THE CATCH OF THE ROSAN
At the forecastle head of the _Rosan_ stood a youth tolling the ship's
bell. The windlass grunted and whined as the schooner came up on her
hawser with a thump, and overhead a useless jib slatted and rattled.
The youth could scarcely see aft of the foremast because of the
thickness of the weather, but he could hear what was going on. There
was a thump, a slimy slapping of wet fish, and a voice counting
monotonously as its owner forked his forenoon's catch into the pen
amidships.
"Forty-nine," said the voice. "All right, boys, swing her in." And a
moment later the dory, hauled high, dropped down into her nest.
Immediately there was a slight bump against the side of the schooner,
and the slapping and counting would begin again.
"Eighty-seven, and high line at that!" said the next man. "I'll bet
that's the only halibut on the Banks, and he's two hundred if he's an
ounce."
The great, flat fish was raised to the deck by means of the topping
haul that swung in the dories.
Bijonah Tanner, who stood by the pen watching the silver stream as it
flowed over the side into the pen, mussed his beard and shook his
head. The fish were fair, but not what should be expected at this time
of year. He would sail along to another favorable anchorage. This was
his first day on the Banks and two days after Nellie's discovery of
Elsa's packet.
It was only noon, but Bijonah was speculating, and when he saw the fog
bank coming he refused to run any risk with his men, and recalled them
to the schooner by firing his shotgun until they all replied to the
signal by raising one oar upright.
It must not be thought that it was the fog that induced Bijonah to do
this. Dorymen almost always fish when a fog comes down, and trust to
their good fortune in finding the schooner. Bijonah wanted to look
over the morning's catch and get in tune with the millions under his
keel.
By the time the last dory was in, the pile of fish in the pen looked
like a heap of molten silver.
The men stretched themselves after their cramped quarters, and greeted
the cook's announcement with delight.
"You fellers fix tables fer dressin' down while the fust half mugs
up," said Tanner. "Everybody lively now. I cal'late to move just a
little bit. The bottom here don't suit me yet."
He went down from the poop and walked the deck, listening between
clangings of the bell for any sound of an approaching vessel. The crew
worked swiftly at dressing and salting the catch.
"Haul up anchor," he ordered when the work was done.
The watch laid hold the windlass poles and hauled the vessel forward
directly above her hook. Then there was a concerted heave and the
ground tackle broke loose and came up with a rush.
Under headsails and riding sail the _Rosan_ swung into the light air
that stirred the fog and began to crawl forward while the men were
still cat-heading the anchor. The youth who had been ringing the bell
now substituted the patent fog-horn, as marine law requires when
vessels are under way.
With his eyes on the compass, Turner guided the ship himself. They
seemed to move through an endless gray world.
For an hour they sailed, the only sounds being the flap of the canvas,
the creaking of the tiller ropes, and the drip of the fog. Tanner was
about to give the word to let go the anchor when, without warning,
they suddenly burst clear of the fog and came out into the vast gray
welter of the open sea.
Tanner suddenly straightened up, and slipping the wheel swiftly into
the becket, he ran to the taffrail and looked over the side.
"Good God!" he cried. "What's this?"
Not fifty feet away lay a blue dory, heavy and loggy with water, and
in the bottom the unconscious figure of a man.
A second look at the face of the man and Tanner cried:
"Wheelan and Markle, overside with the starboard dory. Here's Code
Schofield adrift! Lively now!"
There was a rush aft, but Tanner met the crew and drove them to the
nested boats amidships.
"Over, I say!" he roared.
The men obeyed him, and Wheelan and Markle were soon pulling madly to
the blue dory astern.
When they reached it one man clambered to the bow and cut the drag
rope that Code, in his extremity, had thrown over nearly two days
before. Then, fastening the short painter to a thwart in their own
craft, they hauled the blue dory and its contents alongside the
_Rosan_.
Code Schofield lay with his eyes closed, pale as wax, and seemingly
dead. In his right hand he still gripped convulsively the bailing-can
he had used until consciousness left him.
Man, boat, and all, the dory was hauled up and let gently down on the
deck. Then the eager hands lifted Schofield from the water and laid
him on the oiled boards.
"Take him into my cabin," ordered Tanner. "Johnson, bring hot water
and rags. Cookee, make some strong soup. If there's any life in him
we'll bring it back. On the jump, there!"
"Wal," said one man, when Code had been carried below, "I thought my
halibut was high line to-day, but the skipper beat me out in the
end."