ATLAnTIC GUARDIAn - Memorial University of Newfoundland DAI

and disbelief in his face. "Go in?"
he said, "why, we're not out yet.
There's nothin' for us to do in
there. I don't want no shore jobs,
grandpa. If we don't haul the nets
today, the fish'll be eat up with
crabs".
His grandfather sighed. No lise
to talk to the boy. Jackie was living
in the present, while he was weighing
the present against the past and
wondering about the future. Skipper
Joe made one more effort. "Suppose
it comes on to blow hard before we
gets in, b'y, what'll we de?"
Jackie laughed, a shrill, confident
laugh. "What odds, grandpa" he
said. "You know what to do. Just
tell me an' I'll do it. Ah, here we
are. Haul-up Qobber over there to
loo'ard. Steady the tiller while I
takes down the sail."
Skipper Joe watched the boy
ATLANTIC GUARDIAN
climb nimbly over the thwarts and
handle the sail. Jackie's answer to
his question stuck in his mind.
"You know what to do. Tell me
and I'll do it." It seemed to make
sense. The boy was set on a fisherman's
life, The spell of the sea
was already on him. Harry's blood
in the boy flowed strong and true.
Neither the trembling hands of the
mother nor his old gnarled ones
could dam it. But he could direct
its course-he could teach the boy.
That was it. He had several years
of useful service left in him yet.
He'd make the boy a master fisherman.
Yes, he'd train·him as good
or better than he had Harry ...
That evening as their half-loaded
punt came alongside the wharf,
Skipper Joe said to Jackie: "Goin'
to be rain tonight, b'y. Flit the oilskins
in out 0' the weather. We'll
need 'em again to-morrow."
- u.s. Armv SigMI Corps Photo
Newfoundland rivers are famous for salmon. Fishing is popular with the troops.
30