"How big is this bed?" asked Alec.
"I reckon about ten acres, but Cap'n Rumford's got a good many other beds farther out. I reckon he must have more'n a thousand acres of oysters."
"Cap'n Rumford?" asked Alec. "Who's he? I thought our captain's name was Bagley."
The sailor looked at Alec and laughed. "So it is," he said. "But he's merely the cap'n of this boat. Cap'n Rumford's the owner of the outfit. We're just workin' for him."
"Do you dredge all the oysters from those thousand acres?"
"Lord bless you!" laughed the sailor. "It takes a whole fleet to do that. Cap'n Rumford has three or four boats going all the time."
"Isn't that an awful lot of oysters—a thousand acres?"
"I reckon it's just about the biggest oyster-bed down here. You're dead lucky to start oystering with the Rumford outfit, lad. As long as you do the right thing by the cap'n, he'll sure treat you white."
Just then the cook and the engineer came on deck. "Now me and you will handle this dredge," said Sailor Bishop, "and Dick and Joe'll take care of the other. Just git over on that side of the dredge. And watch them chains. We're almost ready."