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Tug of War by Jonas Lye.
For the last two or three days the

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weather had been terrific. But on
the third day it was so far cleared

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up that one of the men who
belonged to the fishing station thought that they

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might manage to drag the nets a
bit that day. The others, however,

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were not inclined to venture out.
Now, it is the custom for

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various crews to land each other a
hand in pushing off the boats, and

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so it happened now. When,
however, they came to the femborking,

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which was drawn up a good distance
ashore, they found the oars and thwarts

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turned upside down in the boat.
And more than that, despite all their

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exertions, it was impossible to move
the boat from the spot. They tried

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once, twice thrice, but it
was of no use. But then one

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of them, who was known to
have second sight, said that from what

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he saw, it would be best
not to touch the boat at all that

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day it was too heavy for the
might of man to move. One of

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the crew, however, who belonged
to the fishing station, he was a

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smart lad of fourteen, was amusing
them all the time with all manner of

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pranks and tomfoolery. He now caught
up a heavy stone and pitched it with

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all his might right into the stern
of the boat. Then, suddenly,

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and plainly visible to them all out
of the boat rushed a drog in seaman's

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clothes, but with a heavy crop
of seaweed instead of a head. It

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had been weighing down the boat by
sitting in the stern, and now dashed

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into the sea, so that the
foam spurted all over them. After that,

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the fembourging glided quite smoothly into the
water. Then the man was second

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sight looked at the boy and said
that he should not have done so.

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But the lad went on laughing as
before, and said he didn't believe in

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such stuff. When they had come
home in the evening, and the folks

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lay asleep in the fishing station,
they heard about twelve o'clock at night,

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the lad yelling for help. It
even seemed to one of them by the

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light of the train oil lamp,
as if a heavy hand were stretching forward

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from the door right up to the
bench on which the lad lay. The

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lad, yelling and struggling, had
already been dragged as far as the door

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before the others had so far come
to their senses as to think to grasp

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him around the body to prevent him
from being dragged right out. And now

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in mid doorway a hard fight began. The drag dragged him by the legs,

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while the whole crew tugged against him
with the boy's arms and upper limbs.

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Thus, amidst yelling and groaning,
they swayed to and fro all through

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the midnight hour, backwards and forwards
in the half open door. And now

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the drog, and now the men
had the most of the boy on their

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side of the doorway. All at
once the drog let go, so that

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the whole crew fell hagglety pigglety backwards
on the floor. Then they found that

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the boy was dead. It was
only then that the drog had let him

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go. The end of Tug of
War by Jonas Lye