“Let me see. Where is she now? Oh, yes. She is a bit away, but it must be the lee dories have gone adrift. Let’s see who’s in the lee dory. That’ll be—let me see, now— Jethro and Eben. Eben’s a good man, but Jethro’s not much of a man in a dory—big enough, but not much use.”
“And I guess he’s not the only useless man out here to-day.”
“Hush, boy, hush. What kind of talk is that?”
“It’s true. Don’t I know that I could no more haul trawls in this sea than—— Why? A mile and a half of trawl to be hauled, and don’t I know that as your dory-mate I ought to haul half of it? And will I? Could I, even if you’d allow me, Martin? Oh, yes—about as well as I could winch in the vessel’s anchor alone. Don’t I know what it means—a man that can’t do his share out here? It means that one of the crew is eating his share of grub and by and by will get his share of the stock, and yet who is no more use in a dory than the painter when the dory’s aboard, and no more use aboard the vessel itself than the spare anchor with the vessel in harbor. Don’t I know, Martin?”
“Eddie, listen to me. You talk again like that, and sure’s my name’s Martin Carr I’ll take the privilege of your father’s friend and bat the jaw of you. I will, boy, much as I like you. And let me tell you, ’tis dory agen dory out here, and our dory’ll bring her share of fish aboard this night.”
“This night? Will we get aboard this night, do you think, Martin?”
Martin looked about him—looked long about him, but said only, “Is there a drop of water left in the bottle, Eddie?”
“Half a mugful? Well, keep that by you, and by’n’by you’ll have it to drink—not now.”
“I’ll save it for you, Martin.”