It is Saturday, the seventeenth of June, and therefore just four weeks
since the new firm was fairly organized. The partners still use this
day of the week for their special home duties. Let us, then, cross over
to the island, take a peep at them, and see how they prosper.
As our visit is through the mind only, we will go to the house first.
The windows and doors are open, and the balmy air of the early summer is
circulating through the rooms with its life-giving and purifying powers.
This suggests that the lads cannot be far away, though we do not find
them within the building. They will not, however, object to our
_mental_ inspection of the premises, and therefore we may safely enter.
This room is the kitchen, reaching across the whole width of the house,
and occupying what may be termed the west end of the structure. We
notice that the carpetless floor is still damp, where it has been
scrubbed to snowy whiteness; the stove shines with its glossy blackness;
pots, kettles, dishes, chairs and table are all in place, and an air of
exquisite neatness pervades the room.
Passing to our right we enter the sitting-room, not so large as the
kitchen, and occupying the southeast corner of the house. There is a
carpet on the floor--the only one Judd's mother possessed. A small
table stands in the center of the room, and on it rests a lamp, a paper
or two, and some books. A few cane-seated chairs, an old-fashioned and
roomy lounge, and curtains at the two windows, complete the furnishings.
Back of the sitting-room is the bedroom, just large enough to contain
the bedstead, the washstand, the bureau and two chairs. One thing,
however, attracts our special attention. The bed is not a mere
collection of blankets, thrown together and never disturbed. On the
contrary, it would rival the thriftiest housewife's for its plump
feather-bed, its white sheets and pillow-cases, and the neatness with
which it is made. All the rooms, in fact, have by their neat appearance
disclosed to us what we have already suspected--the lads have here _a
home_, and not a mere abiding-place.
As we leave the house by the kitchen door we find just at the western
end of the building a huge pile of stove-wood; and north of this,
between the house and well, a small garden-patch, already green with its
vegetables. Judd had begun this before Budd came; then it was enlarged
somewhat, and now promises to be an important item toward their support.
Trusting the reader is not tired with this lengthy description, and
assuring him it is really necessary for the better understanding of the
chapters that are immediately to follow, we will go on with our story.
Taking the well-beaten path running west from the kitchen door we are
soon at the wharf, where we find the young partners busily at work.
Judd is repairing one of their pound-nets, which he has spread out upon
the grass just back of the dock. The hole is a large one, for a ten-foot
shark went through the pound the morning before, letting out no one
knows how many fish, and compelling the lads to take up the net for
extensive repairs; but they know this is a circumstance they must
occasionally look for, and Judd's cheery whistle, as he works, shows
that he has met with no special discouragement in the mishap.
Budd is on board the sloop, which is anchored a little north of the
wharf and within its shelter, scrubbing down her deck. Before a great
while he finishes, and jumping into the yawl, sculls it rapidly to the
shore. As he passes the outer end of the dock he pauses a moment and
bends down to look underneath it. Then he brings the boat up into the
opening, and catching hold of the top planking calls out:
"I say, Judd, I'm going under here to take a look at the cart-bed. I
meant before this time to have taken it across to 'The Hummocks,' where
Mr. Benton could get it. Perhaps I can do it to-day."
"Hold on a few minutes," responded Judd, looking over to where his
partner was, "and I'll go with you. You'll need help, and a lantern
also. Go to the house and get that, and a stout rope; by that time I'll
be through here."
Budd secured the yawl and went on to the house. Meantime Judd's needle
flew swiftly in and out, and when his chum arrived with the necessary
articles the last stitch in the seine had been taken.
Entering the boat, the lads pushed slowly in under the wharf, and soon
came to the cart-bed which had brought Budd so providentially over to
the island. It had been partly filled with sand by the tides, and was
covered with a green slime; but the boys were dressed for dirty work,
and soon got the unwieldy body in a condition to launch. Then hitching
the rope to it, they fastened the other end to the yawl and slowly rowed
out, dragging the cart-bed after them.
They now took it on shore, and with sand and broom and water scoured it
until thoroughly clean; then they again fastened it to the yawl and
started for "The Hummocks." It was a long pull and a hard one, but at
length their task was accomplished, and the cart-body was safely landed
on the north hummock and dragged up above high-water mark.
"There," said Budd, panting with his exertions; "I wish I could find the
under-gear, and then I could return the whole vehicle to its owner, safe
and sound."
"Possibly we might find it if we searched for it," replied Judd, walking
down to the roadway between "The Hummocks" and where his comrade had
been swept off. Turning about, he looked off toward the island.
"There," he said, with a wave of his hand--"a straight line from here
touches the open end of the dock. Along that line somewhere you were
thrown into the cart-bed, probably as it came to the surface; and
beneath that spot, or somewhere near it, lies the wheels. How far off
shore were you when that happened?"
"I can't tell," answered Budd. "It seemed to me a terrible long
distance, and yet it may not have been. If we only had a water-glass we
might row over to the island from this point, examining the bottom of
the bay the whole distance."
"What is a water-glass?" asked his chum, with interest.
"I think I can make one," replied Budd, with energy. "You want a board
tube about eighteen inches deep, with a glass set in at one end. You
then put your face at the other and put the glass end a little beneath
the surface, and the bottom of the sea for some distance around can be
seen."
"We'll make one right away and try it," declared Judd, with enthusiasm.
"If it works well, we can use it for a good many purposes. There is an
eight-by-ten pane of glass over at the house. Is that large enough?"
"I think so--come on," responded his companion; and the next moment the
yawl was on its way back to the island with a speed that fairly made the
water foam at its bow.
It took but a half-hour to make the glass. Four boards of the requisite
length were nailed together, forming a tube of just the size to take in
the pane of glass at one end. A half-inch inside of this end a row of
tacks were driven nearly to their head; then the glass was carefully
dropped down until it rested upon them. Another row of tacks driven
just outside of the glass completed the arrangement for holding it in
place, and the instrument was finished. It now only remained to try it,
and Budd ran down to the yawl, followed by his chum. They pushed the
boat forty or fifty feet off shore, and put the water-glass to its test.
To their delight it proved a perfect success, and through it the tiniest
objects on the sea-bottom were clearly discernible.
"We had better go over to the point where the cart was swept off into
the bay, to begin our search. Doubtless the under-gear is nearer that
shore than this," suggested Budd.
His companion made no objection, and for the second time that morning
they crossed to "The Hummocks."
Once opposite the road-bed, Judd took both oars and backed water slowly
toward the wharf on the island, while Budd sat in the stern of the yawl,
and with his head in the tube watched the bottom of the bay.
Rod after rod was gone over, when Budd suddenly removed his head from
the tube with an exclamation of surprise.
"I say, Judd, the bottom here is covered solid with scallops, and the
bed seems to extend as far as I can see in either direction."
"Let me see," answered Judd, pulling in his oars and joining his
companion at the stern of the boat.
Taking the glass, he examined the sea-bottom for some minutes intently.
"It is as you say," he exclaimed, joyfully. "Let us see if we can find
the size of the bed. Row, if you will, to the south, while I watch."
Budd good-naturedly took the oars and pulled in the direction indicated.
He had gone about fifty feet when Judd motioned him to stop.
"The bed ends here," he explained, removing his head from the glass.
"Now row slowly east."
Budd did as directed for ten or twelve rods; then Judd again motioned
him to stop.
"That is the width of the bed," he explained. "Now row north."
Again the boat shot in that direction, and for a long distance, until
Judd shouted:
"Hurrah!"
"What is it?" asked Budd, excitedly.
"That ends the bed; and did you ever see such a one before? It must be
all of two hundred feet in width and four or five hundred in length, and
that means bushels of scallops and many a dollar for us when the law is
off in September."
Budd needed no further explanation from his partner. He had heard him
say again and again that they must keep a sharp lookout for the beds of
these valuable bivalves, and here was a tremendous one right almost at
their island. He, too, joined in his companion's hurrah.
"I guess the glass has paid for its construction already," he commented,
joining his chum at the stern.
Almost unconsciously he took the glass and looked through it. The yawl
had drifted a little to the right of the place where Judd had given his
hurrah, and was almost directly in line of the island's wharf. Budd
looked but an instant, then he sprung to his feet and swung his hat.
"Judd," was his astonishing declaration, "those cart-wheels are just
below us, and at the very north-east corner of the scallop-bed. The
sea-bottom goes off suddenly, and the wheels are down the bank, and the
tongue is almost upright in the water!"
"You don't say so!" cried Judd, no less elated than his comrade. Then
suddenly he added: "That explains, too, chum, how the cart-bed was
thrown off, and it must have been somewhere near here you were tossed
within it."
"Yes," assented Budd; "but how are we going to get the gear on shore?"
"Let me take a look at it," said Judd.
It took a moment or two to locate the under-gear, and then Judd examined
the sea-bottom carefully. He finally arose from the examination with the
air of one who had come to a decision.
"Give me that rope," he said.
Budd handed him the rope that had been used to drag the cart-bed over to
"The Hummocks."
Making a running-noose in one end, Judd lowered it into the water, at
the same time directing Budd to hold the yawl steady. Again and again
he seemed to get his rope in the position he desired, but it slipped
away. Finally he gave a quick jerk, and then a cry of exultation.
"My noose has caught over the tongue and back of the iron clevis, and no
power can pull it away. Let us see now if we can start the wheels."
He fastened the rope at the stern of the yawl and took one oar. Budd
took the other, and together they pulled with all their strength; but
the wheels did not move. After several fruitless attempts to start the
ponderous under-gear the lads gave it up, and looked around for some
other way of accomplishing their purpose.
"If it was not so far off shore," remarked Budd, "we could run our rope
in there and hitch a pair of oxen to it, and then I guess the wheels
would have to come."
"What the oxen can't do our sloop can," said Judd with animation.
"What is that?" asked Budd.
"Furnish us with power," was the reply. "See--the wind is rising. By
afternoon we will have a strong breeze from the southwest. We'll come
down here with the sloop, make fast, and take our first tack to the
northeast; that will haul the wheels out from the sand in which they are
imbedded. Then we'll make a tack due west and run the wheels just as
near inshore as we can with the sloop; after that we can use the yawl to
finish the work."
A piece of board that lay in the bottom of the yawl was fastened as a
buoy to the rope, and then the lads returned to the island, to wait
until the rising wind had reached a sufficient velocity to warrant their
undertaking.
It was not far from three o'clock that afternoon when they boarded the
sloop and ran down to their improvised buoy. Another rope was fastened
to that which had already been attached to the cart-tongue, and this,
after its other end had been made secure to the stern of the sloop, was
coiled in such a way that it would easily pay out as the boat ran off
before the stiff breeze.
As soon as all was in readiness the head of the Sea Witch was brought
round before the wind and her full sails spread. Away she went like an
arrow, and the rope uncoiled with a swiftness that made the lads brace
themselves for the shock they knew would immediately come. But it was
not so much of a shock as they had anticipated. The rope suddenly
stiffened, there was a quick jerk, and then the sloop kept on her
course, her speed somewhat diminished by the load she was evidently
towing behind her.
"We have started them," the boys cried simultaneously; and then Judd,
who was at the helm, brought the sloop around on her downward tack.
With no apparent difficulty the Sea Witch dragged her load, and skirting
the shore, she was run down until nearly opposite the smaller hummock.
Then she was anchored, and with the yawl the lads completed the work of
landing the under-gear. Then they dragged the wheels up to the
cart-bed, and the long-separated parts were once more united.
"Now," said Budd, as he gazed at the restored vehicle, "I believe I will
go up to the next farm and get a yoke of oxen, and surprise Mr. Benton
by bringing it home. That will end the business, and I shall have a
great load off my mind."
"While you go up for the oxen, I'll take the sloop back to the island
and return in the yawl," said Judd. "I want to go with you and hear
what the old man will say."
Budd got the oxen and yoked them to the tongue. The iron pin that he had
so hastily pulled out at the time he had been swept away was gone, and
he was obliged to make a wooden one before he could secure the yoke. He
had barely got it done when Judd returned, and they drove off for Mr.
Benton's.
They found him at home, on their arrival, and he came quickly out to see
his long-lost cart. The rays of the sun had nearly dried its exterior,
and it scarcely looked the worse for its hard usage. Over and over the
man examined the vehicle, but said not a word until Budd took off the
oxen. Then his eye caught sight of the wooden tongue pin, and he asked,
sharply:
"Where's the iron pin that was in there when you lost the cart?"
"On the sea-bottom, I suppose," answered Budd. "You didn't expect me to
hang on to it, did you?"
"No," said the man, slowly, "but I should 'a' thought ye'd 'a' got me
another."
"How much will one cost?" asked Budd, in disgust.
"As much as a quarter," replied Mr. Benton.
"Here it is," said Budd, handing that amount to him, "and I hope you are
now satisfied?"
"Yes, unless"--rather hesitatingly--"unless ye've a mind to pay me fer
the time it has been gone."
"I won't pay you a single cent for it! I haven't used your cart!"
responded Budd, out of all patience.
The lads then turned and left the man, who had in no way thanked them
for restoring his cart, nor seemed to appreciate the toil they had
undergone for its restoration.
It was night before the boys had returned the borrowed oxen to their
owner, paid for their use, and reached their boat. Almost out of
patience with themselves for having neglected some of their own work to
render a favor to an ungrateful man, they embarked and rowed rapidly for
the island. Reaching the wharf a few minutes later, they secured the
boat and started for the house. Suddenly Judd caught his companion's
arm, saying:
"What light is that?"
Only a few rods off shore, and coming directly for the island, was a
light. Soon it was near enough for the lads to distinguish, even in the
darkness, a boat containing three men, one of whom was in the bow, and
held a lighted lantern in his hand. As the boat reached the shore they
heard this man distinctly saying:
"This is the island, and the house is a few rods in that direction.
We'll find a good shelter for the night, and may perhaps find it worth
our while to keep quietly here for some time."
Budd drew his chum back into the shadow of an adjacent tree and
whispered:
"Let us find out who they are before me make ourselves known."
Then the two lads crept carefully along the western shore of the island
until opposite the house; then they crossed their garden-patch and
concealed themselves behind the huge wood-pile, waiting for the
new-comers to approach, and wondering what purpose had brought them to
the island.