“If Fluff and I are to be surfmen we shan’t be obliged to beg from anyone, and I’d a good deal rather earn what we need than have it given us.”
“Well, lad, it shall go your way, and I like the idea you’ve got in mind. Whether you and Fluff will be able to cut much of a figure as surfmen is a matter which needn’t trouble us just now, for I’ll guarantee you don’t come to want while this crew holds together.”
Benny went about his regular duties as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, and Fluff, believing himself safe from any attack by Maje, ran to and fro over the snow-covered rocks until his pink feet were chilled by the frost, when he returned and, standing before his master, held up first one and then the other with a low whine which told of his discomfort.
The cook placed a chair near the stove, and, despite Benny’s protestations, insisted that Fluff should occupy it whenever he had been so foolish as to stay out of doors until thoroughly chilled.
“You have no business to play on the rocks while it is so cold,” Benny said reprovingly, addressing himself to the dog.
“It’s the nature of dogs and boys to be foolish at times, Benny, and since they can’t be expected to have better sense we must do whatever we can to repair the mischief. Therefore Fluff C. Foster sits right there until he’s comfortable once more. There’s nothing to be done around the kitchen for the next two or three hours, and seein’ how you and the dog are bent on being surfmen, now is the chance to learn the duties of a crew when there’s a wreck off shore, as in the case of the Three Brothers. Every man needs have in his head the manœuvres to be performed at such a time, and it’s all set down here in the regulations under the head of ‘Station Bill.’”
“What do you mean by that, sir?” Benny asked as he took the book from the cook’s outstretched hand.
“It shows the station of each man after the beach-wagon is on the shore ready for business. You know that every member of the crew has a number. Sam Hardy is 1; Joe Cushing, 2; Robbins, 3; Sawyer, 4, and so on. Here, under the same numbers that the men answer to, is set down exactly what must be done, with a few remarks to follow. Now, since all that must be repeated at drill, it would be a good idea if you stowed it away in your head.”
Benny began to read eagerly, understanding that if he had been familiar with all this information when the Three Brothers went ashore he possibly might have been of more assistance, and until the cook called him to assist in the work of preparing dinner he read and re-read the following lines:
“No. 1. Place gun in position; provide and load with shot; train the gun; bend the shot-line around the whip inside block; tend the left part of the whip; hold the hawser for No. 2 to bend on the whip; overhaul back of the whip, and, if to leeward, unbend ends and bend outer end into traveller-block; if to windward, snap traveller-block onto hawser, and bend outer end of whip into traveller-block; man fall and left leg of crotch.