"That's jest what I'm tryin' to tell you, lad; but first an' foremost you must know what the plan really is. I allowed that this 'ere island was big enough for quite a family, an' that a good-sized school of boys might get a decent livin' here, if so be they was willin' to work. You see it wouldn't be much of a job to raise all the vegetables that a big lot of people could eat in a winter. Then ag'in, if we had a schooner the size of the 'Sally D.,' an' boys enough to run her, we'd be makin' a large dollar by fishin', with the lobster business goin' on same as ever. Now do you catch on to the plan?"
"You mean to hire a lot of boys to come here an' work for you!" Tom cried, believing he understood the drift of the old man's remarks.
"I don't mean to hire 'em, lad; but when we find a boy like you was yesterday, we'll say to him somethin' like this: 'If you're willin' to pay your own way in the world, want a home, an' will live peaceable one with another, come inter your Uncle Ben's family, an' we'll share an' share alike.' Now here are you two, both willin' to do a full share of work, an' here's me with the island, boats an' lobster gear for a start. We've already set ourselves up as a family, an' if so be we run across a decent lad who's in need of a home—mind you, we won't cavort 'round the country huntin' for 'em, but if we come across one, we'll give him a show on Apple Island, leavin' him at liberty to turn his back on us when things ain't to his likin'."
"Is it kind of a 'sylum that you're startin', sir?" Tom asked in a tone of disappointment, and Uncle Ben replied emphatically:
"Not a bit of it, lad, not a bit of it! We'll jest gather a family here, with no charity business 'bout it. Each one shall do what he can for the good of himself an' all around him. We'll have some rules, same's would be found in every proper kind of a family, an' when we can't live up to 'em, we'll separate peaceable an' friendly. It'll be a case of workin' for a livin', an' workin' hard; but we'll be able to live snug, lads, for Apple Island ain't the worst place in the world, an' if so be the family grows till this shanty is too small for it, why all we have to do is build another."
Tom's face was aglow with pleasure, and Sam stood by the old man's chair that he might show his joy by caressing Uncle Ben's hand, worn and horny though it was with hard labor.
"Like the plan, eh?" and the lobster catcher appeared to be well pleased by the expression on the faces of the boys. "Wa'al, the Lord has been mighty good to me all my life, an' I've laid by a tidy bit of money, thinkin' the day might come when I could help them as hadn't had it as easy in this world as has been my lot, an' I reckon it's close at hand. When the family grows big enough, I can buy, an' pay cash for, a trim little schooner 'bout the size of the 'Sally D.,' an' then we'll carry on a reg'lar wholesale business in the fishin' line. I've jest taken a new lease for the island, runnin' twenty years, an' when that time has come to an end I'll be in the other world, while one of you is keepin' the family goin'."
"But what if Cap'en Doak should keep on tryin' to get hold of me now, when everythin' looks so fine?" Sam asked in a whisper, as if afraid of expressing his fears in words.
"You needn't have any trouble on that score, lad. When Eliakim turns up in Southport ag'in, he'll find out what I've been doin' an' won't dare to raise so much as a finger agin you."
"S'posin' there should be five or six boys here at one time, do you reckon we could all earn a livin'?" Tom asked.