"It ain't as good as it sounds. A man has to own a boat before he can be even a stake sticker. And he's got to hire two or three men to help him, and pay for the poles as well. And then it's work that lasts only a little while each year. So I reckon there ain't so much in it after all."
"Likely not," said Alec. "It's like a lot of other things in life. The less you know about it, the better it looks."
Just then the captain's voice was heard. "Hey! Kid! Come here."
Alec turned and saw the captain beckoning to him. He made his way back to the pilot-house.
"We're almost to our grounds," said the captain, "and we don't want to lose a minute. Pull on them oilskins. You can't ketch oysters in them duds of yourn. You'd soon be soaked."
The captain pointed to a suit of oilskins hanging above his bunk. Alec pulled the waterproof clothes, which were bright yellow in color, over his other clothes, and exchanged his cap for the captain's sou'wester. Then he took off his shoes and got into the captain's boots.
"Bishop will tell you what to do, young 'un," said the captain, "and be darned careful about them winder chains. More'n one man's had his arm took off in this fleet by winder chains."
Alec went forward. "What do you want me to do?" he asked the sailor.
"You help me handle this dredge. We pull it in this way," and he indicated how he and Alec were to take hold of it. "And then we grab them round rings and dump the oysters out on the deck. Then we shove the dredge overboard again and go to culling. I'll show you how to do that when we get some oysters. We're almost there now. See them four bunches of stakes? They're the corners of our grounds."