It was a great day -- never saw such a school of mackerel in the gulf -- and in the general excitement Henry got quite wild and contrived to stick a fish hook clean through one side of his nose . Well , there he was ; there was barb on one end and a big piece of lead on the other , so it could n't be pulled out . We wanted to take him ashore at once , but Henry was game ; he said he 'd be jiggered if he 'd leave a school like that for anything short of lockjaw ; then he kept fishing away , hauling in hand over fist and groaning between times . Fin ` lly the school passed and we come in with a load ; I got a file and begun to try to file through that hook . I tried to be as easy as I could , but you should have heard Henry -- no , you should n't either . It was well no ladies were around . Henry was n't a swearing man , but he 'd heard some few matters of that sort along shore in his time , and he fished 'em all out of his recollection and hurled 'em at me . Fin ` lly he declared he could n't stand it and I had no bowels of compassion . So we hitched up and I drove him to a doctor in Charlottetown , thirty-five miles -- there were n't none nearer in them days -- with that blessed hook still hanging from his nose . When we got there old Dr. Crabb jest took a file and filed that hook jest the same as I 'd tried to do , only he were n't a mite particular about doing it easy ! '' Captain Jim 's visit to his old friend had revived many recollections and he was now in the full tide of reminiscences . `` Henry was asking me today if I remembered the time old Father Chiniquy blessed Alexander MacAllister 's boat . Another odd yarn -- and true as gospel . I was in the boat myself . We went out , him and me , in Alexander MacAllister 's boat one morning at sunrise . Besides , there was a French boy in the boat -- Catholic of course . You know old Father Chiniquy had turned Protestant , so the Catholics had n't much use for him . Well , we sat out in the gulf in the broiling sun till noon , and not a bite did we get . When we went ashore old Father Chiniquy had to go , so he said in that polite way of his , ` I 'm very sorry I can not go out with you dis afternoon , Mr. MacAllister , but I leave you my blessing . You will catch a t ` ousand dis afternoon .
` Well , we did not catch a thousand , but we caught exactly nine hundred and ninety-nine -- the biggest catch XXXXX a small boat on the whole north shore that summer .
Besides So as at for if in on till with