"You lads are to turn in right away, an' try to get some sleep," Uncle Ben said when the boys had come aboard tired with the heavy work of attending to the traps. "Deacon Stubbs allows that we oughter get under way for fishin' bright an' early in the mornin', an you'll have to look after the breakfast. We're likely to be out a couple of days, an' the lobster catchin' must be neglected all that time."
It was not very much of a task for the boys to journey over into Dreamland once they were in the bunks, and it really seemed as if they had but just closed their eyes in slumber when Mr. Rowe aroused them with the announcement that it was time to "get breakfast under way."
The women of Southport slept in the new house on this first night, and there were no tokens that any of them had awakened when the schooner, with her very large crew, left the cove within five minutes after Sam and Tom had been awakened that they might begin the work of cooking.
Little Joey, to his great delight, had been allowed to make one of the "Sally D.'s" crew on this occasion, but neither he nor the other boys saw very much of the fishing. The table in the cabin was so small that no more than six could sit around it at one time, therefore the meals were served "in sections," as Mr. Rowe said, and since Joey played the part of waiter, he and the cooks were kept busy very nearly all the time.
"Don't fret 'cause you can't have a line in your hand," Mr. Rowe said when he came below for a mug of coffee after the "Sally" had arrived at the fishing grounds. "You'll see enough of that kind of work 'twixt now an' next spring, an' with sich a gang aboard there's neither comfort nor pleasure to be had."
"Have they caught any fish yet?" Joey asked.
"Bless your heart, lad, they've been at it this half hour, an' if it's kept up at the same rate, we're likely to have by night all that can be cared for."
In this Mr. Rowe was right. Before sunset the men of Southport were weary with the sport, and Uncle Ben declared that it would not be possible for his family to cure any more at one time. Therefore it was that the "Sally's" bow was turned toward Apple Island when the shadows of evening began to gather, and there were no signs of the coming day when she glided into Apple Island cove as silently as a ghost.
The next forenoon was spent in dressing the fish ready for curing; but Sam and Tom were not called upon to do their share of the disagreeable work, owing to the fact that they were sent out immediately after breakfast to haul the traps, and when this labor had been performed the ceremony of warming the new house was begun.
"Go in an' see what she looks like, with the swellest kind of fixin's in every room," Mr. Rowe said, when the boys pulled in from the lobster car to the beach. "You wanter go inter every room so's to get a sweep of the whole layout, an' I'm allowin' you never saw anythin' like it."