Frederick William Wallace

“ The decks were filmed in ice a foot thick and ropes and standing rigging were encased to the thickness of a man's thigh. The deck-houses, dories, windlass and cables were indistinguishable in the shroud of ice which covered them, and Billy ordered life-lines to be rigged fore-and-aft and ashes scattered upon the slippery decks to prevent the men from sliding overboard.
“This is getting tough,” muttered the skipper. “If it makes much more, she'll capsize with the weight of it. Um! Let me see! Cobtown Harbor is thirty miles away. It'll take us seven or eight hours—maybe more—to make it. ”

“ The bark was lifting and pounding with dreadful concussions upon the rock or ledge, and amidst the din of falling spars, rending woodwork and crashing seas, the voice of Silvera could be heard directing the launching of a boat with frightful oaths.
All hands seemed to have swarmed aft on to the poop. I could hear the stamping and shuffling of their booted feet on the deck above me; their yells and curses, and the boom and crash of the boarding breakers. ”

“ Suddenly the horizon was blotted out in a pall of smoky gray. The wind began to pipe up and tear the crests off the waves and hurl them through the air like rain, and stinging sleet hurtled down from the somber gloom aloft. The dory, tossing like a chip, drove off to leeward, with the two men in her tugging at the oars.
“Where in blazes is th’ vessel, Tommy, boy?” shouted Collins trying hard to peer into the blinding, face-stinging spray and sleet. ”

“ In fact, it couldn't be called a fight—it was a frightful beating at the strong hands of a relentless and powerful man. Hemsley was bigger and stronger than Stream, but in his composition he had a yellow streak a yard wide. True, he made a strenuous resistance, but Billy smashed him unmercifully with cold and calculating blows. When at last the man dropped to his knees, whimpering and whining, gasping for breath and with his face a pulp of blood-stained, bruised flesh, Ben Anthony mercifully pulled his nephew away. ”

“ An officer ran to her break rail shouting:
"Haul aft your weather head sheets! Slack away lee braces——"
"Sweep th' quarter, Cameron!" roared Silvera excitedly. "Don't give 'em a chance to wear ship or they'll run away from us——"
Bang! Another explosion, and a wild yell from our crew as the shot smashed across the cabin trunk, tearing skylights, companionway, and chart-house into a shower of splinters and clearing the poop of all living creatures. ”

“ Strange it was that a man’s love for a flighty girl should conjure murderous thoughts and actions and result in such implacable hatred. Anderson was going mad.
Throughout the long day the dory rode to the drogue while the wind blew a bitter gale from the northeast and a heavy sea tossed the frail craft like a chip. Sleet and snow fell at intervals, and Collins collected some in his sou’wester and forced the frozen moisture between Anderson’s swollen lips. ”

“ I betted on you—you being a college man and a good hockey player.”
The second half of a hockey game is usually the fastest and most exciting. The men have gotten into their stride by then and the deciding goals are won or lost. Stream noted with satisfaction that the ice was softer and that his dull skates cut in better. He took his place with an air of grim determination and stood, a strapping, handsome figure of a man, strong and agile.
The puck was faced off and a Cobtown man got it and came down the rink like a streak of lightning. ”

“ I have seen some hard cases in my day, but that whaler's crew impressed me as being the most cut-throat looking crowd I ever clapped eyes on. Not a man but what had a scar or disfigurement of some sort on his person; all had a lurching hard-bitten appearance, while the language they used was vile enough for an Atlantic packet ship's fo'c's'le.
⁠THE vessel seemed to me to be rather an unusual craft for the whaling business, by recollection of sundry Nantucketers and Vineyard Haven "spouters" I had seen at sea being vastly different from the Acturus in almost every way. ”

“ Getting an agent was an easier matter than getting money, however, and Billy spent an arduous week interviewing capitalists and exhibiting his plans and outlining the possibilities of his proposition. If he were engaged in promoting an oil-well, a silver mine or a real-estate option, he could have got the money, but a fish business—alas! It was too far away and visionary for the men he interviewed to invest in. ”

“ Human nature is a queer thing. Love begets jealousy; jealousy begets deceit and hate; and hate begets murder. Yet in the case of Westley Collins and Tom Anderson, these passions led to mutual respect and abiding love between them. ”

“ The Cobtown men came in on a special train, and a husky crowd they were—hard-muscled young fellows who played a rough, slashing game when science failed to give them victory.
“They're a dirty crowd, Stream,” said an Anchorville man to Billy as they climbed into their clothes at the rink. “Most of them are mechanics from the Cobtown Engine Works and they rough it up in the second half. Our fellows are lighter than they are, most of us being bank-clerks and store-keepers, so we'll look to you at cover-point to help us out.” ”

“ As fishermen would say, “He had a way with the women” which made him attractive in their sight. He had a pleasant manner, the art of concealing his feelings, and was universally known as a good shipmate.
Westley Collins was the opposite. Though smart enough aboard of a vessel, yet he was slow and clumsy when ashore. He dressed anyhow, walked with a shambling slouch, and conversationally was neither brilliant nor edifying. ”

“ Benin and the Dahomey coast, I surmised that he had been a slaver captain or officer at some time in his life. Men who can calmly "jettison" their living cargo into a shark-infested sea when pursued by a cruiser, have case-hardened their hearts against any appeal to feeling and compassion. ”

“ Just as the conclave adjourned, Billy jumped up on the platform and addressed the crowd.
“Boys,” he said, “I want a gang for the Jennie Anthony. She's been overhauled and reballasted and is now a fit and able vessel for Winter fishing. I'm a green skipper, I know, but I'll learn, and I'm willing to learn. Anybody that will take a chance, let him come down to Johnny Morrison's pool-room tonight and sign up. Thank you, gentlemen!”
“Anybody that goes with that young fool is crazy!” roared a voice which Billy recognized as his father's. “He's no good an' never will be any good. ”

“ To calm my nerves and add realism to my feigned sleep, I poured out a small drink from the water bottle and tossed it off. Within a minute I could feel the drug working its soporific influence. I had a faint recollection of hearing the boom of the gun again, and then I lost consciousness. ”

“ We’ll hold her down together this Winter—the best an’ ablest pair that ever swung a dory over.”
He turned his back to Collins and the smile on his face turned into a look of the most malignant hate. Lord! How he detested the big simple-minded fool! He’d get him even though he had to play his masquerade the whole Winter season.
Aboard a fishing vessel a man has a thousand opportunities to rid himself of a rival or an enemy. An accidental shove on a dark night when the two were alone on watch, and Collins would swell the list of fishermen “drowned at sea from the vessel.” ”

“ Ten thousand dollars were as hard to get as ten million.
A trip to Toronto on the money-raising errand took nearly all his money, and when he returned to Montreal after an unsuccessful visit, he had to crave the hospitality of an old college chum and sell his watch in order to procure enough money to take him to Boston. He did not feel like wiring his uncle for funds, and once in Boston he felt sure that he would get a lift over to Nova Scotia upon a coaster or a fisherman. ”

“ WHEN a man has been "on the beach" for a long spell, he appreciates being at sea again. New York and starvation seemed like a bad dream, and I was looking forward to a good time on the Magician. Her skipper seemed a very fine sort of man, and the mates were as good as sailors will allow mates to be. The grub was "lime-juicer style"—not much of a variety, but it was of good quality and the bread barge was always filled without question. ”

“ The cook handed the rope over and went down into the forecastle. Anderson saw that his dory-mate was busy stacking the trawl tubs and clearing the buoy-lines in the pitching dory, and with lightning-like swiftness he belayed the painter to a pin in the rail. Springing over to the forecastle scuttle, he jumped down the ladder and began shouting at the cook:
“Look alive, Jack, with that grub. D’ye think we kin wait all day?” ”

“ Shoot!” roared the Anchorville spectators.
He glanced at the direction of the goal, stiffened up on his stick for the drive to goal, and then ignominiously slipped and fell down on the ice amid the angry howls of the home crowd. The half-time bell rang, and Billy went to the dressing-room with shouts of “Take Stream to the morgue—he's a dead one!” ringing in his ears. One thing alone served to alleviate his chagrin—the ice was getting softer.
In the dressing-room, Clancy hunted around for a new pair of skates, but failed to find any. ”

“ IT IS with some little trepidation that I start in spinning this yarn, because I have an instinctive feeling that it will be ridiculed and curtly dismissed as being what old sailors would call "a twister." When a man has been kicked out of a Consul's office and designated as a "crazy shellback;" when he has been laughed at and called ugly names; when his most solemn oath has been the subject for incredulous jeers and his character as a sober citizen is doubted, he naturally becomes apprehensive in opening up afresh an affair which he has tried hard to forget. ”

“ Setting the reefed mainsail was a terrible job. The great piece of canvas was frozen solid on the sixty-foot boom, and the men pounded it clear, tied the wire-like reef-points, and, after knocking the ice off the halyards, hauled the sail up with lurid oaths.
“There, —— ye,” they growled. “Drive the barge for whatever port yer eddicated skipper kin fetch!”
“Now, get busy with those ice-mallets and keep pounding!” bawled Billy, taking no notice of the remarks. ”

“ Sailors have no use for a vessel that is likely to prove a "terror" when running the easting down.
We dropped the land astern that morning. During the day the wind held strong and we sailed "at the rate of knots" with a main-skysail set. Towards nightfall the wind hauled southerly with fog. When I came on watch at four next morning, the ship was pitching and rolling in a lumpish sea, while fog shrouded everything. The wind was coming away squally, and when our star-bowlines mustered aft, the second mate passed the word, "In royals and flying jib!" ”

“ He saved me an’ hauled me up on th’ dory an’ lashed me there. I won’t tell ye any more. I’ve told ye enough, an’ ye’ll please not breathe a word o’ what I’ve told ye.”
The look in his eyes frightened her.
“Now,” he continued steadily, “when West Collins goes to see you, you’ll accept him. I won’t have ye, for I don’t care about ye any more. He’s in love with you, an’ believes in you. He thinks you love him. You do—you’ll have to! You ain’t a-goin’ to make a bluff like I did. You’ve played your bluff—so did I. I pretended to be his friend. I hated him, but I love him now. He’s a man’s man. ”

“ It was evident that they had fallen among friends by the manner in which the others hung around listening to every word they were saying. However, I did not pay much attention to them, though I could hardly credit any sailor leaping overboard from a homeward-bound Britisher and taking a chance of being picked up in a shark-infested sea by an American whaling bark. The fellows looked tough enough to have done anything up to murder, and there was a possibility that they had done as Captain Silvera had said. ”

“ He understands conditions up west. He's scientific in his methods. Look how he fixed up the old Jennie Anthony! By shifting her ballast he made a new vessel out of her. He's a smart sailorman and can lick his weight in wildcats. The fishermen all love him. He's a good sport.”
The old man grunted.
“You're getting old, captain. You should be knocking off now and taking it easy. Who's to take your place when you go? Nobody but Billy. You might as well be sensible and live happily with your family for the rest of your life. Billy's a good lad. He licked Hemsley and chased him out of the place. ”

“ As I was not an officer of the ship I had no right to go prying around the vessel, but on the occasional strolls I made to the fo'c's'le head I found nothing to characterize the Arcturus as being anything but what she was—a whaling bark bound on her lawful occasions with a perfect right to cruise wherever she listed in pursuit of the cetaceans. ”

“ He talked strangely of a dory-jar and arsenic, and in his ravings the name of Elsie Conover was mentioned. Westley Collins, little the worse for his experiences, sat on a lee locker and yarned with the gang while the schooner stormed on her way to Shelburne.
“He’s th’ best dory-mate a man ever had,” he was saying. “He got himself into that state because o’ me. Boys, he purposely avoided drinkin’ from our dory-jar so’s I’d git th’ water sh’d we be adrift long. He knew I was promised to a gal back home, an’ he wanted to see me live. Ain’t he a man for ye? ”

“ The fact of his linking up with Ben Anthony embittered the harsh old man. When the latter heard that his son was going to skipper the Jennie Anthony he laughed grimly and issued an edict, orally of course, that any man who shipped on the schooner would never get a “sight” on the Stream Company's vessels again. This was an error of judgment on Captain Stream's part. Fishermen are singularly independent and refuse to be coerced or restrained from following their inclinations.
Billy Stream found it hard work getting men. ”

“ Scratching a match, I found the bulkhead lamp and lit it, and by its feeble light I saw that the room was of the ordinary type, with bunk and drawers underneath, a washstand with a tumbler and water-bottle rack over it, a small table and a clothes locker. At the foot of the bunk was a bookshelf equipped with a brine-stained "Navigator," by Nathaniel Bowditch, a book of azimuth tables, "Nautical Almanac," directories and "Sailing Directions" ”

“ One can imagine the tumult which raged in Anderson’s mind as he listened to Collins’s clumsily worded confidences about Elsie Conover.
“We’ll ha’ made a good stock this Winter, Tom,” confided Westley, “and I cal’late I’ll hev enough to get married on. I’m for buyin’ that small pink o’ John Anson’s and I’ll go hake fishin’ in the bay so’s to be near home an’ her.”
Anderson puffed hard at his pipe and nodded interestedly.
“Sure, Westley, boy, that’s the grand idea. No married man sh’d go off Bank fishin’. It’s risky, an’ ye’re away from home too much.” ”

“ Billy took up his position as cover-point when the whistle blew and the referee faced the puck off. The ice was hard, and from the outset the game was fast—too fast for Billy, who lacked practise.
With dull skates on the hard ice, Stream made a poor showing during the first half of the game. Several times the Cobtown men got past him and the Anchorville goal was bombarded with shots which only the skilful goal-tender saved. Once, with the puck at his feet, he fell down on the ice, and a smart Cobtown forward got it and shot a clean goal from the wings. ”

“ One man believes me, and it is with reluctance that I concede to his request and give to the world a secret which has rankled in my mind for many, many years. A sensitiveness to the shafts of ridicule has always been the weak point in my armor, but by employing fictitious names of persons and vessels concerned, I shield myself from being made a target for personal remarks of a derisive and satirical nature. ”

“ I was for goin’ uptown an’ lookin’ around for a dory-mate, but you’re a home-town feller an’ jest th’ man.”
“I’ll go git my clothes-bag an’ tick down an’ see ye later. How many tubs does he rig?”
“Eight to a dory,” replied Westley.
“Humph! American style. Hard fishin’, I reckon,” said Anderson heartily. “Waal, Westley, I cal’late you ’n’ I kin stand the racket aboard these hard-drivin’ market fishermen. I’m a hound for work myself. We’ll git along fine. So long! I’ll be down in a while an’ help ye overhaul some gear.” ”

“ What does that feller know about sailin' a vessel or ketchin' fish? Take my advice an' keep away from him, boys. Ef he don't drown ye, that crazy cook of his'll pizen ye!”
There was a general laugh at Captain Stream's indictment of his son, but Billy jumped on the platform again, flaming.
“Any man that thinks I'll double-cross him, poison him or drown him, I'll knock the stuffing out of him,” he bawled defiantly. “I'll fight any man in the crowd and if I lick him he'll ship with me. ”