Labrador along o' you.'

"'Not so, my son,' says he. 'By no means.'

"'I _wants_ to, Skipper Davy!'

"'You got a mother ashore,' says he.

"'Well, but,' says I, 'my mother says a lad's got t' be a man _some_
time.'

"'I can't afford t' take you, Tumm.'

"'Look you, Skipper Davy!' says I, 'I'm able-bodied for my years. None
more so. Take me along o' you--an' I'll work my hands t' bloody pulp!'

"''Tis not that, Tumm,' says he. ''Tis--well--because--I've growed
kind o' fond o' you overnight. We got a bit--intimate--together--an'
you--was kind. Tis not my habit, lad, t' be fond o' nobody,' says he,
in a flash, 'an' I'll not keep it up. I'm otherwise schooled. But,
damme!' says he, 'a man's got t' go overboard _once_ in a while,
whatever comes t' pass.'

"'Then sure you'll take me!'

"'I wouldn't get my fish,' says he. 'I'd be scared o' losin' you. I'd
sail the _Word o' the Lord_ like a ninny. Thinks I--I got t' be
careful! Thinks I--why, I can't have Tumm cast away, for what would
his mother do? Thinks I--I'll reef, an' I'll harbor, an' I can't get
along, an' I might hit ice, an' I might go ashore on Devil-May-Care.
_An' I wouldn't get my fish!_'

"'Still an' all, I _got_ t' go!'

"'You isn't driven,' says he.

"'Skipper Davy,' says I, fair desperate, 'I got a maid.'

"'A _what_?' says he.

"'A maid, Skipper Davy,' says I, 'an' I wants with all my heart t'
prove my courage.'

"'What you goin' t' do with her?'

"'I'll wed her in due season.'

"Skipper Davy jumped--an' stared at me until I fair blushed. I'd shook
un well, it seemed, without knowin'--fair t' the core of his heart, as
it turned out--an' I'd somehow give un a glimpse of his own young
days, which he'd forgot all about an' buried in the years since then,
an' couldn't now believe had been true. 'A maid?' says he then.
'A--maid! An' you'll wed her in due season! _You_, lad! Knee-high to a
locust! An' you wants t' go down the Labrador t' prove your courage
for the sake of a maid? For--Love! Tis not a share o' the catch you
wants--'tis not altogether the sight o' strange places--'tis not t'
master the tricks o' sailin'--'tis not t' learn the reefs an' berths
o' the Labrador. 'Tis t' prove--your--courage! An' for the sake of a
maid! Is that the behavior o' lads in the world in these times? Was it
always the way--with lads? I wonder--I wonder an _I_ might ever have
done _that_--in my youth!'

"I couldn't tell un.

"'Tumm,' says he, 'I'll fur