"I declare for it, Tom, you're goin' to be a keen hand at catchin' lobsters! You handle them pots easier than I could do it, an' if so be I'm called on to stop at Southport over night, I'll know that you an' Sam can 'tend to the work as well as if I was here to do the bossin'."
Tom's eyes glistened with pleasure because of the praise; but Sam's face lengthened perceptibly at the possibility that Uncle Ben might be away from the island more than a few hours.
It was not yet two o'clock in the afternoon when all the pots had been hauled, emptied, re-baited and set again. The catch, consisting of twenty-two marketable lobsters, was thrown into the floating cage, called by the fishermen a "car," and Uncle Ben and his family were ashore once more.
"Now, if you lads will lend a hand at launchin' the keel-boat I'll get under way for Southport," the old man said as he pulled off his oilskins by way of "dressing" for the voyage. "I've got a fair wind across; but if so be it hasn't shifted long 'bout sunset, I'll stop over night with William Mansfield, rather than tackle the job of rowin' a heavy boat so far."
"But what about Cap'en Doak?" Sam asked, thinking of his stepfather for the first time since Tom had begun the work of "breaking in" at the work of lobster catching. Then he looked quickly around, but the "Sally D." no longer remained at anchor in the cove.
"Eliakim has made up his mind that it won't be safe for him to have any truck with the law after skinnin' you out of your mother's house, an' I reckon he won't show his head on Apple Island ag'in, 'specially after he hears 'bout what I've done—an' you can make up your mind that everybody in Southport will go out of their way to let him know I've been talkin' with the 'Squire, as I count on doin' before you see me ag'in."
"But suppose he should come back to hunt for me?" and now Sam's fears arose so high that it was with difficulty he could control his voice sufficiently to speak in an ordinary tone.
"There's little chance he'll put back right away," Uncle Ben replied without seeming to observe the lad's show of fear. "He's bound to do a little somethin' in the way of fishin', else how can he pay Rube Rowe's wages? I'm allowin' we shan't see him under three or four days, an' by that time I'll have your business fixed up so tight that he can't turn a hair. Leastways, it's 'bout the same as certain that he won't get under way an' come back to anchorage all in the same half day, so we can count on bein' rid of him while I'm away. Better catch a mess of cunners for supper, an' if so be that you're willin', tidy up the shanty a bit, for I've been mighty slack in my housekeepin' this past week."
Then, much as if eager to put an end to any further conversation regarding Captain Doak, Uncle Ben set about launching the keel-boat, and within a very few minutes after she was afloat he was sailing away from Apple Island in the direction of Southport.
Sam and Tom stood on the beach watching this kindly-hearted old man who had given them a home until he appeared to be hardly more than a tiny blot in the distance, and then Sam said, as he searched here and there with his eyes, as if fearing the "Sally D." had already hove in sight: