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Then there was a concerted heave and the ground tackle broke loose and came up with a rush. Under headsails and riding sail the Rosan swung into the light air that stirred the fog and began to crawl forward while the men were still cat-heading the anchor. The youth who had been ringing the bell now substituted the patent fog-horn, as marine law requires when vessels are under way.
At Swallowtail Bijonah rounded the point, gave one majestic wave of his hat in farewell, and put the Rosan over on the starboard tack, for the course was southeast, and followed practically the wake of Code Schofield. One after another the schooners and sloops, closely bunched, came about as smartly as their crews could bring them and the smartest of them all was Nat Burns's Nettie B.
Nellie held out to Code the packet that she had discovered in the skipper's drawer several days before. Code, seated on the roof of the cabin in the only loose chair aboard the Rosan, and wrapped in blankets, took the sealed bundle curiously. He looked at the round, feminine handwriting across the envelope, and failed to evince any flash of guilt or intelligence.
It was three days after Code's rescue by the Rosan and the first that he had felt any of his old strength coming back to him. For the first twenty-four hours after being revived he did nothing but sleep, and awoke to find Nellie Tanner beside his bunk nursing him. Since then it had been merely a matter of patience until his exhausted body had recuperated from the shock.
In the distance there was a sail here and there, for the Rosan was slowly overhauling the fleet from Freekirk Head. Code stole a swift glance at her, and forgot to read his letter as he studied the fresh roundness and beauty of her face. He vaguely felt that there was a reserved manner between them. "The letter is from Mrs. Mallaby," he said. "Yes? That is interesting."
He ranged up astern of the Rosan with a cheery yell and let go his anchor, ordering the dories over the side in the same breath. But his aspirations received a chilling setback from none other than Bijonah Tanner himself.
But mind, you'll find things different. Your mother is boss of any land she puts her foot on, but once I get the Rosan past Swallowtail my word goes." "All right, daddy dear," laughed the girl; "I know you'll be just the finest captain I ever sailed with." She kissed him impulsively and ran up-stairs to tell her mother the good news.
"You've earned your rest more than any man in Freekirk Head to-night. I'm afraid, though, we're going to make more trouble for you. Ma Schofield wouldn't let me go anywhere else but here till the Rosan gets back from St. John's. "Oh, I hate to think of their coming! They'll sail around Flag Point and look for the kiddies waving in front of the house.
Elsa had it in mind to give you this packet, she says, before you left. But when you went so suddenly she asked father to give it to you. She said she expected the Rosan would catch the Lass on the Banks. At least, this is the yarn dad told me." "She seems to know considerable about the Banks and the ways of fishermen," he said, with an unconscious ring of enthusiasm in his tone.
"My dad told me, an' he got it from his dad afore he croaked, that your wife was a Santa Rosan, an' that she was sure no account. He said she was a hash-slinger before the Red Death, though I don't know what a hash-slinger is. You can tell me, Edwin." But Edwin shook his head in token of ignorance. "It is true, she was a waitress," Granser acknowledged.
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