"Whuff! Fish, git ca'm. Does yo' lay still I does."
5.
On deck near the hatch coaming in the early night Mr. Ogaloff Skooglund, the proprietor of the fish wheel, massaged his front teeth with Copenhagen snuff and figured his winnings.
"If de salmon fisk been running like dis tree day more Aye cleans oop sax t'ousand doller."
An echo from some unseen source seemed to reply.
Mr. Skooglund called loudly to the echo and then decided that he was crazy, for the call was repeated from the river bank.
The proprietor of the fish wheel yelled a greeting into the darkness.
Down the bank into the circle of light cast by a dim lantern came a fat man and a skinny individual with ears like a loving cup.
The fat man carried a wheat sack whose heavy contents jingled when he sat it on the deck of the fish wheel.
The pair were out of breath. The owner of the fish wheel stepped forward to try his English on his nocturnal visitors.