“I’ll tell you what we might do.”
“What?”
“Build one, take our own time for it,—I’ve got timber enough on my land to build and load ever so many,—then keep a part of her, and sell the rest; put our work, my timber, and what little money we could muster, against somebody else’s money.”
“Yes, we could do that; but I should much rather have her to ourselves,—say you, and I, and Fred.”
“We might go to work, cut the timber, and set up a vessel, get her along as far as our means would allow, then let her stand till we could earn more. But we should want a captain.”
“That is true; and perhaps Seth Warren or Sydney Chase might take a part, and go in her.”
“Yes, that would be a quarter apiece.”
“Charlie, I heard Captain Pote say, in this very house last Saturday night, that if anybody could get a load of lumber to the West Indies, at the right time, he could make enough to build another vessel.”
“How much do you suppose it costs to build a vessel?”
“I don’t know; the rigging and sails are the most. You can build the hull very cheap, so that she will last a little while without much iron fastening; but you must have good rigging and sails, or else you are liable to lose vessel and cargo.”