“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.