All the Brothers Were Valiant

matters enough, without it, to occupy those last days. Little Priss was caught up like a leaf in the wind; she was whirled this way and that in a pleasant and heart-stirring confusion. And through

id quietly: "Yes--with

"You'll be good to me, won't you

groaned. Alongside lay the Nathan Ross, her decks littered with the last confusion of preparation. Joel showed Priscilla the lumber for the cabin alterations, ranked along the rail bene

ures merged into a black mass, pepper-and-salted with color where the women stood. They could see the handkerchiefs flickering, until a turn of the channel swept them out of sight of the town, and they drifted on through the widening mouth of the bay, toward the open sea. At dusk that night, there was still la

raight across, with only enough overhang to give the rudder room. Furthermore, her masts had no rake. They stood up stiff and straight as sore thumbs; and the bowsprit, instead of being something near horizontal, rose toward the skies at an angle close to forty-five degrees. This bowsprit made the Nathan Ross look as though she had just stubbed her toe. She carried four boats at the davits; and two spare craft, bottom up,

d to be. An easy five or six knots contented her; for the whole ocean was her hunting ground, and though there were certain more favored areas, you might meet whales anywhere. Give h

rnham, the carpenter, did the work. He was a wiry little man, gray and grizzled; and he loved the tools of his craft with a jealous love that forbade the laying on of impious hands. Through the long, calm days, when the ship

be." Now and then he let her try to drive a nail; but as often as not she missed the nail head and marred the soft wood, until Aaron l

her feet tucked under her skirts and her chin in

me to this. Also, he was a slow worker, accustomed to take his own time; and when Priscilla grew impatient and scolded him, th

hings so, and I do things so; and

me new wonder--a window set in the stern, or a bench completed, or a door hung. And Joel, looking far oftener at Priscilla

nd the last lick of paint was dry. In the result, P

bench was broken in one place to make room for Joel's desk, and the cabinet wherein he kept his records and his instruments. Priss had put curtains on the windows; and she had a lily, in a pot, at one of them, and a clump of pansies at another. Joel's cabin opened off this compartment, on the starboard side; hers was opposite. The main cabin, with its folding table built abo

aft of the try works, save on tasks assigned; and the secondary officers--boat-steerers and the like--slept in the steerage and kept forward o

went about his work. And the other mates--Varde, the sullen; and Hooper, who was old and losing his grip; and Dick Morrell, who was young and finding his--paid her the respect that was h

oily work of cutting in the carcass, and then she fled to her cabin and remained there steadfastly until the long task was done. The smoke from the bubbling try pots, and the persistent smell of boiling blubber sickened her; and th

" she told him. "I've had to wash out every one of

l be used to it soon, Priss. You'll come to like it, I'm thin

tually mean, Joel Shore, that I've got to live with

t of it. It's part of the work. Come ano

not say anything, but I sh

like this, I wouldn't have come, Joel. Now don't you laugh at me. If there was any wa

ut her shoulders and laughed at her till she could do no less than laugh back at him. But

en, to make direct for the Gilbert Islands and seek some trace of his brother there. That had been his plan before he left port; but the plan had become de

lief about my brother,

ulously, and driving home each nail with hammer strokes that seemed smooth and effortless, yet

y?" he counter

landers? Did they do

effect of his mirth was not reassuring. "There's a brew i' the Isl

rupled to take strong drink when he chose; but Mark had always been a strong man t

Aaron? Drink was never l

go, or the like outlandish stuff, I've heard. And one sip is deviltry, and two is madness,

as a man swift of tongue, flashing, and full of laughter and hot blood; a colorful man, like a splash of pigment on white canvas. Joel was in all things his opposite, quiet, and slow of thought and speech, and steady o

Islanders about? Or this

ome drunken crew, shouting and screeching a mile up the beach," he said. "Some few of the

m?" Joel echoed

That h

tay with them freely?" For it is a black and shameful thing that a captain should desert his sh

know your brother. Ye'd only seen him ashore. And--I'm doubting th

re, and left his men, and departed; and I know that

town. But--you have some right to know that Mark Shore was not a sober man when he left the ship. I' truth, he had not been sober--cold sober--for a week. And he left with a bo

owly whiten. Whereupon old Aaron bent swiftly to his task, half fearfu

d have tol

id. "There was no need the town should chew Mark's name. Better--" He glanced at Joel.

I've no doubt," he agreed. "But--Mark

y, "did many things without shame fo

ron, ye'll say no mor

reed. "I should no have

wheel, and they were laughing together like children. Joel felt immensely older than Priss.... Yet the difference was scarce s

her, smiling faintly