The good people of the Port had no idea of allowing Uncle Ben to feed such an army, but had ready on the pier what Tom called a "reg'lar stack" of provisions to be put on board, and there was no question but that they counted on enjoying themselves during such time as the new house was being built.
Among the belongings on the pier was a large canvas tent, in which the workmen were to sleep, and Sam said, as he and Tom were helping stow the goods on the "Sally's" deck:
"What worries me is that Uncle Ben will get terribly mixed up with so many people loafin' 'round."
"I reckon he'll keep himself straight when he sees the house goin' up. Leastways, he's got a mighty good idee of what's goin' to happen, for I heard him tell Mr. Rowe that he an' us two better try to get three or four bushels of clams to-night, if we can pull the pots in time. Clam diggin' is about the only part of Apple Island that I don't like," Tommy added ruefully, "an' these folks will eat a terrible big pile, I'm thinkin'."
"Then you don't count on doin' it?"
"Don't count on doin' it? Say, Sam, what do you take me for? Do you think I wouldn't do anythin' Uncle Ben wanted, whether I liked it or not? If he asked me to stand on my head so's to hang dish-towels on my feet, you'd see me upside down from mornin' till night."
"Get on there with that dunnage!" Mr. Rowe called from the quarter-deck, for he was playing the part of captain to perfection, on this morning when he had as spectators nearly every person in Southport. "Bear a hand lively, you boys, for I'm wantin' to get under way mighty quick!"
This served to remind the merrymaking carpenters that they also must bear a hand. In a twinkling the stores and tent were on the schooner's deck, while half a dozen men seized each halyard, running up the canvas in a jiffy, and the "Sally" sailed out of the harbor with the jolliest lot of passengers that could have been found in a month's search.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE FAMILY HOME