"Let's do the town," suggested Dan.
Inquiry elicited the information that the town proper was a good two
miles by road, although it was in plain sight across the harbor. By
walking a block they could take a car--if the cars happened to be running
that day; it seemed that in Gloucester one could never tell about the
street cars.
"Blow the cars!" said Dan. "Let's walk."
So they started out, found the car tracks, and proceeded to follow them
along the side of the harbor, past queer little white cottages set in
diminutive gardens or nestled in tiny groves of apple trees. To their
right a high granite cliff shot up against the blue sky, and was crowned
with a few houses which looked as though they might blow off at the
first hard wind. After three hours on the boat it felt mighty good to be
able to stretch their legs again, and they made fast time. Presently
they came to what at first glance seemed to be an acre or so of low
white canvas tents, and Tom and Dan, walking ahead, stopped in surprise.
Then----
"Blamed if they aren't fish!" exclaimed Tom. "With little awnings over
them to keep them from getting freckled!"
"What are they doing?" asked Bob.
"They dry them like this," answered Nelson. "They've been cleaned and
salted, you see, and when they're dried they are packed in boxes and
tubs and casks." Bob whistled expressively.
"I never knew there were so many fish in the world!" he exclaimed.
Nelson laughed.
"This is only one," he said. "There are lots more fish yards just like
it here."
"What are they?" asked Dan. "Codfish?"
"Oh, all sorts: cod, hake, pollack--everything."
There was row after row of benches covered with wooden slats on which
the fish, still damp with the brine, were spread flat. Above the flakes,
as the benches are called, strips of white cotton cloth were stretched,
to moderate the heat of the sunlight. There was a strong odor of fish,
and a stronger and less pleasant odor from the harbor bottom left
exposed by the ebbing tide. Tom sniffed disgustedly.
"I never liked fish cakes, anyhow," he muttered.
Beyond the flakes were the wharves and sheds, the masts of several
schooners showing above the roofs. As they came to one of the open doors
they stopped and looked in. Dried fish were piled here and there on the
salt-encrusted floor, and men were hard at work packing them into casks.
"Will they let you go through the place?" asked Dan.
"Yes," Nelson answered.
"Let's go, then. I'd like to see how they do it."
"All right," said Nelson, "but I've seen it once, and I'd rather go to
town. You fellows go, if you want to."
Finally Dan and Tom decided to go through the fish house and Bob and
Nelson to continue on to town.
"You'll have to shed your clothes and take a bath when you come out,"
Nelson warned them.
There wasn't much to see in the town, and after making a few small
purchases--that of a new potato knife being one of them--they boarded a
car and, after the trials and tribulations usually falling to the lot of
the person so rash as to patronize the Gloucester street railway,
returned to the hotel and found Dan and Tom awaiting them on the porch.
Nelson and Bob halted at a respectful distance.
"Have you had your baths yet?" they asked.
"Not yet, but soon," answered Tom.
"Then we'll stay here, if you don't mind," said Bob.
"Oh, get out! It wasn't very smelly," declared Dan.
"But you are, I'll bet!" Nelson took a few cautious steps toward them,
and then turned as though in panic and raced for the landing. Bob
followed, and after him came Tom and Dan and Barry. Despite the frantic
efforts of the first two to cast off the tender before the others
arrived, they were unsuccessful, and Dan, Tom, and the dog piled into
the boat. Bob rowed with an expression of deep disgust, and Nelson
ostentatiously kept his nose into the wind all the way to the launch.
"I was thinking of taking a dip myself," he said as he climbed out and
took the painter, "but I don't know about going into the same ocean as
you chaps."
But a few minutes later they were standing, all four of them, on the
after deck of the _Vagabond_, clad in their bathing suits.
"I'll bet it'll be as cold as thunder!" said Dan with a shudder.
"Bound to," agreed Bob. "All in when I say three." The rest assented.
"One!" counted Bob.
"Go slow, please!" Nelson begged.
"Two!" They all threw their hands over their heads and poised for the
dive.
"Four!"
Three bodies splashed simultaneously into the water. Bob, grinning like
the Cheshire cat, seated himself on the bench in the cockpit and awaited
their reappearance. Dan's head came up first, and he shook his fist.
"You just wait till I get you in the water!" he threatened.
"He ch-ch-ch-cheated!" sputtered Tom. Tom could talk as straight as
anyone until he became excited; then, to quote Dan, "it was all off." At
this moment Tom was excited and indignant.
"That was one on us," called Nelson as his head came up. "To think of
getting fooled by such an old trick as that! Come out of that boat, now,
or we'll throw you out!"
"Try it!" taunted Bob. There was a concerted rush, but it was no easy
matter to climb over the side; and, as Bob's first act was to haul the
steps in, that was what they had to do. Dan was almost over when Bob
caught him and sent him back into the water. Then Nelson got one knee
over, only to meet with the same treatment. As for Tom--well, Tom
wouldn't have got aboard without assistance in a week of Sundays. Thrice
repelled, Dan and Nelson hit on strategy. They climbed into the tender,
seized the oars, and shot it to the side of the launch. Nelson and Bob
grappled, and in that instant Dan jumped on deck. After that the
conquest was easy. With Dan on one side and Nelson on the other, and Tom
screaming encouragement from the water, Bob was hustled, struggling, to
the side and ignominiously pushed over.
"Three!" he yelled. Then the waters closed over him. When he came up he
brushed the drops from his eyes and exclaimed:
"Pshaw! It isn't cold at all!"
"We knew that," answered Dan, "but we weren't going to tell you, you
faker!"
They had a jolly time there in the water until the sun, settling down
above the wooded hills in the west, warned them that it was time to
think of dinner. They got out of their dripping suits in the engine room
and dressed again in their shore togs. Afterwards they hung their
bathing suits over the awning frame and pulled the tender alongside. At
that moment the clock struck four bells.
"Wait!" cried Dan. "I know! It's six o'clock!"
"Right!" laughed Nelson. From the hotel came a loud booming of a gong or
bell.
"What's that?" asked Tom, startled.
"Dinner bell at the hotel," said Nelson.
"Sounded like a riot call," observed Dan. Then they piled into the
tender and went ashore, to be ushered, four very sedate and well-behaved
young gentlemen, into the dining room.
It was all of an hour later when Tom was finally separated from the
table and led protestingly back to the porch.
"But I wanted some more frozen pudding!" he explained.
"Of course you did," answered Bob soothingly. "But you must remember
that we're only paying for one dinner apiece, Tommy. Don't bankrupt the
hotel right at the beginning of the season."
"Hope you ch-choke!" said Tom.
Later they rowed back to the launch over the peaceful cove, which was
shot with all sorts of steel-blue and purple lights and shadows. Across
the cove Rocky Neck was a blurred promontory of darkness, with here and
there a yellow gleam lighting some window and finding reflection in the
water below. Seaward, the harbor was still alight with the afterglow,
and the lantern at the end of the breakwater showed coldly white in the
gathering darkness. It had grown chilly since sunset, and so, after
making all fast for the night, the boys went below and closed the doors
and hatch behind them. With the lamps going, the cabin soon warmed up.
Bob, by request, had brought his mandolin, and now, also by request, he
produced it and they had what Nelson called a "sing-song," Tom
alternately attempting bass and soprano, and not meeting with much
success at either. Finally Bob tossed the mandolin onto the bunk and
said he was going to bed. That apparently casual remark seemed to remind
Dan of something, for he suddenly sat up on the edge of the berth and
grabbed Tom by the arm.
"We haven't given them our stunt yet, Tommy," he said.
"Eh? What stunt? Oh, yes; that's so! Come on!" And Tom climbed to his
feet. Dan joined him, and they stood very stiffly at attention.
"What's this?" asked Bob.
"It's called--it's called 'The Dirge of the Salt Codfish,'" answered Dan
soberly. "Are you ready, Tommy?"
"All ready."
"Let her go!"
Whereupon they began to recite with serious faces and ludicrous lack of
vocal expression, illustrating the "dirge" with wooden gestures.
"They come in three-pound, five-pound, and ten-pound packages," chanted
the pair, "also in glass jars. A rubber band is placed around the top,
the air is forced out by a vacuum machine, and the cover is clamped on.
To remove the cover, you puncture the lid!"
"Where'd you get that?" laughed Nelson.
"The fellow that showed us around the fish shop told it to us. It's the
way they put up their codfish. Isn't it great? Want us to say it again?"
"Yes, and say it slow."
For the next ten minutes "The Dirge of the Salt Codfish" had things its
own way, Nelson and Bob insisting on learning it by heart. When they
could all four say it in unison, standing in a row like a quartet of
idiots, they were satisfied. Then the berths were made up and, after Dan
had satisfied himself which was the strongest one and therefore best
suited to Tom, they undressed and put out the lights. Of course they
didn't go to sleep very soon; things were still too novel for that. They
talked and laughed, quieted down and woke up again, recited "The Dirge
of the Salt Codfish," and--well, finally went to sleep. Some time
later--no one ever knew just when, since the clock refused to ring out
any information--Bob and Dan were awakened by the sound of some one
blundering around the stateroom.
"Who--who's that?" asked Dan in startled tones, sitting up in his berth
with a jerk.
"It's me, you idiot!" growled a voice.
"Who's 'me'?" questioned Dan sharply.
"Nelson. We forgot to set the riding light, and I've bumped into
everything here. I'd like to know where that door's got to!"
"Well, keep off of me," groaned Bob. "The door's behind you, of course.
Can't you find a match?"
"No, I can't. If I could I'd light it, you silly fool!"
"There are some in the engine room, on top of the ice box," laughed Dan.
Then they heard the door swing back and heard Nelson's bare feet go
scraping over the cold oilcloth and his teeth chattering. Presumably the
riding light was fixed as the law demands, but neither Dan nor Bob could
have sworn to it. They turned over in their berths, and by the time
Nelson was picking his way along the side of the launch by the light of
the flickering lantern they were sound asleep again.