“No, my child, you must not expect that; but if not rewarded in this world, you will be rewarded in the next.”
“I don’t understand that.”
“I suppose that you hardly can, but I will explain all that to you, if God spare my life; but it must be at a more seasonable time.”
We continued fishing till late in the afternoon, by which time had taken twenty-eight large fish, about seven to nine pounds weight; Mrs Reichardt then proposed that we should leave off, as we had already provision for a fortnight.
I hauled out one more fish, which she took with her to cook for our supper, and having coiled up my lines, I then commenced, as she had told me to do, carrying up the articles left by the boat’s crew at the bathing-pool. The first thing I seized upon was the coveted iron kettle; I was quite overjoyed at the possession of this article, and I had good reason to be. In my other hand I carried the saw and the bag of nails. As soon as I had deposited them at the cabin, I went down again, and before supper was ready I had brought up everything except the three breakers of water, which I left where they were, as we did not want them for present use, whatever we might hereafter. We were both rather tired, and were glad to go to bed after we had taken our supper.
Chapter Twenty Five.
When we met the following morning, my mother, as I shall in future call her, said to me, “This will be a busy day, Frank, for we have a great many arrangements to make in the cabin, so that we may be comfortable. In future the cabin must be kept much more clean and tidy than it is; but that is my business more than yours. Let us get our breakfasts, and then we will begin.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do,” replied I; “but I will do it if I can, as soon as you tell me.”