A SUDDEN DEATH 



143 



from the ship. At once the ship was put about, stopped, and 

 boats by a marvel were lowered, but the man did not, so far as 

 I could see, come to the surface. We youngsters were eager to 

 get out a boat, but the skipper said "no," that the place was 

 about a mile away and the steamer's people would be there long 

 before us ; besides the chance of getting a boat away from our 

 dancing craft was small. He was properly careful of his men 

 - as he said he could n't go home unless he had us on deck. 

 After the first waiting for the sailor to make his appearance, the 

 steamer's whistle sounded, the boat's crew by a second marvel 

 went back to their davits, and she swung on her course. I have 

 seen much of sudden death, but this stays as the type of such 

 good ending duty, up aloft, and then the deep sea. 



We went into the Gut of Canso, to find it packed with a vast 

 huddle of fishing schooners, several hundred sail, partly from 

 Cape Ann and other parts of the New England shore, and partly 

 from the southern ports of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 

 all held by head winds and mad with the delay. Here again the 

 irritation between the Yankees and the provincials was bitter. 

 There were reports, probably all false, of outrages on ships done 

 here and there by the Federal or British authorities. Almost 

 the worst of war is in the rumors it breeds. These stories, added 

 to the ancient rivalry of the fishermen, bred hatred, so that our 

 three days or so spent in this fleet was as in an ancient naval 

 battle. An exchange of marine courtesies, though the tempest 

 ran high, was commonly followed by the Gloucester men insist- 

 ing on closer acquaintance; they would take to their boats 

 and board the offender. I saw then what subsequent experience 

 has confirmed, that the Yankee when loosed from the bonds 

 of peace is about the most dangerous animal now on the 

 planet. Fortunately, as all about us soon learned that we were 

 not fishermen, we got out of the shindy except as spectators. 

 Fortunately, too, there came a sudden change of the wind from 

 northeast to southwest, followed at once by shouting, tugging 

 at windlasses, clanking of chains, and creaking of blocks as the 





