“Do tell; what is it?”
“You mustn’t mention it aboard the schooner; but he has taken moulds from the old boat that you and he split in two, timbered out and planked up a boat of the same size, and I’m going to get the paint to paint her; then he’s coming out, I tell you; and here’s a letter from him.”
“O, how I wish I could be there, to go with him! but the boy time, with Charlie and me, is about over; we have got to put our bones to it now. How is Fred Williams getting along?”
“First rate; has all the fish he can make, and buys a good many. So they’ve put you behind the anvil, and set you to strapping dead-eyes. Pretty good job for a boy who has worked no longer than you have; they don’t set bunglers to strapping dead-eyes.”
It was now twelve o’clock; Mr. Starrett invited Joe to dinner, and gave John the afternoon to spend with his friend, and they went on board the Perseverance. John sat up half the night to make an anchor for Charlie’s boat, to send by Joe; he also made some iron bow pins for Uncle Isaac and Ben, and an eel spear for his father.
CHAPTER XIV.
VICTORY AT LAST.
The sun had nearly reached the meridian, and the wind, due north, was of moderate strength; the time, the last week of August.