the same. Reckon we'll have to find Jim Killian."

They passed three trawlers, all unloading, and Rick recognized names
that Scotty had read aloud during their brief flight over the fleet.
Many of the men they passed hailed Cap'n Mike. Evidently he was well
known to the fisherman and pier workers.

Suddenly the old man stopped. "There's Brad Marbek's craft."

The next trawler in line was the _Albatross_.

Rick looked it over critically. It was indistinguishable from the
others. There was the same cabin, set well forward, the same large
working space aft, the same net booms. It was no dirtier nor cleaner
than the others. Evidently it was filled with fish, because only the
top Plimsoll number was showing. But the skipper was far from average.
Brad Marbek, as Rick saw him on the deck overhead, was a bull of a
man. He was about six feet tall, but his width made him look shorter.
His shoulder span would have done credit to a Percheron horse, and
from his shoulders his torso dropped in almost a straight line. His
waist lacked only an inch or two of being as wide as his shoulders.
His legs were short and thick and planted wide on the deck. His head
was massive and set squarely on his shoulders with hardly any neck. He
was hatless and his coarse black hair, cropped short, stood straight
up like a vegetable brush. His face was weathered to a dark mahogany
color.

"Not very pretty, is he?" Scotty whispered.

That, Rick thought, was a masterpiece of understatement. He started to
tell Scotty that compared with Brad Marbek a Hereford bull was
downright winsome, but at that moment Cap'n Mike hailed the
_Albatross_.

"Howdy, Brad. How's fish?"

The skipper's reply was cordial enough. "Howdy, Cap'n Mike. Took
another good haul today. Just startin' to unload." Marbek's black eyes
surveyed the two boys briefly, then evidently dismissed them as of no
importance. "Come on aboard."

"Thanks. We will." Cap'n Mike motioned to the two boys and led the way
up the gangplank just as a scoop full of menhaden rose from the hold
and passed overhead.

On deck, the captain introduced the boys to Marbek. Rick found his
hand imprisoned in a horny mass that appeared to be controlled by
steel cables instead of tendons. He tried not to wince.

"Best season I've seen in years," Marbek told Cap'n Mike. His voice
was ridiculously high and soft, out of keeping with his physique.

"That's what everyone's saying," Cap'n Mike acknowledged. "Why, o