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"I heard ye talkin' to Dad, an' I ha'af looked you'd be swallered up, same's Jonah." Harvey protested himself red in the face. Dan was a shrewd young person along his own lines, and ten minutes' questioning convinced him that Harvey was not lying much.
The cook was a huge, jet-black negro, and, unlike all the negroes Harvey had met, did not talk, contenting himself with smiles and dumb-show invitations to eat more. "See, Harvey," said Dan, rapping with his fork on the table, "it's jest as I said. The young an' handsome men like me an' Pennsy an' you an' Manuel we're second ha'af, an' we eats when the first ha'af are through.
"Dan," he said to his son, "I was sot agin this young feeler when I first saw him on account o' hasty jedgments. Never you be led astray by hasty jedgments, Dan. Naow I'm sorry for him, because he's clear distracted in his upper works. He ain't responsible fer the names he's give me, nor fer his other statements nor fer jumpin' overboard, which I'm abaout ha'af convinced he did.
Be sure you sense what I say? Ten an' a ha'af fer second boy on the schooner an' all found fer to teach you an' fer the sake o' your health. Yes or no?" "No!" said Harvey. "Take me back to New York or I'll see you " He did not exactly remember what followed. He was lying in the scuppers, holding on to a nose that bled while Troop looked down on him serenely.
It's all the livin' we make here fishin'. The men'll be back like sharks after a dead whale in ha'af an hour." "What for?" said Harvey. "Supper, o' course. Don't your stummick tell you? You've a heap to learn." "Guess I have," said Harvey, dolefully, looking at the tangle of ropes and blocks overhead. "She's a daisy," said Dan, enthusiastically, misunderstanding the look.
"Did ye ever think how sweet 'twould be to sail wid a full crew o' Salterses?" said Long Jack. "Ha'af in the furrer an' other ha'af in the muck-heap, as Ca'houn did not say, an' makes out he's a fisherman!" A little laugh went round at Salters's expense.
Ha'af my mother's folks they live scattered inside o' Pennsylvania, an' Uncle Salters he visits araound winters. Uncle Salters he kinder adopted Penn, well knowin' what his trouble wuz; an' he brought him East, an' he give him work on his farm." "Why, I heard him calling Penn a farmer last night when the boats bumped. Is your Uncle Salters a farmer?" "Farmer!" shouted Dan.
You ain't asked to talk more'n you've a mind to aboard the We're Here. Keep your eyes open, an' help Dan to do ez he's bid, an' sechlike, an' I'll give you you ain't wuth it, but I'll give ten an' a ha'af a month; say thirty-five at the end o' the trip. A little work will ease up your head, and you kin tell us all abaout your dad an' your ma an' your money afterwards."
"Then I have been a charge on some one for every day of that time. Who was the man?" Disko pointed to Salters. "Ye hain't ye hain't!" cried the sea-farmer, twisting his hands together. "Ye've more'n earned your keep twice-told; an' there's money owin' you, Penn, besides ha'af o' my quarter-share in the boat, which is yours fer value received." "You are good men. I can see that in your faces. But "
Uncle Salters went on with a rasping chuckie: "Sim'on Peter Ca'houn he said, an' he was jest right, abaout Lorin', 'Ha'af on the taown, he said, 'an' t'other ha'af blame fool; an' they told me she's married a 'ich man. Sim'on Peter Ca'houn he hedn't no roof to his mouth, an' talked that way." "He didn't talk any Pennsylvania Dutch," Tom Platt replied.
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