“I see Elm Island,” shouted Fred.
“So do I,” said John; “give us your book, Charlie. Luff her up; I can’t see Birch Point at all; the island hides it; there it comes out. Luff, Charlie; I see the lone spruce; luff more yet; there, it’s on the Junk of Pork; there’s one mark, anyhow. Fred, you keep your eye on the mark, and tell Charlie how to steer, while I look for the other one. I see Smutty Nose, but we are not far enough; I knew we wasn’t. I can’t see Oak Island at all; Smutty covers it all up. O, good wind, don’t die! don’t die! please don’t die! for the sake of the widow Yelf.”
In about half an hour John exclaimed, “There it comes out; I see the tall oaks on the north-eastern end. Hurrah! Keep away a little; here it is; both marks on; let the sheet fly!” he cried, flinging the anchor overboard. As it splashed in the water, the wind gave one puff, and died away to a flat calm, just as the rising sun flung its beams directly in the boys’ faces.
“Now, brother mariners,” said John, who was in high feather at this auspicious beginning of their enterprise, “we’ve got a fishing-ground of our own, marks of our own, all written down in a birch-bark book, and can come when we like. What do you say? shall we eat now, or wait till noon?”
“I think,” said Charlie, “we had better take a bite before we wet our lines, for if we get the fish round we shan’t want to stop.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a pail and jug from beneath the head-board of the canoe,—one containing coffee, the other bread, meat, and two apple pies, which Sally had made the evening before, of some apples Uncle Isaac brought over to them.
“Isn’t this good?” with half an apple pie in his hand. It was something he didn’t have every day, and was a rich treat to him.
“We’re exactly on the marks,” said he, as he threw his line overboard; “and it’s just the depth of water Uncle Isaac said there would—” He didn’t finish the sentence, but, instead, began to haul in his line with all his might, and soon flung a large cod in the bottom of the canoe.
“What a handsome fellow!” said Fred; “his fins, eyes, and gills are red, and also his back.”
“What a beauty! Good luck for the widow,” said John, as he threw another beside it.