"Where do you get your size from? Was your mother large?"
"No, sir. I've seen pictures of my mother, and she wasn't as tall as Dad. I guess it must come from good food and exercise."
"If that's the case, you ought to keep right on growing. You'll get plenty of both aboard an oyster-boat."
"If the breakfast I had was a fair sample, I'm sure there will be plenty of food."
"I'll see that you get plenty of exercise, too," smiled the captain.
Again he looked Alec over, seemingly in appraisal of his physical powers. "You don't look like a working boy," he said. "What kind of exercise have you been used to?"
"I never had to work for my living," replied Alec, "because I was going to school and Dad supported me. But I did all the chores at home—chopped the wood, took care of the ashes, dug the garden, and so on. And I was on the high school athletic teams."
"Humph!" snorted the captain. "That's hard work, that is—playing a little baseball."
Alec flushed slightly, but made no reply. He knew well enough that the captain had never played a hard game of football or he would not have made that remark.