Wide Courses by James Brendan Connolly
page 52 of 272 (19%)
page 52 of 272 (19%)
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looking.
By dark of that Christmas we shot into Folly Cove in Placentia Bay and came to anchor off John Rose's wharf. And the _Aurora's_ crew were there helping John, and there was the load of herring John had promised. And he thought I'd come for the herring, but I hadn't--not yet. I had a word in private with John, and he found a nice little place among the cliffs, and with John Rose and the _Aurora's_ crew it didn't take long to stow those cases of wine where no stranger would find them in a hurry. And when that was done I goes over the papers again. And sure enough, her papers read for a fishing trip to the Grand Banks. Her crew had been shipped for a fishing trip. Her gear, dories, bait (not much bait though) was all for a fishing trip. It was plain as could be, I had Miller under my lee. And so we put out again into the night, and before daylight we were back in Saint Pierre harbor again, and all hands ashore. And when Miller woke up in the morning there was the _Aurora_ laying to anchor in the stream just where she'd been the morning before. And we were having a nice little breakfast up to Antone's when Miller and the governor and the gun-boat captain comes to get me. And Miller was going to arrest me, put me in irons, not a minute's delay, not one, and I says "For what?" And Miller throws up his hands and repeats: "For what? He says for what? Mong Doo, for what?" And I says: "Yes, for what? What are you going to arrest me for? For a little excursion trip, a little run off shore, is it?--so's to eat our Christmas turkey in peace?" I see that my play lay with the French naval officer, so I turns to him. "There was a turkey. Old Antone here will tell you that it belonged to one of my men, Mr. Leary here--that he won it fairly, and that the same |
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