“Now that you have got us off here,” said Wolfe, “what are you going to do in the way of finding us something to wear, besides these store clothes?” Here he looked ruefully at the new suit he had bought the day before, which was already showing signs of hard usage.
“What!” exclaimed the skipper, “are those all you’ve brought with you?”
“Of course they are; we have not a rag except what we stand in.”
“Well, now, that’s bad; but perhaps some of the other fellows can spare a few old things, and there are a couple of extra oil suits aboard that you can have and I’ll charge ’em up to you. By-the-way, I suppose you two will go dorymates?”
“Of course,” answered Breeze, promptly; “we’ve already been dorymates on one trip, and we mean to be on every other we ever take together.”
“You’ll use dory No. 6, then,” said the skipper, “and you’d better get to work overhauling your trawls right off. You want to have everything in order before we get to the Banks, ’cause there won’t be any time to waste then. When we once get to fishing I shall expect every man on board the old packet to jump quick and make every minute tell, or else he’ll have to reckon with me for it.”
“That’s all right, skipper. We’ve made up our minds to do our best so long as we are here and can’t help ourselves,” said Breeze. “But we belong to the Fish-hawk, you know, and if we should happen to run across her at any time while we are on the Banks, you must not be surprised if we turn up missing some fine day.”
“We’ll see about that when the time comes,” replied the skipper, grimly; “but mind you, if you leave the vessel before the trip’s finished, you’ll lose all interest in what has been caught up to that time, and can’t claim a cent’s worth of it.”
Both sides having thus arrived at a fair understanding with each other, the boys proceeded to make themselves as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. Though they declined to have anything to do with Hank Hoffer, they soon established friendly relations with the rest of the crew. They found the Vixen to be a dirty old craft, and very uncomfortable in many respects. She was, however, an able sailor and a good sea-boat, and after weathering a pretty stiff gale she reached Grand Bank, nearly nine hundred miles from Gloucester, during the night of the sixth day out.
Although the boys had said nothing more about deserting her, if they had a good chance they had fully made up their minds to do so. Little did they imagine, however, under what circumstances this leave-taking was to be effected, or how they should long to once more set foot on the well-worn deck of the old Vixen.