"Wa'al, Ephraim Downs, I hope this is the end of your gallivantin' for a good long spell," Uncle Zenas cried when the keeper and Sidney entered the kitchen. "It don't seem as if you'd been at home more'n one hour out of every ten for the past five days."
"I reckon you can count on my stickin' pretty close to the ledge till next spring," Captain Eph said in a soothing tone as he took his place at the table. "When this spell of weather breaks, we're likely to get it so heavy that there won't be a chance for an honest man to stick even the end of his nose outside the tower."
"That's jest the way I figger it," Mr. Peters added as he seated himself opposite Captain Eph, "an' so I've made up my mind to have a look at the wreck before sunset."
"Haven't you pulled a pair of oars long enough for one day?" the keeper asked in surprise, and Mr. Peters replied:
"I can't say that I ain't a bit tired; but it stands to reason the wreck won't stay on the shoal a great spell, an' I want to see her."
"What did you get for Sonny?" Uncle Zenas asked, interrupting Mr. Peters without the slightest compunction.
"We bought what Sammy an' me both allowed was the proper kind of an outfit for a boy who counted on spendin' the winter on Carys' Ledge, an' you'd seen the whole lot by this time, if you hadn't been in sich a pucker for us to come to dinner," Captain Eph replied, much as if he felt in some way injured because the meal had been served so promptly.
"The sooner you eat what's set before you, the sooner we'll see what you brought," Uncle Zenas said sharply, and, thus admonished, Captain Eph asked that the food be blessed to them.
The meal was not prolonged; as soon as his hunger had been satisfied the old keeper went out to the dory for the several packages which had been stowed in the bow of the boat, and Uncle Zenas stood in the doorway that he might have the first opportunity of examining the goods.
It did really seem to Sidney as if Captain Eph and Mr. Peters had purchased twice as many articles of wearing apparel as he needed; but Uncle Zenas talked as if he thought they had been niggardly in selecting the outfit.