"Wa'al, ain't that the same as I've been talkin'?" and now Mr. Rowe really appeared aggrieved because he had been misunderstood.
"What?" Uncle Ben cried in amazement, as, with his hands on his knees he looked keenly at the fisherman. "Do you mean to say you'd be willin' to come here to Apple Island an' work on the same lay as the boys?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Mr. Rowe asked meekly. "Take one season with another I don't earn much more'n my keep, 'specially when I go ashore at this port or that an' blowin' my wages same's the most of the crew do, an' I can't seem to hold off when they're keen to have me go with 'em. Seein's how I never was any great of a scholar, an' wasted what few chances I did have for gettin' an education, I can't count on goin' ahead as a sailor, so why not stop here where things look to be mighty snug? Take it all in all, Uncle Ben," and now Mr. Rowe's tone was one of pleading, "there ain't much difference betwixt the way I'm fixed an' the way the boys stand; so far as I know there ain't child nor chick in this world that wants to have any truck with me, 'cept it is in the way of hirin' me for the smallest wages I'll take. When I get so low down as to sail with Eliakim Doak it seems as if it was time to take a turn, an' p'rhaps it would come if I could be one of your family, same's Sam is."
"Look here, Reuben," and Uncle Ben spoke in a most friendly tone, "you've got good reason to believe that I'd share whatever I had with you so long as you keep yourself fairly clean in habits, as I've heard you do. If so be you wanter jine our family, rememberin' that each one works for the good of the whole, settle down here, an' we'll make things as pleasant as we can; but don't think you're bound to stay any pertic'lar time. Whenever the fit takes yer, pack up an' be off with friendly feelin's all 'round."
"You're what I call a good man, Uncle Ben, an' it might s'prise yer to know what a big favor you're doin' for me. I'll have a home for the first time in twenty years, an' the show to feel that I'm of some use in the world. I don't count on braggin', but at the same time I'm allowin' I can help out a good bit."
"I know full well you can, Reuben, an' I'm glad to have you with us. We'll build up a place here on Apple Island that a man can take pride in, an' it'll help mightily to have you join us; but remember, when you have an itchin' to get out with the rest of the world, don't be backward in speakin' right out."
Mr. Rowe seemed to think it necessary to shake hands all round in token of having thus been made a member of the "family," and, this done in the gravest manner possible, he set about dragging his chest into the shanty that he might make himself more fully at home expiating to Sam in the meanwhile that all he owned was there.
"I'm here bag an' baggage, lad, an' mighty glad to be settled down for the first time since I can remember."
That noon Sam cooked dinner, making a regular feast with roasted lobsters, fried fish and something which looked considerably like an apple pie, although the cook modestly confessed that he had not had "real good luck with it."
The remainder of the day was spent catching cunners to be used as bait for the lobster traps; mending some of the old pots, and putting tar on the seams of the dory. Mr. Rowe worked as if the labor was sport, and Uncle Ben no sooner tried his hand at this thing or that, than one of his "family" insisted on doing it, until the old man said with a laugh of content: