"Look!" he cried. "The tide's running in."
"Sure," said the captain. "I've been watching it. We'll be off pretty soon."
Again the captain leaned out of his window and looked up-stream and down. "Every last boat in the fleet is hung up," he said. "Never knowed that to happen before. Some of 'em always gets through." He closed the window and once more faced Alec. "What was you studying in school?" he asked.
"I took the usual required work in high school," said Alec, "but I was specializing in biology."
"What's that?"
"The study of life processes," replied Alec.
The captain looked blank. "What do you do in that study?" he asked.
"Why, you try to find out all about the life of an animal, how it is born and how it grows and eats and multiplies. You dissect animals, and you examine them under a microscope. In short, you try to find out all about an animal's life, just as you oystermen probably do with oysters."
"Humph!" snorted the captain. Then he laughed aloud. "Now ain't that an idea," he exclaimed, "watching oysters under a microscope! Young fellow, we ketch oysters, that's what we do. We ketch 'em for people to eat."