way out into de middle of nowhere, mon.
Athens crumples an orange cigarette package and throws it at the rail. The wind catches it and blows it back inboard, and it skids aft along the deck. He sighs, fingering his collar button.
I used to dat. Nowhere is where I been getting to all de days of my life. I like Vemon dat way—life sailin by without me.
The men move into the stern, and Speedy relieves Vemon.
… dis foolin round with reefs, not in de night.
We be okay. Beat out dere five, six miles off de bank, run south again till mornin.
It like Byrum say, we gone to miss a day dat way, and de season goin. We very close to May. Dem turtle gone be started south to Turtle Bogue.
Ever run south down dat way, Speedy? Costa Rica way? Limón? Ships bananas and coffee out of dere. Cacao? Well, dat way you would pass Tortuguero. What dey calls Turtle Bogue.
Bluefields de farthest south I sailed.
Yah, mon. I been to Bluefields.
Well, why de turtle go so far off to de southward?
Go to lay dere eggs. De she-turtle haul out on dis long beach, black-lookin sand, y’know, with big seas rollin in, and de he-turtle lay around dere just behind de surf lookin to coot dem as dey come and go. Some dem big old bastard lookin to coot so bad dat you can come up alongside and harpoon dem, dey dat busy. You take a old board and stick a kind of a head on it, like a turtle stickin his head up, and by Christ he come up and try to coot
dat
.
Fall in de water, mon, you in bad trouble. You gets grinded.
Dose he-turtle, dey like Athens dat way—dey coot
any
thing!
Look who talkin! I heard dat Miss Gwen gone break her engagement to her intended dere, Mist’ Byrum Watler of Batabano, West Bay, cause he so free with dat Canadian squints dat comes up to de
Blue Horizon
.
Byrum hoots.
Now Athens, y’know, he thought he was a white mon till he lain ’longside some dem girl come down lately from Canada!
Dem
people is what you call
fish-belly
white!
A white mon wouldn’t get no Canadian squints, I tellin you dat: dey gets plenty white up where dey come from. Dem girls is far from home, and what dey wants is de darker de better. (
shrugs
) It all dat
snow
, dey say.
Byrum lies back with his head on his hands.
Well, anyways, about dis time of de year, de turtle have started southward to de Bogue. But de shes don’t go ashore till round about de month of July, and dey some still goin ashore dere in September. Comin down to de actual deposit of de eggs, August and September is dere peaks. Course, dey goes ashore two, three times—lay maybe three, four hundred eggs by de time dey done. Likes de full moon. And de eggs hatches out two full moon after dat.
If dey makes it.
If dey makes it. Cause dem Sponnish don’t let’m lay dere eggs, even, before dey turns’m. Turtle agent has de Indians rollin de she-turtle as dey comes ashore, and den when de boat come, dey send de turtles back to sea with a buoy tied to de fin, cause de seas too heavy for de boat to land dere. And de boats grob de turtle den, take dem over to Limón. Course, dey times dey
finds
her layin. Fore she comes ashore, she very coward, and she lay real quiet in de shallers; she see anything on de beach, she slip back into de sea. But once she started, mon, dey ain’t no stoppin: she go right on with dogs diggin out de eggs fast as she drops dem, and de goddom Indians tyin de buoy to her fin.
Got calipee poachers, too, y’know. Just grob dat turtle and spin her over and carve dat calipee right off, and leave de rest. And de turtle layin dere, still blinkin, with her belly laid wide open to de dogs and birds.
Calipatch and calipee, mon.
Oh, mon. You seen all dat, Byrum?
Copm Allie Ebanks told me dat, so I knows it good: Copm Allie knows a feller dat was dere and
seen
it. And he tellin de manner dat dey hatchin, too, beginnin along about September-October. Dem little fellas come scromblin up out de sand, ain’t one of dem big as your ear, and rummagin dere way up through
Athens crumples an orange cigarette package and throws it at the rail. The wind catches it and blows it back inboard, and it skids aft along the deck. He sighs, fingering his collar button.
I used to dat. Nowhere is where I been getting to all de days of my life. I like Vemon dat way—life sailin by without me.
The men move into the stern, and Speedy relieves Vemon.
… dis foolin round with reefs, not in de night.
We be okay. Beat out dere five, six miles off de bank, run south again till mornin.
It like Byrum say, we gone to miss a day dat way, and de season goin. We very close to May. Dem turtle gone be started south to Turtle Bogue.
Ever run south down dat way, Speedy? Costa Rica way? Limón? Ships bananas and coffee out of dere. Cacao? Well, dat way you would pass Tortuguero. What dey calls Turtle Bogue.
Bluefields de farthest south I sailed.
Yah, mon. I been to Bluefields.
Well, why de turtle go so far off to de southward?
Go to lay dere eggs. De she-turtle haul out on dis long beach, black-lookin sand, y’know, with big seas rollin in, and de he-turtle lay around dere just behind de surf lookin to coot dem as dey come and go. Some dem big old bastard lookin to coot so bad dat you can come up alongside and harpoon dem, dey dat busy. You take a old board and stick a kind of a head on it, like a turtle stickin his head up, and by Christ he come up and try to coot
dat
.
Fall in de water, mon, you in bad trouble. You gets grinded.
Dose he-turtle, dey like Athens dat way—dey coot
any
thing!
Look who talkin! I heard dat Miss Gwen gone break her engagement to her intended dere, Mist’ Byrum Watler of Batabano, West Bay, cause he so free with dat Canadian squints dat comes up to de
Blue Horizon
.
Byrum hoots.
Now Athens, y’know, he thought he was a white mon till he lain ’longside some dem girl come down lately from Canada!
Dem
people is what you call
fish-belly
white!
A white mon wouldn’t get no Canadian squints, I tellin you dat: dey gets plenty white up where dey come from. Dem girls is far from home, and what dey wants is de darker de better. (
shrugs
) It all dat
snow
, dey say.
Byrum lies back with his head on his hands.
Well, anyways, about dis time of de year, de turtle have started southward to de Bogue. But de shes don’t go ashore till round about de month of July, and dey some still goin ashore dere in September. Comin down to de actual deposit of de eggs, August and September is dere peaks. Course, dey goes ashore two, three times—lay maybe three, four hundred eggs by de time dey done. Likes de full moon. And de eggs hatches out two full moon after dat.
If dey makes it.
If dey makes it. Cause dem Sponnish don’t let’m lay dere eggs, even, before dey turns’m. Turtle agent has de Indians rollin de she-turtle as dey comes ashore, and den when de boat come, dey send de turtles back to sea with a buoy tied to de fin, cause de seas too heavy for de boat to land dere. And de boats grob de turtle den, take dem over to Limón. Course, dey times dey
finds
her layin. Fore she comes ashore, she very coward, and she lay real quiet in de shallers; she see anything on de beach, she slip back into de sea. But once she started, mon, dey ain’t no stoppin: she go right on with dogs diggin out de eggs fast as she drops dem, and de goddom Indians tyin de buoy to her fin.
Got calipee poachers, too, y’know. Just grob dat turtle and spin her over and carve dat calipee right off, and leave de rest. And de turtle layin dere, still blinkin, with her belly laid wide open to de dogs and birds.
Calipatch and calipee, mon.
Oh, mon. You seen all dat, Byrum?
Copm Allie Ebanks told me dat, so I knows it good: Copm Allie knows a feller dat was dere and
seen
it. And he tellin de manner dat dey hatchin, too, beginnin along about September-October. Dem little fellas come scromblin up out de sand, ain’t one of dem big as your ear, and rummagin dere way up through
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