“Ever play? No, but I’d like to. Hang it, Jack, I haven’t ever been able to play at anything. Never had the chance that other boys get. All my life has been work and darned hard work, too. And when I haven’t been working, I’ve been quarreling with Uncle Vance or trying to keep out of his way, either one,” said Ray bitterly.
“Never mind,” said Jack solicitously, for he saw how unhappy Ray really was. “Your time will come, just you wait and see. I’m going to speak to Mr. Warner about your schooling, anyway. Perhaps he can help you out with some good advice at least. Pshaw, come on, let’s forget about your troubles. I’ll tell you what we’ll do. Let’s go for a row in Captain Eli’s dory. We’ve never been down near the lower end of the island. I’d like to explore. Are you game for a row, Ray? Mr. Warner says that he will not have anything for us to do until some time to-morrow. How about it?”
“Sure enough,” said the unhappy youngster and presently the two boys were climbing over the rocks back toward the little strip of beach where the boats waited, gently tugging at their mooring lines.
It was a wonderful July afternoon, with scarcely a cloud in the warm blue sky. Out beyond the reef the broad Atlantic rolled on lazily under the Summer sun, while inside even the currents that usually raced between the ledge of rocks and the island seemed to have become sluggish.
“Let me take the oars,” said Ray, after the two lads had waded out and climbed aboard the dory, “I have the blues and there’s nothing like some good husky exercise to work them out of a fellow’s system.”
Jack consented and shortly the little craft was slipping along through the water under the young swordfisherman’s steady stroke. In half an hour they had passed the southern end of the reef and gone beyond the reach of the currents into the open sea. Ray kept the boat about half a mile off the shore of the island and rowed steadily southward, apparently taking a great deal of pleasure in working the stiffness out of his muscular arms and back. As for Jack, he lay off in the stern of the boat thinking of nothing in particular.
Presently, however, Ray stopped rowing and appeared to listen. Then turning, he looked ahead and announced.
“Jack, there’s a school of mackerel ahead of us. Look in the locker there under the stern thwart, and see if Captain Eli has any fishing tackle. Perhaps we can find a couple of jigs in there.”
“Eh, how’s that? How do you know there’s a school of mackerel ahead? I see some gulls out there feeding on something but—”
“That’s just it. I heard ’em squealing like a whole flock of cats. If you’d been around salt water as long as I have you’d know they are feeding on little menhaden and wherever there’s a school of them you’ll be sure to find mackerel—or pollock. If it’s a school of pollock then we can have some fun, providing, of course, we can find some fish lines. Pollock are the gamiest fish in the sea.”