e. Even the phosphorescence or 'fire' at the ship's bow was
not especially brilliant, and Colin tumbled over half a dozen different
things in as many yards on deck, while only the fact that he had
sea-boots on saved him from barking his shins on the fore-hatch.

"Drop over the dory, haul up the boat!"

The commands came ringing out sharply. Colin had been aboard a
man-of-war, but there was no such discipline as this. The words were
scarcely spoken, when four of the men had the dory over the starboard
rail, while eight of the men tailed on to the painter of the seine-boat
and brought it to the port fore-rigging.

"Tops'l halyards. Lively now!"

With a rattle and whir the two great sails went soaring up in the
darkness, and the _Shiner_ leaped forward, her lee rail almost flush to
the sea.

"She's a great boat," said Colin to one of the men near him; "I
shouldn't have thought she could have stood the tops'ls."

The fisherman looked at him.

"Jerry Fitzgerald is the skipper o' this craft," he said, "an' he's got
the reputation o' carryin' all canvas in a full gale. See the lights
around us?"

"I saw one or two," Colin answered. "Other seiners?"

"O' course, an' do you think Jerry's goin' to lose a chance o' the
school because o' canvas? Wait a bit an' you'll see!"

Not a minute had passed by before another order came.

"Give her the stays'l. Run up the balloon, too!"

Colin gasped, but he lent a hand. As the _Shiner_ felt the added sail
she poked her nose in and took the water green. But the narrow build
forward threw off the load, and she rose like a duck. The seiner was
carrying a fearful press of sail, but she stood up stiffly under it, all
the red and green lights of the other seiners falling astern; it was
evident that the skipper meant to keep them there. Before long,
occasional flashes of light, being the phosphorescence churned up by the
tails of a pod of mackerel, could be seen from the deck.

"Into the boat!" cried the skipper.

For just a second Colin hesitated, but he saw Mr. Roote go into the
seine-boat and he followed immediately. The seine-master, who had been
aloft, came down with a rush. Colin could hear the rustle of the
oilskins as he partly touched the stays, but he landed on the deck with
a 'thump' as great as though he had leaped down the last ten feet. The
seine-boat was dropping astern as fast as one of the crew, who remained
on deck, could pay out the painter, but the seine-master