an went
on, as he watched the dog turn round and round before lying down.
"Ain't no place to go. No movies nor nuthin', just fish an' rocks an'
people lookin' thin an' half-starved."

"You ever been there?"

"No, but I was talkin' with fellows that got shipwrecked there once.
Gee whiz, what's that?"

"That? That's an iceberg. Didn't you ever see an iceberg before?"

"No. Looks like a ship under full sail, don't she?"

To the north out of the grey mist on the water loomed a mountain of
ice.

"Glad we didn't run into the old thing," the dog's friend went on.
"They say what you see stickin' out o' the water's only a small part
of it."

"Yes, that's right. 'Bout six-sevenths is under water. Lemme tell you,
the fellers that sail a schooner like this up to the fishin' grounds
have gotta know what they're about. Ever hear about the _Queen_ an'
how she got wrecked?"

"No."

"Well, it was a fog like it is over yonder, an' the _Queen_ was off
Gull Island, close to Cape St. John. She didn't know where she was.
They didn't have no lighthouse in them days.

"Well sir, it was December, long toward Christmas an' the wind was
howlin' like a pack o' wolves. The poor little ship--she wa'n't much
bigger'n this here boat o' ours--drove plumb on the rocks.

"There was six passengers, one of 'em a lady. One of the men was a
doctor--he was her brother.

"They got off the boat when she drove ashore an' they climbed up onto
the top o' the island. They didn't have nothin' with 'em 'ceptin' only
an old piece of a sail. What was that to feed on, all winter? They
knew there wouldn't be anybody comin' that way till the nex' spring.

"The crew, they stayed on board: they said they was goin' to get off
some o' the stuff for 'em all to eat while they was cooped up on the
island waitin' for spring.

"But the storm done 'em dirt. The wind came on to blow harder'n ever,
an' pretty soon the sea she just picked up the ship an' hauled her off
and--crickety-crack!--she went slam-bang to pieces on the Old Harry
Shoals. Didn't have no more chance than a paper bag at a picnic. No
sir, there weren't one man saved out o' the whole crowd.

"So there was them six people stuck up on top o' the rock."

"Did they have to stay there all winter?"

"Now you wait a minute. I'm a-tellin' you. Some time 'long in April
there was a hunter come that way duck-shootin'.

"He shot a duck an' it dropped in the big waves runnin' and jumpin' on
the beach.