The Young Trawler

“Now, boys, heave away,” said Joe Davidson, setting the example.

“It seems unwillin’ to come, don’t it,” growled Gunter.

“Dat’s ’cause him full ob fishes,” said Zulu; “heave away, boys—altogidder!”

He strained with all his might. So did the rest of the crew. Round went the capstan, and in a few minutes the great forty-eight feet beam appeared. This was soon hoisted up by means of tackle, and made fast to the side, and then began the hauling in—we might almost say clawing in—of the net, hand over hand, until the cod-end was visible near the surface. It now became evident that a grand haul had indeed been made, and that it had been the mere weight of the fish that had delayed them so long.

Great was the anxiety of course to secure the prize, and energetic the action displayed. Zulu, being the most active and cat-like, was ordered to pass a rope round the net to which a powerful double block was applied.

“Haul away now, boys,” said the skipper, whose spirits were somewhat revived by the sight.

Soon the great balloon-shaped cod-end with its solid mass of fish rose slowly into the air, and some of the men laid hold to be ready to swing it inboard and deposit it on the deck, when, suddenly, the stout rope that bound the lower end of the bag gave way. The entire mass of fish dropped back into the sea, and sank to the bottom!

For a few seconds dead silence ensued, while the men glanced at the empty cod-end, and at each other. Then a terrible oath burst from John Gunter, and a sort of sigh broke from some of the others, as if words were incapable of expressing their feelings—as, indeed, they were! The skipper was standing by the companion-hatch at the moment with a handspike in his grasp. A deep-toned curse issued from his lips when the fish went down, and he dashed the handspike to the deck with fearful violence.

Once again, at this critical moment, the demon ventured to raise his head.

“The Coper’s close on the port bow!” he whispered; “go, drown it all in grog, man, and be jolly!”

Jolly! How many men have cast away their souls for the sake of what is implied in that little word!

And now, alas! the gate of man’s Free-will was creaking on its hinges. No created power above or below could have moved that gate save the power of David Bright himself.

“Shove out the boat!” shouted the miserable man, with a fierceness of expression and tone that there was no misunderstanding. Poor Billy understood it well enough.

“Oh! no, father! Don’t do it father!” he cried in an entreating voice; but already the little boat was dancing on the waves alongside, with John Gunter in her.

“Jump in, Luke,” said Joe Davidson, hastily, for he was anxious that at least one trusty man should be of the party.

Luke jumped in at once, and was instantly followed by Billy. The painter was cast off, and they pulled towards the floating grog-shop.

The tempter received them with a hearty salute.

“Cheap spirits an’ cheap baccy!” said John Gunter, as he sat on the rail of the Coper drinking the one and smoking the other, “that’s what I likes, an’ plenty of both.”

“That’s so, John,” returned David Bright, who sat beside him, and, having already drained several bumpers of the fiery fluid, had quite got over his troubles. “You an’ I are of the same mind, John; nevertheless you’re a great sulky-faced humbug for all that!”

“What d’ee mean by that?” demanded Gunter, who was becoming rapidly drunk and quarrelsome.

“What do I mean? why, I mean that you’re the best man in the smack, out o’ sight, an’ it’s a rare pity that your mother hasn’t got half-a-dozen more like you. If she had I’d man the Evening Star with your whole family. Here, give us a hold o’ your grapplin’-iron, old man.”

He seized Gunter’s fist as he spoke, and gave it a shake so hearty and powerful, that he almost hurled that lover of cheap grog and baccy overboard.

“Hold on, skipper!” growled the fisherman, who was for a moment uncertain whether to return the friendly grasp or fight; but the fierce, wild, contemptuous laugh with which David Bright concluded the speech decided him.

“Y’you—you’re a jolly good fellow,” he stammered; “here, fill up again.”

The poor skipper filled up again, and again, until his speech began to grow thick and unsteady.

“Yesh,” continued Gunter, doubling his fist and smiting his knee, “I do like sheap grog an’ sheap baccy, an’ the Coper’s the place to get ’em both. Ain’t it?”

He looked up sharply at the owner of the Coper, who stood in front of him, and who of course assented cheerfully to the question.

“Ain’t it?” he repeated still more sharply, turning to Luke Trevor, who sat close to him with a grave, anxious look. “Why don’t you drink?” he added.

“Because I don’t want to,” returned Luke, quietly.

“D–do–don’t want to,” returned Gunter, angrily—for it takes little to make some drunk men angry—“You don’t want to spend your money, you young miser—that’s what you m–mean. An’ yet it’s sheap enough, I’m sure. You’ll not git anything in the fleet so sheap as you will in the Coper.”

“There you are wrong,” returned Luke, decidedly. “You’ll get things cheaper aboard the mission-ship, for they’ll give you physic, an’ books, an good advice, and help as far as they can, all for nothing—which is cheaper than the Coper’s wares.”

“Right you are, Luke. Pitch into him,” cried David Bright who was fast drinking himself into a state of madness.

“Father,” whispered Billy, with an anxious look, “don’t you think you’ve had enough?”

The reply to this was a tremendous cuff on the ear which sent the poor boy staggering backwards, so that he nearly fell. Recovering himself he retired behind the Coper’s boat and tried to crush down the sobs that rose in his throat. He was to some extent successful, but a few tears that could not be restrained hopped over his sunburnt cheeks.

It was not pain, nor even the indignity, that drew forth those tears and choking sobs, but the thought that the father he was so fond of had dealt the blow.

Meanwhile Luke Trevor, who felt that matters had reached a dangerous point, rose and went to the place where the boat’s painter had been tied. David Bright was sitting close to the spot.

“Don’t you think it is time we were going, skipper?” he said, respectfully, as he laid his hand on the rope.

“No, I don’t,” replied the skipper, sharply. “Leave go that rope.”

Luke hesitated. Instantly the enraged skipper leaped up and struck him a blow on the chest which knocked him down. At the same moment, observing that Gunter looked on with a leer of drunken amusement, he transferred his wrath to him, flung the remains of the spirits he had been drinking in the man’s face, and made a rush at him. Fortunately Gunter, who had risen, staggered and fell, so that the skipper missed his aim and tumbled over him. In a moment Gunter had regained his feet and prepared for combat, but his adversary’s head had struck on the side of the vessel, and he lay stunned and helpless on the deck.

Luke, who had recovered almost immediately, now assisted Gunter and Billy to raise the prostrate man. It was not an easy matter to handle one whose frame was so heavy, but with the assistance of the owner of the Coper they managed it.

“It’s only a slight cut,” said Billy, looking anxiously round at Trevor.

“Ay, lad, it ain’t the cut or the blow as keeps him down, but the grog. Come, we must git him aboard sharp. Haul up the boat Gunter, while I stop the leak in his skull.”

With a kerchief, Luke soon bound up the slight wound that the wretched man had received, and then they tried to rouse him, but the effort was in vain. David did indeed recover sufficient intelligence to be able to bellow once or twice for more grog, but he could not be brought to the condition of helping himself in any way.

“What’ll we do, Luke?” asked Billy, in a tone and with a look of deep distress, as the huge form of his father lay, a scarcely animate mass, on the deck at his feet. “We must get him aboard somehow.”

“Never fear, Billy, my boy,” said Luke, cheerfully, “we’ll get him aboard somehow. It’s not the first time I’ve had to do it. Come along, Gunter, lend a hand.”

“Not I!” said Gunter, with a drunken swagger. “I’m not goin’ for an hour or more.”

“Oh yes, you are,” returned Luke, dipping one of the Coper’s buckets over the side and pulling it up full of water.

“No, I ain’t. Who’ll make me?”

“I will,” said Luke, and he sent the contents of the bucket straight into his comrade’s face.

“Hooray!” shouted Billy, convulsed at once with delight and surprise at the suddenness of the act to say nothing of its violence. “Give it ’im, Luke—polish ’im off!”