Show AFTER A SWORDFISH A Glorious Fishing Trip in the Bay of Fundy THE SKIPPERS TALE OF WOE Waves Like the Coney Island lobo lan Slide The Correspondent Siled Ills Garments I had longed to go Kwordfishing all my jfc I knew the creature was flavorous gamy and good for 1 had eaten savory bits of him broiled I knew that he cart car-t lIl on his pugnacious snout a sword of polished ivory as lively as an Italians stiletto sti-letto and as heavy as King Arthurs ex caliber I knew he would fight like a cowboy cow-boy and was from eight to fifteen feet long So 1 wanted to go after him or I foolishly thought I did I was talking in this way on a pile of stone they called a wharf when a hkipper spoke up and says Yon goes a feller after em Wy dont you go along er im Ho blew on his fingers a shrill pipeone I long blast and frrro short as a signal and received a similar answering horn The hails luffed the sloop hove to and camo I around aud my whistling agent put me aboard from his own dory I ON ItOAHD THE SLOOP I The sloop tacked again and laid herself i right down before the wind It seemed nice Each wave was about as long as the sloop and rolled up from toward Spain It beemed like the corduroy toboggan slide at Coney Island It suggested going to heaven i i in a hammock We introduced ourselves 1 The skippers name I had been told was i j Hallibut but after I had called him by it about a hundred times I found out that it I 1 i was Hurlbut He was at the helm and I 1 I held the reins Another man stood on a i j little platform about thirty feet up the mast and it was his business to discover the fish and tell the captain which way to steer A third man was standing right out on the end of the bowsprit with a har poon in his right hand a sharp ugly looking look-ing steel weapon six or seven feet long This is gloriousl I shouted Hey sung out the skipper above the whistling wind Glorious I I repeated Tail of a storm ha shouted back shant git no fish I went over where he stood There were two vessels like our own a little distance off with men in the crosstrees and on the bowThe The captain tacked and as the boom came around yelled out K out for your bead I looked out for it and then I observed ob-served for the first time that he seemed in trouble He was swearing in a low gentle baritone voice uninterruptedly mildly with quite a surprising range of epithet and of metaphor It was the most serene profanity I had ever heard It had wheedling wheed-ling and even pathetic accents like a Newfoundland New-foundland dog that is being petted What is it sir I ventured to ask That infernal son of a sculpin on the lee quarter stole a fish fm me yisteday said he in the same subdued voice Id like to whale em sot he couldnt stan and then he blasphemed again in a foolish and ridiculous voice Did ho take it right off the deck I asked He cast a withering glance at me swore a little and remarked He did not but ha might just as well nv It was my fish It want moren ten rod ahead uv us and we wuz jest a goin to gather im I said I never considered a deer mine till Id shot him RIGHT OFFJI HIS DECK He grunted five or six times in a way that was sad to see embroidering that utterance ut-terance with an arabesque of profanity quite dazzling to hear and added Hu a clecrl Well he might git away Pm ye mightnt he An a swordfish couldnt git away fin me could he Thats the difference differ-ence aint itl lust as soon that white livered measly cuss had took it right offm my deck Starboard bowl yelled the man in the rigging Hellol said the captain in a surprised way and put his helm aport The sloop listed to the leeward and the man on the bow held up hiS harpoon at arms length and gazed anxiously down into the water A writhing convulsion chug the sharp Iron had left his hand and gone into the sea The rope rattled after the sloop came around into the wind a boat was tossed L over the guards by a man and a boy and the chase began l Answering my inquiries the skipper said Hell run till be tires out then hell come to the surface and they will haul him up to the boat knock him in the head with an ax and pull him aboardif tUey are strong enough If hes too big theyll towm over here We were almost out of sight of land The sloop was running a hur le race jumping jump-ing over waves as high as a house She pitched fearfully and she rolled awfully Tobogganing tiring me out It suggested sug-gested going in a hammock to the other place My stomach was queasy < When are we going ashore I asked When we get some fish said the skipper skip-per This is glorious I stood up a minute longer heroically and then 1 calmly lay down in the bottom of the vesselin my white flannels oh beloved be-loved reader in my white flannels It was wet and mackerel had apparently just been shoveled out of it but I did not care 1 was indifferent as to what became of my clothes or myself The skipper began to sing i cast one imploring look at him and Bring a bucket Pete he exclaimed to the other boy Pete did as he was told Say Yer slUng yer garmints remarked re-marked the skippe I tried to remember the things he bad said about the unscrupulous unscru-pulous mariner who stole his swordfish The sloop lay wallowing in the trough of 4 the sea and I lay wallowing in the trough of the sloop We got ashore some time toward night and after lying on a pile of boards for a couple of hours I got so that I could standup 4 stand-up and even speak a few words I Seeing the Infant fiend passing up the treet in the gloaming I asked him if they got the swordfish No sir he said Didnt ye know he got away fm us and took the harpoon Thats what made the capn so allfired mad coming borne I shall not go swordfishing again till 1 feel better Grand Menau N B Cor New York World |