The Washington herald., 1919-06-25
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.


schooner and. lowered into her heav-
ing fo'c's'le where men in oilskins
gave him a hot drink and put him
to sleep in a bunk. When he awoke
a boy whose name was Dan asked
him smilingly IL he was feelins
better. The schooner was the
We're Here" of Gloucester, and the
boys father. Dfsko Troop. was her
skipper.
Harvey went up on deck to see
Disko: and demanded that he be taken
back to New York. where. as he told
Disko condescendingly. his father
would pay them very we'll for their
trouble; he added many other items
to what his father could and would
do. Disko. as it happened. was an
old-fashioned type of bank fisherman.
wise in the ways of fish but knowing
little of the great world. He decided
that this boy with his talk of his
fathers immense wealth must be
crazy; with an idea Of restoring the
poor boy to sanity. he offered him the
berth of second boy on the We're
Here" at s1o.5o per month.
Harvey had a fit OF sullenness, but
his sullenness worried nobody: he
went to work. The dories were re-
turning to the vessel with their CATCH
es of fish; so for the first work of his
life Harvey was set to helping Dan
hoist in the dories, to swabbing the
curry from their insides and then
to nesting them on the deck. BY the
time he had finished doing that and
eating his supper 1t was nighttime
and Manuel. Penn. Long Jack. Old
Salters. Tom Platt-all hands were
standing by to dress fish.
Manuel and Penn stood deep among
the fish. hourishing sharp knives
"Hi!" shouted Manuel, with one fin-
ger under the gill of a cod, the other
in an eye. The blade glimmered; there
was sound of tearing; the fish-slit
from throat to tail-dropped at Long
Jacks feet. "Hir' cried Long Jack
and. with scoop OF a mittened hand.
drop the Gods liver into a basket;
another wrench and scoop sent head
and offal flying. The Quilted fish slid
fiercely. ripped out the backbone and
splashed the headless. gutless fish
into a tub of water.
Harvey pitched the washed fish down
into the hold. from whence came
Platt and Disko moved among the
salt bins. The rasping sound Of rough
salt rubbed on rough flesh from below
made a steady undertone to the click
nick of the knives in the pens, the
wrench and schloop OF torn heads, the
flap of ripped-open fish falling into
the tub on deck.
At the end of an hour Harvey
wanted terribly to rest. but also for
the first time in his life he was one of
a working gang of men; and so, be-
ginning to take pride in the thought,
he held on grimly. Not till the last
fish was slowed below did a man rest
But when that moment came. Disko
and Old Salters rolled toward their
cabin hunks, Manuel and Long Jack
went forward. Tom Platt waited only
long enough to slide home the hatcn.
Penn to empty a basket of fish livers
into a big cask.
All hands were below and asleep,
except the two boys; they had to
stand watch; so by and by the moon
looked down on one. slim boy IN
knickerbockers, which was Harvey,
staggering around the cluttered deck;
while behind him. waving a knotteo
rope. walked another boy, which was
Dan, yawning and nodding between
taps he dealt the first boy to keep
him awake.
The We're Here" was on a salt
fishing trip. which meant four mon,Is
away from home; so there was time
for Harvey to learn many strange new
things il he cared to- After a time,
as the pride in honest work well done
began to grip him, he cared. He
learned to fish from a dory; to make
his way in safety around a heaving
vesseis deck; to know what each
rope and sail aboard a vessel was for.
Disko allowed him. when the wind
was light. to steer the vessel from
one berth to another, and wonderful
was Harvey's sense of power when
he first felt the vessel answer to his
touch of the wheel Almost did he
come to understand, as a fisherman
the never-absent dam
ger of the banks-the eternal fogs the
tides, the gales. the wicked seas: ana
learned, too, fishermen's opinion OF the
officers Of the great steamers who.
after cutting vessel down, raise high
hands to heaven and swear with
unanimity that the careless fisherman
had never-absolutely never-shovn 50
much as single light.
He saw one day a foul, drarrIed
unkempt vessel heaving In mast
the We're Here" for all the worIJ
like a blowsy. frousy. bad old wom-
an sneering at a decent girI-.aw
her said off and into a patch OF wal
cry sunshine and-go undertaking
all hands with her, He saw. wbiIe
MS hair stood on end. a whiteness