are of. At that somebody'll have to sleep on a locker, I
cal'late."

"You're doin' well, Bige. I hear Jed Martin can't round up more'n
eight, an' he's been as fur south as Great Harbor."

"D'ye wonder?" put in a third. "Jed ain't never set up grub that a
shark would eat. I sailed with him once five year ago, an' that was
enough fer me."

"Twelve men ain't much," put in Tanner. "Them Gloucester men sail with
sixteen or eighteen right along, and I've heard o' one feller put out
of T-Wharf, Boston, carryin' twenty-eight dories. Of course, them
fellers lays to fill up quick and make short trips fer the fresh
market. Ain't many of them briners."

"Don't believe there's anybody'll carry sixteen men out of here, is
they?" came a voice from over in the corner.

"Sure!" The rumble and bellow of the reply denoted Pete Ellinwood
where he sat on a cracker-box, his six and a half feet of length
sprawled halfway from one counter to the other. "There's Nat Burns's
_Hettie B._ She'll carry sixteen, and so will Code Schofield's
_Laughing Lass_--mebbe more."

"Huh! Yes, if he can git 'em," sneered a voice.

"Git 'em! O' course he'll git 'em. Why not?" demanded Ellinwood,
turning upon the other belligerently.

"Wal," replied the other, "they do say there's men in this village,
and farther south, too, that wouldn't sail with Code, not fer a
thousand dollars and all f'und."

"Them that says it are fools," declared Ellinwood.

"An' liars!" cut in Bijonah Tanner hotly. "Why won't they sail with
the lad? He can handle a schooner as well as you, Burt, and better."

"Yas," said the other contemptuously; "nobody's ever forgot the way he
handled the old _May Schofield_. Better not play with fire, Bige, or
you'll get your hands burned."

Pete Ellinwood got upon his feet deliberately. He was the biggest and
most powerful man in the village, despite his forty-five years, and
his "ableness" in a discussion--physical or otherwise--was universally
respected.

"Look here you, Burt, an' all the rest of you fellers. I've got
something to say. Fer consid'able time now I've heard dirty talk about
Code and the _May Schofield_--dirty talk an' nothin' more. Now, if any
of you can prove that Code did anything but try and save the old
schooner, let's hear you do it. If not, shut up! I don't want to hear
no more of that talk."

There was silence for a while as all hands sought to escape the gray,
accusing eye that wandered slowly around the circ