But the boy’s face lit up at Jane’s words. “What size is she?”
“Thirty feet, Tim said, didn’t he, Jane?”
“I could trim the jib aft and handle her all right,” the boy said with such confidence that Breck would have believed him if he had said he intended to give Thomas Lipton and his “Shamrock IV” time and come in ahead of him.
“Don’t you suppose you could get some other boy to go along with you, so it wouldn’t work you so hard?” Jane said, rather amused by Breck’s rapid change of expression.
“Virg Bradford over on the mainland might go. I’ll row over and see and let you know tonight.” The boy was delighted at the prospect of a real sail.
“Then suppose you just come in time for supper and we can talk it over with Mr. Wing and Tim and see what they say,” said Breck, not considering it worth while to mention consulting Fred’s father, as it was evident from the boy’s account of the inventor and from his own quick way of deciding things, that he was the man of the family.
Fred walked them the length of the building, telling them that it was the polishing room.
“You look mighty thinky,” Breck said to Jane, noticing that she had wrinkled up her forehead again.
“I believe it is a real thought, too, this time. I was just thinking that this long building might have been some ancient dining hall. You know the kind where ‘the eagles scream in the roof trees.’ With all these cottages and this for a sort of mess room, I don’t see why some one couldn’t make a lot of money running this place as a sort of summer colony. It has a marvelous outlook, wonderful boating, and the swimming would be all right I suppose if you could ever get used to such freezing water. How about it, Fred?” she asked, turning to the boy.