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THE SEINERS

by

JAMES B. CONNOLLY

Author of "Out of Gloucester," "Jeb Hutton," Etc.







[Illustration: IT WAS THE FINEST KIND OF EXCITEMENT, OUR RUNNING TO
HARBOR]



Charles Scribner's Sons
New York 1910

Copyright, 1904, by
Charles Scribner's Sons

Published, May, 1904




CONTENTS

        I. THE NEW VESSEL OF WITHROW'S                               1
       II. A LITTLE JOG ALONG THE DOCKS                              8
      III. MINNIE ARKELL                                            16
       IV. LITTLE JOHNNIE DUNCAN STANDS EXAMINATION                 27
        V. FROM OUT OF CROW'S NEST                                  35
       VI. MAURICE BLAKE GETS A VESSEL                              43
      VII. CLANCY CROSSES MINNIE ARKELL                             51
     VIII. THE SEINING FLEET PUTS OUT TO SEA                        61
       IX. MACKEREL                                                 70
        X. WE LOSE OUR SEINE                                        82
       XI. AN OVER-NIGHT BREEZE                                     87
      XII. THE FLEET RUNS TO HARBOR                                 99
     XIII. WESLEY MARRS BRINGS A MESSAGE                           119
      XIV. A PROSPECT OF NIGHT-SEINING                             123
       XV. CLANCY TO THE MAST-HEAD                                 129
      XVI. WE GET A FINE SCHOOL                                    137
     XVII. A DRIVE FOR MARKET                                      144
    XVIII. A BRUSH WITH THE YACHTING FLEET                         153
      XIX. MINNIE ARKELL AGAIN                                     159
       XX. THE SKIPPER PUTS FOR HOME                               172
      XXI. SEINERS' WORK                                           175
     XXII. ON THE CAPE SHORE                                       184
    XXIII. DRESSING DOWN                                           193
     XXIV. THE WITHROW OUTSAILS THE DUNCAN                         202
      XXV. TROUBLE WITH THE DOMINION CUTTERS                       206
     XXVI. THE GOSSIP IN GLOUCESTER                                211
    XXVII. IN CLANCY'S BOARDING-HOUSE                              217
   XXVIII. IN THE ARKELL KITCHEN                                   220
     XXIX. MAURICE BLAKE COMES HOME                                230
      XXX. THE MORNING OF THE RACE                                 235
     XXXI. THE START OF THE RACE                                   243
    XXXII. O'DONNELL CARRIES AWAY BOTH MASTS                       250
   XXXIII. THE ABLE JOHNNIE DUNCAN                                 257
    XXXIV. MINNIE ARKELL ONCE MORE                                 265
     XXXV. CLANCY LAYS DOWN THE LAW                                271
    XXXVI. MAURICE BLAKE IS RECALLED                               281
   XXXVII. THE GIRL IN CANSO                                       289
  XXXVIII. THE DUNCAN GOES TO THE WEST'ARD                         297
    XXXIX. THE HEART OF CLANCY                                     309




THE SEINERS




THE SEINERS

I

THE NEW VESSEL OF WITHROW'S


It was only a few days before this that the new vessel of Mr.
Withrow's, built by him, as everybody supposed, for Maurice Blake, had
been towed around from Essex, and I remember how Maurice stood on the
dock that afternoon and looked her over.

There was not a bolt or a plank or a seam in her whole hull, not a
square inch inside or out, that he had not been over half a dozen
times while she was on the stocks; but now he had to look her over
again, and as he looked his eyes took on a shine. She had been
designed by a man famous the world over, and was intended to beat
anything that ever sailed past Eastern Point.

She certainly was a great-looking model of a vessel, and "If she only
sails and handles half so well as she looks, she'll do for me," said
Maurice. "Yes, sir, and if she's up to what I think she ought to be, I
wouldn't be afraid to bet my share of what we make out South that
she'll hold her own with anything out of Gloucester--give her a few
weeks to loosen up, of course."

That was a good deal to say, for it was a great fleet of vessels
sailing out of Gloucester; but even so, even allowing for a young
skipper's pride in his first crack vessel, it meant a whole lot coming
like that from Maurice Blake.

And on top of all that Maurice and Withrow had to quarrel, though what
about I never found out.