"Four dollars a barrel! That is a steep price," added the captain.
"Let Don ascertain if the water is good," suggested Louis.
The engineer went on board the felucca, and the skipper filled a tin dipper from one of four barrels lashed to the side of the craft. Then he tried one on the other side. Returning to the deck of the Maud, he reported the water to be fresh and pure.
"But the price?" said the captain, turning to Louis.
"Those are fifty-gallon barrels," interposed Don. "They contain enough to fill your four casks, sir."
"Never mind the price, Captain Scott. It would cost us more than eight dollars to make a landing on that island, fill the casks, and get them on board again, for we could take only one at a time in our little tender," argued Louis.
"You and Morris pay the bills, and I have not a word to say," replied Captain Scott, laughing and shrugging his shoulders, as though he did not regard himself as the victim of the swindle, though he saw the force of Louis's reasoning.
But then another question came up when it was found that the skipper did not include the price of the casks in that for the water, and he wanted two dollars apiece for the barrels. Scott was in favor of emptying them into the four half-barrels; but there was nothing like a tunnel in either vessel, and the four dollars additional was paid rather than use up any more time.
"Six dollars a barrel for water!" exclaimed Don. "Why, you could buy wine at that price over on the main land."
"I prefer the water to the wine," replied Louis. "Besides, these poor fellows on the island don't often have a chance to make a dollar; and when they do have one, they use it to the best advantage."