“It’s fun, isn’t it?”
“Lots!” replied George. “Which arm are you having most of the fun in—the right or the left?”
Jack stole a glance at his companion, who was now standing with both his arms hanging down.
“Your dad said this little iron only weighed four ounces,” observed Jack, lowering the implement, and rubbing his shoulder. “What’s happened to the thing? It seems to weigh more than the mallet now.”
Just then Tony strolled back and caught them both resting.
“Are you going to buy that paint, or am I?” he asked quizzically.
“I’m afraid it’ll have to be me,” replied Jack. “I could keep on with the hammering, but it’s holding up this little iron all the time that bothers me.”
“It tries anybody, men included, at first,” said Tony. “Don’t do too much to-day and then you won’t be too stiff to work to-morrow. You’ll soon get used to it, though. There’s a lot of scrubbing to be done on the deck, so I’d switch off and get busy with the soap and water for a change.”
The inside of the cabin was just as the boys had finished scraping it out with a shovel, so here considerable time had to be spent before a coat of paint could be put on the woodwork. Where the paint was coming from Jack, so far, had not the least notion. He had already discovered, to his dismay, that paint was an extremely expensive article for one whose total capital did not touch the five-dollar mark, especially when pounds and pounds of the stuff were needed to put even a single coat on sparingly. There were precisely two reasons why he would not attempt to get the necessary money by borrowing from George. One was that he had a constitutional dislike to borrowing. The other was that George would be unable to lend it; for George had not yet learned the wisdom of reserving a little of his spending-money for a rainy day. There was a way out of the difficulty, of course, for the skipper of the Sea-Lark. He could find a job somewhere. But that would take precious time. He was prepared to do it if necessary, but hated the idea of postponing the preparation of the sloop for her maiden voyage until he could earn enough money to give her a new “dress.” However, there was plenty to occupy his attention for the present, and he was an incurable optimist, so he felt convinced the paint would roll up in some unexpected fashion, after all.