“I,” said Joe, “when I am not too tired, will pound some of the basket-stuff for you. It is hard work for a boy like you.”
“So will I,” said Ben. “I can pound enough in one evening to last you a month.”
“Yes,” said Joe; “you and John might form a company, and go into the basket business—Rhines & Bell. No; the Rhines Brothers; John and you are brothers. John could pound the basket-stuff at home, and bring it over here; you could make them, and he could sell them to the fishermen in the summer. They use lots of baskets. If you sell them to the store you won’t get any money, only goods; but the fishermen will pay the cash.”
“Won’t that be nice! I tell you the very first thing I mean to have; I’ll swap some baskets at the store, and get some cloth to make a sail for my boat.”
“I’ll cut it for you,” said Joe.
“I’ll sew it,” said Sally.
“And I,” said Ben, “will rope it for you (sew a piece of rope around the edge), and show you how to make the grummet-holes.”
“Then the next thing I’ll do, will be to get some powder, and, when the birds come in the spring, I will learn to shoot and kill them, and have feathers to sell, to help pay for the island.”
“If,” said Joe, “you don’t learn to shoot till the birds come, by the time you get learned the thickest of them will all be gone. You ought to fire at a mark this winter, and practise, and then when the birds come you will not have so much to do.”
“I can’t get any powder till I sell my baskets; powder and shot cost a good deal.”