all right then, waiting to be picked up by the
cook from the vessel, which was then pretty handy; but the seine-boat
started to go under again and then came the slap of a little sea, and
overboard went seven or eight of us. Clancy was one of those thrown
into the water. We all remembered it afterwards because he called out
for Andie Howe.

"Where's Andie?"

"Here," said Andie.

"Where?"

"Hanging onto the bow of the seine-boat."

"Well, hang on a while longer," said Clancy and struck out for the
vessel, and made it too, oilskins, big boots and all. He threw two or
three lines out at once--one especially to Thad Simpson, the other man
of the crew besides Andie Howe who it was known couldn't swim. So
Clancy hauled him in. The third man he hauled in was Billie Hurd.

"Good Lord, Tommie," said Billie, "you hove a line over my head to
Andie Howe."

"You pop-eyed Spanish mackerel!" roared Clancy at him, "you ought to
know by this time that Andie can't swim."

"I know, but he was all oiled up, and look at me----"

"Go to hell," said Clancy.

We all got aboard after a while, but our fine new seine was gone, and
the big school of fish too. After a hard grapple we got the dories and
a little later the seine-boat, and after a lot more work we got them
right side up. The dories we pulled the plugs out of to let them drain
and then took them on deck, but the seine-boat we had to pump out. By
then it was pretty well on in the night and I remember how the moon
rose just as we had it fairly well dried out and dropped astern--rose
as big as a barrel-head and threw a yellow light over it, and then
went out of sight, for a breeze was on us.

And "Oh, Lord! that thousand-barrel school!" groaned everybody.

XI

AN OVER-NIGHT BREEZE

It wasn't bad enough that we came near losing a few men and our boat,
and our seine altogether, but it must come on to breeze up on top of
that and drive us off the grounds. After putting everything to rights,
we were having a mug-up forward and wondering if the skipper would
take sail off her or what, when we heard the call that settled it.

"On deck everybody!" we heard. And when we got there, came from the
skipper, "Take in the balloon, tie it up and put it below. Haul down
your stays'l too--and go aloft a couple of you, fore and aft, and put
the tops'ls in gaskets."

We attended to that--a gang out on the bowsprit, half a dozen aloft
and so on--with the skipper to the wheel whi