"Captains Courageous": A Story of the Grand Banks

en they expected to make the shoals by the Virgin the fog shut down, and they anchored, surrounded by the tinkli

There was no reason why they should not have taken them openly; but they tasted better so, and it made the cook angry. The

I hear somethin'. Ef it's anything, I'm

norant, rowdy boy had once said it would be "great" if a steamer ran down a fishing-boat. That boy had a stateroom with a hot and cold bath, and spent ten minutes each morning picking over a gilt-edged bill of fare. And that same boy - no, his very much older brother - was up at four of the dim dawn in streaming, crackling oilskins, hammering, literally

lying himself to Manuel's conch, "fer to keep inside the law, an' that'

in front of it, and as it lifted it showed a long ladder of Roman numerals-XV., XVI., XVII., XVIII., and so forth - on a salmon-coloured gleaming side. It tilted forward and downward with a heart-stilling "Ssssooo"; the ladder disappeared; a line of brass-rimmed port-holes flashed past; a jet of steam puffed in Harvey's helplessly uplifted hands; a spout of

us?" he

! We're goin' to look," sa

ry came by, knocking on the 'We're Here's' side, as though she wished to be taken in. Then followed something, face down, in a blue jersey, but - it was not the whole of a man. Penn cha

f a mile away. Dad's got the old man. There ain't any one else, and - there was his son, too. Oh, Harve, Harve, I can'

the stranger groaned. "Disko,

who was also Haskins or Rich or McVitty when Uncle Salters forgot; and his face was changed on him from the face of a fool to the countenance of an old, wise man, a

ar boat an' a thousand quintal of fish. If you'd left me alone my widow could ha' gone on to the

," said Disko. "Better lie

work, and his means of livelihood, in thirty

ey?" said Tom Platt, fiddling

rom his beard. "I'll be rowin' summer boarders araound East G

ds that si

altars, O

ough he had a right to give orders. Their ey

"Mebbe I'll get back some o' the - some o' the-nine thousand d

an'- he's remembered Johnstown! I never seed stich eyes in a

slipped off his hat, for Penn was praying. Presently the little man came up the steps, h

t's all to do over again, checkers and

d for the life of this man's son. Mine were drowned before my eyes - she and my eldest and - the others. Shall a man be mor

dingly at Penn to s

d?" Penn asked suddenly.

ver mad," Salters began "Onl

fore the fires broke out. I do not rem

stand it!" cried Dan, and H

," said Disko, in

n some one for every day of

inted to

e've more'n earned your keep twice-told; an' there's money owin' you, Penn, be

I can see that in

Jack, "an' he's been wid us all

and a voice hailed through the fog: "O

ed Penn. "Stand you still and

answered, but his voice quavere

snarled up in a mess o' lumber thet might

is

' heart-beats ans

ung Olley," th

sworn that a bright sun was shining upon his lifted face; but the dr

ike guyin' any n

truth we was kinder - kinder drif

, and a roar of unsteady laughter went

t an' graound-tackle. Guess you won't want him, anyway, an' this blame windlass

nything in the b

that'll hold. Say! Young Olley's gittin' kind

rowed him over. He went away without a word of thanks,

iven home into the scabbard; the light faded from the overbright eyes; the voice returned to its usual pitiful little

ay myself," cried Salters promptly. "It beats all

ushed and meekly fol

e crazy waters," shouted Disko, an

that all?" said Long Jack, when they were working thr

he wheel, "is this: The Jennie Cushman

of them go by,

hnstown an' Jacob Boiler an' such-like reminiscences. Well, consolin' Jason there held him up a piece, same's shorin' up a boat. Th

at Disko was en

d stayed Jacob Boilerin'. Did ye see his face when Penn asked

es, natural. Did ye ever see sech a gift in prayer? He everlastin'ly hiked young Olley outer the ocean. Thet's my b

rs jes as sot

ickly. "Penn's not all caulked, an' I

oth face and a blank mind. He said he believed that he had been dreaming. T

ing door behind the foc'sle stove; and Disko showed how there is great art in stowing cargo so as to bring a schooner to her best draft. The crew were thus kept lively till they recovered their spirits; and Harvey was tickled with a rope's end by Long Jack for be

with an old bayonet tied to a stick. The grim brute rubbed alongside the dory beggin

fog, there came a morning when Disko shouted d