o' bug-juice. That was about wan week, so far as Counahan remembered. (If I cud only tell the tale as he told ut!) All that whoile the wind blew like ould glory, an' the Marilla -'twas summer, and they'd give her a foretopmast - struck her gait and kept ut. Then Counahan tuk the hog-yoke an' thrembled over it for a whoile, an' made out, betwix' that an' the chart an' the singin' in his head, that they was to the south'ard o' Sable Island, gettin' along glorious, but speakin' nothin'. Then they broached another keg, an' quit s

ahan: 'Either the lead-line's tuk to

sat down on the deck countin' the knots, an' gettin' her snarled up hijjus. The Marilla she'

ishin'-boats now?'

them off the Irish c

ez Counahan. 'Fwhat have I

e ye doin' here

d that whin his pumps sucked an' he was not feelin' go

o' Cape Clear,' sez the tramp, 'i

mp, four feet sivin inch

an' fourteen days from Boston Light. Sufferin' Christianity, 'tis a record, an' by the same token I'v

into Skibbereen, an' they had an illigant time visitin' around with frinds on the ould sod fer a week. Thin they wint back, an' it cost 'em two an'

he firm say?" H

heir satisfaction out av that, an' ut all came av not keepin' the crew and the rum sep'rate in the first place; an' c

and think to sell to some Fayal man. Then it blow fresh, and we cannot see well. Eh, wha-at? Then it blow some more fresh, and we go down below and drive very fast - no on

o, after a moment. Manuel

" said T

and the brick she was from Liberia! So we se

his go right across to

and's icy mountains the year ha'af our fleet was tryin' after cod there. An' what's more, he took my mother along with him,- to show her haow the money was earned, I presoom,- an' they was all iced up, an' I was born at Di

an' I tell you two boys here thet after you've made a mistake - ye don't mak

hat embraced all hands except Disko an

out almost every day, running along the east edge of the Grand

unknown reason - likes, and wraps himself round, this thing, and is hauled up ere he can escape from the pins. But as he leaves his home he squirts first water and next ink into his captor's face; and it was curious to see the men weaving their heads from side to side to dodge the shot. They were as black as sweeps when the flurry ended; but a pile of fresh squid lay on the deck, and the large cod th

announced his intention of turning in with the broad-axe. Dan naturally repeated these remarks to the dory

ferryboat within five mile o'

t, then? Who's hinde

an' he don't take that from any boat, not to

an angrily, for the Carrie Pitman had an unsav

int o' sailin'. An' ef she's quit driftin', what in thunde

e your monkey back to Gloucester. Go ba

knew that one of the Carrie's crew had wor

ter shrimp! Git

Nova Scotian is not well re

ers! Git aout with your brick in your stockin'!" And

t on thet packet. She'll snore till midnight, an' jest when we're gettin' our sleep she'll strike adrift.

hough, to disturb even a dory's tackle, but the Carrie Pitman was a law unto herself. At the end

she comes, Dad; butt-end first, walkin' i

wn directly upon them. The 'We're Here', under jib and riding-sail, gave her no more room than was absolutely necessary,- Disko did not wish to spend a week hunt

raising his head-gear, "an'

," said Uncle Salters. "We

my dory-anchor?

n' stick it in the mu

the wheel-box. "Sa-ay! Is there a strike in the o-ver-

Platt. Manuel leaned over the stern and yelled: "Johanna Morgan play the organ! Ahaaaa!" He flourished his broad thumb with a gesture

alf the forenoon recovering the cable. But the boys agreed the trouble was cheap at the price of triumph and glor