The Young Ship Builders of Elm Island 26

The Young Ship Builders of Elm Island 26

“They will come here no more to-night, nor for many a month,” said

Uncle Isaac, rising up, and flinging off the sea-weed. “It was a long

shot, but we’ve done well.”

 

Charlie had been all day on the eve of making a communication to Uncle

Isaac, but somehow or other could not muster courage. He thought he

should do it while they were coming along, but didn’t. Then he was

quite sure he should while they were under the eel-grass; but that

excellent opportunity passed away unimproved. It was now or never.

Charlie was glad there was no moon. He almost wished there were no

stars. He managed to get Uncle Isaac to steer, while he sat on the

after thwart, back towards him.

 

“Uncle Isaac--” A long pause.

 

“Well, what is it, Charlie?”

 

“Have you seen Fred lately?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Did he ask you anything?”

 

“Yes, he asked me if I had any corn to spare, and I told him I would

let him have five bushels.”

 

“Was that all?”

 

“Yes; I was in a hurry; went down to get some tobacco; didn’t get off

the horse; he brought it out.” A longer pause.

 

“Fred was over to the island. He wanted me to ask you something.”

 

“Did he? What was it?”

 

“Whether--He wanted me to ask if you thought Captain Rhines and his

wife would let the girls go to sail in this boat with him--Henry

Griffin and Fred’s sister.”

 

“But ain’t you going?”

 

“Yes, sir; they wanted me to go with them.”

 

Charlie’s face, as he got off all this, was much the hue of a blood

beet; but Uncle Isaac didn’t notice it, as there was no moon, and

Charlie sitting back towards him.

 

“You know,” continued he, gathering courage now the ice was broken,

“that Captain Rhines’s folks have been very kind to me. John and I are

just like brothers. When we made the garden, she gave me some beautiful

flower roots and bushes, and I want to let them know that I’m sensible

of it. Fred feels just so. He says that when he was bitten so terribly,

and almost at death’s door, Elizabeth and her mother took care of him

in the daytime, and John nights; that Elizabeth kept the flies from

him, bathed his head, gave him drink, and fanned him, for it was right

in the heat of summer.”

 

“To be sure they’ll let them go. Why shouldn’t they?”

 

“We didn’t know.”

 

“But I know.”

 

“How shall we ask them?”

 

“Go right to the house, and ask them.”

 

“Fred says he don’t like to, because, though Captain Rhines has been

real kind to him, yet he was such a bad boy, and went there in such

shape after the dog bit him; and you know I came here in bad company,

and, though they may like us and wish us well, perhaps they might not

like for us to go with the girls in that way.”

 

“Benjamin Rhines was a poor boy, as myself, and we have got what we

have by hard knocks. He is the last person, or his wife, either, to pay

the least regard to all these things that you and Fred have conjured

up. I’ll fix it for you.”

 

“O, if you would! That was what I wanted to ask you all the time, but

didn’t know how to.”

 

“There’s nothing Captain Rhines likes so well as a coot stew. It’s

their turn to come to our house, for we were there last. Sam Hadlock

is coming here to-morrow morning, little after sunrise, to get Fred’s

corn. I’ll send over by him, and invite all Captain Rhines’s folks,

and tell them to be sure and come, Tige and all. The captain and his

wife will come on the horse, and the girls will walk. I’ll tell Sam

to invite Fred. You can all go out berrying in our pasture, and then

ask them. They will ask their mother. You can go home with them in the

evening, and make all your plans.”

 

“But do you think Mrs. Rhines will say yes?”

 

“I know she will.”

 

“Where is a good place to get berries, when we go to sail?”

 

“Smutty Nose--that’s burnt ground. There’s lots of them there.”

 

“Where’s a good place to get some fish for a chowder? You know we don’t

want to go outside, because ’twould take too much time out of the day.”

 

“And you had rather be ashore picking berries, and sitting under the

trees talking?”

 

“That’s it.”

 

“I’ll tell you: a haddock is a good fish for a chowder. Do you know

where Pettigrew’s house is?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Do you know where Ransom’s Ledge is?”

 

“Yes, sir. That great dry ledge, with a big, round rock right on the

highest part of it.”

 

“Run off south from Smutty Nose till you bring Pettigrew’s chimbly to

bear over that rock. Now for an up-and-down mark. Did you ever notice

a very high bluff, two mile or more up the bay, bare of trees, all the

clear spot for miles around, with a house right in the middle of it?”

 

“O, yes, sir! That’s one of the marks for Atherton’s Shoal.”

 

“Right! Bring that house right over the lone spruce on Kidder’s P’int.

You’ll drop your anchor in about twenty fathoms of water, and find

plenty of haddock, and once in a while pick up a small cod. If you

catch a cusk, tell Fred to corn him for me; and shoot me a coon on

Smutty Nose, if you can.”

 

“We will, Uncle Isaac, if there’s any on the island.”

 

“Let me tell you where to look: round the banks of Horse Shoe Cove,

where the great basswood trees are.”

 

“I know, Uncle Isaac. They have holes under their roots.”

 

Under the direction of Uncle Isaac and Hannah Murch everything went

on like clock-work. Captain Rhines and his wife came early in the

afternoon, as was the custom of that day, both on one horse; the girls

an hour and a half later, protected by Tige, and accompanied by Fred,

who, by pure accident, taking a short cut through the woods, had

overtaken them. After supper they went blueberrying.

 

“Why, girls,” said Mrs. Rhines, “the blueberries are not very thick.”

 

“Yes, they are,” said Hannah Murch; “the ground is blue with them.”

 

“Then I guess they didn’t find the right place, for they have hardly

covered the bottoms of their pails.”

 

Mrs. Rhines made not the least objection to the girls going, provided

the boys would promise to carry but one sail.

 

“We shan’t want to carry the mainsail, Mrs. Rhines,” said Charlie; “for

the boom will be right in the way, and she works well under a foresail.”

 

They had a splendid time, a pleasant day; found the fishing ground by

the marks, and girls and boys caught haddock and cod, but no cusk;

found plenty of berries; and while the girls were making the chowder,

the boys got a coon for Uncle Isaac, and shot some coots; they didn’t

have to row home. Tige contributed his full share to the interest of

the occasion, for he dug out and killed the coon, brought ashore the

birds that were shot, appeared exceedingly happy, and moreover could

tell no tales out of school.

 

“Have you had a good time, Charlie?” asked his mother, at his return.

 

“A glorious time, mother; never had such a good time in my life.”

 

“Is Uncle Isaac well?”

 

“Yes, mother; they are all first rate.”

 

“How did the girls enjoy their sail?”

 

“Enjoy their sail!”

 

“Yes, their sail; and Fred, and Henry, and Nancy Williams; you didn’t

know we had a spyglass on Elm Island. I have found out what I never

knew before.”

 

“What is that, mother?”

 

“That you can be as sly as other folks. I suppose you are all right

now, and can finish the shop, and Uncle Isaac’s boat.”

 

“Yes, mother, all right now; some time I’ll tell you all about it.”

 

“No matter; I know why you wouldn’t sell the boat.”

 

Charlie now went to work with his father clearing more land, and

working upon the shop in the intervals of other work, and on rainy

days. They also rafted boat timber to the mill, and had it sawed to

proper dimensions; dug out roots, procured crooked timber, and stuck up

the boards in the shop chamber to season. Charlie also set up Uncle

Isaac’s boat, in order that he might work on it in moments of broken

time.

 

Boat-building was fast becoming something more than an amusement for

Charlie: he had already received thirty-six dollars, and was disposed

to devote to the business all the time he could spare from necessary farm work.