the dory
and Billie took some into the spare dory. The whole length of the
seine-boat they were making fast the seine too. In that way the
skipper hoped to buoy up the fish and hold them until we could lighten
the seine up by bailing some of the fish onto the deck of the vessel.
But it was of no use. There must have been a thousand barrels of them,
and dories and seine-boat began to go under. It was over the rail of
my dory and spare dory both, and both Billie and myself to our waists,
when the skipper sung out for us to jump and save ourselves. We hung
on a little longer, but it got to be too much for us and overboard we
went. We were not in danger then. It is true that the sea was making
and we were weighted down with oilskins and rubber boots, but we had
for support the corks that had not yet gone under. And along the corks
we hauled ourselves toward the seine-boat. I was praying that the
sharks that sometimes follow up mackerel would not bother us. It is
probable that they would not even if there were any around, as
mackerel are better eating. And such a fuss as we made hauling
ourselves through the water! We'd have scared away a whole school of
sharks. Before we could get to the seine-boat that, too, was under.
"Jump!" called the skipper, and "Jump everybody!" called Clancy, and
themselves both hanging on to a last handful of twine. The men in the
seine-boat jumped and struck out for the vessel, which was now quite
close, with the cook, the only man left aboard, throwing over
keelers, draw-buckets, the main sheet--anything within his reach that
was loose and would support a man.

The skipper and Clancy hung on to the last. "Jump you, Tommie!" called
the skipper. "Not me till you go," answered Clancy. They couldn't do a
bit of good, but they hung on, each grabbing handfuls of twine in a
last effort to hold up the seine. The seine-boat went under--and they
up to their necks--and then it turned over and in toward the seine.
Some of us hollered--we were afraid that it was all up with both of
them--that they would be thrown toward the inside and tangled up in
the seine. But both of them bobbed up, the skipper saying nothing, but
Clancy sputtering like a crazy man. The dories coming loose gave a few
of us a chance to climb up on the bottom of them, and when the
seine-boat came bobbing up most of the others climbed up on the bottom
of that. And there was some swearing done then, you may be sure! The
gang would have been