“When?”
“When the voyage is up, then you can go home with me to my house.”
“But shall we have time before the vessel goes again?”
“Plenty. They will have to pick up a cargo. The articles to carry, many of them, have to be imported from other countries—the salt-petre from England or the East Indies.”
“Wouldn’t I like it? Wouldn’t I have the best time that ever was in this world?”
“You better believe it.”
“I shall see Charlie Bell and his wife, and the baby, Lion Ben, Uncle Isaac, and old Tige.”
“Yes, and I’ll get Uncle Isaac, our Joe, and Charlie Bell to go hunting with us. It will be right in bear time, and about town-meeting time, and they’ll have a wrestling match. Our Joe is champion, but father can throw him; only he’s done wrestling in the ring. But I suppose, if any stranger came along, as Ricker did, he’d take hold, for the credit of the place. But father never saw the day he was so stout as grandfather. Did you ever see my grandsir?”
“No, I never saw any of your folks but Joe.”