bia was
a Crown colony.

MacRae carried insurance on both his carriers. There was no need for him
to move against Gower in the matter. The insurance people would attend
efficiently to that. The adjusters came, took over the wreck, made
inquiries. MacRae made his formal claim, and it was duly paid.

But long before the payment was made he was at work, he and Vin Ferrara
together, on the _Bluebird_, plowing the Gulf in stormy autumn weather.
The season was far gone, the salmon run slackening to its close. It was
too late to equip another carrier. The cohoes were gone. The dog
salmon, great-toothed, slimy fish which are canned for European
export--for cheap trade, which nevertheless returned much profit to the
canneries--were still running.

MacRae had taken ninety per cent. of the Folly Bay bluebacks. He had
made tremendous inroads on Folly Bay's take of coho and humpback. He did
not care greatly if Gower filled his cans with "dogs." But the
Bellingham packers cried for salmon of whatsoever quality, and so MacRae
drove the _Bluebird_ hard in a trade which gave him no great profit,
chiefly to preserve his connection with the American canners, to harass
Folly Bay, and to let the fishermen know that he was still a factor and
could serve them well.

He was sick of the smell of salmon, weary of the eternal heaving of the
sea under his feet, of long cold tricks at the wheel, of days in somber,
driving rain and nights without sleep. But he kept on until the salmon
ceased to run, until the purse seiners tied up for the season, and the
fishermen put by their gear.

MacRae had done well,--far better than he expected. His knife had cut
both ways. He had eighteen thousand dollars in cash and the _Bluebird_.
The Folly Bay pack was twelve thousand cases short. How much that
shortage meant in lost profit MacRae could only guess, but it was a
pretty sum. Another season like that,--he smiled grimly. The next season
would be better,--for him. The trollers were all for him. They went out
of their way to tell him that. He had organized good will behind him.
The men who followed the salmon schools believed he did not want the
earth, only a decent share. He did not sit behind a mahogany desk in
town and set the price of fish. These men had labored a long time under
the weighty heel of a controlled industry, and they were thankful for a
new dispensation. It gave MacRae a pleasant feeling to know this. It
gave him also something of a conte