Smooth, being Mr. Pierce's minister in general, was honored with
an invitation which he declined in consideration of his anxiety to be
among the mackerel. Something must indeed be done for the mackerel;
the case was a serious one. Had the Britishers shown a resolution to
be among the fish, Smooth had lent them a hand to secure the whole
shoal, and then brought them back, merely to avoid the penalty of the
British law, and secure the bounty given by ours. Well, the Britishers
were all gone to a political meeting, where a noisy politician of the
name of Joe Howe, and another of the name of Doyle, having come all
the way from Halifax, and brought with them other great men of the
political world of Nova Scotia, would relieve themselves of ponderous
speeches, to hear which all the old men of the parish would take their
promising sons. Smooth never regarded political meetings over highly,
and had more than once thought those so earnest in attending them had
done much better attending their potato fields. With this opinion made
stronger in the present instance, he counselled Mister Splitwater, the
mate, whose logic never was known to be at fault.
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