Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1941-02-20
CHAPTER x-Continued

4IiSiio1N ooiO We llO-
ticed lot of trouble made, more
than once, by trying to be RESPONSE
BILE for other peoples business"
''Do you seriously mean to bride
your men to obedience by turning
them loose like wolves on these help
less girls?" Georges eyes were hot.
"Playing on their weaknesses, just
as you played on my weakness at
Gilead, told me I was killing the
islanders in order to make me come
away"
Richard said after moment quiz
city: ''Maybe 1 was wrong. Maybe
I'd best have let you stay" He hest
tated, said at last CURLY: "Mr. Nc
Ausland, do as you like; but I'll
have to run the ship my way"
He turned away. Peter had joined
them in time to hear the last word.
..'Dick takes his job too hard. He's
all blown up with it'll"
Mary ignored him, urged: "Per-
haps Richards right, George. And
even if he isn't, he must do as he
thinks wisest. Come down to the
cabin with me-"
But George declined to do so. "I'll
not shut my eyes, he said. "I'm
not a coward"
So they stayed on deck that day
while the work of provisioning the
ship went forward.
They could not be ready to de-
part that afternoon; and the boats
stayed ashore well into the night.
Next morning they made to sea.
Mary hoped that once they were
away George would forget his anger
at Richard; but he did not, and for
days after they left the island, the
few minutes they all spent together
at the table were made awkward
by her husbands wrathful silence,
and by Richards defensive dignity.
The stop for provisions had al
tered not only the humor of the
crew but the very appearance of
the Venturer. They had taken on
tremendous quantities of fresh
fruits. A huge cask dashed to the
port rail was full of green Coco
nuts. Bunches of bananas hung I'm
der the boat house and wherever
else room could be found. The po-
tato room where Tommy Hanline
slept was SO full of yams and plan
tains and breadfruit that Tommy
had to crawl over them to reach his
bunk.
Another change took place in the
routine aboard after they left the
island. George remembered his call
ing, and with the air of one expect
ing a refusal, asked Richards per-
mission to hold a Sunday morning
service on deck. Richard consent
ed, and the thing was done. Mary
suspected that Corkran was respon-
sible for the quiet and respectful
demeanor of the men when they as
sembled; but when George began
to speak, he held them. George,
facing an audience, had spiritual
authority and dignity that were fine
to see. She realized, while she lis
tened, that her attitude toward her
husband had always been protec-
tive; her tenderness a little conde-
scending.
She told him afterward how proud
she was, and Richard also spoke to
George gratefully and appreciative-
ly. She hoped the constraint be-
tween them would be forgotten. But
George did not relent at all; and
matters were still thus tight and
strained in the cabin, on the day
when at last they sighted a whale.
A whaler may kill and save in
the course of voyage two or three
dozen whales; and she may kill 9TH
ers and lose them by sinking or in
a sudden gale. Most of her captures
are routine; but now and then
whale makes trouble. What hap
pened to the Venturer today was one
of those extraordinary and isolated
phenomena which become legends;
and it would take it's place in whal-
ing lore.
One of the sailors aloft, a New
Bedford man named Gibbons, called
down to the after deck:
"Sparm whale on the port quar-
ter, sir, about two miles off,"