"It'll be a real cruise all right, an' I'm allowin' we'll stay till we get fish enough aboard to make it pay," and Mr. Rowe led the way to the pier at a rapid pace. "You see Uncle Ben found a chance to buy some bait cheap, an' since he an' Joey can look after the lobsterin' without strainin' themselves very hard, it stands us in hand to make the 'Sally' earn some little part of what's been put out on her."
"But we'll have to take a lot of food with us," and Tom looked anxious, as if fearing the start could not be made as soon as Reuben had proposed.
"I reckon it won't take you two lads long to put aboard what we'll need in the way of pork, flour an' potatoes. It'll be a case of livin' mostly on what we catch, or goin' hungry."
Now the boys were as eager to leave the town as they had been to visit it, and on arriving at the schooner were well pleased at finding Uncle Ben and Joey aboard awaiting them.
If the citizens of the Port could have had their way the little vessel and her crew would have remained in harbor many days, but, recognizing the fact that the old lobster catcher would be eager to make the first experiment at deep-sea fishing, after having spent so many dollars on the "Sally," they did what little they might toward hastening the departure.
When the hawsers had been cast off and the Bails hoisted, the people cheered Uncle Ben and his "family" until they were well out of the harbor, and not until then did the boys think it possible to attend to their duties, which were to cook supper and make preparations for the night, Mr. Rowe having announced with an air of authority that the "crew" would be forced to sleep on board in order to be ready for an early start.
"We're goin' out for fish," he said, as if expecting some one would dispute the statement, "an' what's more, we're bound to get 'em. The first cruise must be made to pay, else we're like to have bad luck."
"I kinder had it in mind, Reuben, that the whole family oughter have a hand in the first fishin'; but since we've got the bait, I reckon you an' the boys will have to go out alone," Uncle Ben said with such a mournful ring in the words that all hands understood he was disappointed in not being able to take part in the opening venture, and Sam replied quickly, stifling his own desires:
"You shall go, Uncle Ben, an' I'll 'tend to the pots alone. It won't be very much of a job."
"No, no, Sammy, I shan't agree to anythin' like that, for I know how keen you an' Tommy are to try out the 'Sally.' It's foolish in an old man like me to hanker after what oughter be an old story at my time of life. The baby an' I'll stay at home where we belong, an' look after the island to see that it don't run away."