"Ha! You have never seen one?"
"Never."
"Soon you will. Very soon you will. There are a lot of pieces in each
net and, all together, they weigh about six hundred and fifty pounds. It
will cost, I think, about thirty cents a pound, or perhaps two hundred
dollars for each net. Then we shall need at least one pound boat, and
that will cost an additional two hundred dollars. We shall need more
rope, perhaps two hundred and fifty pounds, at a cost of about nine
cents a pound. Then we shall have to hire men to help us drive spiles
for the net. We need more barrels, more salt. The money we have here
will provide us with no more than one net."
"How many should we have?"
"I think that you, I and Pieter could handle three on part time. We
could very well use seven or eight if we gave full time to pound nets.
However, as soon as we get three in working order--and meanwhile we will
continue to seine--we will build a good Mackinaw boat, like the _Spray_,
and use gill nets, too."