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Other Freekirk Head men shrugged their shoulders at this. Nat had

the money, and could act that way if it pleased him, they said.

But, nevertheless, he lost favor with a great many of his former

friends, for the reason that the whole fishing expedition had

been a concerted movement to save the people and credit of the

island, and not an exploitation of individual desires.

Burns had, with his customary indifference to others, made it

just exactly such an exploitation, and the sentiment that had

been strong for him at the outset of the cruise was now turning

decidedly the other way; although he little guessed this or would

have been influenced had he done so.

In reality, then, the race for fish was keenest between the

_Charming Lass, the Rosan, and the Herring Bone_, with three

other schooners very close on their heels.