l act that way
'f he's sulky. Thet's no strawberry-bottom. Yank her once or twice. She
gives, sure. Guess we'd better haul up an' make certain."

They pulled together, making fast at each turn on the cleats, and the
hidden weight rose sluggishly.

"Prize, oh! Haul!" shouted Dan, but the shout ended in a shrill, double
shriek of horror, for out of the sea came the body of the dead
Frenchman buried two days before! The hook had caught him under the
right armpit, and he swayed, erect and horrible, head and shoulders
above water. His arms were tied to his side, and--he had no face. The
boys fell over each other in a heap at the bottom of the dory, and
there they lay while the thing bobbed alongside, held on the shortened
line.

"The tide--the tide brought him!" said Harvey with quivering lips, as
he fumbled at the clasp of the belt.

"Oh, Lord! Oh, Harve!" groaned Dan, "be quick. He's come for it. Let
him have it. Take it off."

"I don't want it! I don't want it!" cried Harvey. "I can't find the
bu-buckle."

"Quick, Harve! He's on your line!"

Harvey sat up to unfasten the belt, facing the head that had no face
under its streaming hair. "He's fast still," he whispered to Dan, who
slipped out his knife and cut the line, as Harvey flung the belt far
overside. The body shot down with a plop, and Dan cautiously rose to
his knees, whiter than the fog.

"He come for it. He come for it. I've seen a stale one hauled up on a
trawl and I didn't much care, but he come to us special."

"I wish--I wish I hadn't taken the knife. Then he'd have come on your
line."

"Dunno as thet would ha' made any differ. We're both scared out o' ten
years' growth. Oh, Harve, did ye see his head?"

"Did I? I'll never forget it. But look at here, Dan; it couldn't have
been meant. It was only the tide."

"Tide! He come for it, Harve. Why, they sunk him six miles to south'ard
o' the Fleet, an' we're two miles from where she's lyin' now. They told
me he was weighted with a fathom an' a half o' chain-cable."

"Wonder what he did with the knife--up on the French coast?"

"Something bad. 'Guess he's bound to take it with him to the Judgment,
an' so-- What are you doin' with the fish?"

"Heaving 'em overboard," said Harvey.

"What for? We sha'n't eat 'em."

"I don't care. I had to look at his face while I was takin' the belt
off. You can keep your catch if you like. I've no use for mine."

Dan said nothing, but threw his fish over again.