Who'll spin us a _yarn_ now, something more believable than the last?"
asked Billy, as they began to refill pipes.

"Do it yourself, boy," said Joe.

"Not I. Never was a good hand at it," returned Billy, "but I know that
the mate o' the _Sparrow_ there can spin a good yarn. Come, Evan, tell
us about that dead man what came up to point out his own murderer."

"I'm not sure," said Evan, "that the story is a true one, though there's
truth at the bottom of it, for we all know well enough that we sometimes
pick up a corpse in our nets."

"Know it!" exclaimed Joe, "I should think we do. Why, it's not so long
ago that I picked one up myself. But what were ye goin' to say, mate?"

"I was goin' to say that this yarn tells of what happened long before
you an' me was born; so we can't be wery sure on it you know."

"Why not?" interrupted Ned Spivin. "The battle o' Trafalgar happened
long before you an' me was born; so did the battle o' Waterloo, yet
we're sure enough about them, ain't we?"

"Right you are, Ned," returned Evan; "it would be a bad look-out for the
world if we couldn't believe or prove the truth of things that happened
before we was born!"

"Come, shut up your argiments," growled Gunter, "an' let Evan go on wi'
his yarn."

"Well, as I was a-goin' to say," resumed Evan, "the story may or may not
be true, but it's possible, an' it was told to me when I was a boy by
the old fisherman as said he saw the dead man his-self. One stormy
night the fleet was out--for you must know the fishin' was carried on in
the old days in the same way pretty much, though they hadn't steamers to
help 'em like we has now. They was goin' along close-hauled, with a
heavy sea on, not far, it must have been, from the Silver Pits--though
they wasn't discovered at that time."

We may interrupt Evan here, to explain that the Silver Pits is a name
given to a particular part of the North Sea which is frequented by
immense numbers of soles. The man who by chance discovered the spot
kept his secret, it is said, long enough to enable him to make a
considerable amount of money. It was observed, however, that he was in
the habit of falling behind the fleet frequently, and turning up with
splendid hauls of "prime" fish. This led to the discovery of his haunt,
and the spot named the Silver Pits, is still a prolific fishing-ground.

"Well," continued Evan, "there was a sort of half furriner aboard. He
wasn't a reg'lar fisherman--never