"Is there anything the matter with the bed you've got now, Sonny?" Captain Eph asked anxiously.
"Nothing, except that it is yours, and I'm not willing to have you turned out any longer. I don't need a room all to myself, and you do, so there must be a change."
"I couldn't be any more comfortable than I am the way we've already fixed things, Sonny, an' it would do me a world of good to know I was givin' you somethin' nigh as fine as you'd get ashore."
"Neither you nor I know how little I might have ashore, sir, and I sha'n't feel contented so long as you are kept out of your own room."
"How would it do if Uncle Zenas could fix up another bed there? It seems to me we'd be snug an' cosy then," and Captain Eph's tone was much the same as if he had been asking a great favor.
"Then it would be all right, sir. What I want is, to know that you have the same chance for sleeping as before I came."
"I'll get Uncle Zenas to see what can be done this very night. You shall have half the shelves for your own things, an' we'll make it look mighty homelike, unless I'm way off my reckonin'. Hello, you Sammy!" the old man cried, raising his voice. "How much longer are you goin' to fiddle 'round there?"
"I ain't much more'n got aboard; but if you're in sich a pucker to get back to the reef, I'll wind up business for the night, an' come alone to-morrow mornin', when I can do somewhere nigh what I want'er."
"That'll be the ticket, Sammy. Come out here an' stop all day, if you like; but jest now I'd rather be where I'm paid for stayin'."
The dory was backed in as Captain Eph spoke, and Mr. Peters succeeded in boarding her without serious mishap.