“M-m––I dunno––with some vessels maybe I’d reef that, too––maybe take it in altogether.”
“My, but you’re cert’nly a dog. And what then?”
“Why, then I’d try to work her out.”
“And would you be doing anything with the lead?”
“Oh, we’d be keeping the lead going all the time, for banging her across and back like that you wouldn’t know where you were just.”
“And would you come clear, d’y’ think?”
“Yes, sir––if the gear held and with an able vessel we ought to.”
“If the gear held––that’s it. Be sure, Johnnie-boy, you see that the gear is all right before ever you leave port. And with an able vessel, you say? With that new one of your gran’pa’s––would you come clear with her?”
“Oh, she’d come clear––built to go fresh halibuting next winter, that one.”