“Well, I kin set you over to Sat’aday Cove so’s you kin git some one to tackle this job,” offered the kindly Captain.
“And they ought to do it right away, too, or she’ll break up,” added Fred.
Without loss of time, therefore, the Rockport crew accepted the Captain’s offer. Luckily for them, the wind died down toward sunset. In the meantime, the boys had under-run the trawl and added to their abundant stock of fish on Flat Island.
The next day the irate father of the luckless mariner arrived with two small fishing schooners and a load of empty blue barrels which had once contained “Pennsylvania Fluid.” The men worked hard all morning, securing the barrels beneath the Edward Everett, then when high tide came the now leaky old craft was kedged back out of her rocky berth.
“Good-bye, Ned!” cried the irrepressible Dudley, waving his cap at the departing schooner.
“Boy, you shouldn’t speak disrespectfully of an old grand-daddy like that, er call him by his first name,” admonished the Captain, jocularly.
The Orion had appeared in time to watch the old antique craft retire after her hardy bout with Sunset Island rocks and when the excitement was all over Uncle Tom called to Shelby and Henry to get their things together as he was going to tote them back to Rosemary.
The two boys were really sorry to go but they realised that it was Mr. and Mrs. Charlton they were visiting and at least a single day of the week-end was due their hosts.
Farewells were said and Elizabeth, who had been wildly scribbling while the boys were preparing to embark on the Orion, now presented them with a memento of their visit in the form of a parody on “The Last Buccaneer” which she entitled “The First Wreck on Here.”
The winds were yelling, the waves were swelling