Uncle Isaac led the way along the shore to the head of the cove. There the land rose gradually into a very gentle swell. A few rods from the water’s edge, on the breast of this slight elevation, were two large birches, whose branches interlocked; two of their main roots, crossing each other, grew together, and between them quivered, in transient gleams of sunlight, the clear waters of a noble spring.
Charlie looked down into it. The white sand was rolling over and over, as the bubbling water flung it up from the bottom. All around were the footprints of sea and land birds and animals. Uncle Isaac pointed out the track of a wolf, coons, and the print of a bear’s foot.
“There,” said he, “is a well that God Almighty dug for the good of his creatures. You see they know where it is. More red than white men have drank at this spring. It is a priceless gift! Let us drink, and remember the Giver.”
These details may not be very interesting to us, but they were intensely so to Charlie, who felt his hand was almost upon the prize he had so long desired. It had already been productive of one good result. It had given him an excellent practical knowledge of surveying and mathematics, most useful in his mechanical pursuits.
When Ben had written out the description, after returning to the island, he gave it to Charlie, and said, “When you pay your money, and get a deed of the land thus described, you’ve got all the land that belongs to you, and as good a farm as there is in town.”
In due time Charlie received his deed, which, he being a minor, ran to Uncle Isaac in trust for him.
CHAPTER XIX.
CHARLIE IN THE SHIP-YARD.