Pagina 50 di 416

Code met the dory that rowed ashore after Bijonah had made fast

to his mooring in the little cove that was the roadstead for the

fishing fleet. He had half expected to share the duty with Nat

Burns since the recent change in his relations to the Tanners,

but Burns did not put in an appearance, although it was three

o'clock in the afternoon.

Bijonah shook hands with him, and Ma Tanner kissed him, the

latter ceremony being a baptism of happy tears that all were safe

and alive. Bijonah cleared his voice and pulled hard at his

beard.

"Understand you're quite a hero, Code," he ventured bluffly,

careful to conceal any emotion, but resolved to give the occasion

its due.

"Oh, rot, captain!" said Code equally bluffly, and the ceremony

was over.

But not so with Ma Tanner. She wept and laughed over the

preserver of her offspring, and called him so many exalting names

that he was glad to turn her over to Nellie and his mother at the

Schofield gate.