ish?"

"Of course. We'll sell 'em the whole cargo."

"Sell them? Why not make them a present?"

"We may need the money to get home with. They're a splendid lot. Enough
for the whole cabin-full."

"Dat's a fack. Cap'in Dab Kinzer's de sort ob capt'in fo' me, he is!"

"How much, then?"

"Twenty-five dollars for the lot. They're worth it,--specially if we
lose Ham's boat."

Dab's philosophy was a little out of gear; but a perfect rattle of
questions and answers followed in French, and, somewhat to Frank
Harley's astonishment, the bargain was promptly concluded. Fresh fish,
just out of the water, were a particularly pleasant arrival to people
who had been ten days out at sea.

How were they to get them on board? Nothing easier, since the little
"Swallow" could run along so nicely under the stern of the great
steamer, after a line was thrown her; and a large basket was swung out
at the end of a long, slender spar, with a pulley to lower and raise it.

There was fun in the loading of that basket: but even the boys from Long
Island were astonished at the number and size of the fine,
freshly-caught blue-fish, to which they were treating the hungry
passengers of the "Prudhomme;" and the basket had to go and come again
and again.

The steamer's steward, on his part, avowed that he had never before met
so honest a lot of Yankee fishermen. Perhaps not; for high prices and
short weight are apt to go together, where "luxuries" are selling. The
pay itself was handed out in the same basket which went for the fish,
and then "The Swallow" was again cast loose.

The wind was not nearly so high as it had been, and the sea had for some
time been going down.

Twenty minutes later Frank Harley heard,--for he understood French very
well,--

"Hullo, the boat! What are you following us for?"

"Oh! we won't run you down. Don't be alarmed. We've lost our way out
here, and we're going to follow you in. Hope you know where you are."

There was a cackle of surprise and laughter among the steamer's
officers, in which Frank and some of the passengers joined; and the
saucy little "fishing-boat" came steadily on in the wake of her gigantic
tide.

"This is grand for us," remarked Dab Kinzer to Ford, as he kept his eyes
on the after-lantern of the "Prudhomme." "They pay all our pilot-fees."

"But they're going to New York."

"So are we, if to-morrow doesn't come out clear, and with a good wind to
go home by."

"It's better than cr