Even then, with his vessel literally shelfed on the ice, certain
that she had been violently nipped, he was congratulating himself on
reaching a sealing ground, from which he could never return without
encountering all the same dangers over again. As for Roswell, he laughed a
little at the other's opinion of the sealing business, for he was morally
certain the Vineyard-man would have kept the secret, had it been in his
possession alone.
"Well, well, we'll forget the past," he said, "all but what we've done to
help one another. You stood by me off Hatteras, and I've been of some
service to you here. You know how it is in our calling, Daggett; first
come, first served. I got here first, and have had the cream of the
business for this season; though I do not by any means wish to be
understood as saying that you are too late."
"I hope not, Gar'ner. 'Twould be vexatious to have all this risk and
trouble for nothing. How much ile have you stowed?"
"All my ground-tier, and a few riders. It is with the skins that we are
doing the best business."
Daggett's eyes fairly snapped at this announcement, which aroused all his
professional ambition, to say nothing of that propensity to the "root of
all evil," which had become pretty thoroughly incorporated with his moral
being, by dint of example, theory, and association.
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