Page 345 sur 416

"Hello!" bawled Nat. "Is Billy Stetson aboard?" Billy was the

skipper.

"Yas; d'ye want to see him?"

"Yes, send him along over. It's mighty important, but I ain't

goin' aboard no Jonah boat. Tell him he'll be glad he came."

Presently Stetson came and the two retired into the cabin of the

Nettie B.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE RACE

It was dawn of a heavy, dark day. There was a mighty sea rolling

and a forty-mile wind off the Cape shore that promised a

three-day ruction. The Charming Lass at her anchor reared and

plunged like a nervous horse.

Weighty with fish, she struggled heroically up the great walls of

water, only to plump her sharp bows into the hollow with a force

that half buried her. Between times she wriggled and capered like

a dancing elephant and jerked at her cable until it seemed as

though she would take her windlass out.