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diff --git a/old/50475-0.txt b/old/50475-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3b5cc22..0000000 --- a/old/50475-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7453 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Young Ship-Builders of Elm Island, by Elijah Kellogg - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Young Ship-Builders of Elm Island - Elm Island Stories - -Author: Elijah Kellogg - -Release Date: November 17, 2015 [EBook #50475] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS *** - - - - -Produced by Giovanni Fini, David Edwards and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: - ---Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected. - - -[Illustration: ADVERTISING PART I.] - -[Illustration: ADVERTISING PART II.] - -[Illustration: THE DISASTER TO THE WEST WIND. Page 67.] - - -[Illustration: TITLE PAGE: - -ELM ISLAND STORIES. -BY -REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG. - -YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS - -LEE AND SHEPARD BOSTON] - - - - - ELM ISLAND STORIES. - - THE - - YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS - - OF - - ELM ISLAND. - - BY - - REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG, - - AUTHOR OF “LION BEN OF ELM ISLAND,” “CHARLIE BELL OF ELM ISLAND,” - “THE ARK OF ELM ISLAND,” “THE BOY FARMERS OF ELM - ISLAND,” “THE HARD SCRABBLE OF - ELM ISLAND,” ETC. - - BOSTON: - LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. - - NEW YORK: - LEE, SHEPARD & DILLINGHAM, 49 GREENE STREET. - - 1871. - - - - - Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by - - LEE AND SHEPARD, - - In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District - of Massachusetts. - - - ELECTROTYPED AT THE - BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, - 19 Spring Lane. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -THE natural progress of this series has brought us to a period in the -history of our young friends, when, instead of labors in a measure -voluntary, pursued at home, amid home comforts, they toil for exacting -masters or the public, enter into competition with others, feel the -pressure of responsibility, learn submission, and are tied down to -rigid rules and severe tasks. The manner in which they meet and sustain -these new and trying relations shows the stuff they are made of; that -the fear of God in a young heart is a shield in the hour of temptation, -the foundation of true courage, and the strongest incentive to manly -effort; that he who does the best for his employer does the best for -himself; that the boy in whose character are the germs of sterling -worth, and a true manhood, will scorn to lead a useless life, eat -the bread he has not earned, and live upon the bounty of parents and -friends. - - - - - _ELM ISLAND STORIES._ - - - 1. LION BEN OF ELM ISLAND. - - 2. CHARLIE BELL, THE WAIF OF ELM ISLAND. - - 3. THE ARK OF ELM ISLAND. - - 4. THE BOY FARMERS OF ELM ISLAND. - - 5. THE YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS OF ELM ISLAND. - - 6. THE HARD-SCRABBLE OF ELM ISLAND. - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. LEARNING A TRADE 9 - - II. GUNNING ON THE OUTER REEFS 21 - - III. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 37 - - IV. THE WEST WIND 53 - - V. HAPS AND MISHAPS 71 - - VI. PARSON GOODHUE AND THE WILD GANDER 89 - - VII. CHARLIE GETS NEW IDEAS WHILE IN BOSTON 107 - - VIII. NO GIVE UP TO CHARLIE 120 - - IX. CHARLIE LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE 133 - - X. WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY 146 - - XI. POMP’S POND 152 - - XII. CHARLIE UNCONSCIOUSLY PREFIGURES THE - FUTURE 166 - - XIII. BETTER LET SLEEPING DOGS ALONE 186 - - XIV. VICTORY AT LAST 196 - - XV. THE SURPRISER SURPRISED 207 - - XVI. WHY CHARLIE DIDN’T WANT TO SELL THE WINGS OF THE MORNING 222 - - XVII. CHARLIE EXPLORING THE COAST 236 - - XVIII. CHARLIE BECOMES A FREEHOLDER 256 - - XIX. CHARLIE IN THE SHIP-YARD 272 - - XX. THE FIRST TROUBLE AND THE FIRST PRAYER 289 - - - - -THE YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS OF ELM ISLAND. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -LEARNING A TRADE. - - -THE question, What shall I do in life? is, to an industrious, ambitious -boy, desirous to make the most of himself, quite a trying one. - -Thoughts of that nature were busy at the heart of John Rhines; he now -had leisure to indulge them, as, upon his return from Elm Island, he -found that the harvesting was all secured, and the winter school not -yet commenced. The whole summer had been one continued scene of hard -work and pleasurable excitement. Missing his companions, being somewhat -lonesome and at a loss what to do with himself, he would take his gun, -wander off in the woods, and sitting down on a log, turn the matter -over in his mind. At one time he thought of going into the forest and -cutting out a farm, as Ben had done; he had often talked the matter -over with Charlie, who cherished similar ideas. Sometimes he thought -of learning a trade, but could not settle upon one that suited him, -for which, he conceived, he had a capacity. Again, he thought of being -a sailor; but he knew that both father and mother would be utterly -opposed to it. While thus debating with himself, that Providence, which -we believe has much to do with human occupations, determined the whole -matter in the easiest and most natural manner imaginable. John Rhines, -though a noble boy to work, had never manifested any mechanical ability -or inclination whatever. If he wanted anything made, he would go over -to Uncle Isaac and do some farming work for him, while he made it for -him. - -It so happened, while he was thus at leisure, that his father sent him -down to the shop of Peter Brock with a crowbar, to have it forged over. -(The readers of the previous volume well know that Ben, when at home, -had tools made on purpose for him, which nobody else could handle.) -This was Ben’s bar. Captain Rhines had determined to make two of -it, and sent it to the shop with orders to cut it in two parts, draw -them down, and steel-point them. John, having flung down the bar and -delivered the message, was going home again, when Peter said,-- - -“Won’t you strike for me to draw this down? It’s a big piece of iron. -My apprentice, Sam Rounds, has gone home sick; besides, when I weld the -steel on, I must have somebody to take it out of the fire and hold it -for me, while I weld it.” - -“I had rather do it than not, Peter. I want something to do, for I feel -kind of lonesome.” - -Stripping off his jacket, he caught up the big sledge, and soon -rendered his friend efficient aid. - -“There’s not another boy in town could swing that sledge,” said Peter. -“Do you ever expect to be as stout as Ben?” - -“I don’t know; I should like to be.” - -“Are you done on the island?” - -“Yes.” - -“They say you three boys did a great summer’s work.” - -“We did the best we could.” - -“I know that most of the people thought it wasn’t a very good -calculation in your brother Ben to go off and leave three boys to -plan for themselves, and that there wouldn’t be much done--at any rate -that’s the way I heard them talk while they were having their horses -shod.” - -“That was just what made us work. If a man hires me, and then goes -hiding behind the fences, and smelling round, to see whether I am at -work or not, I don’t think much of him; but if he trusts me, puts -confidence in me, won’t I work for that man! Yes, harder than I would -for myself. But what did they say when they came home from husking?” - -“O, the boot was on the other leg then; there never was such crops of -corn and potatoes raised in this town before on the same ground. Has -your father got his harvest in?” - -“Yes.” - -“Well, I’ve got a lot of axes to make for the logging swamp; my -apprentice has got a fever; I must have some one to strike; I tried for -Joe Griffin, but he’s going into the woods, and Henry too; why can’t -you help me?” - -“I don’t know how.” - -“All I want of you is to blow and strike; you will soon learn to strike -fair; you are certainly strong enough.” - -“Reckon I am. I can lift your load, and you on top of it.” - -“Well, then, why can’t you help me? I’m sure I don’t know what I shall -do.” - -“If father is willing, I’ll help you till school begins.” - -The result was, that John, in a short time, evinced, not only a great -fondness, but also a remarkable capacity for the work, made flounder -and eel-spears, clam-forks, and mended all his father’s broken -hay-forks and other tools. - -John worked with Peter till school began. The day before going to -school, he went to see Charlie, as passing to and from the island in -winter was so difficult they seldom met. - -To the great surprise of Charlie, Ben, and Sally, who never knew John -to be guilty of making anything, he presented Charlie with two iron -anchors for the Sea-foam, with iron stocks and rings complete, and Ben -with an eel-spear and clam-fork, very neatly made. - -“What neat little things they are!” said Charlie, looking at the -anchors. “Where did you get them?” - -“Made them,” replied John, “at Peter’s shop.” - -“Why, John,” said Ben, “you’ve broken out in a bran-new place!” - -John then told him that he had been at work in the blacksmith’s shop, -how well he liked it, and that, after school was out, he meant to ask -his father to let him learn the trade. - -“John,” said Ben, “Uncle Isaac, Joe Griffin, and myself have been -talking this two years about going outside gunning. If I go, I want -to go before the menhaden are all gone; for we shall want bait, in -order that we may fish as well as gun. It is late now, and the first -north-easter will drive the menhaden all out of the bay.” - -“I heard him and Joe talking about it the other day; they said they -calculated to go.” - -“Well, tell them I’m ready at any time, and to come on, whenever they -think it is suitable.” - -John and Charlie went to the shore to sail the Sea-foam,--a boat, three -feet long, rigged into a schooner,--and try the new anchors. While they -were looking at her, Charlie fell into a reverie. - -“Didn’t she go across quick, that time, Charlie?” - -No reply. - -“Charlie, didn’t she steer herself well then?” - -Still no answer. - -“What are you thinking about, Charlie?” - -“You see what a good wind she holds, John?” - -“Yes.” - -“And how well she works, just like any vessel?” - -“Well, then, what is the reason we couldn’t dig out a boat big enough -to sail in, and model her just like that? These canoes are not much -better than hog’s troughs.” - -“It would take an everlasting great log to have any room inside, except -right in the middle.” - -“We could dig her out very thin, and make her long enough to make up -for the sharp ends.” - -“It would be a great idea. I should like dearly to try it.” - -The boys now went to bed and talked boat till they worked themselves -into a complete fever, and were fully determined to realize this -novel idea; for, as is generally the case in such matters, the more -they deliberated upon and took counsel about it, the more feasible it -seemed; then they considered and magnified the astonishment of Fred -and Captain Rhines when they should sail over in their new craft, and -finally settled down into the belief that, if they realized their idea, -it would not fall one whit short of the conception and construction of -the Ark herself. - -But the main difficulty--and it was one that seemed to threaten failure -to the whole matter--was, where to obtain a log, as one of sufficient -size for that purpose would make a mast for a ship of the line, and -was too valuable, even in those days, to cut for a plaything, as it -was by no means certain that she would ever be anything more: there -were indeed trees enough, with short butts, large enough for their -purpose, had they wanted to make a common float, or a canoe, with round -ends, like a common tray; but, as they were to sharpen up the ends -vessel fashion, give her quite a sharp floor, and take so much from the -outside in order to shape her, it was necessary that the tree should be -long, as well as large, to be recompensed by length for the room thus -taken from the inside, and leave sufficient thickness of wood to hold -together. - -While Charlie was debating in his own mind whether to ask his father -to permit him to cut such a tree, John, with a flash of recollection -that sent the words from his lips with the velocity of a shell from a -mortar, exclaimed, jumping up on end in bed,-- - -“I have it now! there’s a log been lying all summer in our cove, that -came there in the last freshet, with no mark on it, more than thirty -feet long, and I know it’s more’n five feet through: it’s a bouncer, I -tell you; but it’s hollow at the butt, and I suppose that’s what they -condemned it for; but I don’t believe the hollow runs in far. It’s -mine, for I picked it up and fastened it.” - -“But you are going to school. You can’t help me make it; and we should -have such a good time. It is too bad!” - -“Well, I can do this much towards it. I don’t care a great deal about -going to school the first day; they won’t do much. I’ll help you tow it -over, and haul it up; and if you don’t get it done before, when school -is done, I’ll come on, help you make sugar, and finish the boat.” - -“Then I won’t do any more than to dig some of it out. I won’t make the -outside till you come.” - -In the morning they went over to look at it, and found the hollow only -extended about four feet. It was afloat and fastened with a rope, -just as John had secured it in the spring. They towed it home without -attracting notice, as they considered it very important to keep the -matter secret till the craft was completed. - -“Then,” said Charlie, “if we should spoil the log, and don’t make a -boat, there will be nobody to laugh at us.” - -Putting down skids, they hauled it up on to the grass ground with the -oxen, and, with a cross-cut saw, made it the right length. As all above -the middle of the log had to be cut away, and was of no use to them, -it was evident, that if they could split it in halves, the other half -would make a canoe, clapboards, or shingles. - -“This is a beautiful log,” said Charlie. “It is too bad to cut half of -it into chips. It is straight-grained and clear of knots; we will split -it.” - -“Split it!” said John; “‘twould take a week!” - -“No, it won’t. We can split it with powder.” - -“I never thought of that.” - -They bored holes in the log at intervals of three feet, filled them -part full of powder, and drove in a plug with a score cut in the side -of it. Into this they poured powder, to communicate with that in the -hole. They then laid a train, and touched them all at once, when the -log flew apart in an instant, splitting as straight as the two halves -of an acorn. - -“I’ll take the half you don’t want, boys,” said Ben, who, unnoticed, -had watched their proceedings; “it will make splendid clapboards.” - -During the winter, on half holidays, and at every leisure moment, John -Rhines was to be found at the blacksmith’s shop. At length he could -contain himself no longer, but went to his father and asked permission -to learn the blacksmith’s trade of Peter. John anticipated a hard -struggle in obtaining his father’s consent, if indeed he obtained it at -all, as there was a large farm to take care of, plenty to do at home, -and enough to do with. But Captain Rhines, who had always said, if a -boy would only work steadily, his own inclinations should be consulted -in choice of occupation, was so rejoiced to find he didn’t want to go -to sea, of which he had always been apprehensive, that he yielded the -point at once. - -“It is a good trade, John,” said he, “and always will be; but I -wouldn’t think of learning a trade of Peter.” - -“Why not, father?” - -“Because he’s no workman; he’s just a botcher.” - -“Who shall I learn of?” - -“I’ll tell you, my son; go to Portland and learn to do ship-work; -there’s money in that; ship-building is going to be the great business -along shore for many a year to come. You’ll make more money forging -fishermen’s anchors, or doing the iron-work of a vessel, in one season, -than you would mending carts, shoeing old horses and oxen, making -axes, pitchforks, and chains in three years. My old friend, Captain -Starrett, has a brother who is a capital workman, a finished mechanic, -learned his trade in the old country--and his wife is a first-rate -woman; she went from this town. I’ll get you a chance there.” - -Captain Rhines went to Portland in the course of the winter, and -secured an opportunity for John to begin to work the first of May. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -GUNNING ON THE OUTER REEFS. - - -BEN thought it was now a favorable time to do something to the house, -and made up his mind to speak to Uncle Isaac and Sam when they came on -for their gunning excursion, in order to obtain the aid of one to do -the joiner, and the other the mason work, for he and Charlie could do -the outside work. While preparing the cargo of the Ark, Ben had laid -by, from time to time, such handsome, clear boards and plank as he came -across, which were now thoroughly seasoned, having been kept in the -chamber of the house. He also had on hand shingles and clapboards. - -They now began to remove the hemlock bark from the roof, and replace it -with shingles. To work with tools, to make something for his father and -mother, was ever a favorite employment of Charlie. - -Aside from this, his great delight was to make boats; his house under -the big maple was half full of boats, of all sizes, from three inches -to two feet long. As he sat by the fire in the evenings, he was -almost always whittling out a boat. When he went to Boston, in the -Perseverance, he sought the ship-yards and boat-builders’ shops. He had -a boat on each corner of the barn, one on the top of the big pine, and -one on the maple, besides having made any number for John, Fred, and -little Bob Smullen. - -He was now greatly exercised in spirit in respect to the boat he was -to make from the big log. He had resolved to make a model, and then -imitate it, and was racking his brain in respect to the proportions; -for he was very anxious she should be a good sailer. - -He had not a moment to spare while they were shingling the house, it -being necessary to do it quickly, for fear of rain; but the moment the -roof was completed, he hid himself in the woods, and with blocks set to -work upon the model. - -While thus busied, he recollected having heard Captain Rhines say, that -if anybody could model a vessel like a fish, it would sail fast enough. -He thought a mackerel was the fastest fish within his reach. - -“There are mackerel most always round the wash rocks,” said he. “I’ll -model her after a mackerel.” - -The next morning, just before sunrise, he was off the reef, in -the “Twilight,” and succeeded in catching three mackerel and some -rock-fish. Not wishing any spectators of his proceedings, he hid the -biggest mackerel in some water, to keep him plump, took the others, -and went in to breakfast. He next took some of the blue clay from the -bed of the brook, that was entirely free from stones and grit, and -would not dull a razor; and, mixing it with water and sand, till it -was of the right consistence, put it into a trough. Into this paste he -carefully pressed the fish; then he took up the trough, and, finding a -secret place at the shore, where the sun would come with full power, he -placed it on the rocks, and sifted sand an inch thick over the clay and -fish, and left it to harden. - -In the course of three days, he found the fish had putrefied, and the -clay gradually hardened under the sand without breaking. He now swept -off the sand, exposing it to the full force of the sun till it was -completely dry; then he made a slow fire, and put the trough and clay -into it, increasing the heat gradually till he burned the trough away, -and left the clay with the exact impress of the mackerel in it, as red -and hard as a brick. - -“There’s the shape of the mackerel, anyhow,” said Charlie, -contemplating his work with great satisfaction; “but how I’m going to -get a model from it is the question; however, there is time enough to -think of that between this and spring.” - -He deposited his model in his house under the great maple, and devoted -all his time to helping his father improve the appearance of the house. - -Our readers will recollect that the logs, of which the house was built, -were hewed square at the corners and windows; so Ben and Charlie -just built a staging, and, stretching a chalk line, hewed the whole -broadside from the ridge-pole to the sill square with the corners. They -accomplished this quite easily at the ends, but on the front and back -it was more difficult to hew the top log under the eaves; but they -worked it out with the adze. - -Originally the house had but two windows on a side, and, as these were -on the corners to admit of putting in others, it looked queer enough. -They now cut out places for two more in a side, and intended, after -having smoothed the walls, to clapboard them; but their work was -interrupted for the time by the arrival of Uncle Isaac, Joe Griffin, -Uncle Sam, and Captain Rhines, to go on the long-talked-of gunning -excursion. - -“I don’t see,” said Uncle Isaac, “how you do so much work; I think it -is wonderful, the amount you and this boy have done since we were here.” - -“There’s one thing you don’t consider,” said Ben: “a person here is not -hindered; there’s not some one running in and out all the time, and -he is not stopping to look at people that go along the road; he’s not -plagued with other people’s cattle, and don’t have to fence against -them; he’s not out evenings visiting, but goes to bed when he has done -work, and the next morning he feels keen to go to work again. It’s my -opinion, if a man is contented, he will stand his work better, live -longer, and be happier, on one of these islands than anywhere else.” - -As they were to start at twelve o’clock at night, they went to bed at -dark. Captain Rhines slept on board the vessel, as he could wake at -any hour he chose. He was to call the others if the weather was good; -if not, they were to wait for another chance. It was bright moonlight; -a little wind, north-west, just enough to carry them along, and -perfectly smooth. The place to which they were bound was an outlying -rock in the open ocean, more than seven miles beyond the farthest land, -upon which, even in calm weather, the ground swell of the ocean broke -in sheets of white foam, and with a roar like thunder; but when a -strong northerly wind had been blowing for a day or two, it drove back -the ground swell, and when the northerly wind in its turn died away, -there would be a few hours, and sometimes a day or two, of calm, when -there was not the least motion, and you might land on the rock; but it -was a delicate and dangerous proceeding, requiring great watchfulness, -for although there might be no wind at the spot, yet the wind blowing -at sea, miles distant, might in a few moments send in the ground swell -and cut off all hope of escape. As the north wind made no ground swell, -the rock could be approached on the south side, even when a moderate -north wind was blowing. - -They were familiar with all these facts, and had accordingly chosen the -last of a norther, that had been blowing two days, and was dying away. - -Some hours before day they arrived at the place--a large barren rock, -containing about three acres, with a little patch of grass on the -highest part of it, and a spring of pure water, that spouted up from -the crevices in the rock; a quantity of wild pea vines and bayberry -bushes were growing there, among which, in little hollows in the rock, -the sea-gulls laid their eggs, without any attempt at a nest. - -As they neared the rock, they sailed through whole flocks of sea-birds; -some of them, asleep on the water, with their heads beneath their -wings, took no notice of them; others, as they heard the slight ripple -made by the vessel’s bows, flew or swam to a short distance, and then -remained quiet. - -Not a word was spoken save in whisper, when, at a short distance -outside the rock, the sails were gently lowered, and the anchor -silently dropped without a splash to the bottom. The “decoys,” that -is, wooden blocks made and painted in imitation of sea-birds, and the -guns, were put into the canoe, and landing in a little cove, they -gently hauled the canoe upon the sea-weed, and anchored their decoys -with lines and stones a little way from the rock, so as to present the -appearance of a flock of sea-fowl feeding, and, lying down, awaited -daybreak. - -The sea-fowl lie outside during the night, but as the day breaks they -begin to fly into the bay after food and water, and when they see the -decoys, they light down among them and are shot; they are also shot on -the wing as they fly over; and in those days they were very numerous -among all the rocks and islands. - -It was a terribly wild and desolate place; the tide at half ebb -revealed the rock in its full proportions; on the shore side it ran out -into long, broken points, ragged and worn, with innumerable holes and -fissures, fringed with kelp, whose dark-red leaves, matted with green, -lay upon the surface of the water; while on the ocean side, the long, -upright cliffs dropped plump into the sea, and were covered with a -peculiar kind of sea-weed, short, because, worn by the ceaseless action -of the waves, it had no time to grow: all impressed the mind with a -singular feeling of loneliness and desolation. - -These hardy men, born among the surf, and by no means given to -sentiment, could not repress a feeling of awe, as they lay there -silent, and listened to the roar of the sea, that rolled in eddies of -white foam among the ragged points, being raised by the north wind, -while on the other side there was not a motion. - -There is something in the hoarse roar of the surf, when heard in the -dead hours of night on such a spot, that is more than sublime--it is -cruel, relentless. As we listen to it in such a place, from which -there is more than a possibility that we may not escape, we realize -how impotent is the strength or skill of man against the terrific rush -of waters. We call to mind how many death-cries that sullen roar has -drowned, how many mighty ships that gray foam has ground to powder, and -look narrowly to see if the giant that thus moans in his slumbers is -not about to rouse himself for our destruction. Yet to strong natures -there is an indescribable charm that clings to places and perils like -these, and does not fade away with the occasion, but lives in the -memory ever after. These men could have shot sea-fowl enough near home, -without fatigue or peril; but that very safety would have diminished -the pleasure. - -It was evident that thoughts similar to those we have described were -passing through Ben’s mind. - -He said, in a whisper, “Uncle Isaac, do you suppose the sea ever breaks -over here?” - -“I suppose it does,” was the reply; “but only when a very high tide and -a gale of wind come together. Old Mr. Sam Edwards came on here once -in November, and his canoe broke her painter and got away from him, -and he had to stay ten days, when a vessel took him off; but they had -a desperate time to get him; and when they got him he couldn’t speak. -He piled up a great heap of rocks to stand upon, to make signals to -vessels, and to keep the wind off; and when he went on the next spring -they were gone.” - -“But there is white clover growing here, and red-top, which shows that -the salt water cannot come very often, nor stay very long when it does -come.” - -It was now getting towards day; they had three guns apiece, which they -loaded, and placed within reach of their hands. As the day broke, the -birds began to come, first scattering, then in flocks; as they came on, -they continued to fire as fast as they could load, the birds falling by -dozens into the water, until the birds were done flying, the sun being -well up. - -They now took the canoe and picked up the dead and wounded birds, many -of the latter requiring a second shot, then going on board the schooner -with their booty, got their breakfast, after which they ran off ten -miles to sea, on to a shoal, to try for codfish; and as they had -menhaden and herring for bait, they caught them in plenty. - -“Halloo!” said Ben; “I’ve got a halibut; stand by, father, with the -gaff.” - -They caught three more in the course of the forenoon. After dinner they -split and salted their fish, and cutting out the nape and fins of the -halibut, threw all the rest away, as in those days they did not think -it worth saving. - -“Now,” said Uncle Isaac, “what do you think of having a night at the -hake?” - -They ran into muddy bottom near to the rock, anchored, and lay down to -sleep till dark, and then began to catch hake. The hake is a fish that -feeds on the muddy bottom, and bites best in the night. - -Just before day they went on to the rock again, and shot more birds -than before. Uncle Isaac and the others were so much engrossed with -their sport, that they thought of nothing else. But Ben, who was -naturally vigilant, and had noticed that there was a little air of -wind to the south, and the sea had a different motion, kept his eye -upon it, and shoved the canoe to the edge of the water. All at once he -exclaimed, in startling tones,-- - -“To the boat! The sea is coming!” - -They seized their guns, and sprang into the canoe. - -“I’ll shove off,” said Ben. - -Uncle Isaac and Captain Rhines took the oars, while Uncle Sam, on his -knees, was ready to bale out what water might come in. - -The great black wave could now be seen rolling up higher and higher -as it came. Ben, giving the canoe a vigorous shove, which sent her -some yards from the rock, leaped in, and grasped the steering paddle, -keeping her directly on to meet the threatening wave. As she met it -and rose upon it, she stood almost upright; and for a moment it seemed -as if she would fall back and be dashed on the rock; but the powerful -strokes of the resolute oarsmen, added to the momentum she had already -attained, forced her up the ascent, and they were safe. Had they been -twice her length nearer the rock, they had been lost, as the sea, -arrested in its progress by the rock, “combed” (curled over), when -nothing could have saved them. - -“A miss is as good as a mile,” said the captain, as he looked back and -saw the spot where they had so lately stood white with foam. - -“I’ve left my best powder-horn,” said Ben. - -“We’ve left a couple dozen of birds,” said Uncle Isaac; “but we’ve -enough without them.” - -They now dressed the fish they had caught, went to sleep, and slept -till noon; then, as they had a fair wind home, debated, while sitting -in the little cabin, what they should do more. - -“We have some bait left,” said Uncle Isaac; “we ought to do something -more.” - -“Hark!” cried the captain, whose ear had caught a familiar sound; -“mackerel, as I am a sinner!” - -Rushing on deck, they saw mackerel all around the vessel, leaping from -the water, their white bellies glancing in the sun. In a moment lines -were thrown over with bait, and soon numbers of them were flapping on -the deck. - -It was now near sundown, the wind began to blow in fitful gusts, and -once in a while, amid the constant dash of waves, a great sea would -come and break with a roar far above the general dash of waters. But -they were too eager in the pursuit of their prize to heed the weather. - -At length a few drops of rain falling on the captain’s bare arms caused -him to look up and around. - -He instantly exclaimed,-- - -“Haul in your lines; we must be out of this; we are full near enough to -these breakers to have them under our lee, and night coming on.” - -It was a most perilous position to the eye of a landsman, and not -without risk to them. The vessel was rolling heavily at her anchor less -than a quarter of a mile from the rock, and abreast of the middle and -highest part of it, while its long, shoal points stretched out each -way for more than a mile, white with foam; the whole ground also, for -three or four miles around the rock, was full of shoal spots and sunken -reefs, which made a bad, irregular sea; and the roar from so many -breakers was terrible. But if there is anything that will do its duty -in a heavy head-beat sea, it is an old-fashioned pinkie. - -As the little craft, gathering way, came up to the wind, the sea poured -in floods over her bows, while, with whole sail and her lee rail under -water, she jumped through it, and gradually drew off from the dangerous -reefs. - -Leaving the long reefs to the leeward, they now kept away before it -with a fair wind for home. Taking in all but the foresail, they went -along under moderate sail, that they might split their fish as they -went, and before dark. - -When they reached the island, it was quite dusk. The sea was pouring -in sheets of foam upon the rocks, and the white froth, drifting to -leeward, had filled the main channel; so that to enter it seemed, to -an inexperienced eye, to be rushing into the very jaws of destruction; -but, as they dashed along by the very edge of the surf that fringed the -“Junk of Pork,” just when the little vessel, rising on the crest of a -tremendous wave, seemed to be rushing directly on the rocks, Ben, who -stood at the fore-sheet, hauled it aft, the captain put down his helm, -and the vessel, luffing up, shot through the froth and around the point -into the quiet harbor in front of the house. Uncle Isaac let go the -anchor, and in a moment she was peacefully riding where there was not -a ripple, with the roar of surf all around her, and bunches of white -froth drifting lazily alongside. - -It is these strong contrasts which make the charm of life along shore, -and that so attach rugged spirits to the sea; and though those who live -among these scenes do not talk about them as others do, who seldom -witness them, yet they feel them, and they are a part of their life. -Taking out the birds and guns, they put them into the canoe to take on -shore. Charlie met them there, and was dumb with astonishment at the -sight of so many birds. - -They were wet, tired, cold, and hungry, for they had been fishing day -and night; but as they entered the house, all was changed. A blazing -fire was roaring in the great chimney, and flinging its cheerful light -on the bright pewter on the dressers and snow-white floor. - -The table stood in the floor, covered with smoking victuals, and -Sally, with her handsome face shining with joy, stood ready to greet -her husband. Sailor was at her side, wagging his tail with frantic -violence, ready to jump upon his master as soon as Sally should release -him. There were also warm water, soap, and towels to wash the “gurry” -from their hands, and the salt of the spray from their faces. Great was -the physical and mental happiness of these tired, hungry men, as they -sat down to eat, conscious that they had succeeded in their efforts, -and obtained the means of comfort and support for their families. - -Perhaps some of our readers may think it strange that Ben should want -to go fishing when he had been engaged in that business all summer; but -the fish caught in the hot weather were salted very heavily, in order -to keep them, and that they might bear exportation to all parts of the -world; but these were to be slack salted for their own use. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. - - -BEFORE his father and friends returned home, Ben agreed with Uncle -Isaac and Sam to come and commence work on the house whenever he should -send for them, and at the same time made an arrangement with his father -to take some fish and lumber to Salem in the schooner, and procure for -him some bricks, hearth-tiles, window-glass, door-hinges, latches, -materials for making putty, and other things needed about the house. - -“My nephew, Sam Atkins,” said Uncle Isaac, “who is a capital workman, -is coming home to stay a good part of the winter. He works on all the -nicest houses in Salem. I’ll bring him on with me.” - -It may not be amiss, for the information of those who have not read the -first volume of the series, to glance for a moment at the house, in -respect to which all these improvements were contemplated. Ben wanted -to dig a cellar, a few rods off, and build a good frame house, of two -stories; but Sally preferred to finish the old walls. She said it was -large enough, that the timber walls would be warmer than any frame -house, and she loved the first spot. “Better save the money to buy -cows, or to help some young man along that wanted a vessel.” - -The kitchen extended the whole length of the house, and occupied half -its width. At the eastern end a door opened directly to the weather; -there was no entry. In the corner beside the door was a ladder, by -which access was gained to the chamber through a scuttle in the floor. - -Against the wall at the other end were the dressers, and under them a -small closet. There was no finish around the chimney, and on either -side of it two doors, of rough boards, hung on wooden hinges, opened -into the front part of the house, which was in one large room. The -cellar, which only extended under the front part of the house, was -reached by a trap door. - -The floors were well laid, of clear stuff, and the kitchen floor was -white and smooth by the use of soap, and sand, and much friction. - -The first thing Ben did when his men, Uncle Isaac, Atkins, and Robert -Yelf, came, was to build a porch, into which was moved Charlie’s sink, -and at one end of which a store-room was made, where Sally could do -part of her work, while everything was in confusion. - -During the time the joiners were at work upon the porch, Ben and -Charlie dug a cellar under the rest of the house, hauled the rocks from -the shore, and Uncle Sam built the wall, and also took up the stone -hearths in the front part of the house, and laid them with tiles, and -built two fireplaces. He also laid a hearth with tiles in the kitchen, -leaving a large stone in one corner to wash dishes on. - -“Ben,” said Uncle Sam, “I told you, when I laid your door-steps, that -they were the best of granite, and would make as handsome steps as any -in the town of Boston, and that whenever you built a new house, if I -was not past labor, I would dress them for you. I have brought on my -tools, and now am going to do it.” - -“I’m very much obliged to you, Uncle Sam, but I am able and willing to -pay you for it now.” - -“No, you ain’t going to pay me; ’twill be something for you to remember -me by.” - -They now set up their joiner’s bench in the front part of the house, -where they could have a fire in cold days. Ben and Charlie worked with -them, and the work went on apace. At Sally’s request, they began with -the kitchen, removing the dressers from the western end, and finishing -off a bedroom, leaving room sufficient at the end for a stairway to -go down into a nice milk cellar, which Uncle Sam had parted off, and -floored with brick, and the joiners put up shelves, with a glass window -in the end, and another in the top of the door that led to it from the -kitchen. They also replaced the dressers in the kitchen. At the eastern -end they made an entry, on one side of it a dark closet to keep meats -in from the flies, and on the other chamber stairs, instead of the -ladder, and under these cellar stairs, replacing the old trap door. - -They then finished the room, ceiling it, both the walls and overhead. -It was not customary then to paint. Everything was left white, and -scoured with soap and sand. Carpets were not in vogue, and floors were -strewn with white sand. - -Sally was jubilant, and declared it was nothing but a pleasure to do -work, with so many conveniences. - -“I thought I was made,” said she, “when I got a sink, and especially -a crane, instead of a birch withe, to hang my pot on. Now I’ve got a -sink, a crane, porch, meal-room, cellar stairs, chamber stairs, milk -cellar, and kitchen, all ceiled up.” - -In the front room the work proceeded more slowly, as there was a good -deal of panel-work, and this occupied a great deal of time. - -There were then no planing mills, jig saws, circular saws, or mortising -machines, but all was done by hand labor. There were no cut nails then, -but all were wrought, with sharp points that split the wood, which made -it necessary to bore a great deal with a gimlet. - -A happy boy was Charlie Bell in these days, as Uncle Isaac and Atkins -gave him all the instruction in their power; and to complete the sum -of his enjoyment, after he had worked with them six weeks, Uncle Isaac -set him to making the front and end doors of panel-work, under his -immediate inspection. He also had an opportunity to talk about the -Indians, and seemed to be a great deal more concerned to know about -their modes of getting along, and manufacturing articles of necessity -or ornament, without tools of iron, than about their murdering and -scalping. - -Uncle Isaac could not, from personal knowledge, give him much -information in respect to these matters, as, at the time he was among -them, they were, and had been for a long period, supplied, both by the -French and English, with guns, knives, hatchets, needles, and files; -but he could furnish Charlie with abundant information which he had -obtained from his Indian parents; for, as they have no books, but trust -to their memories, they, by exercise, become very accurate, and their -traditions are, in this way, handed down from father to son. - -“But,” said Charlie, who had heard about Indians having cornfields, -“how could they cut down trees and clear land with stone hatchets?” - -“They didn’t cut them down; they bruised the bark, and girdled them, -and then the trees died, and they set them on fire.” - -“I should think it would have taken them forever, most, to clear a -piece of land in that way.” - -“So it did; but they did not clear one very often. When they got a -field cleared, they planted corn on it perhaps for a hundred years.” - -“I should think it would have run out.” - -“They always made these fields by the salt water, and put fish in the -hills. They taught the white people how to raise corn.” - -“I have heard they made log canoes. How could they cut the trees down -with their stone hatchets? and, more than all, how could they ever dig -them out?” - -“I will tell you, Mr. Inquisitive. An Indian would take a bag of -parched corn to eat, a gourd shell to drink from, his stone hatchet, -and go into the woods, find a suitable tree,--generally a dead, dry -pine, with the limbs and bark all fallen off,--and at the foot of it -would build a camp to sleep under. Then he would get a parcel of wet -clay, and plaster the tree all around, then build a fire at the bottom -to burn it off. The wet clay would prevent its burning too high up. -Then he would sit and tend the fire, wet the clay, and beat off the -coals as fast as they formed, till the tree fell; then cut it off, and -hollow it in the same way.” - -“I should think it would have taken a lifetime.” - -“It did not take as long as you might suppose; besides, time was -nothing to them. They did no work except to hunt, make a canoe, or bow -and arrows. The squaws did all the drudgery.” - -Uncle Isaac now went home to stay a week, and see to his affairs, and -Atkins with him. In this interval, Charlie began to think about his -long-neglected boat. He had already the exact model of the fish, but -he wished to get it in a shape to work from. Mixing some more clay -and sand, he filled the mould with it, into which he had pressed the -fish, having first greased it thoroughly, that it might not stick. He -now set it to dry, putting it in the cellar at night. When thoroughly -dry, he turned it out, made an oven of stones, and baked it, so that it -was in a state to be handled without crumbling. He did not wish Ben or -Sally to observe his proceedings; and, as it was too cold to stay in -the woods or barn, he resorted to his bedroom. Uncle Isaac, when there, -slept with Charlie, and kept his chest beside their bed. - -Charlie was sitting on the bed, with the model in his hand, looking at -it, and contriving how to work from it; and so intently was he engaged, -that Uncle Isaac, who, unknown to him, had returned, and wanted -something from his chest, came upon him before he could shove it under -the bed. - -“What have you got there, Charlie?” - -“O, Uncle Isaac, I’m so sorry to see you!” - -“Sorry to see me, Charlie? Indeed, I’m sorry to hear you say so.” - -“O, I didn’t mean that,” replied Charlie, excessively confused. -“I--I--I--only meant that I was sorry you caught me with this in my -hand.” - -He then told Uncle Isaac what he was about, adding, in conclusion, -“You see, when I am trying to study anything out, I don’t like to have -folks that know all about it looking on; it confuses and quite upsets -me.” - -“But if you ever make the boat, you will have to make it out of doors, -in plain sight.” - -“Yes, sir; but if I succeed in making a good model, I know I can -imitate it on a large scale, and shan’t be afraid then to do it before -folks; but if I can’t, why, then I will burn the model up, and nobody -will be the wiser for it, or know that I tried and couldn’t. I’m not -afraid to have any one see me handle tools.” - -“You have no reason to be, my boy. Yet, after all, it was a very good -thing that I surprised you before you got any farther; for, had you -built a large boat after these lines, she never would have been of any -use to you.” - -“Why not?” - -“Because this is precisely the shape of a mackerel, to a shaving.” - -“Well, don’t a mackerel sail?” - -“Yes, sail like blazes, _under_ water; but I take it you want your -boat to sail on top of water. All a fish has to do is to carry himself -through the water; but a boat or vessel has to carry cargo, and bear -sail. A vessel made after that model wouldn’t stand up in the harbor -with her spars in, and a boat made like it would have to be filled so -full of ballast, to keep her on her legs, that she would be almost -sunk; and the moment you put sail on her, in anything of a working -breeze, her after-sail would jam her stern down, and she would fill -over the quarter.” - -Charlie looked very blank indeed at this, which seemed at one fell blow -to render abortive all his patient toil, and annihilate those sanguine -hopes of proud enjoyment he and John had cherished, when they should -appear in their new craft among the fleet of dug-outs, then below -contempt, and witness the look of mingled astonishment and envy on -the faces of the other boys, especially as he began to feel a growing -conviction that what Uncle Isaac had said was but too true. Still -struggling against the unwelcome truth, he replied, after a long pause, -“But a mackerel keeps on his bottom.” - -“Yes, because he’s alive, and can balance himself by his fins and tail; -but he always turns bottom up the minute he is dead.” - -“I heard Captain Rhines say, one time, that if a vessel could be -modelled like a fish, she would sail. I thought he knew, and so I -determined to try it.” - -“Captain Rhines does know, but he spoke at random. He didn’t mean -_exactly_ like a fish, but somewhat like them,--sharp, and with a -true taper, having no slack place to drag dead water, but with proper -bearings.” - -“Then this model, with proper alterations, would be the thing, after -all,” said Charlie, a gleam of hope lighting up his clouded features. - -“Sartain, if you should--” - -“O, don’t tell me, Uncle Isaac, don’t! It’s no use for me to try to -make a boat if I can’t study it out of my own head. I think I see what -you mean. I thank you very much, and after I try and see what I can -do, I want you to look at it, and see how I’ve made out, and tell me -how and where to alter it. I hope you won’t think I am a stuck-up, -ungrateful boy, because I don’t want you to tell me.” - -“Not by any means, Charlie; it is just the disposition I like to see in -you. I have no doubt you will think it all out, and then, my boy, it -will be your own all your life.” - -“Yes, sir; for, when I went to school, I minded that the boys who were -always running up to the master with their slates, or to the bigger -boys, to be shown about their sums, were great dunces, while the smart -boys dug them out themselves.” - -“I never went to school, but I suppose they forgot how to do them as -fast as they were told.” - -“That was just the way of it.” - -The next day there came a snow-storm and a severe gale; the sea roared -and flung itself upon the ramparts of the harbor as though it would -force a passage; but, with roaring fires in the two fireplaces, the -inmates of the timber house worked in their shirt sleeves, and paid -very little attention to the weather. - -“It is well you got on when you did, Uncle Isaac,” said Ben; “but you -will have to stay, now you are here, for there will be very little -crossing to the main land for the rest of the winter.” - -“But what if any of my folks are sick? I told Hannah to make a signal -on the end of the pint if anything happened.” - -“In case of necessity, Charlie and I could set you off in the schooner.” - -While Uncle Isaac was putting up the mantel-piece in the front room, -which had a great deal of old-fashioned carving about it, he set -Atkins and Charlie at work upon the front stairs; thus Charlie was -so constantly and agreeably occupied as to have but little leisure -to spend upon boats. But when this job was over, which had been most -interesting and exciting, he began to give shape to the ideas that had -been germinating in his brain at intervals during the day, and in his -wakeful hours at night. - -He wanted some plastic material that would become hard when dry, with -which to make his alterations, and determined to use putty. Leaving -that portion of his model which was to be under water as it was, he -made it fuller from that mark, by sticking on putty, and then, with his -knife and a chisel, paring off or adding to correspond with his idea of -proportions. For a long time did he puzzle over it, striving in vain -to satisfy himself, and several times scraped it all off to the bare -brick. At length he came to a point where he felt he could accomplish -no more. - -The next night, at bed-time, with a palpitating heart, he brought it -forward for Uncle Isaac’s inspection. After looking at it long and -carefully, he said,-- - -“I wish Joe Griffin was here. I ain’t much of a shipwright, though I -have worked some in the yard, and made a good many spars for small -vessels; but he is, and has worked in Portsmouth on mast ships. -But I call that a beautiful model, and think it shows a first-rate -head-piece. She’s very sharp, and will want a good deal of ballast; -so there won’t be much room in her as far as depth is consarned; but -then she’s so long ’twill make up for it. She’s a beauty, and if you -can ever make another on a large scale like her, I’ll wager my life -she’ll sail. I suppose you’ll kind of expect me to find some fault, -else you’ll think I’m stuffing you. It strikes me, that in the run, she -comes out from the first shape a thought too quick; that it would be -better if the swell was a leetle more gradual, not sucked out quite so -much; but then I don’t want you to alter it for anything I say; but I’m -going to call Ben and Robert Yelf up to see it.” - -“O, don’t, Uncle Isaac! Father knows all about vessels, and Mr. Yelf is -a regular shipwright.” - -“So much the better; they’ll be able to see the merits of it.” - -Ben and Yelf made the same criticism as Uncle Isaac, upon which Charlie -amended the fault, till they expressed themselves satisfied. - -“That boy,” said Yelf, as they went down stairs, “if he lives, and -gives his mind to it, will make a first-rate ship-builder.” - -“Ever since he has been with me,” was the reply, “he has been, at -leisure moments, making boats. I believe he has a fleet, great and -small, as numerous as the whole British navy.” - -Not the least industrious personage among this busy crew was Ben -Rhines, Jr. - -From morning to night, with a devotion worthy of a better cause, he -improved every moment, doing mischief, till his mother was, at times, -almost beside herself. One moment she would be startled by a terrific -outcry from the buttery. Ben had tumbled down the buttery stairs; anon -from the front entry he had fallen down the front stairs; then, from -the cellar, he was kicking and screaming there. - -This enterprising youth, bent upon acquiring knowledge, was determined -to explore these new avenues of information. Twice he set the room in -a blaze, by poking shavings into the fire, and singed his mischievous -head to the scalp, and had a violent attack of vomiting in consequence -of licking the oil from Uncle Isaac’s oil-stone. His lips were cut, and -he was black and blue with bruises received in his efforts. Despite of -all these mishaps, Ben enjoyed himself hugely; he had piles and piles -of blocks, great long shavings, both oak and pine, that came from the -panels and the banisters; he would bury the cat and Sailor all up in -shavings, and then clap his hands, and scream with delight, to see them -dig out; he would also hide from his mother in them, and lie as still -as though dead; he could pick up plenty of nails on the floor to drive -into his blocks, and didn’t scruple in the least to take them from the -nail-box if he got a chance. The moment Uncle Isaac’s back was turned, -in went his fingers into the putty; he carried off the chalk-line, to -fish down the buttery stairs, and, when caught, surrendered it only -after a most desperate struggle. - -“What a little varmint he is!” said Uncle Isaac. “If he don’t break his -neck, he’ll be a smart one.” - -“I believe you can’t kill him,” said Sally, “or he would have been dead -long ago. He’s been into the water and fire, the oxen have trod on him, -and a lobster shut his claws on his foot; why he ain’t dead I don’t -see.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE WEST WIND. - - -IT was now the middle of March, and the lower part of the house was -finished. - -“Ben,” said Uncle Isaac, “we want to go off now. Charlie can finish -these chambers as well as I can.” - -“I have not seasoned stuff to finish but one of them now, and hardly -that. It’s too rough to go off in your canoe; stay till Saturday -afternoon, and part off some bedrooms up stairs with a rough board -partition, and make some rough doors, so that we can use them for -sleeping-rooms, and then Charlie can finish them next winter, for he -will have to go to making sugar soon. If you’ll do that I’ll set you -off in the schooner.” - -Uncle Isaac parted off the chambers, and they now had plenty of room. -They put the best bed in one of the front rooms; the family bedroom was -off the kitchen, and there were bedrooms above. - -Charlie was now desirous to complete his boat, but his mother wanted -the flax done out. He therefore concluded to put it off till John came -on to help him make sugar. - -When Uncle Isaac reached home, John’s school had been out a week; but -the weather was so rough he could not reach the island; and when he -did arrive, Ben and Charlie were just finishing up the flax. The boys -now cleared out the camp, scoured the kettles, put fresh mortar on the -arch, hauled wood, and prepared for sugar-making. They resolved to tap -but few trees at first, in order to have more leisure to work on their -boat. The greatest mechanical skill was required to shape the outside. -This pertained entirely to Charlie; but the most laborious portion -of the work was the digging out such an enormous stick, and removing -such a quantity of wood at a disadvantage, as, after they had chopped -out about a foot of the surface, it would be difficult to get at, and -the work must be done with adze and chisel, and even bored out with -an auger at the ends. They decided to remove a portion of it before -shaping the outside, as the log would lie steadier. Charlie accordingly -marked out the sheer, then put on plumb-spots, and hewed the sides and -the upper surface fair and smooth. - -He then lined out the shape and breadth of beam, and made an inside -line to rough-cut by, and at leisure times they chopped out the inside -with the axe, one bringing sap or tending the kettle, while the other -worked on the boat. - -“John,” said Charlie, stopping to wipe the perspiration from his face, -“I’m going to find some easier way than this to make a boat; it’s too -much like work.” - -“There is no other way. I’ve seen hundreds of canoes made, and this is -the way they always do.” - -“Don’t you remember when we were clearing land, that we would set our -nigger[1] to burning off logs, and when it came night, we would find -that he had _burned_ more logs in two than we had cut with the axe?” - -“Yes.” - -“Uncle Isaac told me one night, that the Indians burned out canoes, and -I am going to try it.” - -“I thought they always made them of bark.” - -“He said they sometimes, especially the Canada Indians, made them of a -log, in places where they had a regular camping-ground, and didn’t want -to carry them.” - -“You’ll burn it all up, and we can never get another such a log.” - -“You see if I do.” - -Charlie got a pail of water, and made a little mop with rags on the end -of a stick, then got some wet clay, and put all around the sides of the -log where he didn’t want the fire to come. He then built a fire of oak -chips right in the middle, and the whole length. The fire burned very -freely at first, for the old log was full of pitch, and soon began to -dry the clay, and burn at the edge; but Charlie put it out with his -mop, and forced it to burn in the middle. - -When the chips had burned out, Charlie took the adze, and removed about -three inches of coal, and made a new fire. - -“Not much hard work about that,” said John, who looked on with great -curiosity. - -They now went about their sugar, once in a while stepping to the log to -remove the coal, renew the fire, or apply water to prevent its burning -in the wrong direction. - -When he had taken as much wood from the inside as he thought it prudent -to remove before shaping the outside, he began to prepare for that -all-important operation; but as he was afraid the clear March sun and -the north-west winds would cause her to crack, he built a brush roof -over her before commencing. - -Now came the most difficult portion of the work, as it must be done -almost entirely by the eye, by looking at the model and then cutting; -but as the faculties in any given direction strengthen by exercise, -and we are unconsciously prepared by previous effort and application -for that which follows, thus Charlie experienced less difficulty here -than he had anticipated, and at length succeeded in making it resemble -the model, in Ben’s opinion, as nearly as one thing could another. Now -their efforts were directed to finish the inside; and, having used the -fire as long as they thought prudent, they resorted to other tools, as -they wished so to dig her out as to have the utmost room inside, and to -make her as light as possible. The risk was in striking through by some -inadvertent blow. Though it may seem strange to those not versed in -such things, yet Charlie could give a very near guess at the thickness -by pressing the points of his fingers on each side, and when he was -in doubt, he bored a hole through with a gimlet, and then plugged it -up. They at length left her a scant inch in thickness, except on the -bottom and at the stern and bow. There she was so sharp that the wood -for a long distance was cut directly across the grain. - -“I wish,” said Charlie, “I had shaped the outside before digging her -out at all.” - -“Why so?” said John. - -“Because, in that case, I could have left more thickness at the bow; -but I couldn’t leave it outside and follow the model.” - -In order to avoid taking the keel out of the log, and to have all the -depth possible, they put on a false keel of oak; as the edge was too -thin to put on row-locks, they fastened cleats on the inside, and put -flat thole-pins in between them and the side, which looked neat, and -were strong enough for so light, easy-going a craft, that was intended -for sailing rather than carrying; they also put on a cut-water, with a -billet-head scroll-shaped, and with mouldings on the edges. - -As it was evident she would require a good deal of ballast, to enable -her to bear sail, they laid a platform forward and aft, raised but a -very little from the bottom, merely enough to make a level to step or -stand on; but amidships they left it higher, to give room for ballast. - -Their intention was, at some future time, to put in head and -stern-boards, or, in other words, a little deck forward and aft, with -room beneath to put lines, luncheon, and powder, when they went on -fishing or sailing excursions; but they were too anxious to see her -afloat to stop for that now. They therefore primed her over with lead -color, to keep her from cracking, and the very moment she was dry, put -her in the water. - -Never were boys in a state of greater excitement than they, when, upon -launching her into the water, with a hearty shove and hurrah, she went -clear across the harbor, and landed on the Great Bull. They got into -the Twilight, and brought her back, and found she sat as light as a -cork upon the water, on an even keel, and was much stiffer than they -expected to find her. She was eighteen feet long, and four feet in -width, eighteen inches deep. - -Having persuaded Sally to get in and sit down on the bottom,--for as -yet they had no seats,--they rowed her around the harbor. - -“Now we can go to Indian camp ground, or where we are a mind to,” said -Charlie. - -“Yes,” replied John, “we can go to Boston; and if we want to go -anywhere, and the wind is ahead, we can beat: how I do want to get sail -on her!” - -There was still much to be done--a rudder and tiller, bowsprit, thwarts -for the masts, and masts’ sprits, a boom and sails to make. They did -not, however, neglect their work; but now that they had succeeded in -their purpose, and the agony was over, though still very anxious to -finish and get her under sail, they tapped more trees, and only worked -on her in such intervals as their work afforded. In these intervals -Charlie made the rudder, and tiller, and thwarts for the masts. - -We are sorry to say that he now manifested something like conceit, -which, being a development so strange in him, and so different from -the natural modesty of his disposition, can only be accounted for -by supposing that uniform success had somewhat turned his head, and -produced temporary hallucination. - -From the time he made his own axe handle, when he first came on the -island, till now, he had always succeeded in whatever he undertook, -and been praised and petted; and even his well-balanced faculties and -native modesty were not entirely unaffected by such powerful influences. - -Ben advised him to secure the mast thwarts with knees, as is always -done in boats, to put a breast-hook in the bow, and two knees in -the stern, to strengthen her, as she was dug out so thin, and the -wood forward and aft cut so much across the grain; but, flushed with -success, Charlie thought he knew as much about boat-building as -anybody, and, for the first time in his life, neglected his father’s -counsel. He thought knees would look clumsy, and that he could fasten -the thwarts with cleats of oak, and make them look neater; and thus he -did. They were now brought to a stand for lack of material, cloth for -sails, rudder-irons, and spars. - -Elm Island, although it could furnish masts in abundance for ships of -the line, produced none of those straight, slim, spruce poles, that are -suitable for boat spars. It was very much to the credit of the boys, -that, although aching to see the boat under sail, and well aware that -Ben would not hesitate a moment, if requested, to let them leave their -work and go after the necessary articles, they determined to postpone -the completion of her till the sugar season was over. Meanwhile, they -painted her, and, after the paint was dry, rowed off in the bay: they -also put the Twilight’s sail in her; and, though it was not half large -enough, and they were obliged to steer with an oar, they could see that -she would come up to the wind, and was an entirely different affair -from the Twilight, promising great things. - -They hugged themselves while witnessing and admiring her performance, -saying to each other,-- - -“Won’t she go through the water when she gets her own sails, spars, and -a rudder!” - -It must be confessed, Charlie was not at all sorry to see the flow of -sap diminished; and no sooner was the last kettle full boiled, than off -they started for the main land. - -Immediately on landing, Charlie bent his steps towards Uncle Isaac’s, -on whose land was a second growth of spruce, amongst which were -straight poles in abundance. - -John, after bolting a hasty meal, hurried to Peter Brock’s shop; there, -with some assistance from Peter, he made the rudder-irons, a goose-neck -for the main-boom, another for the heel of the bowsprit, which was made -to unship, a clasp to confine it to the stem, and the necessary staples. - -When Charlie returned the next night with his spars, they procured the -cloth for the sails, and went back to the island. - -Ben cut and made the sails; and, in order that everything might be -in keeping, pointed and grafted the ends of the fore, main, and -jib-sheets, and also made a very neat fisherman’s anchor; but he -persisted in making the sails much smaller than suited their notions. - -They had some large, flat pieces of iron that came from the wreck that -drove ashore on the island the year before; these they put in the -bottom for ballast, and upon them, in order to make her as stiff as -possible, some heavy flint stones, worn smooth by the surf, which they -had picked up on the Great Bull. - -Until this moment they had been unable to decide upon a name, but now -concluded to call her the “West Wind.” - -They put the finishing touch to their work about three o’clock in the -afternoon, and, with a moderate south-west wind, made sail, and stood -out to sea, close-hauled. - -All their hopes were now more than realized; loud and repeated were -their expressions of delight as they saw how near she would lie to the -wind, and how well she worked. The moment the helm was put down, she -came rapidly up to the wind, the foresail gave one slat, and she was -about; then they tried her under foresail alone, and found she went -about easily, requiring no help. - -“Isn’t she splendid?” asked John; “and ain’t you glad we built her?” - -“Reckon I am: what will Fred say when he sees her? and won’t we three -have some nice times in her?” - -“It was a good thing for us, Charlie, that we had Ben to cut the sails -and tell us where to put the masts.” - -They avoided the main land, as they did not wish to attract notice till -they were thoroughly used to handling her, and knew her trim; and, -after sailing a while, hauled down the jib, kept away, and went back -“wing and wing.” - -“Some time,” said Charlie, “we’ll go down among the canoes on the -fishing-ground, and when the fishermen are tugging away at their oars -with a head wind, go spanking by them, the spray flying right in the -wind’s eye.” - -At length, feeling that they knew how to sail, they determined to go -over to the mill and exhibit her. - -Notwithstanding their efforts to keep it secret, the report of their -proceedings had gone round among the young folks. Some boy saw John at -work upon the rudder-irons in Peter’s shop, though he plunged his work -into the forge trough the moment he saw that he was observed. - -Little Bob Smullen also saw Charlie hauling down the spars with Isaac’s -oxen, and when he asked Charlie what they were for, he told him, “To -make little boys ask questions.” - -The wind came fresh off the land, which suited their purpose, as they -wished to sail along shore on a wind, and desired to display the -perfections of their boat to the greatest advantage, and above all -show her superiority to the canoes, which could only go before the -wind, or a little quartering. The wind was not only fresh, but blew in -flaws; and as they could not think, upon such an occasion, of carrying -anything less than whole sail, they put in additional ballast, and -took a barrel of sap sugar, which Fred was to sell for them, and five -bushels of corn, to be ground at the mill. - -They were to spend the night at Captain Rhines’s, intending in the -morning to go down to Uncle Isaac’s point and invite him to take a sail -with them. Charlie considered that the best part of the affair. - -They beat over in fine style, fetching far to the windward of the -mill, in order to have opportunity to keep away a little and run the -shore down, intending to run by the wharf, and then tack and beat back -in sight of whoever might be there. When about half a mile from the -shore, they were espied by little Tom Pratt, who was fishing from the -wharf. He had heard the talk among the big boys, and, rushing into the -mill, he bawled out, “It’s coming! it’s coming! I seed it! that thing -from Elm Island.” - -Out ran Fred, Henry Griffin, Sam Hadlock, and Joe Merrithew. In a few -moments another company came from the store and the blacksmith’s shop, -among whom were Captain Rhines, Yelf, and Flour. - -John was steering, and every few moments a half bucket of salt water -would strike in the side of his neck and run out at the knees of his -breeches, while Charlie baled it out as fast as it came in. - -“Only look, Charlie! see what a crowd there is on the wharf! I see -father and Flour, and there’s old Uncle Jonathan Smullen, with his -cane.” - -“I see Fred and Hen Griffin,” said Charlie: “when we get a little -nearer, I mean to hail ’em.” - -“Slack the fore and jib sheets a little, Charlie. I’m going to keep her -away and run down by the wharf.” - -As they ran along seven or eight hundred yards from the wharf, Charlie, -standing up to windward, waved his cap to Fred, and cheered. It was -instantly returned by the whole crowd. - -At that moment a hard flaw, striking over the high land, heeled her -almost to upsetting; and as she rose again, she split in two, from stem -to stern. Charlie, who was just waving his hat for a second cheer, went -head foremost into the water. One half the boat, to which were attached -the masts, bowsprit, and rudder, fell over to leeward; the cable, which -was fastened into a thole-pin hole, running out, anchored that part, -while the other half drifted off before the wind towards Elm Island. - -John and Charlie clung to the half that was left, while the barrel of -sugar, the corn, both their guns, powder and shot, went to the bottom. - -It was but a few moments before Captain Rhines, with Flour and Fred -Williams, came in a canoe, and took them off. - -Every one felt sorry for the mishap, and Fred felt so bad that he cried. - -It was the first boat that had ever been made or owned in the place, or -even seen there, except once in a great while, when a whaleman or some -large vessel came in for water, or lost their way; the inhabitants all -using canoes, as did also the fishermen and coasters. - -As the anchor held one half the boat, it furnished a mark to tell where -the contents lay; and while Fred and Henry Griffin were towing back the -other half, the rest grappled for and brought up the corn, guns, and -sugar, not much of which was dissolved. - -It was a bitter disappointment to Charlie and John, but they bore it -manfully, and went up to Captain Rhines’s to put on dry clothes and -spend the night, Fred walking along with them, striving to administer -consolation. - -“I wouldn’t feel so bad about it, Charlie,” said he; “we’ve got the -other half; why couldn’t you fasten them together again?” - -“So you could, Charlie,” said John, “and she would be as good as ever.” - -“But what would she look like? No, I never want to touch her again; -let her go; but I know one thing, that is, if I live long enough, I’ll -build a boat that will sail as well as she did, and not split in two -either.” - -Uncle Isaac, hearing of the shipwreck, came in to Captain Rhines’s in -the evening to see and comfort the boys. - -“It’s not altogether the loss of the boat makes me feel so bad, Uncle -Isaac,” said Charlie. - -“I’m sure I don’t see what else you have to feel bad about.” - -“It’s because father told me to fasten her together with knees, and put -a hook in the eyes of her; but I thought I knew so much, I wouldn’t do -it. I wanted her to look neat; and see how she looks now! I never was -above taking advice before, and hope I never shall be again.” - -Notwithstanding Charlie’s resolution never to touch the boat again, he -changed his mind after sleeping upon it. - -The two boys now reluctantly separated, as it was time for John to go -to his trade. Fred and Henry set Charlie on to the island, putting the -masts, sails, &c., in their canoe, and towing the two halves. Ben never -said to Charlie, “I told you so,” but did all he could to cheer him up, -and told him he had made a splendid boat; that he watched them till -they were half way over, and that she sailed and worked as well as any -Vineyard Sound boat (and they were called the fastest) he ever saw. The -boys put the pieces of the boat and the spars in the sugar camp, and -then Henry and Fred returned. - -Charlie seemed very cheerful and happy while the boys were there; but -when they were gone, he put his head in his mother’s lap, and fairly -broke down. Sally was silent for some time: at length she said,-- - -“Charlie, I think your goose wants to set. I should have set her while -you was gone, but the gander is so cross, I was afraid of him.” - -Charlie started up in an instant. This was a tame goose, that had -mated with a wild gander they had wounded and caught, and Charlie was -exceedingly anxious to raise some goslings, and instantly put the eggs -under the goose. - -The wild ganders have horny excrescences on the joint of their wings, -resembling a rooster’s spur, with which they strike a very severe blow, -and are extremely bold and savage when the geese are sitting. They -seize their antagonist with their bills, then strike them with both -wings, and it is no child’s play to enter into a contest with them. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -HAPS AND MISHAPS. - - -IT is frequently the case that trials, which are very hard to bear at -the time, prove, in the end, to be the source of great and permanent -benefit. The sequel will show that the wreck of the West Wind, which -was so galling to Charlie and John at the moment, was, in the result, -to exert a favorable influence upon their whole lives. - -The spring was now well advanced, and there were so many things to -occupy Charlie’s attention that boat-building was altogether out of -the question. Indeed, for a time, he felt very little inclination to -meddle with it, and thought he never should again. There were sea-fowl -to shoot, and Charlie had now become as fond of gunning as John. The -currant bushes were beginning to start, the buds on the apple, pear, -and cherry trees in the garden, whose development he watched as a cat -would a mouse, were beginning to swell, and early peas and potatoes -were to be planted. The robins also returned, and began to repair -their last year’s nests, bringing another pair with them,--their -progeny of the previous summer. - -Charlie was hoping and expecting that the swallows, who came in such -numbers to look at the island and the barn the summer before, would -again make their appearance; but, notwithstanding all these sources -of interest and occupation, and though he felt at the time of his -misfortune that it would be a long time, if ever, before he should -again think of undertaking boat-building, it was not a fortnight before -he found his thoughts running in the accustomed channel, and, as he -tugged at the oars, pulling the Twilight against the wind, he could -but think how much easier and pleasanter would have been the task of -steering the West Wind over the billows; and he actually found himself, -one day, in the sugar camp, looking at the pieces of the wreck, and -considering how they might be put together; but several other subjects -of absorbing interest now presented themselves in rapid succession, -which effectually prevented his cogitations from taking any practical -shape. - -A baby, whose presence well nigh reconciled Charlie to the loss of the -boat, made its appearance. He was exceedingly fond of the little ones, -and was looking forward to the time when he could have the baby out -doors with him. - -Mrs. Hadlock had come over to stay a while, and one day undertook -to put the baby in the cradle; but little Ben stoutly resisted this -infringement on his rights. He fought and screamed, declaring, as -plainly as gestures and attempts at language could, that the cradle -was his; that he had not done with it, and would not give it up. In -this emergency, Charlie bethought himself of the willow rods (sallies), -which the boys had helped him peel the spring before, and determined -to make the baby a cradle, which should altogether eclipse that of Sam -Atkins. The rods being thoroughly dry, he soaked them in water, when -they became tough and pliant. He stained part of them with the bright -colors he had procured in Boston the year before, some red, others -blue and green. He then wove his cradle, putting an ornamental fringe -round the rim, and also a canopy over it. The bottom was of pine, -but he made the rockers of mahogany that Joe Griffin had given him. -When the willow was first peeled, it was white as snow, but by lying -had acquired a yellowish tinge, and was somewhat soiled in working. -Charlie therefore put it under an empty hogshead, and smoked it with -brimstone, which removed all the yellow tinge, and the soil received -from the hands, making it as white as at first. When finished, it -excited the admiration of the household, none of whom, except Ben, had -ever seen any willow-work before. - -“Well, Charlie,” said Mrs. Hadlock, “that beats the Indians, out and -out.” - -“It will last a great deal longer than their work,” said he; “but I -don’t think I could ever make their porcupine-work.” - -Ben, Jr., appreciated the new cradle as highly as the rest, instantly -clambered in, and laid claim to it, and was so outrageous, wishing -to appropriate both, though he could use but one at a time, that his -father gave him a sound whipping. He fled to Charlie for consolation, -who, to give satisfaction all round, made him a willow chair, and dyed -it all the colors of the rainbow. - -Charlie now prepared to give a higher exhibition of his skill. He -selected some of the best willows of small size, and made several -beautiful work-baskets, of various sizes and colors. He then took some -of the longest rods, of the straightest grain, and with his knife split -the butt in four pieces, two or three inches in length; then took a -piece of hard wood (granadilla), made sharp at one end, and with -four scores in it; inserting the point in the split, he put the other -end against his breast, and pushed it through the whole length of the -rod, thus dividing it into four equal parts. He then put the quarters -on his thigh, and with his knife shaved off the heart-wood, leaving -the outside sap reduced to a thin, tough shaving, like cloth. This he -made up into skeins, and kept it to wind the rims and handles of his -baskets. He told them that a regular workman had a piece of bone or -ivory to split the rod with, and an instrument much like a spoke-shave -to shave it to a ribbon, but he made a piece of wood and a knife answer -his purpose. - -Charlie’s West India wood was constantly coming into use, for one thing -or another, and Joe Griffin could not have given him a more acceptable -or useful present. - -He also used his skeins of willow for winding the legs of the three -chairs he made, one for his mother, one for Hannah Murch, and one for -Mrs. Hadlock. The legs were made of stout willow, and wound with these -bands. - -He presented work-baskets to his mother, Mrs. Rhines, and her -daughters, and Aunt Molly Bradish, and expressed his determination to -make some baskets the next winter to send over to the mill, that people -might see them. - -What was his delight on going out one night, after supper, to get some -willows he had put to soak in the brook, to see a company of swallows -he disturbed fly off in the direction of the barn, with their bills -full of clay! Following them, he saw, with great joy, some of them fly -into the holes he had cut in the barn, while others deposited their -burdens beneath the eaves outside. - -By that he knew that two kinds of swallows had come to take up their -abode, and were building their nests--barn-swallows and eave-swallows. - -He was not long in getting to the house with the glad tidings, which -delighted his mother as much as himself. - -“I think,” she said, “eave-swallows are the prettiest things in the -world, they look so cunning sticking their heads out of a little round -hole in their nest!” - -“Yes, mother, and I’ve seen them two stories on Captain Rhines’s -barn--one nest right over the other.” - -It seemed as if a kind Providence had determined to remunerate Charlie -for his disappointment in respect to the boat. He kept his goose, with -her goslings, in a large pen near the barn, while the wild gander was -let out every day to go where he liked. The great body of wild geese -were now gone; but a few stragglers from broken flocks still remained, -and were not considered worth the attention of gunners. - -A brush fence ran across the island behind the barn, dividing the field -from the pasture. Great was Charlie’s surprise, when coming one day to -dinner, he saw the gander in conversation with a wild goose through -the fence. He could not fly over the fence, as one wing was mutilated, -therefore was trying to persuade the goose to fly over to him. The -goose, on the other hand, being lonely,--the rest of the flock probably -having been shot,--was desirous of company, but afraid to venture. The -gander would walk along one side of the fence, and the goose the other, -a little ways, and then stop and talk the matter over. Charlie ran and -made a hole in the fence, right abreast the back barn doors, while they -were down under the hill out of sight, and opened the barn doors that -led into the floor, then hid himself and watched them. They continued -walking along till they found the gap, when the gander instantly went -through, and joined the goose, making the most strenuous efforts to -entice her to follow him through the hole, and finally succeeded; he -evidently wished to coax her to the barn, but the goose held off; she -would venture a little way, and then go back, her head erect, turning -in every direction, and her eyes flashing like balls of fire. It seemed -as if the gander would fail in his efforts, and she appeared about to -rise and fly away. - -At this juncture, Charlie, in his concealment, flung some corn around -the barn door: the gander now redoubled his efforts; he would run -ahead, pick up some corn, then run back and tell her how good it was. -The goose, evidently hungry, now approached slowly, and began to -pick the corn, a train of it extending into the floor; Charlie was -so excited he could hear his heart beat. He now crawled out of the -barn, and concealed himself outside, and the goose, following up the -scattered kernels, entered the floor, when Charlie slammed the door to. -He could hardly believe that he had a veritable wild goose unhurt; he -flew into the house, where they were all through dinner, and replied -to his mother’s question, of where he had been, by taking her and Ben -by the hand and dragging them to the barn, where they found the wild -goose on the collar beam, and the gander on the floor, vainly striving -to entice her down. After being chased from beam to beam, she buried -herself in the hay, when they caught her and clipped her wings. - -The flax being done out, Sally, with a good smart girl to help her -(Sally Merrithew), had linen yarn to bleach to her heart’s content. -One forenoon, about eleven o’clock, Ben and Charlie were in the field; -Sally had spread some linen yarn on the grass to whiten, and gone in to -get dinner. All at once a terrible outcry arose from the house; Sally -was screaming, “Ben! Ben! get the gun;” the baby was bawling for dear -life, and Sailor barking in concert. - -The cause of the outcry was soon manifest. A large fish-hawk was seen -sailing along in the direction of the eastern point, with two skeins of -Sally’s yarn in his claws, screaming with delight at the richness of -his prize. - -“Why don’t you fire, Ben?” screamed Sally. - -“It’s no use,” said Ben; “he’s out of range.” - -“Well, get the axe and cut the tree down this minute.” - -“I will, mother,” said Charlie, running to the wood-pile for the axe. - -“Stop till after dinner,” said Ben, who had not the most distant idea -of cutting the tree down; however, he felt very sorry for Sally, and -like a prudent general, permitted her feelings to exhaust themselves. -“If I’ve got to cut that great pine down this warm day, I think I must -have a cup of tea.” He well knew the soothing effect of a cup of tea. - -When they were seated at table, he said,-- - -“What a nice dinner this is, Sally! you do make the best bread, and -such nice butter!” Not a word about the fish-hawk. But as dinner was -most over, Ben began to unfold his purpose. “Sally,” said he, “do you -love that little creature?” pointing to the baby. - -“How can you ask such a question?” - -“Haven’t you taken a great deal of comfort in making his little -dresses? and wouldn’t you feel bad if some one should come and tear -down this house, break the furniture, and destroy all that we’ve -worked, scrubbed, and contrived so long to collect around us, for these -little ones?” - -“Why, Ben, how you talk! Of course I should. But what makes you talk -so? Who’s going to hurt us?” - -“Nobody, I hope; but suppose somebody had taken some little thing from -us,--an axe, a shovel, or a milk pan,--would you want their house torn -down over their heads for it?” - -“No; I’d say the worst is their own.” - -“But you want me to cut down that tree, and break that poor fish-hawk’s -nest to pieces, that she has built stick by stick, lugging them miles -through the air in her claws, just because she took two skeins of yarn -to line her nest with, it’s so much better than eel-grass, and which we -shall hardly miss; besides, she don’t know any better than to take what -she wants, wherever she can find it.” - -At this appeal Sally cast down her eyes and colored; at length she -said,-- - -“You are right, Ben, I know; but it was so provoking, after I had -worked so hard to spin and scour that yarn, the first, too, that we -have ever had, of our own raising, to see it going off in the claws of -a fish-hawk!” - -“Well,” continued Ben, “this fish-hawk came and built here the first -spring we lived here, and kind of put herself under our protection, -building her nest so near the house, where we pass under it every -day; they are harmless creatures, and never pull up corn, like the -crows or blue jays; nor carry off lambs, like the eagles; nor pick out -their eyes when they get mired or cast, as the ravens do. There’s a -noble disposition in a fish-hawk: they are industrious, work hard for -a living, and maintain their families by their own labor; they won’t -pick up a dead fish, or eel, or feed on a dead horse or cow, like an -eagle or carrion crow, but will have a live fish, that they have taken -fresh from the sea; they won’t be beholden to chance, nor anybody, for -their living, but earn it, as every honest person should, in the sweat -of their face. Once when I was a boy, just for fun, I put the eggs -of two fish-hawk’s nests into one. I was over here with father after -they were all hatched out, and there was the nest, heaping full, the -little hawks screaming, and the old ones springing to it, working like -good ones to bring up such a family. There were some great lazy eagles -sitting in the tops of the pines, and every once in the while, when the -hawks would get a good large flounder, they would give chase and take -it away from them. O, how mad I was! Two or three times I got up my gun -to shoot; but father wouldn’t let me, because he said that to shoot -an eagle was bad luck.” As he concluded, he looked at his watch, and -said, “We’ve been only an hour and a half at dinner; and what of it?” -he continued, putting his great brawny arms on the table, that creaked -under the weight. “This is the comfort of the farmer’s life--he is his -own employer. Now, if I was a sailor, the mate would come forward, and -sing out, ‘Turn to there, men;’ if I was a fisherman, and the fish -didn’t bite, there’d be my expenses going on; if I was a shipmaster, I -must hurry into port, and then hurry just as fast out, and if I made a -bad voyage or a long passage, the owners would look sour; but now, if -I am sick, or happen to feel lazy, the grain will grow, the cows give -milk, and the sheep make wool, all the same.” - -It is evident Ben felt remarkably happy about this time, one reason -of which was, that he had determined to put Joe Griffin in the -Perseverance, who was going to fish a short distance from the shore. -Henry Griffin and Robert Yelf were going with him, and Uncle Isaac -before and after haying: thus Ben was going to have a good time -farming--the work he liked best. - -“Sally,” said Mrs. Hadlock, “I wouldn’t worry about the yarn; it’s -nothing to what old Aunt Betty Prindle met with.” - -“What was that, mother?” - -“She had a shawl that had been her grandmother’s; a beautiful one -it was; came from foreign parts, and cost a sight in its day; but -having been worn for so many years, you know, it would naturally get -soiled. She had been wanting to wash it for a great many years, had -often threatened to, and indeed more than once set a time to do it; -but when the time came her heart failed her; even after the water was -hot, she was afraid to put it into the tub, for fear it would fade. I -think she would have done it once, but her darter Patience, who knew -it would fall to her when the old lady was done with it, discouraged -her. At last, one spring, just about this time of year (she lived, you -know, with her son Richard), she determined that, come what might, -she _would_ wash it. One morning she said to her granddarter, ‘Lois -Ann Prindle, do you go straight down to Aunt Olive Cobb’s and Peggy -Sylvester’s, over to Mrs. Joe Ransom’s, and the widder Tucker’s, -give my compliments, and ask them to come over and take a cup of tea -(_green_ tea, mind) with me this afternoon.’ They all came; and when -tea was over, she said, ‘You know, neighbors, I am an old parson, and -can’t, in the course of nature, expect to live many years. I do want -to see this shawl washed before I’m taken away; but our Patience has -always discouraged me; but she’s gone to Cape Porpoise to stay a -month, and I’m determined to have it in the tub before she comes back; -that is, if you think it will do; and I want you to pass your judgment -on’t.’” - -“The old lady meant to have plenty of advice,” said Sally. - -“That was so that Patience couldn’t put all the blame on her, in case -it faded,” replied Ben. - -“The shawl was brought out,” said Mrs. Hadlock, “and laid across their -knees, when judgment was passed on it; every one but the widow Tucker -thought it would wash, and if it was their shawl, they should wash it; -but she said, ‘she knew it wouldn’t wash, for the Wildridge family, -in old York, had jest such a shawl, and they washed it, and it faded -dreadfully; but there,’ said she, looking out of the window, ‘comes -black Luce, Flour’s wife; she is a great washer and ironer, and knows -more about it than all of us.’ Luce was called in, and said, ‘if they -put a beef’s gall in the water, it would set the color, and it wouldn’t -fade a mite.’ ‘Then I’ll wash it, I declare to man I will, for Enoch -Paine’s going to kill an ox this week, and our Patience won’t be home -till long arter that.’ - -“Aunt Betty procured her beef’s gall, got her water hot, and put it in. - -“‘Here it goes,’ said she, ‘hit or miss,’ dropping the shawl into the -tub. She washed and spread it out on the grass to dry, and every two -or three minutes ran out to look at it. At length it began to dry at -the edges, and she saw it wasn’t going to fade one mite. Down went her -flatirons to the fire. ‘Lois Ann, run right down to the neighbors you -went to before, tell them the shawl is drying beautifully. I am going -to iron it, and want them to come up and take tea to-night, and see it. -Tell Luce to come, too, and arter we’ve done, she shall have as good a -cup of green tea as ever she had in her life.’” - -“She was a good old soul,” said Ben; “she didn’t forget old Luce.” - -“Not she; but, as I was saying, she got her table out, and irons hot; -but just as she opened the door to bring in the shawl, she saw a -fish-hawk rising from the ground with it in his claws. Almost beside -herself, she screamed for Richard, who came running from the field; but -long enough before he could load the gun, the hawk was out of sight -behind a high hill back of the house; and when I heard Sally screaming -for Ben, it brought it right up.” - -“Why couldn’t they have followed, seen where he went to, and cut the -tree down?” asked Charlie. - -“Because, child, it was all thick woods. You couldn’t see, only right -up in the air, without climbing a tall tree, and before they could do -that he was out of sight.” - -“Did the women come?” - -“Yes; but instead of rejoicing with the poor old lady, they did their -best to console her. She didn’t live but a week after that. Some -thought the loss of the shawl, and thinking what Patience would say -when she came, shortened her days; but I don’t. She was very old, and -had been very feeble all the winter before.” - -“Did they ever find it?” - -“Yes; some men, who were clearing land two miles off, cut down a tree, -the next summer, that had a fish-hawk’s nest on it; and there was the -shawl, all rotten and covered with the lice that are always on young -fish-hawks.” - -“The hawk is welcome to the yarn, mother.” - -“That’s right, Sally; that is spoken like a child of mine, and a good, -thoughtful girl. If the Lord had told you, two years ago, that he would -give you all he has sent you in that time, by the way of the Ark, if -you would give a couple of skeins of yarn to a fish-hawk, you would -have been very glad to have done it. These are all his creatures, and -he careth for them, and feeds them all. The robins, in their nests, -open their little mouths for God to feed them. The Scripture says, ‘He -feedeth the ravens, and not even a sparrow is forgotten before God.’” - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -PARSON GOODHUE AND THE WILD GANDER. - - -DURING the last year Sally had woven cloth for curtains to her best -bed, and also for the windows of the rooms, when they should be -finished; but for the last two or three weeks she and Sally Merrithew -had been very busily employed bleaching the linen, making the curtains, -and scouring the woodwork, which had been soiled in the putting up. It -was not the fashion to paint in those days--everything was scoured. - -The cause of this extraordinary industry was at length revealed by -Sally herself, who said to Ben, “Now that the house is done, I’ve got -good help, the baby is well, and mother is here, I think we ought to -have a meeting. I’m afraid we shall get to be just like the heathen, -for we can’t get to meeting but once or twice in the winter, and not -a great deal in the summer. I want Parson Goodhue to come on to the -island, preach a lecture, and make us a real good visit. He’s our old -minister that we have known and loved ever since we were children, and -we haven’t seen him since we were married, except in the pulpit.” - -“Nothing would suit me better, and I think we’d better have it right -off, before Joe goes away with the schooner; then we can bring him on -and take him back in her, while she’s sweet and clean.” - -“Yes, and we can have Joe and Henry Griffin to sing, and Uncle Isaac -to lift the tune. Your father will come, and bring the girls. They -are first-rate singers; so is Fred Williams; and we can have as good -singing as they do in the meeting-house on Lord’s day.” - -“I’ll go off to-night, and if he can come, we’ll have the meeting next -week.” - -Notwithstanding Ben differed so much from the minister in respect to -temperance, it produced not the least alienation of feeling. Ben, -though very firm in his opinions, had not a particle of bitterness in -his composition. On the other hand, he was much attached to the pastor, -who was a very devoted man, and greatly beloved and respected by his -people, although he thought him in an error respecting that matter, -still his ideas were in harmony with the almost universal sentiments -and practice of the age in which he lived. He was a good man, by no -means a free liver, and sought what he supposed to be the good of his -people with all his heart. Wedded to this pernicious habit by early -usage, and the example of those he had been accustomed to revere as -models of all that was great and good, he failed to perceive its fatal -tendency, although the proofs were daily accumulating before his eyes, -and also that the distinction between the use and abuse, which he and -Captain Rhines strongly insisted upon, was, in the great majority of -cases, a distinction without a difference. - -It was determined, in family conclave, that the lecture should be at -four o’clock, after which all were to sit down to a meat supper, the -meats having been roasted beforehand, and served up cold, with hot tea -and coffee. - -“This will be the first time Mr. Goodhue was ever here, Sally,” said -Ben, “and the first time, I expect, in his life, that he was ever -invited anywhere to eat and not offered spirit. We’ve got turkeys, -ducks, and chickens, enough of everything. We’ll let him and all the -rest know that it is not for the sake of saving that we don’t put -spirit on the table; and you know what Bradish set out to say at the -husking, if Joe Griffin hadn’t knocked the wind out of him.” - -Seats were made in the parlor, kitchen, and porch for the audience; -but the spare room, which was most elaborately finished, where Uncle -Isaac had displayed his utmost skill in carved and panel-work, and -in which was the buffet, was carefully prepared for the reception of -the minister. There were curtains to the best bed and windows, which -Sally had woven and bleached as white as snow; the bed-ticks were -also woven by her, and filled with the feathers of wild geese she had -picked herself. The sheets and pillow-cases were scented with orange -balm. On the mantel-piece were some beautiful shells and coral, which -Ben had brought home from sea; the secretary, also, which his father -had given him, inlaid with various kinds of wood, was in this room. -As to the remaining furniture, it was of the homeliest kind, as Ben -had not purchased any since his means had increased. The looking-glass -was six inches by eight in size, and the chairs were bottomed with ash -splints. In those old times, instead of painting or carpeting floors, -they kept them white by scouring and covering with sand. It was the -custom of housewives, on important occasions, to cover the floor with -sand, and then, with the point of a hemlock broom, make marks in the -sand resembling the backbone of a herring. Sometimes they deposited -the sand in little heaps, like pepper on the surface of a ham, and -representing various figures; but Sally Merrithew went far beyond this. -She covered the floor of the minister’s room with the finest of sand, -and then, with her fingers, made the exact impress of a little child’s -naked foot in different places; also the representation of star-fish, -diamonds, horses, oxen, and various other things. This was a vast -deal of work to bestow upon a thing that was destroyed the moment you -stepped on it; but it looked very pretty when you first opened the -door, and that was enough for Sally. If Parson Goodhue only looked at -it once, she was more than satisfied. - -Clocks were not common then, and time was kept by hour and minute -glasses; and there would not have been any other time-keeper on Elm -Island had not Ben’s profession as a sailor put him in the way of -having a watch; but whenever he took his watch with him, Sally resorted -to the hour glass, and the sun-mark in the window. - -When the day arrived, Ben and Charlie went over in the Perseverance, as -she was now ready for sea, and returned with Joe and his crew, Captain -Rhines and his girls, Uncle Isaac, the Hadlocks, and others, among -whom was Fred Williams. The most important personage of all was Parson -Goodhue. The saucy little craft, her sails limed and snow-white, her -decks white as a holy-stone and sand could make them, her masts scraped -and slushed, with a little yellow ochre in the grease, her hull, -mastheads, and spars gayly painted, and rigging fresh tarred, seemed, -as she flung the foam from her bows and shot into the little harbor, -proud of her burden. - -The parson was brought ashore from the vessel in the large canoe; and -as the beach was wet, Ben took him in his arms and set him down on the -grass ground, without ruffling a feather; here he was met and welcomed -by Sally. - -Our young readers might be interested if we should describe the dress -of this good man, whose arrival had excited so much interest, and -caused such a commotion, on Elm Island; it was the usual dress of the -ministers of that day, and quite remarkable. - -A dark-blue broadcloth coat of the finest material, with a broad back, -wide skirts, and a very long waist. It reached below the knees, the -front edges on both sides being cut to the segment of a circle, from -the end of the collar to the bottom of the skirts, the two edges just -meeting in the middle over the abdomen, there fastened, when fastened -at all, with a single hook and eye; the collar was quite wide, and laid -over flat on the back; there was one row of black enamelled buttons in -front, about the size of an old-fashioned Spanish milled dollar, with -button holes to correspond to the size of the buttons, but which were -never used, as the coat was never fastened except by the single hook -and eye. The vest was of black kerseymere, reaching some six inches or -more below the hips, with broad and deep pocket-flaps on each side, -covering a capacious pocket. It was buttoned from the hips, close to -the throat, with enamelled buttons as large as an English shilling, -and finished round the neck with a narrow collar, three fourths of -an inch wide. The lower corners of the vest were rounded off, so as -always to hang open. To complete the dress, was a pair of dark-blue -small clothes, buttoned tight around the body above the hips, and worn -without suspenders, as they had not then been invented. A pair of heavy -black silk stockings reached above the knee, under the small clothes, -which were buttoned down close over the stockings below the knee, -and there fastened by silver buckles. On his feet he wore a pair of -round-toed shoes with short quarters, and fastened by a pair of large -silver buckles that covered the whole of the instep. On his head he -wore a large full-bottomed wig of silvery whiteness, fitting close to -the head, the hair from the whole head being shaved twice a week, to -permit the wig to fit close to the head. The back part of this wig, -on the “bottom,” as it was technically called, was very large, and -consisted of a mass of curls, of the kind that young ladies now call -frizzled; and as the collar of the vest was narrow, and the collar of -the coat laid flat on the back, the bottom of the wig could reach quite -near to the shoulders without interfering with any part of the dress. -Surmounting all was a large three-cornered cocked hat of the finest -beaver, but without any nap; this, with cravat and ample bands under -the chin, both of snowy whiteness, formed the costume of the venerable -man, who, on the beach of Elm Island, received the congratulations of -Sally and Mrs. Hadlock, and was regarded by these rebellious Yankees, -who had recently flung off the yoke of monarchy, with a veneration as -great as that of a true-bred Briton for his anointed king. - -In cold weather this dress was supplemented by a long blue broadcloth -cloak, with a small cape, thrown over the shoulders, but never -fastened in front. In this dress, with no covering for his legs from -the knee to the foot except silk tight-fitting stockings, without boots -or buskins (the latter being much worn by all except seamen, to keep -the snow out of the shoes), he preached sermons three quarters of an -hour in length, in a meeting-house without fire, and quite open. - -Why the good man did not freeze is to us a mystery only to be solved by -concluding, with Aunt Molly Bradish, that “‘twas all ordered.” - -At the meeting they got along splendidly with their singing, Uncle -Isaac lifting the tune and taking the lead. The whole company thought -they had never heard such a sermon; that the good man excelled himself; -while _he_ spoke in the highest terms of the singing. - -In respect to the supper, it needed not the encomiums freely lavished -upon it, as the performances of the reverend gentleman and all -concerned afforded more substantial evidence than figures of rhetoric -could furnish of their appreciation of its merits. - -In short, it was a most pleasant and profitable season to all. No -one seemed to enjoy himself less, not even Captain Rhines and the -minister, for the lack of spirit. - -“One thing is sartin, Benjamin,” said Uncle Isaac, as they sat down -together in the porch, to enjoy a quiet pipe; “which is, that people -can enjoy themselves, be sociable and neighborly, without liquor.” - -“Yes, and feel better after it’s over,” was the reply. - -Capacious as Ben’s house now was, it could by no means lodge all -the company. A field bed was made in the parlor and kitchen, with -additional bed-clothes which Ben had borrowed from his mother and Mrs. -Hadlock. - -The schooner’s crew slept on board; Fred and Charlie, to their entire -satisfaction, in the haymow, as it was long since they had met, and -they had many things to talk over. - -They dug a great hole in the hay and lined it with the mainsail of the -West Wind, got a meal bag and stuffed it with chaff for a pillow, then -taking the foresail for a covering, they lay spoon-fashion, and talked -themselves to sleep. - -“Charlie,” said Fred, “I’ll tell you what I’ve been thinking about: -there are a good many people that fish in big canoes; they catch a -great many fish in the spring and summer, and even in the winter, when -there comes a spell of good weather, that they dare go out, because, -you know, they have to row in. Well, they say, if I will put some goods -in the mill, that they will bring their fish to me, and take pay in -goods. Then some that fish in schooners, say, if I will put up some -flakes, they will bring their fish to me, and give me one quintal in -fifteen for making them.” - -“I’d do it, Fred; I think you’ll stand in your own light if you don’t; -you know you’ve got a wharf at the mill to land fish and goods, and -a place in your mill for your goods, measures, a scale and weights, -counter and shelves: you are all fixed.” - -“Not by a good deal. If I take fish from the canoes, I must have a -fish-house to salt and keep them in, and a pair of large scales to -weigh them, and the fish-house must be large enough to store a fare of -fish, or two or three, till they are made and marketed. Then it will -cost something to put up flakes; though father says he’ll give me the -timber to build the house and flakes, and let me use his oxen to haul -the timber to the spot, and the logs to the mill for the boards. But -then I can’t sell these fish till fall, and in the mean time I must -buy salt and goods, and I don’t like to run in debt. I have but little -money, and I ain’t one of the kind to go into a thing without making -some kind of calculation as to how I’m coming out.” - -“I’ll tell you what you do, Fred: go and cut your frame, and logs for -boards; haul your frame logs to the spot, and roll them up on skids all -ready to hew, and your logs for boards to the mill; cut and haul your -stuff for flakes; Joe Griffin won’t be gone more than a fortnight or -three weeks; when he comes back, I’ll get him and his crew, father, and -some more, and we’ll hew your frame out, raise it, and make your flakes -in two days. I can board and shingle it, and make the doors for you, -and you can pay me in goods.” - -“You are very kind, Charlie; it’s just like you; but even with all -these helps, I’ve not half money enough; three hundred and fifty -dollars won’t go far in buying goods.” - -“What kind of goods do you want?” - -“The most, of molasses, tea, coffee, and salt. O, I forgot the tobacco. -Rum I don’t drink, and won’t sell. These are the heaviest. I shall want -some sugar, nails, a few pots and kettles, medicines, calico, powder -and shot; the rest I can barter for round here. You know it takes a -good while, and is a great deal of expense, to get goods from Portland -or Boston here. You must be able, when you go, to buy enough at once to -last a good while.” - -“Now, Fred, listen to me: you, John, and myself have always been -together, like the fingers on one hand; we put our ventures into your -hands, and you did well for yourself and us: now, what is to hinder -John and me from putting more goods in your store to sell at half -profits. I’ve got four hundred dollars, John has got three hundred -dollars; there’s seven hundred dollars: we’ll put that into tea and -coffee; we’ll get Captain Rhines to go to Boston or Portland, and buy -it for us, put it in your hands to sell at half profits; then you can -have your own money to get other things. You can put a few goods in, -and go right to taking fish from the canoes, and by the time the large -vessels get along, we will get our goods.” - -“Charlie, you are a friend indeed; but will John be willing to do it?” - -“Yes; John Rhines will be willing to do anything that is good and -noble. He started the matter the first time; I mean to get the start -of him now. I’ll write to him to-morrow; there’s a vessel going to -Portland with timber, and the money is over to his father’s.” - -“Then,” said Fred, “I’ll go to Portland in her, and get a few things. I -can salt the fish in our barn till I get the fish-house built, and put -any dry fish I may make in the mill.” - -“I don’t believe but I can coax Joe Griffin to go in, and Flour; he’s -got money in Captain Rhines’s hands; I know father will.” - -It now being well towards morning, they went to sleep. The next day, -Charlie not only persuaded Joe Griffin, but Uncle Isaac and his father, -to help Fred. - -“I’ll tell you,” said Captain Rhines, “what you had better do. It’s a -poor calculation for Fred to take what he has got and go buy a small -quantity--he can’t make anything. I’ll take him and Charlie in the -Perseverance, and we’ll go right to Boston and get the whole. I’ll get -Mr. Welch to buy for me; he will do it better than I can.” - -“But we’ve not heard from John,” said Charlie. - -“Well, I’ve got the money, and I’ll take it with me. We’ll run into -Portland and ask him. I’ll get Flour to put his in. I’ll put in the tea -and tobacco, because I expect to trade with Fred, and I want to be sure -that they’re good.” - -The company now prepared to depart; but Ben persuaded Parson Goodhue to -stay, telling him that the vessel was going to Boston the next day, -and they would set him ashore at the mill wharf as they went along. - -While Ben and Charlie were gone to the main land with their friends, -the minister was left with Sally and Mrs. Hadlock. He amused himself -by taking a walk over the island, admiring its beauty, and looking at -the crops. Charlie had told him he had a wild goose and gander, and -also some goslings, the progeny of a tame goose and the wild gander. -After returning to the house and resting a while, he expressed a strong -desire to see them. - -“I can find them, Mrs. Rhines, if you will tell me in what direction to -go.” - -“I don’t think you had better go alone, sir, for the gander is in the -pen, and is quite cross.” - -“Indeed, Mrs. Rhines, I trust you don’t think I’m afraid of a goose.” - -But Sally persisted in going with him. - -The reverend gentleman was very much pleased with the goslings, who -bore a strong resemblance to both parents; but he was especially -delighted with the wild gander, which was a splendid fellow, and, from -being well fed, was large and plump. - -“I feel that I must get over in the pen, Mrs. Rhines; the gander seems -perfectly docile.” - -“Don’t, Mr. Goodhue, I beg of you; he is very savage, I assure you.” - -He, however, persisted in getting into the pen, despite her entreaties. - -“Only observe how affectionate and quiet he has become in captivity; -intercourse with human beings has doubtless exerted an ameliorating -influence upon his naturally savage nature: you will notice, Mrs. -Rhines, that he does not open his mouth and siss, as even the tame -ganders will do; indeed, I have always thought the study of natural -history a most delightful and fascinating recreation: it is, in one -sense, a revelation.” - -As we have before observed, suspenders were not worn in those days; and -any exertion often caused the breeches to work down, and the waistcoat -to work up, so as to render the linen visible between them. - -[Illustration: PARSON GOODHUE AND THE WILD GANDER. Page 105.] - -In walking over the island and climbing the fence, the good man had so -exerted himself, that a large fold of shirt appeared, and hung over the -waistband. The gander came up to him, put his head very gently against -him, took hold of it, and, while the attention of the minister was -directed to the goslings and the tame goose, filled his mouth with the -cloth; at length, having with the utmost gentleness obtained a firm -hold, the gander suddenly spread his great wings and began to thrash -the minister about the head and face, with the force of so many flails. -His cocked hat was knocked off in an instant; the wig followed suit. -Blinded and confused, he jumped back, falling prostrate upon his back: -he was now at the mercy of his antagonist, who, with the knobs of horn -on his wings, inflicted blows upon his face and bare scalp, that drew -blood at every stroke, the wild goose seconding the efforts of her mate -by viciously nipping his legs and hands. - -His screams were heard by Sally, who, deceived by the apparent good -nature of the gander, had gone to the house to see to the baby. She -threw her shawl over the gander’s wings, and seizing him by the neck, -choked him off, and thrust him into the pen made for the tame goose to -sit in, then assisted the parson to rise. - -He was indeed in a sorry plight; the blood was streaming from his face -and scalp, his clothing was soiled by the impurities of the yard, his -face covered with straw and feathers which the wings of the gander had -flung over him, and that stuck in the blood. The wild goose, with that -strong, sharp bill, with which they will pull up eel-grass by the -roots, had torn holes in the black silk stockings, and even torn the -skin beneath. - -Sally was affected to tears by this wholesale desecration of the -person of one she had been accustomed from infancy to look up to with -reverence. The wig, which had been the great object of her veneration, -and the cocked hat were trampled under foot by the parson in his first -attempts to escape. This, indeed, was no trifling matter, as the wig -could only be dressed and curled once a year; and for this it was -necessary to go to Boston, and it took a professional hairdresser a -whole day. - -The good man, however, was much less disturbed than Sally, and after -he had been put to rights by her and Sally Merrithew, took quite a -cheerful view of the matter, affirming, that though Paul passed through -many perils, he much doubted whether he had ever been in peril by a -wild gander. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -CHARLIE GETS NEW IDEAS WHILE IN BOSTON. - - -WHEN Ben returned, he was no less concerned than Sally, and instantly -proceeded to administer consolation in a more practical form, by -proposing that he should take passage with his father and the boys to -Boston, have the wig dressed, and procure an entire new suit, and he -would pay the bills. - -But the good man’s troubles were not ended yet. The barbers were -accustomed, when they dressed wigs, to put them on blocks of wood, made -in the form of a head. It so happened that, there being a great deal of -work in the barber’s shop, all the blocks were in use. The barber, for -want of a block, clapped the wig on the head of his negro apprentice -to dress it. A band of music came along, and the negro, jumping up, -ran out to listen. He went by a carriage-maker’s shop, when a man, who -was at work painting wheels, struck with the ludicrous appearance of a -negro with a snow-white wig, poured a whole paper of lampblack on his -head. This finished up the wig. But Captain Rhines, after laughing till -the tears ran down his cheeks, procured another. - -Charlie spent every leisure moment, while in Boston, in the ship-yards -and boat-builders’ shops. - -Mr. Welch, who had become thoroughly acquainted with Charlie while -visiting Elm Island, invited him and Fred to come with Captain Rhines -to dinner. He soon wormed out of Charlie all he had in view respecting -Fred, which caused him to become interested in the boy, and he gave -him much good advice in respect to business, concluding his remarks by -telling him he would buy all the fish he could cure, and give him the -highest market prices, according to quality. - -Mr. Welch invited, and insisted on, Captain Rhines coming to tea, as he -had some private matters he wished to talk over with him. - -“My old friend,” said the merchant, deeply moved, taking both the -captain’s hands in his the moment they were alone, “my oldest son, -who bears my name,--a name which I have ever striven to connect with -everything good and honorable,--is little better than a drunkard. He is -both indolent and vicious. His conduct has broken my heart, and is fast -bringing my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.” - -Captain Rhines, not knowing how to reply, remained silent; but the -pressure of the hand, and the tears that gathered in his eyes, -attested, beyond the power of words, his sympathy. - -“He is,” continued the parent, “of large business capacity, attractive -in his manners, and makes friends, though of violent temper when -aroused.” - -“Why don’t you send him to sea? Let him see the hard side of life, come -to misery, and learn to submit.” - -“I would, but it would kill his mother. She thinks his temper is so -violent he would kill some one, or be killed himself.” - -“Nonsense! begging your pardon. He may be very violent with you or his -mother; but let the mate of a vessel get afoul of him, and he would -knuckle fast enough. I wish I was going to sea now; I’d engage to bring -him to his bearings, and not hurt him, either.” - -“His mother would never consent to his going to sea. But I’ll tell you -what I’ve been thinking of ever since I was at Elm Island. That is a -place free from temptation. He resembles me in many things. Like me, he -is extravagantly fond of gunning and fishing, and has keen appreciation -of everything beautiful in nature. I thought, if he could spend a -summer in that beautiful spot,--he likes you and Ben; he couldn’t help -liking Charlie and Sally,--perhaps it might aid him to rally, for I -think of late he has made some effort in that direction. His mother has -often spoken of it, and says she would not be afraid to have him go to -Elm Island.” - -“She need be under no apprehension of his hurting Ben, and Ben -certainly won’t hurt him.” - -“It is not altogether in respect to Elm Island that I wished to speak. -But while I was there, I became acquainted with Mr. Murch--Uncle Isaac, -as everybody there calls him. He is certainly a most remarkable man. I -don’t know what it is, but there’s something about him impresses and -influences one in spite of himself. I couldn’t help feeling, while I -was talking with him, that I wanted him to have a good opinion of me, -and was vexed with myself for wishing that I knew what he thought of -me.” - -“Let me tell you, my friend, you couldn’t have a greater compliment -than Isaac’s good opinion.” - -“But the most remarkable thing is the liking that your John and -Charlie, and, as far as I could see, every other boy, seems to have -for him, and the influence he has over them. Why, John told me--and -Charlie says the same--that this young Williams was a bad, mischievous -boy, so bad that they were determined not to play with him, and would -have given him up had it not been for Mr. Murch. Now, if he can work -such miracles, why, if my poor boy was down there, couldn’t he, with -God’s help and blessing, do something for him?” - -“It is quite a different case. These were boys; your son is--” - -“Twenty-two next March.” - -“They were on the same level with Isaac. Your son is educated, and -Isaac would seem like an old codger to an educated man.” - -“He wouldn’t hold to that opinion long when he came to be acquainted -with him. It is too late now for this year. But if you think Benjamin -would be willing,--I should expect to pay his way, of course,--I should -like to try it, if I could get him to go.” - -“Anything that I or Ben can do, we will be glad to. Our hearts and -homes are open to you.” - -“You are very kind, and I will think more about it; there’s time -enough. Now, my dear friend, permit me to say a word to you. I am -considerably older than yourself. Our friendship is of long standing. -It dates back to the year you was twenty-one, and came to Boston mate -of the first vessel I ever owned any part of. We ought by this time to -_know_ each other as well as we _love_ each other. I feel as if I must -tell you there is but one thing you lack. Do, my old friend, give your -heart to God. Let us be one in feeling and sympathies here, as we are -in every other respect. In this bitter trial which has come upon me, it -has been my stay and comfort. If I could not have cast my burden on the -bosom of the Savior, I should have gone mad. There are sorrows to which -wealth can offer no alleviation, but there are none beyond the aid of -divine grace.” - -Captain Rhines was touched to the very heart, and most of all by the -noble spirit manifested by his friend, who, when crushed to the earth -by individual grief, turned from his own sorrows to seek his good. - -“I have, indeed,” he replied, “endeavored to live a moral life. I was -the child of godly parents, have been blessed with a pious wife, and -am a firm believer in the truths of the gospel; but I know that I -need more than this--that I must be born again. It is impossible for -a man of ordinary intelligence and capacity to follow the sea, as I -have for more than thirty years, without at times feeling deeply his -accountability. Oftentimes at sea, and at other times at home, when Mr. -Goodhue, a good, faithful man, has talked with me, I have resolved--I -have resolved to pray, but never have done it; yet I trust I shall.” - -“Life is uncertain. We may never meet again. Kneel down with me.” - -They knelt together, and Mr. Welch pleaded with his Maker for the -salvation of his friend; and, as they parted, Captain Rhines promised -him that he would take the matter into serious consideration, and -endeavor to pray for himself. “The same energy and resolution, my dear -friend, that carried the Ark through the storms of the Gulf Stream into -the harbor of Havana, and at one stroke won a fortune for yourself -and son, will carry you into the Ark of Safety, and perhaps be the -salvation of your whole family.” - -During their stay in Boston, Mr. Welch derived great pleasure from -talking with Charlie. It was a relief to the heart of the worn and -weary old man to listen to the conversation of the fresh-hearted boy, -full of hope and buoyancy. He entered into all his plans, and drew -from him his little secrets, which helped to withdraw him from his own -griefs. Charlie told him about his great disappointment by the wreck -of the West Wind, and he didn’t know how it would be, but thought some -time he should try to build a boat with timbers. Aware of Charlie’s -love of the soil, and all connected with it, he took him into his -orchard, where his gardener was putting in grafts, and told him to show -Charlie how to set them, and also how to bud. The first thing he said, -after he found he could perform the operation, was, “O, how glad father -and mother will be!” - -“I wish he was my boy,” was the thought that arose in the mind of the -merchant, as he perceived how love for his adopted parents colored -every impulse of his heart. - -“Has your father got his ground ready for his orchard? If he has, you -might take some trees home with you.” - -“No, sir, but he will have it ready in the fall.” - -“But haven’t you got some room in the garden, where you could put a few -trees temporarily, and then take them up?” - -“O, yes, sir.” - -“Well, you can take home some apple and pear trees that have never -been grafted, and the scions, and graft them yourself. It will be good -practice for you; and then, when you get the ground ready, you can put -them in the orchard. Are there not wild cherry trees and thorn bushes -on the island?” - -“Yes, sir, plenty of both. Lots of cherry trees came up on the burns.” - -“Well, you can graft the cherries with cherries, and the thorns with -pears.” - -“How nice that will be!” - -“But you must graft the thorns close to the ground, and bank the earth -up around them, that the pear may take root for itself.” - -“Why is that, sir?” - -“Because the pear will, in a few years, outgrow the thorn bush, and -will break down just as it begins to bear. The pear and the thorn -follow their own nature and habits of growth.” - -“That is very singular, sir.” - -“Yes, but so it is. Look at that apple tree just before us.” - -The tree to which Mr. Welch referred had been grafted about two feet -from the ground when it was little, and the graft jutted over the lower -portions all around three or four inches. - -“These trees,” said Mr. Welch, “are both apple trees, but the upper one -is a larger growing variety; still there is not the difference there -is between a thorn bush and a pear tree, so that one breaks the other -down. It’s just like religion, Charlie; religion don’t alter a person’s -color or size, or give him senses; but it gives him different tastes, -turns sour to sweet, and leads him to a better improvement of what -faculties he already has. Who runs out land down your way, Charlie?” - -“Squire Eveleth, sir; but he’s getting quite old and feeble, and can’t -go into the woods; and people often come for father to run land and -measure timber.” - -“Has your father got instruments?” - -“He has calipers and a rule to measure timber; but he hires Squire -Eveleth’s compass and chain when he runs land.” - -“Would you like to learn surveying, Charlie?” - -“O, yes, sir, I like to learn anything; but I would like to learn that -uncommon well.” - -“You might pick up a good deal of money in that way in a new country, -where people are always buying and selling land, and the stump leave of -timber.” - -“Yes, sir; I suppose I might.” - -“When you will write me that you have learned to survey, I will send -you a compass, and all the instruments you want.” - -“I thank you very much indeed, sir; I will get father to learn me this -winter.” - -When Charlie left, Mr. Welch gave him some books that treated of -agriculture, text-books to study surveying, a gauge, bevel, carpenter’s -pocket rule, and a case of instruments to draw geometrical figures. - -“What a pretty craft this is!” said Mr. Welch, as he stood on the -wharf to see them off; “she certainly don’t look or smell much like a -fisherman.” - -“She hasn’t been a fishing since last fall,” replied the captain. “Ben, -you know, is a deep-water sailor, and keeps to his old notions. Nobody, -I guess, ever caught a fisherman holy-stoning his decks, and they don’t -slush the masts any higher than they can reach.” - -“She’s a beauty; but she seems small to go to the stormy coast of -Labrador, the Bay of Fundy, and those places where fishermen go.” - -“Small! Believe me, I would sooner take my chance for life on a lee -shore, or lying to in a gale of wind, in her, than in any _ship_ I was -ever in. A chebacco boat will beat square to windward where a ship -couldn’t hold her own; lie to and keep dry till all is blue; and drug -them, they will live forever. I served my apprenticeship in a chebacco -boat; I ought to know something about them.” - -Having a fair wind, Captain Rhines did not touch at Portland on his -way up to Boston; but going home, he put in there, saw John, and told -him what disposition he had made of his money, of which John highly -approved. - -The goods they had bought and brought home were put into the mill. -Charlie got up his “bee,” built the fish-house and flakes, and Fred -soon covered them with fish. As it took but three good days to make the -fish sufficiently to put them in the house, it soon assumed the air of -a business place. - -Fred’s stock of goods was so much larger than before, that the store in -the mill was enlarged, additional shelves put up, and many conveniences -added; he also got rid of trusting anybody, as so large a portion of -his goods were sold on commission. In order to render it easier to keep -accounts, each one put in separate articles. Teas and tobacco belonged -to Captain Rhines; hardware, iron, and nails, to John; molasses, to -Charlie; and so on; the smaller articles Fred purchased himself. - -Charlie made Fred a sign-board, and he took it to Wiscasset and had it -lettered. Every day, often before sunrise, Fred was to be seen taking -fish from the pickle and putting them on the flakes, or salting them -as they came from the boats, or turning them on the flakes, every now -and then running to the store to wait on some customer. - -The good minister recognized the hand of Providence in the affliction -which resulted in a new suit from top to toe; yet it may well be -doubted whether he ever again became so fascinated with the study of -natural history as to pursue it in a goose pen, or to take for his -subject a wild gander. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -NO GIVE UP TO CHARLIE. - - -CHARLIE lost but very little time, after his arrival at the island, -before he began to set out his trees, and, having completed this work, -was ready to graft them. He wisely determined not to graft them all, -fearing, as he was new in the business, they might not take. - -Going to the brook, he procured some blue clay, made it soft with -water, mixed the hair and manure of cattle with it, and after putting -in his scions, covered the cleft with the composition (the use of wax -was not known then); but the clay, after all, is better, though it -takes three times as long to put it on, and is less agreeable to handle. - -He then covered the clay with tow, and almost every day went to look -at them, to see if they were going to take, and then grafted a large -number of thorn bushes and wild cherry trees. - -The crops were now in the ground, Fred set up in business again, and -the baby in his new cradle. The swallows had completed their nests, -and were twittering from the eaves of the barn. A pair of robins had -established themselves at the fall of the brook, in the birch that -flung its shadow over Sally’s tubs, and the spout which Charlie had -made to carry the water into them; adjoining to which was a little -green plat bordering the brook, and fringed with wild flowers that had -come to Elm Island with the birds; here was where Sally washed and -bleached her linen, singing meanwhile, as though washing was the most -delightful occupation in the world. - -Robins are a right sociable bird, and they didn’t seem to be the least -mite disturbed by Sally’s operations, but, whenever she sang, replied -to her with all their heart. Whenever she left the tub to sprinkle -water on the linen spread out to whiten, they would light on the edge -of it and sing. More tardy in their arrival than the others, but not -less welcome, were four bobolinks. Many times in a day, Charlie would -come racing down to the brook, and say,-- - - -“Mother, do listen to that fellow, singing on the top of that -fire-weed; don’t he go it as if it did him good? Come, mother, let’s -you and I sing;” and they would strike up, “Johnny has gone to the -Fair.” - -When all these excitements were over, those natural impulses which can -never be suppressed for any great length of time began to assert their -claims, and Charlie’s thoughts to run in their wonted channel; his -fingers itched to be once more handling tools. He began to talk with -his father, while they were hoeing together, in respect to the best -kinds of wood for boat-building, who told him that ships’ boats were -generally built of oak, both plank and timbers, because they had to -undergo a great deal of hard usage, and were often beached with heavy -loads in them; but that he had seen a great many boats made of pine and -spruce; that they were more buoyant, would carry more, were lighter to -handle, and if kept afloat, and off the rocks, were just as good. We -would observe here, that the covering of a boat is called plank, though -it has only the thickness of a board. - -Ben also told him that cedar was an excellent material to build boats -of; that in Bermuda he had seen vessels of thirty tons built entirely -of cedar; that it was strong enough, very durable, and would not soak -water; that a boat built altogether of cedar would live forever in a -sea, they were so buoyant, just like an egg-shell, top of everything; -you couldn’t get any water into them; and that was the wood whale boats -were built of. - -The moment Charlie began to talk with his father on this subject, the -smouldering fire began to burn. He remembered how gloriously the West -Wind was streaking it just as she split in two; again he heard the -music of the water at her bows, and felt it rushing along under her -counter, and thought how gracefully she rose on a sea, as he put his -helm down to shake out a flaw. - -Long before night he had decided to build a boat that could not split -in two, and also the material he would use. There were some large -straight-grained sticks of cedar on the beach, which had been cut to -put into the Ark, that would make excellent plank. As soon as he left -off work at night, he hurried through his chores, then took his axe and -went into the woods. - -During his visits to Boston and Portland, he had spent most of his -leisure time in the ship-yards and boat-builders’ shops. During his -last visit he had seen three boats in different stages of progress. One -of them had the stem and stern-post fastened to the keel, and a couple -of floor timbers put on; another was completely timbered, and one -streak of plank, the one next to the top, put on. He asked the builder -why that one alone was put on. He said that was the binding streak, -which kept the boat in shape, and confined all the timbers, and that -now the boat might be laid by, and finished at any time, as she would -not get out of shape; that the top streak was left off in order that -the sheer (crook) of the boat might be taken out of that. - -Although he did not even then think seriously of trying to build a -boat, or do anything more than fasten the West Wind together and secure -her with knees, yet his mechanical turn led him to measure the depth, -length, and breadth of beam of this boat, the distance apart of the -timbers, and the size of them, and to notice the manner in which they -steamed the plank to bend them. He also perceived that the transom of -a boat (square end of the stern), instead of being made of timber, and -covered like that of a vessel, was made either of one or two pieces of -plank, and fastened to the stern-post. - -Thus he knew what material he wanted. Finding an oak, the body of which -would afford material for stern, keel, transom, and thwarts, and the -limbs make knees and breast-hooks, he cut it down, and hauled it to the -beach, intending to lash the cedar to it, and towing them both to the -mill, have them sawed to answer his purpose. - -“I wouldn’t go to all that trouble,” said Ben. “The first rainy day -that comes, we will take them into the barn, and saw them with the -whip-saw.” (During the winter Charlie had learned to saw with it.) -He decided to build her in the barn, where were a large workshop and -bench, and he could work there rainy days. - -He built an arch, with stones and clay mortar, near the barn, set the -small sap kettle in it, and made a steam box to steam his planks, in -order to bend them. His next operation was to haul the two halves of -the West Wind to the barn, and fasten them together. With pieces of -thin board he took the exact shape of her side in different places--in -the middle, a little forward of that, then nearly to the stem forward, -and nearly to the stern aft. These moulds reversed would answer equally -well for the other side. - -The first rainy day, Ben helped him saw out his oak and cedar; he stuck -the cedar up to season. The next two days being too wet to hoe, he made -the keel, stem, and stern-post by that of the old boat, and put in the -deadwood. - -The extreme ends of a boat or vessel, being too thin to admit of -timbering, are filled up by putting in knees and timber, which afford -support to both the stem and stern-post, and a place to fasten the -upright timbers that form the extremity of the bow and stern. This is -firmly bolted to the keel, and called the deadwood. - -Taking the shape of the stern, he by this cut out his transom from -a whole piece of plank, and secured it to the stern-post. There is -quite a difference between the timbering of a vessel and a boat. The -timbers, which form what is called a frame in ship-building, reaching -from the keel to the top, are numerous, and are named floor timbers, -futtocks, top timbers, and naval timbers, or ground futtocks. The floor -timbers are placed at right angles with the keel, forming the flat -bottom or floor of a vessel, which gives her buoyancy and stability to -carry sail, and the other timbers are fastened to these, the futtocks -first, forming the curvature of the side, and the top timbers last. -But a boat has only two timbers in a frame. The boat-builder puts his -floor timbers on the keel, and fastens them there, then makes all the -rest of the frame in one piece, which he calls a naval timber, which -laps by the floor timber to the keel, is fastened to it, and forms the -side. Builders now make their timbers out of plank, which they steam -and bend to suit them. They pursued this course in England, and some -other parts of Europe, even at that period; but in this country they -used the natural crooks, branches, and roots of trees, and even to this -day, in Maine, boats are built in this way, though not by professional -builders. They use natural crooks for breast hooks, knees, and floor -timbers, and sometimes for sharp risers, and the V-shaped timbers -that form the ends, but bend all the rest. Some of them bend knees -and breast hooks by slitting the timber to let one part crowd by the -other; thus they can make the angle to suit them. And latterly, at East -Boston, a ship has been built in which all those great timbers that -make the frame and knees of a vessel were steamed and bent. - -You must remember, young readers, that Charlie was compelled to dig -everything out as he went along. He was very differently situated from -an apprentice, who has the instructions of his master, and learns all -the rules of his art step by step. He was alone on Elm Island, thrown -entirely on his own resources, and with only such information as he had -derived from transient visits to a boat-builder’s shop. - -He now wanted a mould for his floor timbers. As he had taken the whole -measure of the side to the keel, this gave him the rise (crook) of the -floor timbers, but he was at loss how long to make them. However, he -had now become so full of boat that nothing would stop him. - -The Perseverance lay at anchor in the harbor, having come in for bait. -He cut out the ceiling in two places to look at her floor timbers, and -made his, as he thought, of a proportionate length. - -He now drew two lines on the barn floor as long as the keel, and as far -apart as it was thick; then, placing his naval timber moulds against -this line, he marked out the shape and length of the floor timbers, and -made moulds for them, cut the rabbet on the keel, and at the stem and -stern, to receive the plank. He then took his moulds, and, going to the -woods, cut limbs and dug out roots to correspond to the shape of them, -and with broadaxe, saw, and draw-shave, brought them to the right shape -and dimensions, which was ten times the work it would have been to get -them out of plank sawed at the mill to the right thickness, and bend -them. - -Fastening his timbers to the keel, and measuring the width of the West -Wind, he brought them by cross-pawls to the same width. He next took -some long, narrow strips of boards, called ribbands, and fastening -one of them to the stem, he brought it along the heads of the floor -timbers, and nailed it to the stern-post and floor timbers. He put -another along the tops of the naval timbers, and one between; then made -moulds for all the other timbers by shoving them out against these -ribbands, and shaping them by his eye. After the timbers were all in, -he carefully adjusted the tops by crossbands and shores on the outside, -till a plumb-line, dropped from the centre of one stretched from stem -to stern, struck the centre of the keel; then, by measuring from each -side to this line, he knew she was just as full on one side as the -other. He also ascertained that he could get the bevel of the timber by -the ribbands by taking off the wood wherever they bore on the edges of -the timbers. - -As the boat sharpens, the timbers straighten, and take the form of the -letter V. As they no longer require bending, the boat-builders saw them -from straight plank, and crow-foot (notch) them to the keel, and at -the stem and stern-post, and scarf them to the deadwood; but Charlie -procured crotches, as there were plenty of them in the woods, where the -branches of trees forked, presenting the most acute angles. - -Working a narrow plank all around the inside for the thwarts to rest -on, called a “rising,” he put them in, planing and putting a bead -on the edges, and rubbing them smooth with dog-fish skin, Charlie’s -substitute for sand-paper, although he could not knee them till the -boat was farther advanced. He now found that she was not widest -amidships, but that her greatest breadth was forward of the middle -timber. Thus, in taking a fish for his guide he had obtained what is -now ascertained to be the best proportion for speed. - -He felt pretty nice when he had accomplished all, as he had done it by -rising as soon as it was light, working at night as long as he could -see, and on rainy days. He thought he had done the thing, and won the -victory. - -Looking all around to see if anybody saw him, he began to dance around -the boat, and sing, “I’ve done it! I’ve done it! I’ve got something -that won’t split in two now! What will Fred, John, and Uncle Isaac say -to this? Won’t I be proud showing her to Uncle Isaac and Joe Griffin! -I must finish her up nice, for their eyes are sharper than needles. -There’s Sam Chase, who laughed when the West Wind split in two, and -said he was glad of it--mean, spiteful creature! I guess he’ll laugh -t’other side of his mouth this time. Now, I should like to wrestle -with somebody, or do something or other. Guess I’ll go look at the -apple trees, and see if the scions have taken. There’s the horn for -supper. Well, I’ll go after supper. It was well for me it rained this -forenoon, or I should not have accomplished all this.” - -After supper, as Charlie sat playing with the baby, and telling -his father of his success with the boat, in came Ben, Jr., in high -feathers, with both hands full of scions, and covered with tow, and -flung them into his mother’s lap, laughing and crowing as though he had -done some great and good thing. - -“O, you little torment!” cried Charlie; “if you haven’t pulled out all -the scions Mr. Welch gave me!” - -It was even so. Ben, attracted by the bunches of clay covered with tow, -and the scions sticking up through them, had made a clean sweep, and -pulled out or broken off every one. - -“Only see, mother!” said Charlie; “they’ve nearly all started! There’s -one got two leaves, and there’s two more with the buds opening!” - -“I’ve a good mind,” said his mother,” to give him a good whipping.” - -Ben, who loved Charlie with all his heart, seeing he was angry with -him, began to cry as if his heart would break. - -“Don’t cry,” said Charlie, mollified in an instant. “I wouldn’t whip -him, mother. He didn’t know any better. I’m glad I didn’t graft all of -them.” - -To change his thoughts, he took his gun and Sailor, and, getting into -the Twilight, pulled over to Griffin’s Island. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -CHARLIE LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE. - - -WHEN Charlie first sat down to his oars, he was not in so happy and -jubilant a frame as when leaving the barn, after having completed the -timbering out of his boat; but as he pulled away from the island, the -calm hour, the beauty of the sea and shore, the glassy surface of the -bay touched by the rays of the setting sun, gradually tranquillized his -perturbed feelings. - -“I have learned to graft, at any rate,” he soliloquized, “and I can get -some more scions of Mr. Welch.” And by the time he was half way to the -island he had begun to sing and talk aloud to himself. - -Charlie’s love for the soil had by no means become weakened through his -devotion to boat-building; and now that the distress was over, and he -felt that he could do it, he bethought himself of other matters that -required looking after. - -The garden must be seen to right away, the beets and carrots must be -weeded, the honeysuckle nailed up, the beans and squashes hoed, and -sticks put to the peas. - -“There,” said he, “is that cabbage rose-bush, Mary Rhines gave me, -ought to have a hoop to hold it up. I’ll make one, like a Turk’s head, -out of willow, and stain it, and plane out three stakes of oak to hold -it up; and I’ll stain them; it’s the last green dye I’ve got; but I -don’t care.” - -Charlie now had two objects in view: one was, to shoot a seal, and the -other, and more important one, to learn to growl like them. In summer -evenings, seals are very fond of resorting to the ledges at half tide, -and to the sand spits, where they lie and suckle their young, where -they feel safe, and much at home, growl, and are very sociable. The -many ledges lying off Griffin’s Island were frequented by seals; but -one in particular, called the Flatiron from its shape, was a favorite -resort, because, while the others were within gunshot of the island, -this was far beyond the range of any ordinary gun. Charlie, knowing -this, had brought, in addition to his own gun, Ben’s great wall piece, -the barrel of which was seven feet in length, and the stock looked as -if it had been hewed out with an axe. Uncle Isaac had often threatened -to make a new stock for it. Notwithstanding its bad looks, it was -a choice gun for long distances, and threw the charge where it was -pointed. - -This ledge also possessed another attraction for the seals, as it was -flat, smooth, covered with a soft mat of sea-weed, and at the edges -slanted off into deep water; thus they could put their watchman on a -little ridge that rose up in the middle very much like the handle of -a flatiron, and when he gave the alarm, the whole band could, in an -instant, souse into the water. - -Charlie knew that Uncle Isaac and Joe Griffin could imitate the noise -of seals so exactly as to draw them on to the ledge, they supposing it -to be another seal; and that Uncle Isaac had a seal stuffed, which he -would set on a ledge, as though alive, and then, concealing himself, -make a noise like them. The seals, hearing the noise, and seeing the -stuffed one, would endeavor to crawl up, and thus afford a shot. -Charlie was an excellent singer, and a pretty good mimic, and hoped by -practice to obtain sufficient accuracy to deceive a seal; and he wanted -to kill one to stuff, that he might try Uncle Isaac’s plan. - -Landing, and crossing the island, he approached the bank abreast the -ledge. Near this bank was a ridge of shelly rock, rising, about two -feet from the grass ground, to a sharp edge, from which the land sloped -gradually towards the centre of the island--just the place to lie and -rest the big gun over the edge of the rock. - -Although Charlie had no objection to shooting a seal, he was much -more anxious to practise growling. It was little after high water: he -crawled up behind the ledge, with the boat’s sail over him, to keep off -the dew, and lay down in the bright moonlight to watch the seals, who -were swimming around the top of the rock, that was just beginning to -get bare, preparing to go on to it. With the patience of a sportsman -Charlie waited; gradually the rock was left above the water. At length -one seal ventured to land; then others followed; and soon they began -to converse. Charlie had practised a good deal, at home, by striving -to imitate them from recollection, and now had come over here that he -might hear them more, and fix the sounds well in his memory: so he lay -and listened a long time to the sounds, imitating them in a low tone, -repeating them again and again. At length, flattering himself he had -caught the tone quite perfectly, he concluded to try it on the seals; -but the moment his voice rose on the air, every one of them went into -the water. Charlie was quite mortified at this; but it was evident -they were not much alarmed, for they soon came back, and resumed -their growling. After listening again for some time, and practising -as before, he made another effort aloud, when, to his great joy, they -remained; another attempt was equally successful; but the third time -some false note startled the wary creatures, and off they slid from the -ledge; but after swimming around a while they returned again. - -Charlie, quite well satisfied now with his proficiency in the language, -determined to shoot one of his instructors. He took aim at a big -fellow who sat upon the highest part of the ledge and seemed to act as -watchman, and fired the old gun. It was heavily loaded with buckshot, -and the seal never moved after receiving the charge. - -“So much for the big gun,” said Charlie. - -On his way home he concluded not to meddle with the boat again till -some rainy day, or till he had put the garden and flowers to rights. - -After skinning his seal, cutting the skin as little as possible, he -stuffed it with salt, intending to make a decoy of it. He rather -thought he should get into it, as the Indian got into the hog’s skin -to kill poor Sally Dinsmore, thinking he could growl a great deal -better in a seal-skin. - -The mornings now were most beautiful; it was generally calm till ten -or eleven o’clock; and a busier or more attractive spot than Elm -Island presented it would be difficult to find. As the gray light of -morning began to break, you would hear far off in the woods a single, -sudden, harsh cry, breaking with explosive force from the mouth of an -old heron, instantly followed by others; the squawks would add their -contribution; then would follow the sharp screams of the fish-hawk, -mingling with the crowing of cocks,--of which there were no less than -three in the barn,--the clear notes of the robin, and the twittering of -many swallows from the eaves, that, with their heads sticking out of -little round holes in their nests, were bidding their neighbors good -morning. - -As the sun came up, all were stirred to new emulation; the bobolink, -shaking the dew from his wings, poured forth his wild medley of -notes; and faint in the distance was heard the bleating of sheep from -Griffin’s Island. - -As Charlie, mounted on a ladder, trained the honeysuckle over the -front door and windows, he often paused to listen, and sitting upon -the round of the ladder, inhaled the fragrance of the morning air, or -gazed from his elevation upon the beautiful scene before him--the noble -bay, smooth as a mirror, touched by the full rays of the rising sun; -the gray cliffs of the islands, frowning above, with their majestic -coronal of forests; and the green nooks, here and there upon them, -glittering with dew. - -“I wish I was a bobolink--I do,” said he, as he listened to one, who, -more ambitious than his mates, was striving to lead the choir, from -the summit of a mullein stalk, with mouth wide open, wings and every -feather on him in motion. - -The old bush Mrs. Hadlock had given her daughter, sacred to the -associations of childhood, was now bending beneath its weight of -flowers, while close beside it blushed the cabbage roses, hanging in -rich clusters over the edge of the ornamental hoop Charlie had put -around the bush. - -To his great joy, Charlie found, on inspection, that his grafts were -not all destroyed. With the best intention in the world to do mischief, -Ben, Jr., had not accomplished his intent. The clay had baked so hard -around the scions, that he had broken part of them off, leaving a -couple of buds; for Charlie had put one bud into the cleft of each -stock, and they were coming through the clay. - -“I don’t care a cent’s worth,” cried he, when he saw this; “in two -years I can get scions from these.” - -He found that the pears and cherries that had escaped Ben’s notice had -most of them taken, and were starting finely. - -You seldom find boys who have more to occupy their attention and take -up their time than Charlie had. He had wintered eight ducks and a -drake, and young ducks were everywhere, for he had kept the old ducks -laying, and set the eggs under hens. He had fifty hens (for there was -corn enough on Elm Island now), and troops of chickens. He also had -four mongrel geese, the offspring of the wild gander and the tame -goose, and six rabbits. He was raising two calves, intending to have a -yoke of oxen, and there were two cosset lambs; one of the mother sheep -had got cut off by the tide under the rocks on Griffin’s Island, and -drowned; the other was mired, and the eagles had picked out her eyes. -He had taught these cossets to drink cow’s milk. Ben, Jr., who was as -bright and smart as he was mischievous, attended to feeding them, and -they would follow him all around the premises; but even this was not -all. Uncle Isaac, in building fence that spring, had found a partridge -nest, with fifteen eggs; as the parent had not begun to sit on them, he -brought them over to Charlie, well knowing his fondness for pets. - -“If you can tame them when they hatch,” said he, “you will do what was -never done before.” - -The day before, little Ben had come upon a hen that had stolen her nest -in the edge of the woods, and was just beginning to sit. He came into -the house full of the matter to his mother, who, taking the hen from -the nest, put her under a tub to break her from wanting to sit. As -there was no other hen that wanted to sit, Charlie put the partridge -eggs in the same nest, and put the hen on them, as he was afraid she -would leave them if he put them in a new place: he intended to keep -watch of her, and as soon as the eggs were pipped, to take the mother -and young into the barn. - -Whenever Charlie had a little leisure amid his numerous avocations, he -enjoyed a great deal in watching the proceedings of his large family, -commonly as they retired for the night, as he was generally about the -barn, and more at leisure then. - -Although Charlie is now verging on early manhood, resolute to grapple -with danger, and yielding to no difficulties, yet he was peculiarly -boyish in his tastes; this tendency, in part native, had been fostered -by his isolated position, which compelled him to find enjoyment in -different sources from boys in general; his pets were his companions. -It is a great mistake to suppose that roughness is an attribute of -courage. It was Nelson who said, as he was dying, to his comrade -through whole days of bloodshed, “Kiss me, Hardy.” - -Charlie had more moral and physical courage than Pete Clash, though he -had never lost his childish innocence. He loved to see the hens calling -their chickens together for the night, and collecting them under their -wings, to see their little heads sticking out from under their mothers’ -breasts, and chirping, as though saying, “Mother, it ain’t night yet; -it ain’t time to go to bed;” or in another case, where the chickens -had outgrown their swaddling-clothes, two of them roosting on their -mother’s back. He also noticed the contrast between the hens, as they -went to roost, and the swallows, whose nests were hung to the rafters -and purlins, just above the high beams, on which they roosted. The hens -seemed inspired with the very spirit of discord the moment the hour -of retiring arrived. Madame Ebony, rejoicing in the dignity of age, -and a grandmother, was shocked that a yellow-legged, last year’s late -chick, that had not yet laid a litter of eggs, and those she had laid -not but a trifle larger than potato balls, should presume to roost next -to her, and began picking at her to drive her off the perch, while Mrs. -Yellowlegs exclaimed, “I’m a married woman! I’m as good as you are any -day in the year! I’ll call my husband!” - -In the midst of this brawl, the white rooster, who prefers to do all -the fighting himself, flies up, and knocks them both down into the barn -floor, when every hen in the barn screams out at the top of her voice, -“Served them right!” - -At length all is measurably quiet. A dispute commences between Mrs. -Brown and Mrs. White, in which all take sides, as to which has had the -most children. This is hardly over, and all about to compose themselves -for the night, when the old white rooster espies a younger one on the -end of the same beam, close to the eaves, and instantly calls out, “Ah, -you thought I didn’t see you! Get off that beam, you miserable upstart!” - -“I won’t. I’ve as good right here on this beam as you have. It ain’t -any of your beam.” - -Upon this, outraged dignity, to avenge himself, goes walking along the -beam, knocking the hens off, who, sputtering and fluttering, fly down -into the floor, where they are followed by the young upstart. - -The pugnacious fowls have become quiet at last, except that -occasionally some aggrieved one cries in angry tones, “You crowd,” -while the other replies, “I don’t--’tis yourself.” - -How different the swallows, who, having tarried later out of doors -than the fowls, to catch the insects that are then abundant, now -come gliding on swift and noiseless wing to their nests, through the -holes Charlie had cut for them. Here all is harmony, love, and social -affection. No bickerings, no struggle for preëminence, but, sitting -on the edge of the nest, they bid each other good night in a pleasant -twitter, and with head beneath their wing, sink to rest. - -He also took pleasure in seeing the male swallow put flies into the -mouth of his mate, as she sat patiently upon her eggs, or watch them -feed their young on the wing. It amused him to see the ducks coming up -from the brook in Indian file. - -As he had derived much pleasure from watching the eave-swallows as -they built their nests, he was equally interested in looking at them -after they were built and filled with birds,--their heads protruding -from the doors of their dwellings,--also the courage they displayed in -driving intruders from their premises. - -He found they were not quite so mild in their dispositions as the -swallows that built within, and frequently engaged in contests with -them, in which they were generally the aggressors. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY. - - -WHEN Charlie had put his garden in order, and accomplished other -necessary things, he began again to work at his boat. - -If he had flattered himself that his difficulties were over when the -boat was timbered out, he now found they had but commenced. It was now -time to put on the binding streak. He measured up from the keel at -the stem and stern for his sheer, and marked it on the timbers; then -marked the depth of the old boat on the midship timbers, and measured -down from these marks for the width of his top streak. He then worked a -ribband along these marks from stem to stern. Those marks, which formed -the guide for the lower edge of his top streak, also answered for the -top of his binding streak. He had made the top streak of one uniform -width, but he now perceived that the distance was so much greater -from the keel to the gunwale of the boat, over the middle than at the -ends, that he should get up at the ends before he was more than two -thirds up at the middle. He also saw that, by reason of the greater -fulness aft, the planks must be wider at the ends aft than forward. He -therefore divided them into proportionate widths to fill up; but as he -thought he had noticed that the upper streak on boats was of a uniform -width, he resolved to let that remain. He now measured down from the -ribband for his binding streak, got it out by the marks, and put it on; -but to his mortification it stuck up in the air at both ends. He could -scarcely believe his eyes. He went over his marks again. They were all -right, and yet the ends stuck up far above the marks. Had these marks -been made on a flat surface, the plank would have gone on fair. It was -the twist of the boat that threw them up. He now saw, to his cost, that -planking a boat was quite a different thing from boarding a barn. The -upper edge of the plank came all right along the marks, but the lower -edge stood away off, and the moment he crowded that down to its place, -up came the upper edge. - -“Guess I’ve got a job before me now,” said Charlie. Foreseeing that he -should spoil many plank, and that they would be too stiff to bend and -work with as patterns, with Ben’s aid he sawed out some oak pieces -very thin, and as these were green, they would bend easily. - -“Father, how do carpenters put plank on a vessel?” - -“I don’t know. I never noticed.” - -“Didn’t you put the wales and garboards on the Ark?” - -“No; Joe Griffin and Uncle Isaac put them on, while you and I were -towing rafts to the mill.” - -But Charlie had not the least idea of relinquishing effort, or yielding -to difficulties, however great. - -There was one essential thing in Charlie’s favor. Timber was then worth -very little, and it didn’t matter much how many patterns he spoiled. It -was only the loss of labor in sawing the oak. - -He now went resolutely to work. - -“It must be done, and I can and will do it,” was Charlie’s motto. - -After a great many trials, which produced no satisfactory results, -he at length hit upon a plan. Noticing that his plank ran up when he -brought it to, he took a board wide enough when brought to the timbers -to cover the mark for the lower edge of the streak, notwithstanding -its running up. He made his marks on the sides of the timbers where -he could see them from the inside, and then getting into the boat, -marked the distance on both edges at every timber, then struck a line -from mark to mark, leaving some wood “to come and go upon,” as the -carpenter’s phrase is. In this way, by great care, cutting and paring, -he brought his pattern to an exact fit, and got out his streaks by it, -the same pattern answering for both streaks, both sides being alike. - -It was an everlasting sight of work, but Charlie possessed that -indispensable attribute to success, patient perseverance. Ships and -boats, in their present state of perfection, are the results of the -efforts of hand and brain for ages, each century adding its mite. - -In boat-building, as in all mechanical employments, there are certain -rules which are taught by masters to their apprentices, having -themselves received them from others, by which hundreds of men work, -who could never have discovered them themselves. It was no marvel, -then, that this boy, though a natural mechanic, did not know how to -work plank, since, without instruction, he must begin at the bottom -and work it out himself. He put on his top streak the same way as the -others. - -The two planks of a boat next the keel are called the garboards, and -are the most difficult to put on, as the workman there has to contend -with the peculiar twist which the planks of a boat receive at the stem -and stern, and also to fit the plank to the circular rabbet at the -ends. However, he was equal to the task. Taking a very wide, thin oak -board, he steamed it a long time, till it was as limber as a rag; then -he put the lower edge against the keel, and setting shores against it, -jammed it into the timber the whole length. He then removed one of the -end shores, so that he could take the plank off a little to see where -to mark, and began to scratch and cut. - -When he had fitted the wood ends and the lower edge, he got inside, and -scribed along the timbers for the width of the plank. It was slow work, -but encouraged by feeling that ultimate success was only a question of -time, he persevered till his pattern fitted to a shaving. By this he -got out his two streaks, and put them on, only nailing sufficiently to -keep them in shape, as he thought he might possibly wish to make some -alteration in the width. When he had driven in the last nail, he flung -his hammer the whole length of the barn floor, and stretched himself on -the hay, completely tired. - -“I don’t see what makes me feel so tired! I feel as tired as though I -had been lifting rocks all day, and yet I’ve only been tinkering about -this boat.” - -Charlie had in reality been sweating his brain, and experienced the -fatigue which results from mental labor. Indeed, he was so wearied that -Sally, after blowing the horn in vain for him to come to supper, went -to look for him, and found him sound asleep on the hay. He now resolved -to do no more on his boat till haying was over. - -Perhaps some of our young readers, who have not Charlie’s mechanical -turn, may be a little weary of these details. We shall therefore tell -them, in confidence, why we have been so minute, and also why we intend -to deal a little more--that is, after haying--in these technicalities. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -POMP’S POND. - - -NO matter what year we were at Andover. There was then, and I suppose -is now, in that staid old town, a certain pond, called Pomp’s Pond, in -which grew any quantity of pond lilies, and some small fish. - -These lilies grew in deep water, which was black, full of sediment and -slime, and withal not very pleasant to go into. These lilies were in -great request among the theological and Phillips Academy students. - -The Academy boys were also very fond of fishing there; and the only -available boat was a wherry, belonging to a man by the name of -Goldsmith, who, to keep the boys from getting her, kept her at his -house near by. - -When any parties wished to hire her, he hauled her down with his oxen, -and, when their time was up, hauled her back again. - -We were as fond of lilies and fishing as the next one; but the idea of -being tied down to Goldsmith did not agree at all with our notions. We -required a larger liberty, and altogether more searoom. We therefore -resolved to build a wherry of our own, to go and come when we liked, -moonlight nights and all. We had at first intended to make her large -enough to take a friend or two with us, but the difficulty that -presented itself at the outset was, where we should keep her. If we -kept her at the pond, all the Academy boys would be in her from morning -till night, and when we wanted her, they would be off in the pond, or -the oars would be lost or broken, and besides, she would be too heavy -to haul out and hide in the woods. - -As a preliminary, we made a critical survey of the pond and -surroundings, when it appeared that upon one side was a quagmire, -abounding in cat-tail (cooper’s) flags, abutting on some sandy land -covered with a thick growth of pitch-pine and brush. In view of -these circumstances, we resolved to make a wherry only large enough -to contain our own person, and so light that we could carry it on -the shoulder, or, by tying the ends of our neckerchief together, and -flinging it over the stem, drag it through this flag swamp, where no -one could follow, and hide it in the woods. We had also ascertained a -fact not known to the boys--that the roots of the flag will support -one; but if you step between, down you go. - -What a nice thing it would have been, then, to have had some one tell -us how to make the boat! But there was no one, and, like Charlie on -Elm Island, we were flung upon our own resources; nor was material so -plentiful with us as with him: however, we procured some apple tree -limbs, where Jacob Abbot had been trimming his orchard, for timbers, -and went into Mr. Hidden’s carpenter’s shop to build her. - -I shan’t tell you how wide she was, but when we sat in the middle of -her, there was very little room between our body and the sides; and -in order to have her as light as possible, the planks were only three -sixteenths of an inch thick, and the timbers and knees in proportion. -It was necessary to keep a little ballast in, both to keep her steady, -and to put at one end when we were in the other, and which, to -economize room, consisted of some flat, thick pieces of iron. In so -narrow a craft, which it required almost the skill of a rope-dancer to -keep on her bottom, it is evident the seat must be low: it consisted of -a board laid across the bottom, with three cleats, three inches thick, -nailed across the under side, to keep it up a little from the bottom; -for though she was perfectly tight, as far as leakage was concerned, -her planks were so thin, as, after a while, to soak water, which was -at length in a great degree remedied by painting her; she was as light -as an Indian canoe of the same size, which we, at one time, thought of -making, but were prevented from want of bark. - -When she was done, and a paddle made, one evening when there were -stars, but no moon, we carried her on our shoulder to the sandy ground -at the edge of the flag swamp, and dug a hole large enough to receive -her, carrying all the earth dug out, in a basket, and throwing it into -the pond; we then put her in the hole, and covered the mouth of it with -brush that had lain a long time in the woods, so that nothing appeared -to attract notice. - -Great was the surprise of the visitors to the pond, the next Saturday -afternoon, to see a person in a boat, anchored, and quietly fishing. - -Strenuous were the efforts of the Academy students to find where this -new craft was kept, increasing in vigor as pond-lily time drew near. -Every nook and corner of the woods was searched, and every bush peeped -under in vain. - -It was equally idle to watch and see where he landed: all they knew -was, that he disappeared among the flags, and before they could make -their way through the mud and thick mat of bushes that margined that -side of the pond, the boat was no longer visible, and he would be found -sitting under a tree, or with his hands full of lilies. - -Equally unsuccessful were all attempts to persuade him to let them get -into her, a very good reason for which being the certainty of their -upsetting, which the following occurrence will attest. - -One sunshiny morning we were strolling with a friend, who has since -made some stir in the world, along the shores of the pond in quest of -berries. There were a great many lilies in bloom, some of which he -desired to present to a _friend_. - -“Come, K., go and get your boat and pick some of those lilies.” - -“I will if you’ll give me your word that you will remain here, and not -follow, to see where I take her from, or where I put her.” - -“Well, I will; I’ll sit down on this rock, and won’t stir from it till -you return. Let _me_ go and get them,” he said, as we brought the -little affair to the beach. - -“You can’t go in her; you’ll upset.” - -“Tell me I can’t go in a boat! I was born and brought up on Cape Cod, -and have been used to boats all my life.” - -“Can’t help where you were born; going in a thing like that isn’t a -matter of birthright. I have a cousin who is a watchmaker, and I used -to sleep with him, but I can’t make a watch for all that; you’d have -her bottom up in five minutes.” - -“Nonsense; take my gun, and let me get the lilies.” - -We took the gun and went into the woods; but it was not long before -we heard the cries of, “Help! help!” and returning to the pond, found -the surface covered with floating lilies, in the midst of which was a -broad-brimmed hat, the boat bottom up, and our Cape Cod friend clinging -to her. - -Those were pleasant days, rainbow-tinted; and though more sombre hues -have since succeeded, I love to look even on the sky from which they -have faded. - -There was a fine set of boys at Phillips Academy then, many of whom -have nobly justified their early promise; while others, the centre of -many loving hearts, have gone to early graves, like a leaf that falls -in June. It is sometimes hard to keep back the tears, as I recall -those bright faces, and the pleasant hours we have spent together, -especially in the Sunday school. - -Gus Daniels was a splendid boy: how we all loved him! Well do I -remember when he came to the mansion-house, fresh from home, a -shrinking, diffident boy, and was set down at the breakfast-table, with -a large company of theological students, too frightened to ask for -anything, and trying to make himself as small as possible. We helped -the little fellow, endeavored to converse with and assure him, and at -dinner found him again beside us. The next Sunday morning found him in -my class in Sunday school; and, as those will who are like attempered, -we gradually grew together: how I loved him! and perceiving what was -in him, I began to stimulate and encourage him to worthy effort; he -leaped under it like a generous horse to the pressure of his rider’s -knee. Many a Phillips Academy boy and Harvard student will remember -him, who died just as he was putting on his harness. But then there was -no shadow of the sepulchre, nor taint of disease, upon him. There was -an innate attractiveness which made it pleasant even to sit in the same -room with him, though no word was spoken, and his lovable and taking -ways won every heart. - -The lilies were now in full bloom, and he, with others, had resolved -upon a mighty and combined attempt to find the whereabouts of that -mysterious boat. I was made aware, while quietly fishing, of the -presence of a great number of boys on the the shore. - -“Mr. K.!” - -No reply. - -“Mr. K.!” - - “In Zanadu did Kubla Khan - A stately pleasure dome decree, - Where Alph, the sacred river, ran, - Through caverns measureless to man, - Down to a sunless sea.” - -“Speak louder, Gus.” - -“_Mr. K.!_” - - “O’er Tempé’s god-frequented streams - There broods a holy spell, - And still in Greece, the land of dreams, - Heroic memories dwell.” - -“He’s talking to the fishes, Gus: he don’t hear.” - -“He don’t want to hear: he suspects what we are after.” - -A universal shout, that made the woods ring, now compelled attention. - -“Good afternoon, boys.” - -“Good afternoon, sir.” - -“This afternoon is so delightful, the place so quiet and conducive -to reverie, I have insensibly fallen into reflection respecting a -subject that has often been a matter of thought, and as often caused -perplexity.” - -“What may that be, sir?” - -“Whether Vulcan didn’t dull his axe when he split Jupiter’s head open.” - -“We have a matter that has caused us no little perplexity we want to -know where you keep that boat, and we’re not going to leave till we do -know.” - -“I am glad to see young people, the strength of the country, have -wants; wants are the foundation of all progress, both in science and -the arts.” - -“How so, Mr. K?” - -“Because, Gus, when men begin to have wants they naturally try to -gratify them, and the more they gratify them the more they have, and -thus they better their position. For instance, I wanted pond lilies, -and to catch fish; so I built this boat: that bettered my position, -as you perceive,”--pulling up a pout,--“else, instead of sitting here -quietly fishing and reflecting, I should, like you, be standing on the -shore, looking and longing.” - -“Well, we’re going to see.” - -“It would be very desirable, as it would remove a great deal -of perplexity from your minds, and restore universal peace and -satisfaction.” - -“Why so?” - -“Because you are now very much perplexed in opinion, and confused in -your notions; some of you think I keep this boat under water, others -in the top of a tree, and a few, that I have an ointment I got of an -Indian, which, being rubbed on her, turns her into a cat-tail flag; but -seeing is believing, and would at once remove all doubts and reconcile -all conflicting opinions.” - -“If you don’t let us see, we won’t come to your Sunday school class -to-morrow.” - -“Yes, you will, Gus, because you’ll have to; if you’re absent, you’ll -be marked absent, and Uncle Sam will know the reason why. - -‘Are ye not marked, ye men of Dalecarlia?’” - -“O, if we could only find out, wouldn’t we hide her where he couldn’t -find her!” - -“This is a world of perplexities and disappointments; there is one -thing I have always wanted to ascertain, but latterly have quite -despaired of it; therefore I know how to sympathize with you.” - -“What is that, Mr. K.?” - -“Where Hannibal got his vinegar.” - -“If I live, I mean to ask Uncle Sam; he thinks he’s great on the -classics; that’ll stick him.” - -“I’ll get you all the lilies you want, boys.” - -“That is not what we want; we want to have the boat, and get them -ourselves.” - -“I can appreciate that moral sentiment, Will Gunton, just as I receive -greater enjoyment hauling up this fish,”--pulling in a pickerel,--“than -you do from merely looking at me.” - -“O, ye gods and little fishes, if he is not enough to provoke a saint.” - -“I assent to that opinion likewise, for I vexed Dr. Woods yesterday.” - -“In what way?” - -“By asking him what the difference was between whoever and whosoever.” - -“Well, if you won’t let us have the boat, or do anything for us, we -won’t love you as we have done; Uncle Sam can’t mark us for that.” - -“Yes, you will, Gus, for you can’t help it.” - -“What’s the reason we can’t help it?” - -“Can you help loving honey?” - -“No, sir; because that is natural.” - -“Is it not as natural to love those who love us?” - -“If you loved us, you would gratify us, and let us have the boat.” - -“That is just the reason I don’t let you have it, because I know you -would be drowned.” - -“You only say that because you don’t want us to have the boat. You love -us, but you won’t _do_ anything for us.” - -“No, I never did anything for you! Who writes your dialogues and -declamations, and does a host of other unmentionable things? There is -not a great deal of gratitude this year, I suppose, because it is so -dry.” - -“O, Mr. K., I’ll take it all back! I’m sorry I said it, and sorrier -that I thought it.” - -“If I don’t want you to be drowned, I am disposed to contribute to your -enjoyment. I’ll take you all over to the North Parish Pond, where is a -large boat, and sail you to your hearts’ content; that is, if you’ll be -good boys and go away.” - -“We are very much obliged to you, but we’ve made up our minds to see -where you keep that boat, and we can’t give it up; that is what we came -for. There are enough of us to surround the pond, flag swamp and all. -You will have to give it up, Mr. K. We are resolved to know, if we stay -here all night.” - -“Resolution is a great thing in a young man. Resolution carried the -great Washington across the Delaware. As I understand it, you are, one -and all, resolved to know where I keep this boat.” - -“So say we all of us.” - -“If I will let you see where I put her, will you be satisfied?” - -A unanimous shout testified their assent. - -“Well, then, look and see where I put her.” - -The boatman, after stringing the fish, and hanging them around his -neck, placing iron on the seat and paddle in order to keep them from -floating up, pulled the plug out of the bottom of the boat, the ballast -carried her down, and he swam ashore. There was one little detail of -these proceedings that even their sharp eyes failed to notice. They -did not see him fasten the plug of the boat to a fishing-line, the -other end of which was attached to the boat, and drop it overboard to -mark the spot. When the little piece of wood, only two inches long, -was in the water, it was no longer visible from the shore, and would -not be easily found, except by one who had taken the bearings of some -objects on the shore from the boat itself. The boys on their way home -congratulated themselves that Mr. K. had disappointed himself as much -as them. At any rate, they would no more be tantalized by witnessing -sport which they could not share. But the Fourth of July morning there -was Mr. K. in the boat, getting lilies! - -“We might as well give it up, boys,” said Will Gunton; “we shall find -where he keeps her when we find where Hannibal got his vinegar.” - -Upon leaving those parts, we buried her like an Indian chief, with the -paddle and anchor in her, and no Phillips Academy boy, or prowling -theological student, has ever found the grave till this day, nor ever -will. - -We haven’t forgotten how these boys felt; therefore we would give such -outlines that any boy of mechanical turn, who has tools, pluck, and -patience, may by their aid build himself a safe and serviceable boat. - -Charlie’s boat, the dimensions of which will be given, is rather -narrow, but it was all his log would allow, and he had not yet had -experience enough to deviate from the copy. - -But if a boy is to build a boat, he had better make her wider, five -feet beam instead of four, to eighteen of length, or four feet six -inches beam and fourteen feet in length; then she will be stiff, and -need less ballast. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -CHARLIE UNCONSCIOUSLY PREFIGURES THE FUTURE. - - -THE hay harvest was now secured. From the additional land cleared on -the island, and from the large field of natural grass on Griffin’s -Island, Ben had obtained a noble crop, and also one of rye. - -He had a large piece of corn planted on a burn, also potatoes, flax, -and wheat. The garden was in fine order, and everything wore the -appearance of plenty and comfort. The land, at the burning of which -Fred Williams had so nearly met his death, he had not planted again, as -he intended it for an orchard, and did not want to wear it out. - -On this piece Charlie and his father now set to work. They cut all the -sprouts that had come up from the stumps, cut down a good many old -stubs that had been left in clearing, picked up all the brands and -pieces of logs, then mowed down all the fire and pigeon weed, that had -come up in quantities, and when it was dry, set it all on fire. - -Ben intended, in the fall, to set out his apple trees right among -the stumps and ashes, and never to plough the ground, but to keep the -growth of sprouts and weeds down with the axe and scythe. - -When Charlie again resumed work upon his boat, a new train of thought -took possession of his mind, which, although it troubled him not a -little, led eventually to very important results. It was this--that -notwithstanding he had succeeded thus far, received the praises of Ben -and Sally, and felt sure he should complete his boat, yet thus far he -had been, and would still be, a copyist; that he had taken the model -of the West Wind from a mackerel, the model of this boat from the West -Wind, and that all he had originated were the trifling alterations he -had made in the first model. Resolved to be something better than an -imitator, he set to work, and modelled a boat from a solid block, three -feet long, and entirely different from the West Wind. - -“There,” said Charlie, “that is mine, at any rate; and now, if I take -the shape of that with pieces of boards and imitate it, it will be my -own contrivance.” - -It now struck him that this was a roundabout way to build a boat, and -that no person could ever get his living building boats in the way he -was doing--making a model, and then taking the shape of that with -pieces of boards. There must be some general principles, as there were -in framing buildings. - -“There’s some rule, I know,” said he, “and I’ll not strike another clip -till I have done my best to find out what it is. I don’t like to work -altogether by guess, and in the dark.” - -He measured his boat. She was eighteen feet long, four feet beam -(wide), and eighteen inches deep. He then measured from the keel up -to where the top streak entered the stem, when he found it was a half -more than the depth amidships. He then measured from the keel to where -the top streak met the transom. It was a quarter more than the depth -amidships. Thus the rise from the dead level at the middle was nine -inches at the stem and four and a half at the stern. To be sure this -made the boat curve very much; but it was the fashion in that day, both -in respect to vessels and boats, to give them a great sheer. It was not -without its advantages. They were safer, for when laden there was more -of them out of water. - -Charlie had given his boat a rank sheer even for that day; but, as -usual, he had a very good reason for it. He wanted room inside, and, as -he could have only the width the log would allow, he had compensated -for it by giving her all the length he thought prudent. He next -endeavored to gain all the room he could in height at the ends, and -this rise of nine inches forward and four and a half aft would, when he -came to finish, afford him a splendid chance for lockers, in which to -put all those matters that boys want to carry. He measured her width at -the forward floor timber on top. It was three feet. At the after floor -it was three feet eight inches. - -“At any rate,” said he, “I have got some guide for the top. Now for the -bottom.” - -He chalked it out on the barn floor to see what it looked like, and set -down the dimensions in his book, then measured across the head of the -middle floor timber. - -“Whew!” cried he; “it’s just half the length of the beam. Wonder if -they’re all in that proportion.” By measurement he found they were. - -“Now there’s a rule for you. The length of the floor timbers is half -the breadth of the beam. Just half as fast as she narrows above she -narrows below. I’ve got a water-line.” - -Down goes that in his book. But, upon reflection, he perceived this was -not all he wanted. - -“I thought I’d got what I wanted, but I haven’t. This will give me a -water-line along the heads of the floor timbers, but not the shape -of the bottom below; that’s what I want. There are no rules and -regulations, after all; you’ve got to make a frame, set it up, work a -ribband along, and squint at it, cut and cut, fuss and fuss, till you -get it to suit your eye; or else make a model and go through all the -slavery with pieces of boards that I have in building this boat thus -far. O, it’s an endless job to build a boat.” - -Vexed and disappointed, he flung his rule into the boat; when the -slight irritation had passed by, he took up his rule again. - -He flung it with such violence between the two garboard planks that it -had taken their shape and that of the sharp riser beside which it fell, -and being new, and the joint stiff, retained it. - -“How much that looks like the letter V! That’s quite a different shape -from the midship timber.” He put the rule beside this timber, and -spread it apart till the shape corresponded. “How shoal it is!” holding -it up. - -The sight put an idea into the head of the keen-witted boy in an -instant. He perceived that the shape of the bottom below the heads of -the floor timbers corresponded exactly to the depth from the heads of -the floor timbers to the keel; he laid a long rule across the heads -of the middle floor timber, and measured the distance from the centre -of that rule to the keel; it was three inches: he measured the forward -one; it was six; the after one; it was six and a half: she was sharper -aft than forward. He found that there was a regular gradation in the -depth from the middle timber, both forward and aft. He took a board the -length of the floor timber, found the centre of it, which corresponded -to centre of the keel; from this point he drew a line three inches in -height, then drew two others of the same height at an inch distance on -either side, to represent the width of the keel: he then drew two lines -from the edges of the keel to the ends of the board (fig. 1), - -[Illustration: _Fig. 1_] - -when he found that he had the exact shape of the middle floor timber, -and of course of the bottom at that place: he then took the shape of -the forward one (fig. 2). - -[Illustration: _Fig. 2_] - -He had mastered the carpenter’s principle of the dead rise, although he -didn’t know what to call it. - -“Hurrah!” shouted the exultant boy, flinging the mould up over his -head with such force that it knocked two hens, who were just settling -themselves for the night, from the roost, and excited a general -uproar. “I’ve got something to start from now; it’s the rise from the -keel that shapes the bottom. When anybody is going to build a boat, -they always know the length, width, and depth, and from that they can -get all the rest. If I am going to build a boat eighteen feet long, -four feet wide, and eighteen inches deep, she would be at the forward -frame three feet on top; aft, three feet eight inches; middle, four -feet. A line drawn through these points to the stem and stern gives me -her shape on top; a depth and a half forward and a depth and a quarter -aft gives me her sheer; half of her width on top gives me her shape at -the heads of the floor timbers. Then all I’ve got to do to shape her -bottom is, to lay off my rise, making it greater or less according as -I want her full or sharp, dividing it up on the timbers, till I have -twice as much in the forward floor timber as amidships, and a little -more than that aft. I have got the top and bottom; I can get the shape -of the side between those points by my eye; if I can’t I must be a -fool.” The forward and after floor timbers determine the shape of the -boat forward and aft; the timbers after that are V shaped; they do not -cross the keel; and all that is necessary is to have a true taper to -the stem and stern. “I feel kind of satisfied now; there seems to be -some foundation, something to go upon; it ain’t all mixed up: now I -have got all these moulds, it wouldn’t be half the work to timber out -another boat of the same dimensions. Boat-building is real nice work -after you know how; but to build a vessel--that would be the best. Now -I’ll go in swimming, then look at my birds and go and see how my grafts -come on.” - -The next night, as he was busily at work after supper, getting out his -gunwale, a well-known voice exclaimed,-- - -“Halloo! What’s all this?--steam-box, boat-building. I guess Elm Island -will be a city soon.” - -“O, Joe! I’m so glad to see you.” - -“You be? I thought you didn’t like to have critics round, when you were -at work.” - -“O, yes, I do, _you_.” - -“Who timbered out that boat?” - -“I did.” - -“Alone?” - -“Yes, all alone; no soul helped me, or told me anything.” - -“Where did you get your moulds?” - -“Took them from the West Wind;” and he showed Joe the moulds. - -“Well, I never should have thought of that way. I should like to know -how you got those streaks on, especially the garboards.” - -Charlie showed him the patterns, and told him all about it, and how -terribly he was puzzled. - -“How long did it take you to get on them garboards?” - -“Two days.” - -“I should have thought it would have taken you a week. It is done -handsome, my boy,”--patting him on the back; “nobody can better that. -But, life of me, why didn’t you make a rule staff, and take spilings, -instead of going to work in such a roundabout way as that? You couldn’t -have done it any better; but you could have done it in a quarter part -the time, and no fuss about it.” - -“Then, there’s a rule?” - -“To be sure there is.” - -“What is a rule staff? What do you mean by taking spilings?” - -“I’ll show you by and by.” - -Charlie then told his friend the discovery he had made in relation to -the floor timbers. - -“That is what carpenters call the dead rise, and those middle -timbers, that rise but little, are called dead flats. Now, my little -boat-builder, I’ll show you how to take spilings. I suppose you -wouldn’t be willing to take that garboard off again, because taking the -spilings of a garboard is a little different from the rest.” - -“Yes, I would; it isn’t nailed fast.” - -“It is a little too narrow, though it is _put on_ as well as I could do -it.” - -Joe took one of Charlie’s thin boards, planed and made one end of it as -wide as the end of the streak he was to put on, and cut it something -near the shape of the stem, and of the length he wanted his plank -to be; this, he told Charlie, was a rule staff. He then put the end -very near to the rabbet at the stem, and brought it along over the -bow, close to the keel, just as it naturally came, without twisting -sidewise, to the timbers, where he intended to make his butt, and -fastened it; then took the rule, and measured, at frequent distances, -from the outside edge of the rabbet at the stem, to the lower edge of -the rule staff, till he had gotten round the sweep; then he measured -only at the timbers, he made a scratch fit every measurement, and -chalked down the measure on the rule staff. - -He now took the rule staff and laid it on the board of which the streak -was to be made, and with the compass set off all these distances, then -took a ribband that would bend edgewise, put it on the compass pricks, -and scratched the whole length of the plank. - -“You see,” he said, “that this rule staff, being bent on, has followed -exactly the twist of the timbers; so of course this line of pricks, -taken from it, will do the same, and give the shape of the edge of the -streak; that is all the rule staff does; now you must measure the width -of your plank from them. I have made these measures at the end very -near together, because I am working for a very particular body, and I -want my work to compare.” - -He now steamed the plank and put it on, when it fayed to a hair. - -“Now, Charlie, before I fasten this plank, I want you to squint along -the edge of it.” - -“I see a bunch on the luff of the bow.” - -“Now look at the counter.” - -“It is the same.” - -“We must take out a little there; I should have done it when I lined -the plank, but I wanted you to see it; the twist throws the plank up: -if you could take spilings of both edges, it would take it out.” - -“How nice that is? Why couldn’t I have thought of it? I might by this -time have had the boat all done and in the water. Are ships’ planks put -on in this way?” - -“Yes, somewhat; but they do not have to be so particular, except at the -fore and after woods: they line them as crooked as they can, and then -jam them down edgewise with wedges; and you can’t do that with boat -plank, but must cut to a sixteenth of an inch, if you want your work to -look well.” - -“You are very good, Joe; now all my difficulties are over; but I’m glad -you didn’t come before.” - -“Why so?” - -“Because, if you had shown me about the dead rise, I shouldn’t have -found it out myself. Joe, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do, if I get -this boat off.” - -“And she don’t split in two, you mean.” - -“If she works well, I’m going to make one out of my own head, without -any model to work from.” - -“I tell you what it is, Charlie: there will be some staring when you -appear out in this craft.” - -“I guess there will; they all think what happened to the West Wind -sickened and discouraged me; but I reckon they’ll find out to the -contrary. I do hope that neither Uncle Isaac, nor Fred, your Hen, -Captain Rhines, nor any of them, will find it out till I come out. -Don’t tell; will you, Joe?” - -“You will soon finish her now; you can take a spruce pole, split it in -two with a saw, and it will make a grand gunwale: that’s what they use -in Nova Scotia.” - -“A spruce pole! I guess I shall. I’ll have a nice piece of oak, planed -and rubbed with dog-fish skin. Do you know what I want to do, Joe?” - -“It would be hard guessing; you have so many projects in your head.” - -“I want two things, and then I shall be satisfied.” - -“Then you are more easily satisfied than most folks.” - -“I want to build a vessel. Think I ever can?” - -“Yes; you can learn to build a vessel as well as a boat; it’s pretty -much the same thing on a larger scale. But what is the other thing?” - -“I want to own a piece of land: it’s what none of my folks ever did, -to own a piece of land; a man must be rich to own a piece of land in -England.” - -“Well, you can certainly do that, for you have got money of your own, -and can buy wild land for ten or fifteen cents an acre, and clear it -yourself.” - -“That’s what I mean to do, when I get my money back from Fred, and find -some place that just fills my eye, right by the water. I wouldn’t take -the gift of a piece of land that the salt water didn’t wash. Then I -must have a brook; I couldn’t live without a brook.” - -“Nor I either: by the way, we are going to run to the westward and fish -off the cape; I think very likely I shall run into Portland, and see -John.” - -“Then I’ll write him a letter; he don’t know anything about this boat, -for I hadn’t thought much about building her when I saw him last.” - -Charlie finished his boat, putting four knees to each of the middle -thwarts, and two to both the forward and after one. He was resolved -this boat should not split in two. At the bow and stern he decked her -over, and made a splendid locker forward and aft, with doors, and in -which he could put powder, fishing-lines, and whatever he wished to -take with him. Under the middle thwart he made a locker, just the shape -of a gun, with a door hung on wire hinges, so as to keep his gun dry. -He was already provided with spars, sails, rudder, and oars, as this -boat was just the size of the West Wind. His paints were all gone, -except a little vermilion that the English captain had given him, and -there was none at the store. Indeed, there was seldom anything in the -form of paint at the store, except lampblack, and red or yellow ochre, -and they were used only on the inside of houses, or on vessels, and -generally with fish oil. It was a rare thing that white lead or linseed -oil was found there, it being so little called for. Captain Rhines’s -house was the only one in the place that was painted outside. He and -some others had one room painted lead-color; the general custom being -to keep the walls and floors white, and scour them. But Charlie was -determined to have paint for this boat, and sent to Portland by Joe for -both paint and oil. - -The iron-work of the other boat was suitable for this, and she was -now calked and all done except painting. Charlie had oiled the planks -to keep them from renting, as he had no paint to prime her. How he -longed for that paint to come! Indeed, he thought so much about it, -that none of his usual sources of enjoyment seemed to afford him any -gratification, or to occupy his thoughts. The flowers were passed by -unheeded, the song of birds won no regard, and even the baby received -slight attention. He enjoyed himself most when occupied about that -which was in some way connected with the boat. He passed a good many -moments in thinking how he should paint her. As she was altogether too -precious to lie aground even in the quiet harbor of Elm Island, he -prepared a mooring for her. He borrowed Uncle Sam’s drill, and made a -round hole in a large flat rock, then dug up a small tree by the roots, -cut it off about fifteen feet from the roots, removed the bark, shaved -the trunk smooth, ran it through the hole in the rock, till the roots -prevented it from going farther, and then put it off in the harbor. -Over this pole, standing upright in the water, he slipped an oak plank, -which floated on the water, and travelled around the pole as the wind -veered, and slipped up and down on it as the tide rose and fell. To -this traveller he fastened a rope, with an eye-splice in it to slip -over the boat’s stem, and then he could go to her in the Twilight. - -When all these preparations were made, he began to think of a name. He -didn’t like to give her the name of the old boat, because he thought -she had been unlucky, and it would revive unpleasant memories. - -“There’s only one thing about her I should like otherwise,” said he. “I -wish she was pink-sterned and lap-streaked. These square sterns look -chopped off to me. I think the eye requires that both ends should be -alike. I wonder how a fish would look with a square stern? or a tree -with a square top? Well, I’ll build another, when I shan’t be tied to -the dimensions of a log, and can have her wider and deeper, with plenty -of room to knock about in. This boat will be like old Captain Scott’s -boat, in Halifax, that was so small and full of trumpery, he said there -wasn’t room enough in her to swear. Well, I don’t want to swear. I -think it’s real mean. So there’ll be room enough for me.” - -All at once he thought of something to divert attention and occupy his -leisure time, which was, to study surveying. The science of angles was -congenial to his mechanical tastes, and he was soon so absorbed in -the pursuit as well nigh to forget the paint, for which he had been -longing. The evenings were growing longer, and he had a competent -instructor in Ben. Ben also had another scholar, Seth Warren, who had -come over to the island to study navigation. - -“Mother,” said Charlie, one night, as they were milking, “do you -suppose there will ever be a vessel built in this bay?” - -“I don’t know. Not in my day, I guess.” - -“Why not, mother? Didn’t father build the Ark on this island? and -couldn’t he, and Captain Rhines, and Uncle Isaac build a vessel if they -had a mind to?” - -“Why, Charlie, the people here have hardly got their land cleared up, -and got to living themselves. There are no carpenters but Joe Griffin -and Robert Yelf, no blacksmith but Peter Brock, and he’s worn out. -Besides, there’s nothing for a vessel to do, except to carry wood to -Salem or Boston, or to fish. Your father and Captain Rhines had rather -put their money into a vessel with Mr. Welch.” - -“Mother, carpenters and blacksmiths go wherever there is work. I’m sure -there’s lumber and spars enough here, and vessels come here to load. I -don’t see why a vessel couldn’t be built here, where there’s timber to -build her, and lumber to load her, and take it to the West Indies, and -get molasses and sugar to sell in Boston or Portland, just as Captain -Rhines did the cargo of the Congress. I heard him say he had half a -mind to keep her, load, and run her.” - -“I never saw such a boy as you are, Charlie! You’re always planning -out something. What in the world put this in your head, just now?” - -“Because I was thinking what a sight of ducks, chickens, geese, and -turkeys there are around this barn. Why, you can’t step, hardly, -without treading on a hen or a duck! I can’t hardly pitch a fork full -of hay off the mow without disturbing a hen’s nest! And only see the -beets, onions, and potatoes there are! I was thinking, if there was -only some vessel here going to the West Indies, what a slap you and I -could make by sending a venture, as we did in the Ark! Why, only think -how much butter you could send! Then, I thought, here is Seth Warren, -learning navigation. He ought to have a vessel built for him here, -instead of going to Wiscasset; and Joe Griffin and Robert Yelf ought to -help build her, instead of going out of town to work, as they often do.” - -“Well, Charlie, you were born twenty-five or thirty years too soon! -Such things may do to talk about, but they can’t be done in the woods, -in a new country.” - -“Captain Rhines was born and brought up in the woods; but he’s been all -over the world, for all that.” - -“Well, Charlie, you’d better leave alone building castles in the air, -and take that calf away. He’s biting the cow’s teats all to pieces.” - -“I tell you, mother, there will be a vessel built in this bay before -five years. You mark my words for it.” - -“Perhaps there may--a wood-coaster.” - -“No; a vessel to go to the West Indies.” - -“Well, when I see it, I’ll believe it, and I’ll send a venture in her.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -BETTER LET SLEEPING DOGS ALONE. - - -WHEN John Rhines went into the blacksmith’s shop, he found two other -boys there, apprentices, who had been at work some time. They all -boarded with the master, as was the custom at that day. - -It was customary for the boys to do some chores about the house, -cut and bring in the wood, and on Monday mornings, the water for -the washing. It was also the wont of all mechanics, at eleven and -four o’clock, to have a glass of liquor, and most of them had a -luncheon--crackers and salt fish. Then the men on the roofs came down -from their ladders, carpenters laid aside their axes, and masons their -trowels, and all set down to “wet their eye,” as they called it. Thus -apprentices were early initiated into the practice of dram-drinking. - -The names of these boys--both of whom were older than John, and one -of them nearly out of his time--were Sam Glacier and William Lewis. -The younger of these, Sam Glacier, had sprung from a very poor, low -family, was of a jealous, suspicious disposition, didn’t love work, was -careless, and rather slow to learn. - -Sam was very glad when Rhines came, because he knew that the chores -that he had been compelled to do would devolve upon Rhines; that he -should be put behind the anvil, and Rhines would have to blow and -strike for him. But in other respects he did not like John. Indeed, it -was impossible that there could be any friendship between two natures -so entirely opposite. Sam despised John because he _didn’t_ swear, and -would work whether Mr. Starrett was in the shop or not. John despised -Sam because he _did_ swear, and would sit on the anvil whenever his -master’s back was turned. Sam despised John because he knelt down and -said his prayers when he went to bed, and wouldn’t drink liquor at -eleven and four o’clock. John despised Sam because he lay down just -like a hog. - -Sam spent his Sundays strolling about the wharves, sailing in boats, -or getting together other boys, and spending the time in smoking and -card-playing, and disliked John because he would not go with him, and -do as he did. John had not been in the shop a month before Sam saw -that Mr. Starrett liked him a great deal better than himself, and -didn’t hesitate to show it. - -Sam, imputing this to the fact that John was the son of a rich and he -of a poor man, was embittered against both him and his master. It was -not, however, for any such reason. Mr. Starrett was a rugged, driving, -resolute, generous-hearted man. Indeed, he was something of the turn of -Captain Rhines, whom he considered one of the finest of men. - -He wanted boys to work, and work hard, as he did himself; but he fed -them well, treated them kindly, did all in his power to put them ahead -as fast as they developed capacity, and, when the work permitted, gave -them a few hours to themselves, and would let them have iron and coal -to do any little job, and make any little thing to sell to boys or the -neighbors. - -The facts in the matter were just these: If Mr. Starrett sent Sam on -board a vessel to back out bolts, or to drive them in, or to take the -measure of anything, he would be gone at least twice as long as was -needful, and very likely come back with the wrong dimensions; and -after the work was done, it would all have to be done over again, and -perhaps the vessel all ready for sea except that. He would neglect to -fore-lock a bolt. It would draw in a gale of wind, and cause serious -damage. But if he sent John, it was all done well, and in the shortest -time. There was another reason. He forged a great many anchors for -fishermen, which was heavy work, and required a great deal of striking -with a large sledge; and John always struck with a good will, was -never tired, and would draw the iron more at one blow than Sam, or -even Lewis, at two. No wonder then that Mr. Starrett liked John best, -put him ahead, and gave him jobs, that, in the usual course of things, -belonged to Sam. It was just the same at the anvil as everywhere else. -The boy that does the best for his employer does the best for himself. - -But the matter did not stop even here. It was the same in the house. -Mrs. Starrett and Betty, the maid, conceived the strongest liking for -John, and for equally substantial reasons as his master. If asked to -do anything, he did it willingly, and on this very account was more -lightly taxed. - -“I hate to ask John to wait on me,” said Mrs. Starrett, “because he -does it so willingly; for I know he works hard, and I had rather do it -myself.” - -“He’s a gentleman, every inch of him,” replied Betty. “He wasn’t -brought up on a dunghill,--that’s plain to be seen. I often bring water -myself rather than ask him. But as for that Glacier, I made him wait -on me by inches, he was so hoggish and lazy. If he gave me any of his -impudence, I went straight to his master with the tale.” - -It chanced one day that John was absent at dinner-time, his master -having sent him to the wharf. A plate was set on for Sam that was -cracked, and had a piece taken out of the edge. He was so put out about -it that he went off without his dinner. - -Mrs. Starrett told Betty to put it on for John when he came. - -“I’ll do no such thing! I’ll not put him below that growling creature!” - -“Do as I tell you, Betty.” - -When John came in, he sat down and ate his dinner, neither noticing nor -caring whether the plate was cracked or not. - -“There,” said Mrs. Starrett, “what do you think of that?” - -“That is just what I should expect,” said Mr. Starrett, who happened to -be in the house. “If you want a boy that’s difficult, always growling, -never satisfied, and all the time afraid he shall be imposed upon, get -one that never had any bringing up, nor half enough to eat at home.” - -There was another circumstance that tended to foster, even in the mind -of Lewis, who was a very different boy from Glacier, a dislike to John; -they were bound to serve a regular apprenticeship, John was not; and it -was plain to see, that with his ambition and capacity he would get the -trade and be working for wages long before they were out of their time. - -The boys had but very little leisure; men worked then upon no ten-hour -system, but from sun to sun. - -Ship-carpenters worked till there was just light enough left to see -to pick up their tools; and blacksmiths, during short days in winter, -worked in the evenings. When they happened to have any leisure, Lewis, -with Glacier and others, pitched quoits, jumped, and wrestled, or -played pull-up, or ball, on a green plat, behind the shop. John was not -invited to go with them; they considered him strait-laced, stuck up, -and longed to take him down a peg or two. - -One day, as they were going down a descending piece of ground, on their -way to dinner, Lewis proposed to Glacier to trip him up. Glacier -accordingly thrust his foot between John’s legs, thinking to trip and -throw him down hill; but he did not accomplish his purpose. John then, -putting one hand on his shoulder, apparently with very little effort, -sent him head foremost down the hill, and skinned his nose and chin in -the fall. John was so quiet, free from all pretensions, amiable in his -disposition, didn’t swear, said his prayers, and went to meeting, that -although they knew his strength, they thought it impossible for him to -know anything about wrestling or scuffling; accordingly, after work -that evening, they invited him to go behind the shop and wrestle. - -“You can throw him, Sam; if you can’t, I can,” said Lewis; “he is -strong to strike with a sledge; but he don’t know anything about -wrestling.” - -Never were boys more mistaken: he flung Glacier and Lewis the moment he -took hold of them, and every apprentice they could bring; and the worst -of it was, he didn’t seem to think it worth crowing over, or that he -had found worthy antagonists. Mr. Starrett was mightily pleased when it -came to his ears. - -“I’ve twigged their motions,” he said; “they’ve been itching this four -weeks to impose upon John, just because he’s a better boy than they -are; they’ve found out now it’s better to let a sleeping dog alone; -better not meddle with anybody that’s got any Rhines blood in them. -I wonder what they would think of Ben, or this boy’s grandfather. O, -he was an awful strong man. I remember him when I was a small boy; he -looked to me like a tree walking about.” - -A short time after this circumstance, Mr. Starrett said to Glacier,-- - -“Sam, you’ve been with me more than two years. I’ve done my best to put -you forward and learn you; but you are lazy and careless, and don’t -care whether you learn or not. Rhines has learned more in four months -than you have in the whole two years. I shall now put him behind the -anvil, and you must blow and strike for him.” - -Sam was grouty, and did all in his power to plague John, and spoil -his work. One day, when John was at work upon something where it -was necessary to be accurate, he irritated him beyond the limits of -forbearance. - -“Glacier,” said John, “if you keep on striking after I make the signal -to stop, and if when you take anything out of the fire to weld, you -hold it askew, and don’t keep it in its place till it’s stuck, I’ll -lay you across this anvil, and put the hammer handle on you till you -see stars.” - -This settled the matter. Sam did very well after that, till he ran -away, and a better boy came in his place. John now went on apace. - -Just before noon, one day, he was strapping a dead-eye, when Joe -Griffin came into the shop. If ever anybody received a hearty welcome, -Joe did from John. - -“How are father and mother?” - -“First rate; they are all well at home, and on the island. Uncle Isaac -and our Henry are with me in the schooner,” replied Joe, by way of -summing up. - -“What is Charlie doing?” - -“O, Charlie, he’s in kingdom come; he’s put the nub on now.” - -“Do tell; what is it?” - -“You mustn’t mention it aboard the schooner; but he has taken moulds -from the old boat that you and he split in two, timbered out and -planked up a boat of the same size, and I’m going to get the paint to -paint her; then he’s coming out, I tell you; and here’s a letter from -him.” - -“O, how I wish I could be there, to go with him! but the boy time, with -Charlie and me, is about over; we have got to put our bones to it now. -How is Fred Williams getting along?” - -“First rate; has all the fish he can make, and buys a good many. So -they’ve put you behind the anvil, and set you to strapping dead-eyes. -Pretty good job for a boy who has worked no longer than you have; they -don’t set bunglers to strapping dead-eyes.” - -It was now twelve o’clock; Mr. Starrett invited Joe to dinner, and gave -John the afternoon to spend with his friend, and they went on board -the Perseverance. John sat up half the night to make an anchor for -Charlie’s boat, to send by Joe; he also made some iron bow pins for -Uncle Isaac and Ben, and an eel spear for his father. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -VICTORY AT LAST. - - -THE sun had nearly reached the meridian, and the wind, due north, was -of moderate strength; the time, the last week of August. - -Henry Griffin had concluded to stay at home for one trip, and was -fishing with Sam Hadlock, in a canoe, about three miles to the -southward of Elm Island. Tempted by the fineness of the day, a large -number of the neighbors were fishing near them. Among the rest, Uncle -Sam, Captain Rhines, and Uncle Isaac, all in Captain Rhines’s big canoe. - -“What’s that, Hen, coming down the bay?” - -“Whereabouts?” - -“Why, off the sou’west pint of Elm Island.” - -“A canoe.” - -“It don’t look like a canoe to me.” - -In a short time Sam said,-- - -“That’s not a canoe; she’s got two sails, and is coming down ‘wing and -wing;’ there’s no canoe round here with two sails.” - -Henry now viewed the strange craft more narrowly as she came nearer. At -length he said,-- - -“That’s not a canoe; she’s painted, and has got a bowsprit. I know what -it is. Charlie has built another boat, and he’s showing off in her. -That’s it; I know it is. Good on his head.” - -“I thought he’d give up after the other one split in two.” - -“Give up! Them words ain’t in his dictionary. If you want Charlie to do -a thing, just trig the wheels, and tell him he can’t. I know that’s it, -for I’ve suspected it all along.” - -“What made you suspect it?” - -“A good many things. In the first place, I overheard him say to John, -when he came out of the water, the day they got spilt, ‘If I live, I’ll -build a boat that won’t split in two;’ and I know he never gives up -anything. Another thing, he and I have always been very thick: whenever -we’ve met, he has always urged me to come over to the island; but -this summer he has never asked me once. Then the last time we were at -Portland, there was some privacy going on between John and Joe, that -they didn’t mean I should know; there was a great long box that went -to Elm Island. I know there was paint in it by the smell, and it was -paint for that boat; that’s what it was, though I don’t see what it -was so long for.” - -The strange craft was now in full view, coming down before the wind and -tide, like a race horse. There was evidently but one person in her, and -he was hidden by the sails. Presently the helmsman altered his course a -little, and jibing the mainsail, exposed himself to view. - -“It’s Charlie,” cried Henry. “O, ain’t he a happy boy this minute? -See how straight he sits; and isn’t she a beauty? How long she is! -tremendous long!” - -“How handsome she’s painted!” said Sam. “I wish he would come here.” - -“He will; he’s going alongside of Captain Rhines, and then he’ll come -here.” - -But, contrary to Henry’s opinion, Charlie kept to leeward of the whole -fleet of canoes, and stood right out to sea. He then hauled his wind, -and brought both his sails on one side, Sam said, “to show _himself_.” - -“Yes,” was the reply; “and he’ll be coming back soon, to show what the -_boat_ can do. Here he comes, Sam,” shouted Henry. - -After running out to sea about half a mile, Charlie hauled aft his -sheets, set his jib, and brought her on a wind. - -“Look there, Hen! See her go right straight to windward! That jib is -what takes my eye!” - -“How is he going to handle three sails alone, when he tacks, I should -like to know?” - -“He’s got the jib-sheets to lead aft to where he sits. I’ve often seen -that done.” - -“I think it’s queer that our Joe, Captain Rhines, and Uncle Isaac, who -can do anything they are a mind to, should never have built a boat, but -always went about in these dug-outs,--enough to wear a man’s life out -to pull ’em.” - -“What in the world is he doing now, Hen? He’s hauled down his jib, and -taken in his mainsail.” - -“He’s going to show what she’ll do under a foresail.” - -“Look! He’s putting his helm down! If she’ll go about in this chop of a -sea, without help from an oar, under a foresail, she’ll do more than I -think she will.” - -“There, she’s about, by jingo!” - -“The Perseverance couldn’t beat that, Hen, and she carries sail well, -too; but then he’s got a good deal of ballast in her, by the looks.” - -“She is so crooked, and there is so much of her out of water, that he -can carry sail hard on her. Sam, I’ll have that boat, if it costs all -I’ve earned this summer to buy her.” - -“There goes up his mainsail and jib! He has let us see what she will -do.” - -“Yes, he knows very well that Captain Rhines, and we, and Uncle Isaac -are watching him.” - -“The captain will buy that boat, Hen. She’ll just take his fancy. What -a nice thing she would be for him when he wants to run over to see Ben!” - -“No, he won’t, Sam; for we will follow Charlie home, and if money will -buy her, I’ll have her.” - -“I don’t believe he’ll sell her, at any rate till he has shown her -round a little. I’m sure I wouldn’t if I had a boat like that. I guess -you and Captain Rhines will both have to wait till she’s an old story. -He’ll want John and Fred to have a sail in her before he sells her.” - -Charlie soon beat up alongside Captain Rhines, then came alongside -Henry. When he was within a few yards, he hauled aft his main-sheet, -flowed his fore-sheet, hauled his jib to windward, put his tiller hard -down in the notch-board, and she lay to, just like a vessel, while he -leaned over the gunwale, and talked with Henry and Sam. When he had -shown them how she would lie to, Henry flung him a rope, and the boat -being made fast to the canoe, they had an opportunity to inspect her. - -“Charlie, will you sell this boat?” asked Henry. - -“I don’t know. I guess not.” - -“Yes, you will, to me.” - -Charlie’s taste had become somewhat chastened since he made the -Twilight and West Wind. They rejoiced in painted ports, and all -varieties of stripes and colors, but this boat was quite in contrast. -She was bright-green to the water-line, white above, with a narrow -vermilion bead on top. Inside, she was a straw-color up to the rising, -above that blue--not a lead-color, made by mixing white lead and -lampblack--but blue. The spars were white, the blades of the oars -green, the rest white. - -“Charlie, who told you how to build this boat?” - -“Nobody. After I had her almost done, Joe told me how to take spilings.” - -“‘_Wings of the Morning_,’” said Henry, looking at the stern. “What a -singular name! What made you think of that name, Charlie?” - -“I’ll tell you, Henry. I had been thinking for some time what I should -call her, and one morning I went out just at sunrise. I stood on the -door-stone, and looked off in the bay. The water was as smooth as -glass. There was an eagle sitting on the edge of his nest on the big -pine. They are not shy of me at all, for I am very often up in the -tree, and feed them. By and by he pitched off, and came sailing along -slowly, moving his great wings, just clearing the ridge-pole of the -house, and close to me. While I watched him, this came right into my -head. I couldn’t get it out; so I put it on the boat.” - -“Charlie, what was in that long box we brought down in the schooner?” - -“Paint to paint this boat, and putty and oil.” - -“I thought so. But what was the need of so long a box?” - -“To hold this,” holding up the anchor. “John made it, and for this -boat, while you were there.” - -The canoes now began to run in. Charlie made sail, and soon left them -all astern, tugging away at their oars against wind and ebb tide. He -had been at home a long time,--indeed, it was after supper,--when Henry -and Sam came into the cove. - -“Charlie,” said Henry, “I shall never pull a canoe any more. I must -have that boat, for I am going to fish a good deal this fall. What will -you take for her?” - -“I don’t want to sell her. I haven’t hardly been in her myself.” - -“Well, there’s time enough to talk about that.” - -“Come to the house, and get some supper. You won’t go from here -to-night.” - -After supper, Henry repeated his request for the boat, adding, “You -don’t want her, Charlie. You only built her to see what you could do, -and can build another. You are no fisherman; but I want her to catch -fish in to sell to Isaac.” - -“Yes, I do want her,” replied Charlie. “If I want to go anywhere, I -must go by boat; for we are on an island, six miles from the main, and -if I sell this boat, I must go in a canoe. I don’t like to pull a canoe -any better than you do.” - -“But it’s different with you. You can go to the main on pleasant days, -and, if you are obliged to go in rough weather, you can take the -Perseverance; while I go out fishing in the morning, when perhaps it -is as pleasant as can be; before night it comes on to blow, and I’ve -got to pull in, or go to sea. You know old Uncle Jackson was blown off, -last winter, and never heard from; whereas, in that boat, with reefed -sails, I could beat in any time. It might be a matter of life and death -with me. Come, Charlie, let me have her--that’s a good fellow! You can -build another. I’ll give you a dollar a foot for her.” - -That was a tremendous price in those days, when corn was four shillings -a bushel, pork six cents a pound in the round hog; when the best of -men, in haying-time, got only a dollar a day, and at other times -could be hired for fifty or seventy-five cents. Besides, it must be -remembered that Charlie had built this boat on rainy days, and at hours -outside the regular day’s work. - -“I’ll give you a dollar a foot,” continued Henry, “just for the boat. -You may take everything out of her--sails, spars, anchor, and cable. -The sails are larger than I want, for I don’t want to be bothered with -reefing in cold weather. I can get Joe to cut and make sails for me. -He’s a capital hand, I can tell you.” - -“The truth is, Henry, I’ve built this boat by hard knocks. I’ve got -up as soon as I could see to work on her, and have worked after I had -done a hard day’s work, and was tired. I have puzzled over her till my -brains fairly ached, and on that account think more of her. To-day is -the first time I’ve ever been out of the harbor in her, and I don’t -feel as if I could part with her.” - -“I’ll give you nine shillings a foot for her.” - -“Sell her, Charlie,” said Ben. “Let him have her.” - -“I would, Charlie,” said Sally. “He needs her, and you can build -another, as he says. He has offered you such a great price, too!” - -But Charlie remained firm. Henry was about to give up the matter, when -he said, “Henry, I don’t want you to think I am holding off to make you -bid up. You offered me all the boat was worth when you offered a dollar -a foot. I’ll do this with you: I’ll sell her to you, the bare hull, to -deliver the first day of October, at a dollar a foot. I shan’t take any -more, and I won’t part with her till then.” - -“I’ll do it, Charlie; and when Joe comes in, I’ll go another trip with -him.” - -“I don’t see,” said Ben, after the boys had gone to bed, “what makes -Charlie so loath to sell that boat. I should think he would be proud to -have an offer for her so quick. He likes Henry, too, and I have always -thought he was rather too willing to put himself out for other folks. -Besides, he has spent some money for tools and paint, and that would -make him all whole again.” - -“I’m sure I don’t think it at all strange he is loath to sell her. Any -one thinks a great deal of the first things they make. I’ve got a pair -of clouded stockings in the chest of drawers. I spun the yarn and knit -them when I was eight and a half years old, and had to stand on a plank -to reach the wheel, and I don’t think Henry Griffin or anybody else -could buy them.” - -“I don’t believe but there’s some other reason.” - -“Perhaps so.” - -“It may be that he wants to go off, and have a sail and a grand time -with Fred somewhere, as they did before.” - -“I shouldn’t wonder.” - -“Perhaps he’s got some word from John, by Joe Griffin, that he’s coming -home, and he’s keeping her for that.” - -“If he’d heard anything of that kind, he would have told us the first -thing.” - -“Well, whatever the reason is, he’ll tell you when he gets ready.” - -But he didn’t tell Sally, nor did he tell the boys after they had gone -to bed that night, but chose a very different confidant. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE SURPRISER SURPRISED. - - -THE next morning, as they were chatting after breakfast, the door -opened, and in walked Captain Rhines. - -“Why, father,” cried Ben, overjoyed, “you took an early start.” - -“I had pressing business.” - -“It is an age since you have been here. I’m real glad to see you,” said -Sally; “I thought you had forgotten us. I’ll have some breakfast on the -table in a few moments.” - -“Charlie, I want to buy that boat. I hailed you after you pulled away -yesterday; but you didn’t hear me. We had a hard pull yesterday, -against the wind and tide; I told Isaac and Sam, we had pulled canoes -about long enough, and it was time we had some easier way of getting -back and forth.” - -“You’re too late, Captain Rhines,” said Henry. “I’ve bought her.” - -“You have? Then, Charlie, you must build another for me, right off, -just like her.” - -“I will do that, sir, for I have got stuff enough to make the keel, -stern, and transom, all sawed out, and crooks for timbers. I’ll begin -to-morrow; that is, if father can spare me.” - -“I’ll paint her, and make the spars and sails. Uncle Isaac wants you to -build him one: he would build one himself, but he can’t get the time. -He expects to go over to Wiscasset, to work on spars, and is driving on -to get his work at home done.” - -“Does he want her the same dimensions as this one?” - -“Yes; but he is in no hurry for her; you’ll have boats enough to build, -Charlie; so you had better lay out for it.” - -“I shouldn’t dare to build a boat for Uncle Isaac.” - -“Why not?” - -“Because, he’s such a neat workman himself, I’m afraid I shouldn’t suit -him.” - -“I’ll risk you; you’ll suit him to a hair, and ’twill be a feather in -your cap to work for him.” - -Such a thing as a wood-shed did not exist at Elm Island; indeed, -there was not the necessity then for many things that are now really -necessary. There were always plenty of dry limbs and trunks of trees -in the woods to start the fire with, and the tremendous heat generated -in one of those old fireplaces (with a log four feet long and three -feet thick, a back-stick on that half the size, and a fore-stick -eight feet long), would burn green red oak, and even black ash, when -once fairly under way. When dry wood was wanted, Ben or Charlie would -go into the woods and soon find a tall pine which had been dead for -years, the bark all fallen off, and nearly all the limbs, and streaked -with pitch, which had exuded and hardened in the sun on the outside. -Laid low by the axe, the top would be broken into many pieces, thus -rendering the cutting up a light labor. To be sure, when hauled to the -door, it lay in summer exposed to all the rains, and in winter half -buried in snow. But what did that matter. When night came, Charlie -filled the great oven--which, being in the back, was always nearly -hot enough to bake--with this pine, and great clefts of green beech, -which in the course of the night would get warm, and a little dry on -the outside. In the morning there would be a bushel of live coals on -the hearth, the remains of the old log. Raking them forward, on go the -green log and back-stick, the green fore-stick, dry pine, half pitch, -on top of the glowing coals, top of that the clefts of beech, and -perhaps a dry bush crowns the summit. - -A few waves of a hemlock broom--whew! up goes a column of spiral flame -roaring up the chimney. - -Away goes Charlie to feed the cattle. Thus you see a wood-shed was -very far from being felt a necessity on Elm Island, where many other -things, more needed, had hitherto been lacking. But _now_, among other -added comforts, Ben thought it would be well to have one: it would -save digging the wood out of the snow, and thus bringing water and -snow into the house, and also be convenient for many purposes. Another -consideration was, they would soon need a workshop, as the space in -the barn now devoted to that purpose would be needed for hay; neither -did he like to have shavings around the barn, and there was leisure -before the fall harvest to build it. He did not wish to interfere -with Charlie’s boat-building, as he saw he was very much pleased with -the idea of building a boat for Captain Rhines. It was an excellent -opportunity for this good boy, who was always ready to assist everybody -else, to do something for himself. - -Charlie, as our readers well know, was never better pleased than when -he could plan some pleasant surprise for his adopted parents. Ben, -therefore, determined to surprise Charlie; he resolved to build the -shed a story and a half in height, to admit of having a corn-house -in a portion of the upper story. Corn-houses were set up on logs, or -stone posts, three feet from the ground, and detached from all other -buildings, on account of rats; but there was no objection to making it -in the shed, there, as neither rats nor mice had found their way to Elm -Island. - -While Charlie was busily at work in the daytime upon his boat, and in -evenings studying surveying, Ben had got his timber from the woods for -the frame, and hauled it to the door. He then hired a man by the name -of Danforth Eaton, who was a shingle weaver, and a good broadaxe man, -to help him. - -Together they sawed up the shingle bolts, and then Ben set Eaton at -work shaving shingles, while he hewed the timber. To Ben, who, since he -had lived on the island, had become an excellent axe man, it was mere -sport to hew pine timber: with his heavy axe and enormous strength, -striking right down through, every clip he sliced off the chips almost -as fast as he could walk, and soon began to frame it. - -It was pretty lively times on Elm Island now: in the barn Charlie was -building a boat; under a rude shelter, made by setting four poles in -the ground, and placing some boards on them, Eaton, who was a splendid -shingle weaver, was shaving shingles;--I can’t tell you why shingle -makers are called weavers, unless it is on account of the motion of -their bodies back and forth when shaving;--and Ben mortising and boring -the timber. - -Charlie’s boat grew with great rapidity; for besides knowing just how -to go to work, he had the command of his whole time, and moreover, the -boat being just like the other, had all his moulds ready. On rainy -days, Ben and Eaton sawed out his planks, helped him get out his -timbers, and put on his plank. - -Charlie had been so completely absorbed in his boat, that he paid but -very little attention to what his father and Danforth were doing: to -be sure he glanced at their work as he passed back and forth from the -barn to the house; noticed that Danforth had done making shingles, and -was making clapboards, and that the timber was of great length; but -supposed his father had hewn his sticks of double length, intending to -cut them up. But a few days after, looking at a sill that was finished, -he perceived by the mortises that it was intended to be used the -whole length: he put on his rule and found it was fifty feet, and the -cross-sill was twenty-five. - -“Why, father, are you going to have a shed as big as all this? You -won’t need a quarter part of this space.” - -“You know I’m a big fellow: I want considerable room to turn round in; -almost as much as a ship wants to go about.” - -“But you’ll not want half of this.” - -“You know I want a corn-house overhead, and if we finish the rooms in -the chamber of the house, your mother would like to have some rough -place for her spinning and weaving in the summer, and to keep her flax -and wool in; and then what a handy place it would be to keep ploughs -and harrows, the Twilight, my canoe, and their sails, when we want to -haul them up in the fall! O, there’s always enough to put in such a -place; besides, you know I shall want a cider-house.” - -Charlie burst into a roar of laughter. - -“A cider-house! and the orchard ain’t planted yet.” - -“Well, the ground is cleared for it, and the chamber will be a nice -place for Sally to dry apples.” - -“Yes, when we get them.” - -“We shall get them; I like to look ahead.” - -The frame was raised and covered, and Ben parted off twenty-five feet -from the end farthest from the house, and laid a plank floor in it; the -other half had no floor. After laying the floor overhead, in that part -next to the house, he parted off the space for the corn-chamber, and -made stairs to go up to it. - -The Perseverance had come in, and was landing fish at Isaac’s wharf. -Ben told Charlie he was going to Wiscasset in her, to get some nails to -put on the clapboards and shingles; but when he came back, he not only -brought nails, but bricks, lime, glass, putty, and Uncle Sam Elwell, -whom he set to building a chimney and fireplace in the farther end of -the shed, where he had laid a plank floor. - -Charlie was now thoroughly mystified, and his curiosity greatly -excited. When Uncle Sam had laid the foundation, he proceeded to make a -fireplace, and by the side of it built an arch, and set in it a kettle, -which Ben had brought with him. - -“Father,” asked Charlie, “what is the fireplace and the kettle for?” - -“Well, it is very handy to have a fire; you often want to use such a -place late in the fall.” - -“I should have thought you would have made the wood-shed at this end, -and put this place nearer the house; it would have been handier for -mother.” - -“Your mother will want to go into the wood-shed ten times where she -will want to come in here once.” - -“But what is the kettle for?” - -“I’m sure I shouldn’t think you would ask such a question as that: -wouldn’t it be very handy in the spring, when the sap was running very -fast and driving us, to have a place where Sally could boil some on a -pinch; and wouldn’t it be nice for heating water to scald a hog?” - -“Yes, I suppose it would.” - -But Charlie was far from satisfied; he noticed that his father didn’t -say directly that the room was for such and such purposes, only asked -if it wouldn’t be suitable and convenient: he was more puzzled than -ever. - -“Mother, what is father laying a floor, building a fireplace, and -setting a kettle in the wood-shed for? and he’s going to put in glass -windows, for he’s got glass and putty.” - -“I’m sure I don’t know any more than you do: he don’t tell me.” - -“I expect he’s fixing it for Sally and Joe to go to housekeeping in.” - -“I’m sure he ain’t,” replied Sally. “I don’t expect to have half so -good a place as that. I expect to go into a log house or a brush camp.” - -Sally and Joe had been engaged a long time. Joe had been saving up -money, and so had Sally. He had bought a piece of wild land, and they -were expecting to begin as Ben and his wife had. Sally was not hired. -She was a cousin to Ben on his mother’s side, and was making it her -home there, while getting ready to be married. A right smart Yankee -girl was Sally Merrithew. She could wash, iron, bake, brew, card, spin, -and weave. A noble helpmeet for a young man who had to make his way in -the world. - -Sally Merrithew had six sheep, which her father had given her in the -spring. Ben put them on Griffin’s Island to pasture, and when he -sheared his sheep, sheared them for her. She had spun and was weaving -the wool into blankets. She had also bought linen yarn, which she was -scouring, and meant to make sheets of. She calculated to help Mrs. -Rhines enough to pay her board, and was not very particular whether -she did more or not. They bleached linen, washed, and sang together, -with the bobolinks and robins at the brook, and had the best times -imaginable. - -Aunt Molly Bradish thought she was running a dreadful risk to marry -such a “harum-scarum cretur” as Joe Griffin; but Aunt Molly was -mistaken there. Sally knew Joe a great deal better than she did, and -knew that he was a smart, prudent, kind-hearted fellow as ever lived, -without a single bad habit, except that of playing rough jokes. She was -to the full as fond of fun as he, but did not approve of manifesting -it in that way, and exerted a constantly restraining influence upon -him, probably a great deal more than one would, who, of a less -sanguine temperament, was incapable of appreciating a joke, and had no -temptations of their own to struggle against. - -There are people in this world who assume great merit for resisting -temptations they never experienced. Sally manifested that common sense -that is generally the accompaniment of true wit, when she replied to -Aunt Molly by saying, that if Joe was to undergo all the hardships -of clearing a farm in the wilderness, and experience the trials and -disappointments that were the lot of most people, he would need all the -spirits he possessed to keep him up. - -When Joe Griffin came over for the schooner, Fred came with him; he -said, “to see Charlie’s boat.” Perhaps he did; but it was very evident -that was not all, nor the principal reason, since he had somewhat -to say to Charlie of so private a nature, that neither the barn nor -Charlie’s bedroom were retired enough for the purpose, but they must -needs resort to the old maple, and climb to the platform in the top -of it, and it was sufficiently interesting to keep them there till -dinner-time,--although Charlie had left a hot plank in the steam -box,--after which Fred returned in the schooner. - -Charlie sent word to Captain Rhines by Fred that his boat would be done -in three days, for he was putting on the last plank, and the thwarts -and gunwale were in and kneed off. - -Captain Rhines came on at the time specified, and brought his paint, -oars, and sails with him. Charlie assisted him in painting her, and -when she was dry, went home in her, taking Uncle Sam and Eaton with -him, who had completed their work. - -“Now, Charlie,” said Ben, when they had all gone,” that end of the shed -is yours for a workshop, chimney, fireplace, and boiler. You can finish -it, make the doors, windows, and sashes, and arrange it to suit you -own notions and convenience. A boy that will do what you have done is -worthy of a good place to work in.” - -“O, father, I thank you a thousand times! There’s nothing in this world -you could have done that would have made me so happy. A fireplace--only -think! I can be so happy working here in the winter, and you can be -here with me, and mother can come and see us, and Ben, and the baby, -when it’s a little bigger.” - -“Yes, and you can set up a boat here, twenty-four feet long, and that -is as long as ever you will want to build.” - -“I can have a bench all around, it is so wide, and set up two boats at -once, if I like.” - -“Yes, Charlie, and room enough to split up boards with the -splitting-saw, and to have a keyblock, and hew anything, and such a -nice steam kettle!” - -“O, that’s the greatest.” - -“Look overhead, Charlie. See, I’ve laid the floor only about two thirds -the way over.” - -“Yes, father--what is that for?” - -“We can put any log up there that is not very large,--cedar, for -instance,--and one of us up there, and the other down here, split it -with the whip-saw.” - -“Then, on the other side, that’s floored, we can pile up the boards and -plank, and keep them dry.” - -“Just so; and at the end I have left space for a door to run stuff in -at.” - -“I can keep all my moulds, knees, and everything I need up there and -below. Father, don’t you think I shall take a sight of comfort making -the benches, and putting up shelves, racks for my tools, my steam box, -making the window-sashes and doors, and building Uncle Isaac’s boat in -here?” - -“I think you will, Charlie.” - -“I’ll tell you what I mean to do.” - -“What?” - -“Cut a lot of cedar for planks, oak and maple for keels and transoms, -raft it over to the mill and get it sawed, dig a lot of knees, and -fill this chamber full of stuff before winter. But,” he said, pausing, -“perhaps I shan’t have any more boats to build after I finish Uncle -Isaac’s.” - -“No fear of that, Charlie. It will be but a very little while, after -father and Henry go down fishing among the canoes, before you will have -a call to build boats. I know our people around here well enough to -know that they won’t stand it a great while to see others sailing by -them, while they are tugging at their oars.” - -“Father, Uncle Isaac is at home now. Next trip he is going with Joe. -He has often asked me to come and see him. If you are willing, I’ll go -before I begin on the shop.” - -“Go, Charlie, and make him a good visit.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -WHY CHARLIE DIDN’T WANT TO SELL THE WINGS OF THE MORNING. - - -THE next morning, Charlie, arrayed in his best, went over to see Uncle -Isaac, landing first at the wharf, and having a little conference with -Fred, looking over his fish flakes, into the fish-house and store, -after which he made sail, and soon ran over to Uncle Isaac’s Point. He -found his canoe at the shore, aground forward, but her stern afloat. -He did not want to let his boat ground, and had just put his hand on -the canoe to shove her into the water, that he might put his boat off -at anchor, when he espied the birch, bottom up, under a tree, and -carefully covered with spruce boughs to protect her from the sun. An -irresistible desire instantly seized upon him to get into the birch. -Indeed, he wanted, and had determined to, the first time he ever saw -her, which was when Uncle Isaac came on to Elm Island to announce the -arrival of the Ark in Havana, but the good news had driven it all out -of his head till too late. - -This was an opportunity too good to lose. He drew her carefully into -the water, and fastening her to his boat, rowed both off, till a -sufficient distance from the shore, when, after anchoring the boat and -furling the sails, he prepared to get into the birch. He had heard that -it was a very difficult matter to go in one; but he was exceedingly -lithe of limb, a proficient in wrestling, accustomed to put himself in -all manner of shapes, and used to going in ticklish gunning floats, -and considered the notion that he couldn’t manage a birch as simply -ridiculous. - -He got in, and disdaining the dictates of prudence, which prompted -to a sitting posture, began to paddle towards the shore. He was more -than three times the length of the canoe from the boat, when, he knew -not how or wherefore, the birch in a moment slid from under him, and -instantly righting, went gayly off before the wind towards Elm Island. - -With a wild, astonished look, he swam to the boat, and, pulling up -the anchor, caught the canoe, expecting to find her half full of -water; but there was not a drop in her. “That is curious enough,” -said Charlie. He was now in a fine plight to go visiting! His new -beaver (three-cornered), his ruffled-bosomed shirt (the first he -had ever owned), and his new waistcoat and breeches, and steel -shoe-buckles--for with some of his venture-money he had treated himself -to a go-to-meeting suit--were all soaked in salt water. - -He debated the matter some time in his mind, whether he should go home -or go on, but at length concluded to go on. - -“I can’t be any worse off,” said he. “I’ll master that birch.” - -He stripped, and got into her, but sat down, when he found he could -keep her on her bottom. After paddling a while in this way, he got upon -his knees, and could paddle much better. He then stood up once more, -and went on very well for a while. At length she began to wiggle, at -first slowly, then faster and faster, till out she went from under him, -as though she had been made of quicksilver! Charlie swam up to her, and -pushed her before him to the shore, got in, and went out again, till he -finally succeeded. - -Resuming his wet clothes, he set out for Uncle Isaac’s, and found him -at work in his shop. - -“You are all wet, Charlie!” said he, after the first greetings had -passed. “Where have you been?” - -“Overboard;” and he told him the story. “Are you busy, Uncle Isaac?” - -“Busy? No; you know I can’t keep still. I happened to have some walnut, -and was turning out some ox-bows, just to keep myself from idleness.” - -“I have finished Captain Rhines’s boat, and came over to see if you -wouldn’t like to take a sail with me in my boat.” - -“Shouldn’t like anything better. But come, go into the house. It’s past -the middle of the forenoon. We’ll have an early dinner, rig you out -with some dry clothes, and start right off. We can take a bite with -us, and come back when we like. There’s no moon, but it will be bright -starlight.” - -Charlie was a great favorite with Hannah Murch. No sooner was she made -aware of his misfortune than she exerted herself to put matters to -rights. - -There happened to be in the house a shirt and waistcoat that his -nephew, Isaac Murch, had left there. She cut off a part of Uncle -Isaac’s breeches, and hunted up a fisherman’s knit frock. - -“It’s no matter how you look,” said she; “there’s nobody to look at -you in the woods and on the water. Salt water won’t hurt your hat or -clothes one mite. I’ll press them with a hot iron while they are damp, -and iron the hat. That ain’t wet inside, and there’s no nap on it. -I’ll oil the shoes before they are quite dry, and rub the buckles with -vinegar and ashes, wash your shirt, and do up the bosom, and nobody -will know that anything has happened.” - -“I make you a great deal of trouble, Mrs. Murch.” - -“Not a bit of it! I love boys, and often wish I had one to make me -trouble. I’ve brought up a whole family of them, but they are all gone -to shift for themselves, and sometimes Isaac and I are real lonesome.” - -They took Uncle Isaac’s stuffed seal with them, and their guns, and set -out. - -“I’ll haul up the anchor and make sail, Uncle Isaac. You take the -tiller. I want you to see how well she steers.” - -“She works like a pilot-boat!” said he, after he had put her about; -“and carries a little weather helm, which she ought to. A boat with a -lee helm isn’t safe. She won’t luff quick enough to shake out a flaw. -You have to let the sheet fly, and then she ain’t safe, because she -loses her headway.” - -They shot some birds, as the people there called sea-fowl, and, as the -young flood began to make, towards night went on to a ledge Charlie -had never seen before. There was a part of this ledge that was never -covered with water. On it was a great quantity of dry eel-grass and -logs, that had come out of the river, and been flung up by high tides. - -They hauled the boat out, took down her masts, and covered her up in -eel-grass. Uncle Isaac then wet the seal, so that it would present that -shiny appearance seals have when they come out of the water. Then they -piled eel-grass on slabs laid over a log, crawled under it, and ate -their supper. Towards sunset, Uncle Isaac began to make a noise like -a seal, and Charlie was astonished at the accuracy of the imitation, -and actually shrank, as though a real animal was beside him. He would -cry first like an old seal, then like a young one. By and by one seal -after another showed their heads above water, and some of them replied. -After a while, they swam up to the rock, and began to crawl towards the -decoy; but before they reached it, Uncle Isaac gave the signal to fire, -and three of them lay dead on the rock. - -“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. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -CHARLIE EXPLORING THE COAST. - - -CHARLIE rose early one morning, intending, as Ben had gone away and -given him the day, to work on his boat; but the beauty of the morning -was such, the wind and tide just right for a sail both ways along -shore, that he felt a strong desire to go and enjoy the day on the -water. - -“Go, Charlie,” said his mother; “you work hard enough; you’ll get the -boat done long enough before Uncle Isaac wants her.” - -He took his gun and luncheon, and started: he kept flint, steel, -matches, and a horn of tinder in the locker of the boat, that he might -kindle a fire whenever he wished. - -Hauling his sheets aft, he determined to run up the bay, in the middle, -and then follow the shore along on his return, look into the coves and -nooks, and when he saw a place that pleased him, land, as he had a very -limited knowledge of the coast. - -“I won’t fish any,” said he; “for if I try to do everything in one day -I shan’t do anything. I’ll have a look round, and if anything comes in -my way, I’ll shoot it.” - -The wind was so that he could fetch both ways: he was closer hauled -going than returning; but to offset this, it was now dead low water, -and he would have the whole strength of the flood tide. The sky was -clear, and there was just breeze enough to carry three sails without -cramping the boat or throwing any spray. - -Charlie stretched himself on his back, and taking the tiller over his -shoulder, lazily watched the sails, occasionally casting a glance -over the bow to direct his course, till, as the bay grew narrower, -bringing the shores together, the beauty of the jutting points and -coves, with their overhanging forests,--for as yet the axe had made but -partial inroads upon the wilderness,--induced him to sit upright, and -contemplate them. - -He was now many miles from Elm Island, in a part of the country -entirely unknown, and with land on both sides. - -“How like a witch she sails!” said he; “what a ways I have come! and I -know by the tide I’ve not been long.” - -He now observed, on the port side, a wide reach making into the land, -at the mouth of which were two little islands--a wild, picturesque spot. - -“That’s a handsome place. I don’t believe but what a fresh-water river -comes in there. I mean to see.” - -Hauling his sheets as flat as he could get them, he shot in between the -little islands; they where covered with a thick growth of spruce, that -intercepted every breath of wind; but the flood tide was running like a -mill-race, and bore him along between perpendicular precipices on each -side, that looked as though they had been one, but sundered by some -convulsion of nature, and fringed to the very edge with forest; the -spruce, tenacious of life, clung to the fissures in the faces of the -cliffs, not more than two hundred yards asunder. - -“What a beautiful place! I mean to come here some time with John and -Fred.” - -Gracefully the boat glided through the glassy water, till at length the -reach terminated, not in a river, as he had imagined, but in a marsh, -through which ran a creek, into which poured a large brook. - -The shores were most beautiful, now that the tide was nearly up, -concealing the unsightly marsh, being undulating with many little -points and coves thickly timbered with oak, birch, and basswood; the -long branches of the oaks, with their broad green leaves, stretching -far over the water. - -Though boys are not much given to sentiment, Charlie acknowledged a -transient impression of the beauty of the scene, by silently gazing -upon every object within the range of vision. Impressions thus made are -permanent, and years afterwards are recalled, and become the warp and -woof of thought. - -Rousing himself from his momentary reverie, he put his hand into the -water: it was as warm as milk; slowly flowing in a thin wave over the -large extent of marsh heated by the sun, it had become thus warm. - -“How different the water is here from what it is at the island, where -it comes right in from sea, cold enough to make your teeth chatter to -go into it. It’s too good a chance to lose.” - -Over went the anchor, and off went Charlie’s clothes. After swimming -till he was tired, he reluctantly turned the bow of his boat homeward: -the wind might die; and he was afraid to lose the aid of the tide. - -He was so embayed with lands and forests, that his progress was at -first slow, the ebb tide not having begun to run; but as the bay -widened, the tide strengthened, the wind increased, and was, withal, -more favorable than in running up; the Wings of the Morning began to -justify her high-sounding appellation, and with a wake scarce larger -than the mackerel, after which she was modelled, left point after point -rapidly astern. - -“What a racer you are, old boat!” said Charlie, slapping his hand -affectionately on the gunwale. - -The misery and hardships of Charlie’s early life had produced a -precocity beyond his years: constantly thrown upon his own resources, -a boy in age, he was yet a man in thought and action. As his eye -wandered over the vast area of dense forest, broken only here and there -by a clearing, where there were so few occupants for so much land, he -contrasted it with the crowded acres of his native country. - -“What a country this is!” said he; “land and work for all. I’ll have my -little spot, and perhaps some one to make it a home for me.” - -Charlie had now arrived at a point where, if he sought the most direct -route for home, he must keep “away” and stretch off seaward; he was -some three miles above Uncle Isaac’s point. - -Clearings now became more frequent; framed and log houses alternated -with each other, as the means of the settlers were more or less -limited. The shore line, however, was far less picturesque and wild: -it was regular and flat, with few indentations, except some little -nooks where those settlers whose clearings abutted on the shore hauled -up their log canoes. He debated with himself whether he should keep -“away,” and run for home, or run the shore down till he came to where -he was acquainted. - -He did not like to leave this large portion of the shore unexplored. -He hove the boat to, and standing on the head-board, looked around: he -perceived that the formation of the land changed very much,--farther -along being broken into hills and valleys,--and that the shore was -rugged and bold. The vision here was limited by a long, heavily-wooded -point, of singular shape; and no farther view of the coast could be -obtained without running off, so as to look by it. - -“There’s a shore worth looking at. I’ll know what is beyond that point, -if I don’t get home to-night. I’ll sleep in the woods: it’s a long time -since I have done so. I wish I had brought more luncheon.” - -The growth of hemlock, spruce, and fir was now succeeded by white -oak, sock maple, and beech: as he neared the point, he perceived that -it was very long, with rocky shores of a moderate height; but instead -of terminating in a sharp angle, or in many little jagged portions, it -bent around somewhat in the form of a sickle, though more curved at the -end. At the distance of a quarter of a mile was an island of six acres, -very long in proportion to its width; level, and covered with a growth -consisting almost entirely of canoe birch, many of them three feet in -diameter, and sixty or seventy feet in height. - -“There must be a cove round this point,” said he. He picked the flint -of his gun, and freshened the priming. As he rounded the hook, some -coots, that were feeding under the lee of it, took wing. Though taken -by surprise, he fired and brought down one: he now sailed into a -spacious cove formed by the long point on one side, and a shorter one -on the other, facing south-west; by its position, the sweep of the -northern part of the point and an outlying island completely protected -from all winds. - -The long point, which was more than a quarter of a mile in breadth, -with the adjacent land, sloped from a high ridge gradually to the -south-west, terminating in a spacious interval of deep, moist soil, -extending to the south-west point, which rose abruptly from the -beach,--a high, rocky bluff, covered with spruce and white oak,--while -at the very extremity a leaning pine, clinging by its massive roots to -the edge of the cliff, supported the nest of a fish-hawk. Although the -growth was very heavy, few evergreens were to be seen. - -From the south-western edge of this sunny and sheltered valley the -ground rose abruptly into rounded hills, with valleys intervening, the -high ground covered with a noble growth of white oak. - -Exclaiming, “I’ll not go from here this blessed night till I have seen -all there is to be seen,” after taking a hearty luncheon, he began to -explore. The level, at the water’s edge, was timbered with a mixed -growth of canoe and yellow birches, shooting up to a great height, -many of the trunks of the yellow birches having a flattened shape, -which appeared very singular to Charlie: along with these were ash, -and occasionally an enormous hemlock; there were a few round stones -scattered over the surface, covered with moss of various colors, and -clasped by the tree roots. - -“What a splendid field this would make! Wouldn’t grass grow here, I -tell you!”--kicking up the black, rich soil with his foot. “What a -nice place to set a vessel! what splendid timber to build her of! and -it would come right down hill. What a place for a saw-pit, under the -side of that steep ledge! Anybody could build a stage there, and roll -the timber right on to it. What a place for a garden!--falls right off -to the sun. O! O!” - -As he ascended the slope, great long beeches, and once in a while a -Norway pine, shot up skyward, with scarcely a limb except at the top, -where every fork boasted the nest of a great blue heron. - -“How are you, old acquaintance?” said Charlie, as they flew over his -head; “reckon we’ve met before, or some of your relations.” - -He now came to a place where the ledge occasionally cropped out, and -the beech and pine gave place to a growth of sugar maple. - -“What a chance to make sugar!--build the camp at the bottom of the -hill, and haul the sap down. Wouldn’t apple trees grow here! you better -believe it!” - -His attention was now arrested by the sound of running water. Turning -around, he came upon a broad, deep brook, with water of a reddish -tinge, running very swiftly, leaping over logs half imbedded in the -soil, till, with a broad mouth, bordered by enormous basswood trees, -composed, as is often the habit of that tree, of many trunks springing -from a common root, it met the sea at the base of the cliffs of the -south-western point. - -“How handsome these trees must look in blossom! and the water is deep -enough at high tide to sail right into the mouth of this brook, and -under the trees: won’t I do it some time?” - -He now perceived, at a distance, something glancing white through the -mass of foliage. - -“I’ll see what that is when I come back. I want to see what is on the -height of land.” - -Proceeding up the ascent, he beheld a level surface of apparently a -light loam. - -“Here,” said he, “is some black wood, at least.” There were clumps of -large white pines and spruce, with red oak, but no continuous growth -of pine, as on Elm Island. “Here is corn, grain, and potato land. What -a splendid farm this would make! so many kinds of land, and no waste -land.” - -Going farther, he again came upon the brook. - -“I shall get lost. I’ll follow the brook, and see what that white thing -was.” - -Looking through the trees into a broad opening, he saw a bear with two -cubs, picking blueberries. - -“I’ve nothing but small shot in my gun: if you’ll let me alone, I’ll -let you alone;” and he passed on. - -The brook led him to a rocky ridge, through a chasm, in which the brook -flung itself over bowlders large and small, old logs, and over and -under great tree roots, that ran and twisted in among them from bank to -bank. - -It was the white foam of this waterfall Charlie had caught glimpses of -through the foliage. - -“There’s a brook for you,” said he; “it’s another kind from our brook: -that’s a quiet, cosy little brook; but this is a tearing fellow. What a -chance for a dam in that gap! ’twould cost next to nothing to build it, -and there’s water enough to carry a saw mill, spring and fall.” - -Following the course of the brook, which from the point of the fall -to the mouth was very devious, he at length came to a place where -it almost returned upon itself, forming a little tongue, with a -beautifully rounded extremity, entirely bare of underbrush, and covered -with a thick mat of grass. Near the end stood a magnificent elm, the -only one Charlie had as yet noticed. Its trunk was begirt with that -network of foliage formed by the interlacing of many small twigs and -green leaves, which often, in its natural state, impart such singular -beauty to that noble tree. Among these meshes the wild ivy crept and -twined, half imbedded in the cork-like bark. Far above the roots, two -enormous branches diverged from the trunk, and nearly at right angles -with it; after running some distance in that direction, curved upward, -separating at a great height, the one into three, the other into five -branches, and there again subdividing, together with those of the main -trunk and others springing from the surface of the side branches, -terminated in a vast tracery of pendent foliage, covering the whole -of the little promontory with their shadow, and almost touching the -brook that washed its shores. As Charlie burst from the gloom of the -thick forest upon this sweet spot and this lordly tree, among whose -broad masses of foliage the rays of the declining sun seemed to love to -linger, he paused in mute admiration. At length he approached the great -tree, and standing on tiptoe, managed to barely reach the extremity of -a twig, and drew down the limb: he then stepped back and looked upon -the tree, and noted every feature of the landscape. - -“Was there ever so beautiful a spot as this!” he said at length. “I -must have a piece of this land. I never can like any other place, -except Elm Island, after this. I wonder who it belongs to. Here’s -everything--timber, water, good land, I know by the growth, and O, how -beautiful! Fish in the brook too: there’s no fish in our brook, only -the smelts and frost-fish that come from the salt water.” - -Heated and weary, he sat down between the spur roots of the great tree, -and looked up between the boughs, watching the play of the sunlight -quivering among the leaves, and espied two hangbirds’ (orioles) nests -pendent from the branches. - -“You’ve been stealing the tow from my grafts, I guess, you rogues,” -noticing the material of which the nests were made. - -Returning to the shore, he found the tide was out, and had left a -considerable extent of smooth, gravelly beach. He walked down to the -water’s edge; the clams were spouting all around him. - -“A bold shore and plenty of clams: it’s a great thing to have clams; -we’ve often found it so on the island. If I had an axe to cut logs and -build a big fire, I’d sleep here to-night; but I haven’t,and that she -bear, or some wolf; might pay his respects to me in the night. I’ll -tell Uncle Isaac about that bear, and we’ll have her, cubs and all.” - -He now picked up some dead wood, and making a fire, cooked his coot, -took a drink of water from the brook, anchored the boat in the middle -of the cove, and wrapping himself in the sails, was soon fast asleep. - -With the break of day he weighed anchor, and made sail for Uncle -Isaac’s. He arrived there just as they were eating breakfast. - -“You’ve come in a good time, Charlie; sit down with us.” - -No sooner was appetite appeased than he described the place he had been -so much delighted with, to Uncle Isaac, and told him all about it, and -also about the island; what large birches there were on it; that he saw -a cove in one end of it, as he passed, that wound around as it went in. - -“That cove,” said Uncle Isaac, “is the safest little harbor that can -be: no sea can get in there, the mouth is so narrow, and it is so -crooked. The bark on my birch came from that island, and better land -never lay out doors.” - -“Who owns it?” - -“Nobody.” - -“Nobody?” - -“No. I suppose it belongs to the state; but it don’t belong to any -individual. We don’t think anything here of a little thing like that.” - -“Could I buy it?” - -“Yes, you could buy it of the state, and then you would get a deed of -it; but if you should go on there, clear a spot, plant it, and keep -hold of it, nobody would ever consarn with you, and after a while you -would hold it by possession.” - -“Is there any name to it?” - -“Not as ever I knew.” - -“How do you distinguish it?” - -“Some call it Birch Island, and some Indian Island, because the Indians -used to make canoes there.” - -Charlie told him about the bear. - -“Shall I get Fred, and you go with us, and kill her?” - -“No, Charlie; she’s nursing her cubs, and is poor now; let her alone -till my corn is in the milk; she’ll be getting into that; be fat then, -and the cubs worth something, and we will get the whole of them. I’ll -keep track of her. How do your partridges come on?” - -“First rate; before they hatched I cut away the bushes, and built a -tight fence around the hen, and when I go there, they run right under -her.” - -“You may keep them this summer, and next winter; but you’ll lose them -in the spring, unless you put them in a cage.” - -“How can that be? I let them out the other day, and they followed the -hen, and acted just like any other chickens.” - -“Because that wild nature is born in ’em; you may take an Indian boy -and send him to school; but when he’s grown, he’ll take to the wigwam -again. I tell you, when the partridges begin to drum next spring, look -out.” - -“What is the name of this place where I slept last night?” - -“It has no name; it’s wild land, wilderness: didn’t you see a bear -there?” - -“Yes, sir; and I heard wolves howl in the night; but is there not some -name to tell it by?” - -“There’s a number to the range,--I forget what it is,--and we call the -cove Pleasant Cove.” - -“That’s a first-rate name: what made them call it that?” - -“Because it is such a nice harbor, and a sheltered, sunny spot; people -in the winter time, bitter cold weather, pulling up the bay in a canoe, -get under the lee of that long p’int, and then go into the cove, and -are safe.” - -“Does anybody own that?” - -“Yes, there’s a man in Salem owns twelve hundred and eighty acres, and -that is part of it.” - -“Would he sell it?” - -“I suppose so. He has sold a good deal.” - -“What would he ask an acre for that part of it?” - -“There are no masts or spars on it of any great amount. It’s settling -land--hard wood growth. It ought not to bring more than fifteen cents -an acre; but he don’t care whether he sells or not, and might ask -fifty.” - -“Do you know him?” - -“Yes, indeed; known him this twenty years. He stopped at my house when -he bought that land, and three times as much more. I carried the chain -for Squire Eveleth when he run it out.” - -“Uncle Isaac, I want a piece of land. You don’t know how much I’ve -thought about it! None of my folks ever owned an inch of land. Night -and day I have thought and dreamed about it, and I want _that_, and no -other in this world. The moment I came round the point into the cove, -and saw the sun shining on the trees, something said to me, That’s your -home.” - -“I know what that feeling is, and all about it; and if you feel that -way, you’ll never be worth a cent, or be contented in any other spot. -There’s something comes out of the soil you love that puts the -strength into your arm, and the courage into your heart.” - -“But how shall I get it?” - -“Buy it. You’ve got money enough, when Fred pays you, to buy enough for -a farm, and more too.” - -“But before that, some one that has got money to pay down might see it, -like it just as well as I have, and buy it right off; perhaps it’s sold -now.” - -“No, it ain’t. People are not so fond of going on to wild land. They -had rather buy land that has been partly cleared. I’ll write to Mr. -Pickering, and get the price, and the refusal of it, and I’ll buy it -for you. When you get your money from Fred, you can pay me. You’ll have -enough from your boats, probably, to buy two hundred acres; and when we -hear from him, I’ll go over it with you. There’s a heavy growth of pine -back from the shore: I should want that; and there’s a pond, that the -brook is an outlet of: I should want command of that water. The brook -is a mill privilege. Boards will be worth something by and by; not in -my day, perhaps, but you are young, and can afford to wait.” - -“Then there’s bears on it, Uncle Isaac. It is worth a good deal more -for that.” - -“Most people wouldn’t consider that any privilege.” - -“O, I should!” - -“But the thing that toles the bears there, and makes them like it, is a -privilege.” - -“What is that?” - -“Acorns. There’s a master sight of acorns and beech-nuts on the whole -of that range along the shore, and hog-brakes in the swales. Hogs can -get their living in the woods, and, by clamming on the beach, all the -summer and fall.” - -“Won’t the bears kill ’em?” - -“Once in a while one; but then you can kill the bear, and he’ll be -worth as much as the hog. I would rather have ten bears round than one -wolf.” - -“You know, Charlie,” said Hannah Murch, “bear’s grease is good to make -boys limber to wrestle. If you had served my bed-clothes as you did -Sally’s, I don’t know what I should have done to you.” - -“I would have spoilt all the beds in the house for the sake of throwing -Henry Griffin.” - -“It appears to me you are beginning in good season to get a farm. You -are not going to housekeeping?” - -“The sooner the better,” said Uncle Isaac. “When a rat gets a hole, he -carries everything to it.” - -“No, Mrs. Murch, nothing of that kind; but I do want a piece of the -soil that I can walk over and call my own, and have crops of my own, -that nobody can take from me. I love to work with tools; but I love the -earth that God made, and the woods. I love that spot, and am afraid -I shall lose it if I don’t get it now. If I can only know it’s mine, -that’s enough. Mrs. Murch, I think there’s something substantial about -the earth.” - -“So there is, Charlie; and when you’ve got the land, you’ve something -under your feet, and it can lay there till you want it. There will be -no taxes of any amount till there’s a road made through it.” - -“Hannah,” said Uncle Isaac, “the Bounty is loading with bark and wood -for Salem, in Wilson’s Cove. I’ll send my letter by her.” - -“And I,” said Charlie, “must go home.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -CHARLIE BECOMES A FREEHOLDER. - - -CHARLIE was in high spirits when he weighed anchor; but on the way “a -change came over the spirit of his dream.” - -He began to reproach himself that, carried away by the attractions -of Pleasant Cove, and the impulse of the moment, he had gone so far -without consulting his adopted parents. “Father will think that I ought -to have asked him. He would have bought the land for me if he had -thought best I should have it.” - -When he reached the island, he told them all about it. Ben and Sally -seemed to understand his feelings perfectly. - -“It would not have looked well,” said Sally, “after Uncle Isaac offered -to buy the land for you not to have accepted the offer.” - -“You could not have found a better piece of land, or a more pleasant -spot,” said Ben. “That flat next to the beach is splendid wheat land, -and there’s an excellent boiling spring on the eastern side of the -cove.” - -“I didn’t see that, but I saw the brook.” - -The evenings were now quite long, and Charlie made rapid progress in -surveying. Uncle Isaac’s boat also grew apace under the new impulse he -had received. Every stroke of the hammer was so much towards buying -land. - -Ben’s prediction in respect to increase of business was abundantly -verified. After Uncle Isaac’s boat was finished and gone, Charlie -set up another, without any model or guide except his eye, and the -knowledge of proportions which he had gained from the other boats. -He endeavored to unite the sailing qualities of the West Wind with -a greater capacity of burden, and ability to carry sail with a less -quantity of ballast. - -Charlie did not intend to sell this boat, but to make her large and -able for rough weather and heavy seas, and keep her for a family boat -to go to the main land in. He had of late been smitten with a very -great desire to go to meeting on the main land, and to dine at Captain -Rhines’s, and he knew that his mother would like to go with him, as -she never was afraid of anything. But although he did not intend to -sell this boat, he designed her for a permanent model of others to be -sold. He perceived that the other boats, though infinitely better than -the dug-outs to get about in, were not what was required for fishing; -that, though great sailers, they were not capacious enough to hold fish -and ballast both, and required too much ballast to keep them on their -legs. It is by no means an easy attainment to unite in one boat all the -elements of a good fishing-boat, that will sail well, row easy, and -save life in bad weather. A fisherman wants a boat that will row easy, -for he often starts away at two o’clock in the morning, when it is -generally calm, and rows seven or eight miles, perhaps more, to reach -his ground. He cannot go without ballast, and he can get none after he -is outside, except he gets fish, which is by no means certain. On the -other hand, if he gets a large quantity of fish, he can throw some of -his ballast overboard, and he doesn’t want to row half a ton of ballast -eight or ten miles. But if his boat is stiff, and will carry reefed -sails, or a whole foresail, with a moderate quantity of ballast that he -can keep in all the time, not sufficient to overload her when fish are -plenty, and yet sufficient to make her safe, he is suited. - -It is not a great deal, to be sure, to row four or five hundred weight -of ballast more, for once or twice, but when you have got to do it year -in and year out, when tired and hungry, it is a good deal. A fisherman -wants a boat, too, that is smart, stiff to bear a hard blow, buoyant, -will mind her helm, and work quick to clear an ugly sea, and sail well -on a wind. They often go twenty miles from land, tempted by weather -that appears “hard and good,” to particular shoals, where they get -large fish, when the weather suddenly changes, and in an open boat they -must beat in, and they do beat in. There are boats now built at Hampton -or Seabrook that would beat into Boston Bay, with a man in them that -knew how to handle them in a gale of wind, when a ship couldn’t do it; -for, when a big ship gets down to close-reefs, she won’t do much on a -wind. The people then knew where the fish were as well as we do now; -but they couldn’t go off to those places except in pinkies, and, when -they ventured to the inner shoals, reefs, and hake ground in their -canoes, it was real slavery. They had to row in if the wind came ahead, -or it was calm, and were liable to be blown to sea and lost. - -Charlie meant to build a boat that would answer these requirements as -far as he was able. Then he meant to take moulds of every timber and -every streak of plank as he went along, so that he might work from -them, and build another of the same size, with one half the labor. - -This he did, and built a boat twenty-two feet long on top, sharp under -water, and deeper in proportion to her length than the others, with a -pink-stern and lap-streak. It was less work to put on the planks with -a lap than with a calking-seam; there was less need of accuracy; for, -if the plank lapped too much in any place, you had only to take it off -with a plane or chisel. - -When his boat was finished, he painted her by the streaks, and she -looked as neat as a pin. He thought she was a great deal handsomer than -a square stern; so did everybody. - -When anchored beside the Perseverance, she looked so much like her that -he christened her Perseverance, Jr. As soon as the spars and sails -were made, Charlie and the whole family, except Sally Merrithew and -the baby, went over to meeting. People then came great distances to -meeting, taking a luncheon of “turnovers,” or doughnuts and cheese, and -going out to walk in the burying-ground to eat it, the intermission -between services being short. - -The boat was anchored in the cove, right in front of the church, and -many were the curious eyes that scanned her proportions during the -intermission. - -Henry Griffin had enjoyed his boat but three weeks, when he came on to -the island, and wanted to buy the Perseverance, Jr. - -“What do you want of two boats?” - -“There’s a man in Wiscasset wants mine for a pleasure-boat. I think -yours would be a great deal better boat for fishing in the winter, in -rough weather. I will sell mine, and buy yours.” - -“I won’t sell this boat, for we want just such a boat to go over to -meeting in. We can go in her dry, by carrying short sail, any time, -almost; but I’ll build you one just like her.” - -“When?” - -“I’ll begin to-morrow.” - -“Then build her, and I’ll sell this.” - -In the course of a fortnight he had three orders more; all wanted them -as soon as possible, they said. The boats were rather large, but just -the thing for two men. - -He then hired Robert Yelf to work with him, and sent some moulds -over to Uncle Isaac, who dug out roots for him, and procured crooks -for knees and breast-hooks. When he had filled these orders, there -was a lull, and Charlie went to farming and making preparations for -boat-building in future. - -Having now mastered the principles of surveying by means of a Gunter’s -scale and chain, which Ben possessed, and a cross staff which he had -made under his father’s directions, he began to practise by measuring -the cleared land on the island and the points, and making and platting -the different pieces. He was anxious to learn the use of the compass, -and to run lines by it; but he had no land compass, and here, with -most boys, the matter would have rested; but unaccustomed to yield -to difficulties, Charlie resolved to make a boat compass serve his -turn--the very one that had been the instrument of saving his life in -the snow squall. - -His first attempt was to make a tripod. Upon a piece of oak board he -drew a circle two inches larger than the compass, with projections -at each side six inches long, and sawed it out by the marks: he then -drew another circle, two inches inside of this, and sawed down to it, -cutting out the wood so as to leave two projections on each side, -two inches wide and two long: in each of these he cut a slot on the -underside, also in one of the end ones, to receive a tenon cut on the -end of each of the legs. By heating a wrought nail he made rivets, -upon which his legs traversed easily, and fastened the compass to a -wooden peg in the centre. A land compass has brass perpendiculars at -each end of the base upon which it sits, with slits in them, by which -to sight. In order to represent these, he made two holes in the ends -of his base, in line with the needle of the compass, and put in two -knitting needles, making them perpendicular with a plumb-line: thus, -by setting up a stake, he had three objects in range, and could sight -accurately. A land compass has a spirit level on its frame, by which to -level it, screws to keep it in place, and a ball and socket joint upon -which it moves; but by spreading or contracting the legs of his tripod, -and by means of a plumb-line (the great resource of all mechanics in -emergencies), he contrived to depress, elevate, and adjust the compass, -measure land, and run a line accurately, and in a manner which Ben, -after looking over his work, pronounced correct. - -“Survey the island, Charlie,” said Ben; “I should like to know how much -there is in it. I will carry the chain for you, and help you about -measuring the points.” - -“Don’t you know how much land you bought?” - -“No; I bought it for so much; had it for more or less--what Mr. Welch’s -father had it for when he bought it; I expect it overruns.” - -“I should like to know, too,” said Uncle Isaac, who had come to the -island that morning. “I’ve heard the most talk back and forth about -this island: some say Ben hasn’t got the land he paid for, some say -he’s got more. You need three to work in the woods. I’ll carry the -chain.” - -“I had it for seventeen hundred acres,” said Ben. - -“Well, there’s all that, if not more.” - -They ran lines north-east and south-west the length of the island, and -parallel to each other at eighty rods apart; then ran cross lines, also -parallel, eighty rods apart; blazed a tree at every intersection, and -numbered the ranges included in these spaces, and put them down in a -field-book. As the shore line was irregular, they measured the shore -sections by offsets from the range lines. - -Charlie then made a plat of it. The island contained nineteen hundred -and thirty-five acres, one rood, twenty-seven rods, five links. - -“That’s not much more than there ought to be,” said Uncle Isaac; “you -have measured the whole; but they didn’t call these points anything, -and they of course made allowance for the squawk swamp.” - -They were five days in doing it, and it afforded Charlie excellent -practice. A short time after that, Ben was sent for to run a large lot -of timber land. He hired Squire Eveleth’s compass, and took Charlie -with him, when he had an opportunity to perfect his knowledge of that -instrument. - -In due time Uncle Isaac received a letter from Salem. The price of the -land was seventy-five cents an acre. Uncle Isaac, Ben, and Charlie went -to look over it. - -“It is too much,” said Uncle Isaac; “seventy-five cents an acre! -farther back, you can buy it for twelve or fifteen cents.” - -“What of that?” replied Ben: “no chance to get a thing to eat, except -what you get from the land, and while you are clearing, almost starve -to death; have to hunt and live on beech leaves and acorns; while here -are clams at the shore, and fish and lobsters in the sea, to fall back -upon; besides a brook with a fine mill privilege.” - -“Better than that, Ben; there are plenty of pickerel in this pond, and -the alewives, smelts, and frost-fish come up here into the brook, and -any amount of eels.” - -“There is still another great advantage you have overlooked: there -is a swale made by the flowing back of the water, where the beavers -once had a dam, that will cut six or seven tons of hay; that would be -everything to a man going to settle on it. With the hay in that swale -for winter, browse in this hard wood growth in summer, he could keep -cattle right off.” - -The pond contained over two hundred acres, and they found that in order -to obtain that, and a portion of the heaviest pine growth back of it, -it would be necessary for Charlie to buy about four hundred acres, or -more. - -“Buy it, Charlie,” said Ben; “you will then have the mill privilege and -the timber both, and can do well with it.” - -Charlie concluded to take it; and Uncle Isaac wrote to Salem to close -the bargain. Ben and Charlie now went to Boston and procured their -trees, taking up a load of fish to Mr. Welch, for Fred. Mr. Welch -gave Charlie a Gunter’s scale, a land compass and chain, with all the -appurtenances. - -They received a letter from Isaac Murch, to the great delight of all, -especially of Captain Rhines--the readers of the Ark will remember -him. Mr. Welch told the captain that he had received a letter at the -same time from Captain Radford, in which he said Isaac was now second -mate of the Congress, an excellent seaman, and good navigator; and he -should give him a mate’s birth at the first opportunity. - -“He’s my boy,” said the captain, highly gratified; “for I brought him -to life when he was good as dead, and Flour and I educated him. I’ll -risk _him_ anywhere; that will be good news for his parents and Uncle -Isaac.” - -Fred had orders from Mr. Welch for more fish; Joe Griffin likewise. - -Charlie was now abundantly supplied with material for building boats, -and had more orders. The harvest being over, he was assisted by his -father. In a tight shop, with a rousing fire, they had nice times -together. - -Nobody would fish in a canoe now; and as demand always creates supply, -an ingenious man at Wiscasset (a ship carpenter, who had been injured -by a fall, and could not endure the heavy work of the ship-yard) -saw one of Charlie’s boats, took the dimensions of her, and set up -boat-building. Uncle Sam Elwell also built a boat for himself, and -other ingenious people did the same; but Charlie’s boats outsailed all -the others, and were preferred; there was something about them the -others could not imitate. Uncle Isaac said there was a soul in them; -they were alive. - -The Perseverance made several trips, and Fred obtained his goods in -that way easily, and at small expense for freight, and paid Charlie -his money, with a handsome profit, much more than the money would have -earned at interest. - -The last time the Perseverance went to Boston, Sally went in her, baby -and all. Mr. Welch and his wife were delighted to see her. Mrs. Welch -went shopping with her, and she purchased furniture for the house, and -dishes to take the place of the old pewter, a large looking-glass, and -a globe to hang on the wall in the front room, dresses for herself, and -some presents for Ben and Charlie. - -Mr. Welch declared the child should be named for him, and so it was. - -Charlie, having received his money, was naturally anxious to close the -bargain for the land, of which Uncle Isaac had obtained the refusal. - -In going over it the first time, they had merely guessed at the number -of acres it would be necessary to buy in order to take in the pond, the -pine timber, and the whole of the brook. - -Men like Ben and Uncle Isaac will, by pacing, come quite near to the -contents of a piece of land; but it was now necessary to measure and -describe it sufficiently to make a deed. - -Charlie wanted the cove, the long point, a growth of white oak which -extended several rods beyond the short point, and the pond and brook. -These he meant to have, even if he had to buy more land than he -actually wanted. Mr. Pickering wrote to Uncle Isaac, who was an old -acquaintance of his, that he was willing to take Rhines’s survey, if he -would go with them and carry the chain. - -When they arrived at the spot with the new instruments Mr. Welch had -given him, Charlie wanted to begin at the shore line, above Long Point; -but Ben told him if he did he would lose the point, as he could only -hold what was within his lines. They therefore began on the shore, -below the short point, ran the lines, and made a description by which -to write the deed, as follows: Beginning at a blazed yellow birch -tree, standing in a split rock on the shore, twenty rods south-west -from Bluff Point, so called; thence running south-east four hundred -and fifty rods to a blazed pine, marked C. B. (Charlie’s initials), -south-east corner; thence north-east one hundred and fifty rods to a -blazed pine tree, marked C. B., north-east corner; thence north-west -four hundred and six rods to a blazed red oak tree on the shore, -marked C. B.; thence along the shore of Pleasant Point, so called, at -low-water mark, to the point of the high ledge at the westerly end of -the same; thence west by south forty rods to the south-westerly end of -said Pleasant Point at low-water mark; the line thence to the point -begun at, being below low-water mark, across the mouth of Pleasant -Cove, containing three hundred and sixty-three acres, more or less, -thirty-seven being deducted for the contents of Pleasant Cove. - -“I must go to the brook and get a drink of water,” said Charlie, when -they had finished. - -“We’ll go to Cross-root Spring,” said Uncle Isaac. “That’s something -you’ve not seen yet, and it’s one of the best pieces of property you’ve -got.” - -Uncle Isaac led the way along the shore to the head of the cove. There -the land rose gradually into a very gentle swell. A few rods from the -water’s edge, on the breast of this slight elevation, were two large -birches, whose branches interlocked; two of their main roots, crossing -each other, grew together, and between them quivered, in transient -gleams of sunlight, the clear waters of a noble spring. - -Charlie looked down into it. The white sand was rolling over and over, -as the bubbling water flung it up from the bottom. All around were the -footprints of sea and land birds and animals. Uncle Isaac pointed out -the track of a wolf, coons, and the print of a bear’s foot. - -“There,” said he, “is a well that God Almighty dug for the good of -his creatures. You see they know where it is. More red than white men -have drank at this spring. It is a priceless gift! Let us drink, and -remember the Giver.” - -These details may not be very interesting to us, but they were -intensely so to Charlie, who felt his hand was almost upon the prize he -had so long desired. It had already been productive of one good result. -It had given him an excellent practical knowledge of surveying and -mathematics, most useful in his mechanical pursuits. - -When Ben had written out the description, after returning to the -island, he gave it to Charlie, and said, “When you pay your money, and -get a deed of the land thus described, you’ve got all the land that -belongs to you, and as good a farm as there is in town.” - -In due time Charlie received his deed, which, he being a minor, ran to -Uncle Isaac in trust for him. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -CHARLIE IN THE SHIP-YARD. - - -PERHAPS the readers of the previous volumes will recollect that Isaac -Murch became so much interested in the account given him, in Havana, -by Captain Rhines, of the noble conduct of Flour in respect to his -old master, aiding him in his poverty, and also of his kindness and -fidelity to himself when sick, that he determined to teach him to read -and write, and he made some progress during the passage home. When -Isaac went to sea again, John Rhines became his teacher, and when John -went to learn a trade, Captain Rhines undertook the task himself. It -was quite pleasing to note the respect with which Flour was treated by -the whole community since he had begun to respect himself, had become -a temperate man, and was acquiring knowledge; for, not satisfied with -teaching him to read, Captain Rhines was instructing him in arithmetic. -He spent the rainy days, and other leisure moments he could spare -from his labor, in studying. Nobody now called him Flour, except -occasionally from long habit. - -It was now James, or Peterson, or even Mr. Peterson. He was an -excellent calker and rigger. Captain Rhines introduced him at -Wiscasset, where they built many large vessels to carry ton-timber and -spars, as a reliable workman, and he had all the work he wanted. The -captain also gave him a piece of land, put him up a houseframe, and -boarded it. He was able to finish it, little by little, himself, and -leave the money, which was in Captain Rhines’s hands, on interest. He -had a boy, Benjamin, named after Captain Rhines, nineteen years old, a -stout, smart fellow, with very handsome form and features, all the boy, -now John Rhines was gone, that Charlie couldn’t throw; but he was so -black he shone. - -Before this, Flour lived near Captain Rhines’s pasture, in a half-faced -log cabin, where he had squat. It stood among a bed of thistles, with -heaps of clam shells all around. Destitute of a chimney, the smoke went -through a hole in the roof of his cabin, and he was called Old Flour. - -No one but they who had lived on Elm Island could imagine what a -convenience the Perseverance, Jr. had become. Indeed, not a member of -the family would have parted with her for any consideration. - -Sunday morning, no matter if it was quite rough, they would all but -Sally Merrithew or Mrs. Rhines, get in and go to meeting. On pleasant -days they would take the baby, and then all could go. If it was calm it -did not matter in the least. Ben would take two oars, and, sitting on -the forward thwart, row cross-handed, while Charlie would pull one oar -aft, and Sally, assisted, or rather bothered, by Ben, Jr., would steer. - -The boat had not been in the water a week before Mrs. Rhines and Mary -discovered that they had never seen the baby, and must see it; and -Charlie had to bring them on. - -It was so convenient, too, for Sally’s mother, who was no more afraid -of the water than a coot, to come and see her daughter! and even Mrs. -Rhines, naturally timorous on the water, was not afraid to come in -_that_ boat. - -Tige came on with the Rhines girls. _He_ wanted to see the baby; and -such a frolic as he had with Ben, Jr., and the little one you never -saw! Tige played rather rough. Every once in a while he would get the -whole top of Bennie’s head into his mouth, and scrape the scalp with -the points of his teeth, till the child would sing out at the top of -his voice, and quit playing till it had done smarting, and then begin -with new zeal. Bennie had a great chunk of meat that Tige wanted; but -Ben wouldn’t give it to him. Tige followed him round, and when his -attention was occupied, licked it out of his hand; but before he could -swallow it, Ben got bold of one half, and it was which and t’other, -till, Ben’s fingers slipping on the greasy meat, he went over backwards -on the floor, and the meat disappeared down Tige’s throat in a moment. - -The child, provoked, began to strike him; but all the notice Tige took -of it was to wag his tail in complacent triumph, and lick the child’s -greasy fingers. - -“It wouldn’t be a very safe operation for a man to pull meat out of -Tige’s mouth, and strike him in that way,” said Ben, patting fondly the -noble brute; “his life wouldn’t be worth much.” - -While Charlie was thus pleasantly and profitably occupied in -boat-building, a cousin of Captain Rhines, Mr. Foss, who was employed -in ship-building at Stroudwater, came to visit him. Captain Rhines -brought him on to the island to see Ben. He conceived a great liking -for Charlie, who then had two boats set up in the shop, and partly -done. Charlie, in the course of conversation, told him of his desire -and intention one day to become a ship-builder. - -“If that is your intention,” was the reply of Mr. Foss, “you have -worked long enough on boats.” - -“Why so, sir; is it not much the same thing?” - -“Not by any means; the proportions are very different. A full boat -would be a very sharp ship--too sharp: the scale is larger, and the -distances longer. What would be a proper dead rise in a boat would be -quite another thing, come to let it run the length of a vessel’s floor, -three times as wide as the whole boat. I’m going to set up a vessel -when I go back; if you will go with me and work till spring, I’ll give -you good wages, and learn you all I know; with the practice you have -had on boats, you will learn very fast.” - -Ben expressed his willingness. - -“But I have these boats to finish.” - -“Mr. Foss will not go for a week; what is not done by that time, I will -do.” - -“What will you do, if I take the tools?” - -“You need take no more than a broadaxe, adze, square, rule, and -compasses,” said Mr. Foss; “I’ve got tools enough.” - -It was so late in the year, Ben thought he should not be able to cross -to the main land much more, and told them to take the boat. - -They accordingly furnished themselves with provision, water, and a -compass, and set out, Charlie consoling himself for leaving Elm Island -by the prospect of being only three or four miles from John. - -He was now to leave Elm Island for the first time since he came on to -it, and he went all around to take a last look at his pets, and bid -them “good by,” and even to the top of the old maple and big pine, -where he had spent so many happy hours. - -They had a pleasant time up, either a fair wind or calm, did not have -to row but little till they ran her right into Stroudwater River, and -into the ship-yard. - -The next Saturday evening about eight o’clock, John Rhines was told -that some one wished to see him at the door; and going without a light, -he landed in the embrace of Charlie. - -The moment they were alone, Charlie said,-- - -“Guess what I have done since you came away.” - -“Built a boat.” - -“Yes; I’ve sold her, and built five more; sold all but one of them, and -I came up in _her_.” - -“What a boy you are, Charlie! We’ll have some sails in her; there’s a -glorious chance to sail in this harbor in the summer, and a splendid -fishing ground. There are lots of acorns on Hog Island, and walnuts on -Mackie’s Island.” - -“Yes; but guess what else I’ve done.” - -“It’s no use to guess, you do so many things.” - -“Bought a farm.” - -“Bought a farm!” - -“Yes, and paid for it! almost four hundred acres; all kinds of land. O, -the prettiest harbor! and a pond, a brook, and the handsomest elm tree -you ever saw. All kinds of land, and bears on it, John; only think, -bears on it, and wolves. O, I forgot a little duck of an island, where -the Indians made canoes.” - -“Is there a great long point that crooks round like a horseshoe? and -does the elm stand on a little tongue that the water runs almost round?” - -“Just so.” - -“O, I know; that’s a splendid place! I’ve been there many a time, -frost-fishing. Cross-root Spring is there, a regular boiling spring; -but I never was far from the beach. I didn’t know there was a pond.” - -“Now, John, some time when we get through here, you, and I, and Fred -will go and have a chowder there; go all over it, and have a good time.” - -After this they spent Sundays together, and sat side by side at meeting. - -When Charlie began to work at Stroudwater the timber was not cut; -thus he had an opportunity to help cut the timber, and begin at the -foundation. Modern improvements were unknown then, and he found Mr. -Foss built his vessels very much as he built his boats--by setting up -stem and stern posts, a few frames, and working by ribbands. - -It was late in the fall when Charlie went away, and Ben was obliged to -work on the boats when he ought to have been putting his winter wood -under cover. The moment the boats were done, he hauled up an enormous -pile of wood, both green and dry, and had cut up a good part of the -dry, when there came a great fall of snow and covered it all up; and -not only so, but the dry chips that had come from hewing the frame of -the shed, which were scattered over the ground, and that he meant to -have put under cover. Thus the wood was all covered up in snow, and the -new wood-shed stood empty. - -Sally Merrithew had returned home; the snow was deep; the weather, -though fair, extremely cold; and communication between Elm Island and -the main pretty much suspended. Joe Griffin was building a log-house on -his own land; but the snow being so deep that it was quite difficult to -work in the woods, Peter Brock had persuaded him to assist in making -axes. - -Uncle Jonathan Smullen lived about half way between Joe’s father’s and -the blacksmith’s shop, on a little rise, just where the road makes a -short turn and goes down to Peterson’s spring. Thus Joe passed the -house several times a day, going to and returning from labor. - -Sally Merrithew did not approve of his practical jokes: he knew it, and -endeavored with all his might to restrain himself. It was now a long -time since Joe had been uncorked, and Sally was beginning to hope he -never would be again. - -Uncle Smullen had a cross ram: he would often run at the old man, who, -being old and clumsy, was afraid of him. The barn-yard was very large, -being used for both sheep and cattle. In the middle was a large patch -of ice. The old man had stocking feet drawn over his shoes, to prevent -slipping, and whenever the ram made demonstrations, would run on the -ice; the ram, unable to follow, would stand at the edge and keep him -there till some one came, or the ram got tired. - -Half the cause of the trouble was, that the ram wanted the hens’ corn, -and, because the old man wouldn’t let him have any, meant to proceed to -blows. Joe, finding the old gentleman beleaguered one day, relieved him. - -“The pesky creetur, Mr. Griffin, has kept me here most all the -forenoon.” - -“I’d cut his head off.” - -“I would, Joseph; but he’s an excellent breed; I bought him of Seth -Dingley.” - -This incident suggested an idea to Joe’s but too fertile brain in an -instant. The spirit of mischief invigorated by a long repose, and with -difficulty suppressed, rose in arms. That night he made shoes for -the ram’s feet, with sharp calks, and nails to put them on with. Mr. -Smullen was very methodical in his habits, and Joe was well acquainted -with them. - -It was his custom, before turning the cattle out in the forenoon, to -put a little salt hay in the yard for the sheep, then carry out the -corn for the hens, and bring in the eggs in the same measure; and he -never varied a hair’s breadth. - -After Bobby had gone to school, Joe went into the sheep-house, nailed -the shoes on the ram, and after plaguing and irritating him till he was -thoroughly mad, hid himself behind the log fence, in the sun, to see -what would come of it. - -The ram did not offer to molest the old gentleman while he was bringing -out the hay. Soon afterwards he came out with a wooden bowl full of -corn, going to the barn, when the ram started for him. - -“You won’t catch me this time, you pesky sarpint you,” said the old -gentleman, quickening his pace for the ice, and soon reached what he -supposed his harbor of safety. The brute had found out he was shod, -and running backward half the length of the yard to obtain momentum, -rushed forward and struck the old gentleman in the rear with the force -of a battering-ram. Away went the corn in all directions over the -yard, to the manifest delight of the hungry sheep. Uncle Smullen lay -prostrate on the ice: one half the wooden bowl flew over the fence, the -other into the water trough, while the ram, who had exerted his utmost -strength in a dead rush, not meeting with the resistance upon which he -had calculated, turning a summerset upon the body of his antagonist, -went end over end. Before he could pick himself up, he was seized by -Joseph, and flung into the barn. - -[Illustration: UNCLE JONATHAN AND THE RAM. Page 282.] - -The moment Joe saw Uncle Smullen fall, his better nature awoke: -hastening to his aid, he inquired,-- - -“Are you much hurt, Uncle Jonathan?” - -“I don’t know! I’m in hopes there ain’t no bones broke; it’s a marcy -there ain’t. If I’d gone backwards, it would sartainly have killed me.” - -“Your face is bleeding,” said Joe, wiping it with his handkerchief. - -“Yes; I’m terribly shook all over, and I feel kind o’ faint.” - -The old man was bruised on his forehead, and his lip was cut by the -edge of the bowl; but though much frightened, he was not seriously -injured. - -Joe took him in his arms, and carried him into the house, secretly -resolving that this should be the last thing of the kind he would ever -be guilty of. - -Depositing the old man on the bed, he went to the barn and tore the -shoes off the ram’s feet, but, in his haste to get back, dropped one on -the floor of the tie-up. - -“I thought I was safe on that spot of ice, Joseph. He never followed -me there before. I didn’t think he could stand on the ice.” - -“You see he couldn’t very well,” replied Joe, who was in agony lest his -agency in the matter should get wind; “for you see he went end over -end.” - -“We ought to be thankful,” said Mrs. Smullen, “it’s no worse. There was -old Mrs. Aspinwall broke her hip only by treading on a pea, and falling -down on her own floor. What we’re going to do about wood and the cattle -I’m sure I don’t know! I’m so lame, I couldn’t milk to save my life.” - -“Don’t worry the least mite about the cattle, Mrs. Smullen. I’ll take -care of them, and cut you up a lot of wood.” - -“I’m sure I don’t know how we shall ever repay you, Joseph. It’s of the -Lord’s marcies you happened to be here.” - -This was perfect torture to Joe. His cheeks burned, and his conscience -stung. - -“I’m sure,” said the old man, “I don’t know what I shall do with that -ram, now he’s got to be master.” - -“I’ll take care of him,” said Joe. - -He persuaded Sally Merrithew to go there, and stay till the old -gentleman got better, then went and tied the ram’s legs, and, flinging -him on his shoulders, carried him over to his father’s. - -Sally was a girl of keen wit and excellent judgment. She had not the -least doubt but that, in some way or other, Joe Griffin was at the -bottom of the whole matter. - -“How came he there at that time of day, when he ought to have been in -Peter Brock’s shop?” was the query she raised in her own mind. His -assiduous attentions to the old people had to her a suspicious look, -and appeared very much like an effort to atone for an injury. The ram -had never ventured on the ice before--how came he to then? Still these -surmises afforded not a shadow of proof. She was greatly perplexed. - -One morning she was milking, and, perceiving that her pail didn’t set -even on the floor, moved it, and underneath was one of the ram’s shoes -that Joe had dropped. In an instant she had a clew to the mystery. -Perceiving that no one was in sight, she went to the spot of ice, found -the prints of the ram’s corks, and compared them with the shoe. - -“What a creature he is!” said Sally. “I was in hopes he had left off -such things, after having been most smothered in a honey-pot, and -scorched in the brush. He’s broke out again, worse than ever.” - -Sunday night he came to see her, as usual. - -“Joe,” said she, “do they shoe at Peter’s shop?” - -“Yes, Peter shoes lots of horses; but they go round to the houses to -shoe oxen, carry the shoes and nails, and cast the cattle in the barn -floor” (slings were not in use then) “to nail them on.” - -“Do they ever shoe rams?” - -Joe’s features instantly assumed a terrified expression. He colored to -the very tips of his ears, but uttered no word. - -“If,” said Sally, “it had been Ben Rhines, Seth Warren, Charlie, or -anybody that could have taken their own part; but to set to work on -that poor old man, one of the kindest men that ever lived, who took in -that miserable Pete Clash, and clothed him, when he had no place to -put his head, and whom everybody loves, to run the risk of killing or -crippling him for life, I say it’s real mean!” - -Joe made no reply, and Sally saw something very much like a tear in his -eye. She pitied him from the bottom of her heart, but felt that for the -reformation of such an incorrigible sinner it was her duty to go on. - -“Did you ever see that before?” she inquired, holding before the -terrified culprit the identical shoe, with the nails still sticking in -it. - -Joe uttered a groan. - -“If it should get out, the neighbors would never speak to you again, -and you’d have to leave town. I know you feel bad,” she continued, -bursting into tears; “but what did put it into your head?” - -“The devil.” - -“Well, I’d keep better company.” - -“You see, Sally, I was going home to dinner one day, and the ram had -the old man penned on the ice, and there they stood looking at each -other. That’s what put it into my head. I didn’t think anything about -the consequences till I saw the ram start for him. Then it all came to -me, and I was over the fence in a minute; but it was too late. I don’t -think I’m made like other folks. Such things come over me just like -lightning, and it seems as if I was hurried. This is the last shine I -shall ever cut up.” - -“You’ve said so before, Joe.” - -“But I _mean_ it now; I’m _purposed_. Won’t you give me that shoe, -Sally?” - -“No, Joe, I’m going to keep it; and as sure as you cut up another -shine, I’ll show it.” - -Joe’s reformation was _radical_ this time, and Sally ventured to marry -him. Years after--when Mrs. Griffin--Sally Rhines was visiting her. In -hunting over her drawers to find a pattern of a baby’s dress, she came -across the shoe, and then it came out. She gave it to the baby to play -with. - -“I should be afraid to give it to him,” said Mrs. Rhines, “for fear -he’d catch something, and go to cutting up shines when he grows up.” - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -THE FIRST TROUBLE, AND THE FIRST PRAYER. - - -BEING somewhat lonely in the absence of Charlie, Ben employed himself -in getting timber to build a scow, that he meant to construct with -a mast, sails, and a sliding-keel, or, as they are now termed, -centre-boards, to take cattle and hay to and from Griffin’s Island. - -Uncle Isaac and Captain Rhines came on New Year’s Day. They told Ben -and Sally it was so cold, and the weather uncertain, that they needn’t -expect to see them again till April. - -The next day, Danforth Eaton and two more came and hired the -Perseverance. Ben told them, when they were done with her, to leave her -in Captain Rhines’s Cove. - -They were now left entirely alone. During the latter part of the same -week, Ben, who had been out gunning all day, crawling round on the -rocks, and getting wet, complained at night of pain in his head and -back, and of chilliness. He made use of the usual remedies for a -cold, but without avail. He continued to grow worse rapidly, and it -was evident that he was to have a run of fever. Sally was in great -extremity, her husband dangerously sick, neither physician nor medicine -at hand,--save those simple remedies that necessity had taught our -mothers,--with two children, one a baby, a stock of cattle to take -care of, and utterly alone as respected any human aid. It was a bitter -thought to her, as she sat listening to the wanderings of her husband -she tenderly loved, and for whom she had sacrificed so much, that, -while so rich in friends, all were ignorant of their necessity. - -“If they only knew it at home,” said she to herself, “how soon should I -see the Perseverance’s sails going up, and help coming!” - -Sally had not what is sometimes termed a religious temperament. There -was no sentiment about her. She was extremely conscientious in respect -to keeping the Sabbath, or making light of serious things, was very -decided in all her convictions, and never temporized. If it was wrong -to do anything, it was wrong, and that was the end of it with her. She -never read religious books from choice,--like many who never arrive at -any satisfactory results in religious matters,--but only as a duty, as -she did the Bible. She never cared to hear religious conversation, -and, though she listened with the greatest respect to her mother in -relation to these subjects, it went in at one ear and out at the other. -Uncle Isaac’s description of her was perfect. She was lively as a -humming-bird, and had too good a time of it in this world to think much -about the other. But under the terrible pressure that now came upon -her, the resolute nature and iron frame of the true-hearted, loving -woman began to give way. - -With the exception of some large logs for back logs, the wood which was -cut was exhausted, and she was obliged to dig it from the snow and cut -it. - -The great fireplace was so deep, it was impossible to keep the room -warm without a large log to bring the fire forward, and throw the heat -into the room. These logs, which were three feet through, Sally hauled -into the house on a hand-sled, and rolled into the fireplace, then cut -up the rest of the wood to complete the fire. - -The weather was intensely cold, the snow deep and drifted, and she -was obliged to drive the cattle to the brook, and cut holes in the -ice for them to drink. In addition to all this was the care of Bennie -and the baby, the constant watching, and sense of loneliness. What -a commentary was this upon the declaration of Uncle Isaac to Ben, in -reply to the expression of his fears lest the untried hardships of Elm -Island should prove too much for Sally,-- - -“O, she’s got the old iron nature of that breed of folks. She’s had -nothing to call out that grit yet; but you’ll find out what she’s made -of when she comes to be put to’t.” - -Her husband was now so much reduced that it was with the greatest -difficulty she could hear his requests, and the apprehension that he -would die, which had tortured her for weeks, now seemed ripening into -certainty. - -It was just before midnight. Ben had lain since morning in a stupor, -from which it seemed impossible to rouse him, and, being nearly high -water, she feared he would die when the tide turned. - -It was a fearful night. The roar of the sea on the rocks, with that -hoarse, pitiless sound which pertains to the surf, and the hollow moan -of the wind in the forest was heard all through the house. Sally had -been taught to say her prayers from childhood, but never in all her -life had she prayed in her own words. But now, as she sat with the -Bible upon her knees, and her eye caught the promise, “Ask and ye -shall receive,” something seemed to whisper, “Pray, poor woman, pray.” -“Had I shown any gratitude for His mercies,” thought she, “I might -with more confidence resort to Him in trouble.” At length, driven to -despair, she fell on her knees beside the bed, and begged for mercy and -help from heaven. “I am glad I did it,” said Sally, as she rose from -her knees; “I think I now know something of what I have heard mother -say--that the best place to carry a sore heart is to the cross. I don’t -know what God will do with me, but I feel more willing to be in His -hands. What a strange thing praying is! If you don’t get what you ask, -you get comfort. It kind of takes the sting out. It’s like as when I -was burnt so awfully, and the fire was out; the anguish is abated, -though the wound is not healed. I will pray more, and trust more.” She -spent the remainder of the night in prayer and reading the Scriptures. - -The wind, shortly after midnight, had changed to north-west, and, -though bitterly cold, it became clear. As the light of morning -struggled through the windows, Sally scraped the thick coating of -frost from the panes, that she might see her husband’s face, and -eagerly scanned the pallid features. “He certainly does not look so -death-like,” thought she, “is not feverish at all, and he certainly -breathes better.” In the course of an hour, he made a sign for drink. -She put it to his lips, and found that he swallowed. A short time -after, she gave him some nourishment, which he also took. When a couple -of hours had passed, he opened his eyes. She bent her ear to his lips, -and asked him how he felt. “Better,” was the reply, in a voice scarcely -audible. It was the first word he had spoken for two days. “The fever -has turned, I know it has!” she cried; and falling on her knees, she -poured out her heart in gratitude to God. Just then the child waked. -“O, you blessed little soul,” cried the delighted mother, almost -smothering it with kisses, “did you know your father was better?” And -tying the young child in a chair, and giving it some playthings, she -caught the milk-pail. As she opened the door, a ray of sunshine flashed -in her face, and streamed across the threshold. “Bless God!” cried she, -tears of gladness streaming down her cheeks; “it’s sunshine in my heart -this morning.” - -“How are you all?” said Sally, as she entered the barn, and, mounting -with rapid steps the mow, pitched down a bountiful foddering to the -cattle. “Put that into you; it’s Thanksgiving on this island to-day.” -While Sailor, catching the altered looks and tone of his mistress, -barked, and ran into the snow till nothing but the end of his tail was -to be seen. - -“How strong I feel this morning!” she exclaimed, rolling an enormous -log on to the hand-sled; “I’ll make this old fireplace roar. I’ll have -some light in this room, so that I can see Ben’s face. I have not dared -to look at him for a month past,” catching a cloth, wet with hot water, -and washing the frost from the windows. “I’ll wash up this floor, too; -it is dirty enough to plant potatoes on; and then I’ll have a nap.” - -In the afternoon, Ben awoke in the full possession of his faculties, -though extremely weak, and in a whisper asked for the baby; he then -asked for Sailor. Sally had kept the dog in the outer room, that he -might not disturb her husband; but the moment she opened the door, he -leaped on the bed, and licked his master’s hands and face, and then, -rolling himself into a ball at his feet, went to sleep, occasionally -opening one eye to see if his master was there. - -It was now the first of March. The brigantine General Knox, Edward -Hiller, master, was working her way to the eastward. She was homeward -bound from Matanzas, having lain in Portland during a severe gale, -where she had discharged her cargo. A heavy sea was still running, -and the vessel, close hauled on the wind, and under short sail, being -light, was knocking about at a great rate. Captain Hiller had been from -boyhood a deep-water sailor, but, having married the year before, took -a smaller vessel, traded to the West Indies in winter, and coasted in -the summer. He was now bound home for a summer’s coasting, having his -brother Sam for mate, and a crew composed of his neighbors’ boys, two -of whom, John Reed and Frank Wood, were his cousins. Captain Hiller was -amusing himself with humming the old capstan ditty,-- - - “Storm along, my hearty crew, - Storm along, stormy,”-- - -in tones which sounded like a nor’wester, whistling through a -grommet-hole, at times varying his occupation by sweeping the horizon -with his glass. At length he said to the man at the helm,-- - -“John, what island is that on the lee bow?” - -“Don’t know, sir.” - -“I’ll ask our Sam: he is pilot all along shore, and knows every rock, -and everybody. Sam, come aft here.” - -“Ay, ay, sir.” - -“What island is that to leeward?” - -“Elm Island, captain.” - -“Does anybody live there?” - -“Yes, sir; Ben Rhines.” - -“What Ben Rhines?” - -“Him they call Lion.” - -“That can’t be, Sam: he took his father’s ship when the old man gave -up; there ain’t his equal along shore. I’ve been “shipmates” with him: -he wouldn’t be living on such a place as that.” - -“It is so, captain; he was offered the ship; but like another man -I know of, that is a relation to me, he fell in love with a pretty -girl, who vowed she wouldn’t marry him if he went to sea. And so he -bought that island, married the girl, and has turned farmer. There’s -some trouble there; I can see a woman on the beach, and she has got a -petticoat--that’s the flag of all nations--on an oar, and is making -signals.” - -“If my old shipmate is in trouble, I’m there. Keep her off for the -island, John. Flow the main sheet, and set the colors in the main -rigging, and then she’ll know we see her signals.” - -The vessel, with the wind free, increased her speed, but not -sufficiently to suit the impatience of the noble-hearted seaman, who -exclaimed,-- - -“Shake the reefs out of the mainsail! loose the fore-topsail! Why, how -slow you move to help a neighbor! Sam, do you know the way in there? It -seems to be all breakers.” - -“I know the way, captain; there’s water enough.” - -“Then shove her in: we’ll soon know what’s the matter.” - -Ben, propped up with pillows, and now able to converse, received -with heartfelt joy his old shipmate, who sat down beside him, while -the young men gazed with awe upon the great bones and muscles, made -prominent by the wasting of the flesh, and called to mind the wonderful -stories they had heard of his strength. - -“What do you think of that, boys, for a lion’s paw?” said the captain, -taking up Ben’s right arm, and showing it to the astonished group. -“Now, Mrs. Rhines,” said he, “do you get a couple of axes, and John and -Frank will cut some wood, while Sam and myself get your husband up, and -put some clean clothes on him, and I will shave him; then you can make -the bed, and we will put him back; for I suppose he has not been moved -since he was taken sick.” - -“No,” said Sally; “it was impossible for me to move him.” - -These strong and willing hands soon put a new face on matters. With a -roaring fire in the old fireplace, clean linen on the bed, the house -put to rights, Ben shaved, and his spirits excited by hope, everything -seemed cheerful. - -“Frank,” said the captain, “go aboard, and in my berth you’ll find a -pot of tamarinds and a box of guava jelly; they’ll be just the stuff -for him: I got them fresh in Matanzas.” - -“Frank,” said Sam, “get a couple dozen oranges out of my chest.” - -“Don’t you do it, Frank,” said John Reed; “get them out of mine: he is -courting a girl; but I ain’t so happy. I haven’t anybody to give mine -to.” - -“Captain,” said Ben, “you will dine with us.” - -“By no means.” - -“Yes; I insist upon it,” said Sally; “such friends as you don’t grow on -every bush.” - -“But, Mrs. Rhines, you are worn out with labor and anxiety.” - -“I _was_; but that is all gone now.” - -“Well,” said the captain, who perceived that a refusal would do more -harm than good, “we will go on board, and get our dinners; your -husband, who has had quite enough fatigue for once, will sleep; then we -will come to supper, take care of the cattle, and some of us will sit -up with Mr. Rhines; you will get a good night’s rest, and then will be -all right. To-morrow we will go over and get your folks. I should not -feel right to leave you alone.” - -The next morning the brig’s boat went over, and brought back Sam -Hadlock, his mother, and Sally Merrithew. Captain Rhines followed, in -his own boat, with Uncle Isaac, and they brought cooked victuals enough -for a small army. The news spread, and by night the house was full. - -“Who will take the Perseverance, and go to Portland for the boys, if -they are well paid for it?” asked Captain Rhines. - -“I,” replied Joe Griffin; “but not for pay.” - -“And I,” said Henry. - -“And I, too,” said Joe Merrithew. - -In less than an hour the swift little craft was cleaving the waves, -her sheets well aft, the smoke pouring from the wooden chimney into -the clew of the foresail, and the spray freezing as fast as it came on -board. - -When Charlie came, he was so shocked by the emaciated appearance of -Ben, and the alteration in Sally, who had grown pale and thin, that he -burst into tears. - -“Charlie,” said Sally, as they sat together, after the rest had -retired, and Ben was asleep, “do you remember that the first night -you came here, you said your mother’s dying counsel to you was, when -trouble came, to pray to God, and he would take care of you?” - -“Yes, mother.” - -“Do you ever pray now?” - -“I say the Lord’s prayer; and the first time I went on to my land after -it was mine, I thanked the Lord, or tried to; but I’ve been so happy -here, that I have not prayed as I did before. Don’t you think,” said -he, fairly getting into her lap, “that we are more for praying when we -are in a tight place?” - -“Yes, Charles; and so the better God uses us, the worse we use Him. The -night you came here, a poor outcast boy, like drift-wood flung on the -shore, you said you thought God had forgotten you; and now that he has -given you a mother in me, and a father in Ben, and a brother in John, -you have forgotten Him.” - -“O, mother, I know I am a wicked, ungrateful boy.” - -“No more so than the rest of us. Since you left home, I have suffered -all but death; but I have also experienced a great joy. When Ben was -first taken sick, he had a high fever; then he was out of his head; -after that he went into a sog. At last there came a night, O, what a -night! I could scarce get wood to keep from freezing; the sea roared -as though it would come into the house; I thought Ben would die before -morning. As I sat here, just where I do now, something seemed to say, -‘There’s no help for you on this earth; look to God!’ I did look to -God; and I made a promise that I mean to keep! I looked for Ben to die -when the tide turned; and such horrible thoughts as passed through my -mind, that I could not move him from the bed, nor bury him; and to be -here alone with a corpse! but when the day broke, I saw he was better. -What sweet joy and love sprang up in my heart! You must pray to God -this night, this moment, Charlie.” - -“I will do anything you want me to, mother.” - -“You must do it because it is right, not because I want you to.” - -“I feel ashamed to, when I think how good He has been to me, and how -meanly I have used Him; but if you will pray for me right here, I will -pray for myself when I go to bed.” - -When Ben had regained in some measure his strength, Sally told him all -her heart. - -“These things,” replied he, “are not new to me. In boyhood, yes, even -in childhood, they were familiar to and grew up with me. There are -trees growing on our point that were bushes when I prayed under them. -After I went to sea, these impressions faded out; but the death of John -brought them back; and since I have left off drinking spirit, they have -increased in power. The day before I was taken sick, as I lay on the -rocks watching for birds, and thinking of John, and how quick he went, -the thought, _Are you ready to follow him?_ came in my mind with such -distinctness, that I turned round to see who spoke to me. On the rocks, -right there, I cried to God, which I had not done since I was fifteen. -I think I see men as trees walking; and I mean to follow after the -little glimmering of light that I have.” - -Ben now improved, the great bones were again clothed with flesh, and -the sinews regained their tremendous power. - -In a fortnight the boys returned to their work, Charlie having filled -the shed with dry wood, and the door-yard with green, cut for the fire. -He also left a boy of fifteen to take care of the cattle till Ben -recovered his strength. - -The good impression produced by sickness upon both Ben and Sally was -not confined to them, but extended to Captain Rhines, Seth Warren, Joe -Griffin, John, and Fred, and was the means of bringing Uncle Isaac to -make a public profession of faith, for which he had never before felt -himself qualified. Captain Rhines, after a severe struggle, gave up the -use of spirit. Before the boys separated, Fred told them he had done so -well that summer, he meant to get timber in the winter, build a store -in the spring, and make a T to the wharf, that vessels might lie safely -there in any weather. - -Reluctantly these youthful friends, whose aspirations and sympathies -mingled like the interlacing of green summer foliage, parted each of -them to their different places of labor. The next and concluding volume -of the series, THE HARD-SCRABBLE OF ELM ISLAND, will inform our readers -how they bore themselves in life’s battle, when its responsibilities -began to press upon their young shoulders, cares and trials to thicken -around them, and when called to discharge sterner tasks, and face -greater perils than they had yet encountered. - - - - - FOOTNOTE: - -[1] Boy Farmers, p. 176. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Young Ship-Builders of Elm Island, by -Elijah Kellogg - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS *** - -***** This file should be named 50475-0.txt or 50475-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/4/7/50475/ - -Produced by Giovanni Fini, David Edwards and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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