Four Afloat: Being the Adventures of the Big Four on the Water

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER IV--IS LARGELY CONCERNED WITH SALT WATER AND SALT FISH

  "Let's do the town," suggested Dan.

  Inquiry elicited the information that the town proper was a good twomiles by road, although it was in plain sight across the harbor. Bywalking a block they could take a car--if the cars happened to be runningthat day; it seemed that in Gloucester one could never tell about thestreet cars.

  "Blow the cars!" said Dan. "Let's walk."

  So they started out, found the car tracks, and proceeded to follow themalong the side of the harbor, past queer little white cottages set indiminutive gardens or nestled in tiny groves of apple trees. To theirright a high granite cliff shot up against the blue sky, and was crownedwith a few houses which looked as though they might blow off at thefirst hard wind. After three hours on the boat it felt mighty good to beable to stretch their legs again, and they made fast time. Presentlythey came to what at first glance seemed to be an acre or so of lowwhite canvas tents, and Tom and Dan, walking ahead, stopped in surprise.Then----

  "Blamed if they aren't fish!" exclaimed Tom. "With little awnings overthem to keep them from getting freckled!"

  "What are they doing?" asked Bob.

  "They dry them like this," answered Nelson. "They've been cleaned andsalted, you see, and when they're dried they are packed in boxes andtubs 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 likeit 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 whichthe 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 leftexposed 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 severalschooners showing above the roofs. As they came to one of the open doorsthey stopped and looked in. Dried fish were piled here and there on thesalt-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 totown. You fellows go, if you want to."

  Finally Dan and Tom decided to go through the fish house and Bob andNelson 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 smallpurchases--that of a new potato knife being one of them--they boarded acar and, after the trials and tribulations usually falling to the lot ofthe 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. Bobfollowed, and after him came Tom and Dan and Barry. Despite the franticefforts of the first two to cast off the tender before the othersarrived, they were unsuccessful, and Dan, Tom, and the dog piled intothe boat. Bob rowed with an expression of deep disgust, and Nelsonostentatiously 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 andtook the painter, "but I don't know about going into the same ocean asyou chaps."

  But a few minutes later they were standing, all four of them, on theafter 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 thedive.

  "Four!"

  Three bodies splashed simultaneously into the water. Bob, grinning likethe Cheshire cat, seated himself on the bench in the cockpit and awaitedtheir 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 asanyone until he became excited; then, to quote Dan, "it was all off." Atthis moment Tom was excited and indignant.

  "That was one on us," called Nelson as his head came up. "To think ofgetting 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 easymatter to climb over the side; and, as Bob's first act was to haul thesteps in, that was what they had to do. Dan was almost over when Bobcaught him and sent him back into the water. Then Nelson got one kneeover, only to meet with the same treatment. As for Tom--well, Tomwouldn't have got aboard without assistance in a week of Sundays. Thricerepelled, 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 Bobgrappled, and in that instant Dan jumped on deck. After that theconquest was easy. With Dan on one side and Nelson on the other, and Tomscreaming encouragement from the water, Bob was hustled, struggling, tothe side and ignominiously pushed over.

  "Three!" he yelled. Then the waters closed over him. When he came up hebrushed 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, youfaker!"

  They had a jolly time there in the water until the sun, settling downabove the wooded hills in the west, warned them that it was time tothink of dinner. They got out of their dripping suits in the engine roomand dressed again in their shore togs. Afterwards they hung theirbathing suits over the awning frame and pulled the tender alongside. Atthat 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 orbell.

  "What's that?" asked Tom, startled.

  "Dinner bell at the hotel," said Nelson.

  "Sounded like a riot call," observed Dan. Then they piled into thetender and went ashore, to be ushered, four very sedate and well-behavedyoung gentlemen, into the dining room.

  It was all of an hour later when Tom was finally separated from thetable 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 rememberthat we're only paying for one dinner apiece, Tommy. Don't bankrupt thehotel 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 wasshot with all sorts of steel-blue and purple lights and shadows. Acrossthe cove Rocky Neck was a blurred promontory of darkness, with here andthere a yellow gleam lighting some window and finding reflection in thewater below. Seaward, the harbor was still alight with the afterglow,and the lantern at the end of the breakwater showed coldly white in thegathering darkness. It had grown chilly since sunset, and so, aftermaking all fast for the night, the boys went below and closed the doorsand hatch behind them. With the lamps going, the cabin soon warmed up.Bob, by request, had brought his mandolin, and now, also by request, heproduced it and they had what Nelson called a "sing-song,"
Tomalternately attempting bass and soprano, and not meeting with muchsuccess at either. Finally Bob tossed the mandolin onto the bunk andsaid he was going to bed. That apparently casual remark seemed to remindDan of something, for he suddenly sat up on the edge of the berth andgrabbed 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 hisfeet. 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 Dansoberly. "Are you ready, Tommy?"

  "All ready."

  "Let her go!"

  Whereupon they began to recite with serious faces and ludicrous lack ofvocal expression, illustrating the "dirge" with wooden gestures.

  "They come in three-pound, five-pound, and ten-pound packages," chantedthe 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 theway 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 itsown way, Nelson and Bob insisting on learning it by heart. When theycould all four say it in unison, standing in a row like a quartet ofidiots, they were satisfied. Then the berths were made up and, after Danhad satisfied himself which was the strongest one and therefore bestsuited to Tom, they undressed and put out the lights. Of course theydidn't go to sleep very soon; things were still too novel for that. Theytalked and laughed, quieted down and woke up again, recited "The Dirgeof the Salt Codfish," and--well, finally went to sleep. Some timelater--no one ever knew just when, since the clock refused to ring outany information--Bob and Dan were awakened by the sound of some oneblundering around the stateroom.

  "Who--who's that?" asked Dan in startled tones, sitting up in his berthwith 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 intoeverything 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 goscraping over the cold oilcloth and his teeth chattering. Presumably theriding light was fixed as the law demands, but neither Dan nor Bob couldhave sworn to it. They turned over in their berths, and by the timeNelson was picking his way along the side of the launch by the light ofthe flickering lantern they were sound asleep again.