United States or Caribbean Netherlands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Nettie B. of Freekirk Head?" he asked. "Captain Burns commanding?" "Yes," said Nat, stepping forward, "I am Captain Burns. What do you want?" "I come from the gunboat Albatross," said the officer, "and represent Captain Foraker.
When the audience had become quiet he rose and took his stand before them, lowering his head and peering over his glasses. "Friends," he said, "we have gathered here to-night to discuss the welfare of Grande Mignon Island and the village of Freekirk Head." A look of startled uncertainty swept over the simple, weather-beaten faces in front of him.
And here, seven years ago, he had brought Elsa Fuller as his bride Elsa Fuller who was the belle of Freekirk Head, and had been to Boston to boarding-school. It was to Mallaby House that Code Schofield had come to dinner this night. He had not wanted to come and had only agreed when she bribed him with a promise of something very important she might reveal. The revelation was hardly a pleasure.
The money she had mailed to him had only been an excuse to write a letter; the favors to Ma Schofield were, in great part, to help further her plan; the whole business of helping support Freekirk Head was a flash of dramatic display, calculated to bring her ineradicably before Code's eyes and every one else's.
"If I remember right, an' I was perfectly clear at the time, this is what one said: 'Fellers, sez 'e to the other two, 'e sez 'fellers, that young Captain Schofield in Freekirk Head is goin' on the rocks, or I don't hear what's goin' on in my office. "'Then they're goin' to sue him to recover part of his insurance on the old schooner May Schofield? asks the second.
While the former was meanness of a hideous kind, this latter move was one of treachery against the men of Freekirk Head. Boughton was hard up for fish, for none had come from the Banks, and bought them at a big price. But as to the signing of the contract, he demurred.
And once again he described the crashing calamity aboard the overloaded boat as she struggled home to Freekirk Head with the last of her strength. "You, squire, you've sailed your boats in your time! You know that never could have happened even to the old May unless something had been done. And something was done! Burns had weakened the topm'st and the mainstay!"
How many of ye do you s'pose will come back?" She shook off those near her who tried to pull her down into her seat. "Last year they lost a hundred an' five out o' Gloucester, an' every year they make widders by the dozen. If it was set in India's coral strand ye'd know it was a fishin' town by its widders; an' Freekirk Head'll be just like it.
Mallaby!" he yelled, and the very building shook with the tumultuous response. It was five minutes before the squire, purple with shouting for order, could be heard above the noise. Then, with hand upraised, he shouted: "All in favor of Schofield's plan say ay!" And the "ay" was the greatest vocal demonstration ever given in Freekirk Head.
It was a cutthroat business, this mighty pull for the market; but upon it not only depended the practical consideration of the highest market prices, but the honor and glory of owning the fastest schooner out of Freekirk Head. The task of the Charming Lass was delightful in its simplicity, but fearful in its arduousness. Jimmie Thomas came aft and stood by the wheel on the port side.
Word Of The Day