"Better stay, Abbie," put in Willie. "Bob an' I won't be inventin' every day."
"Well," was the half unwilling answer.
"Don't you wonder how it worked?" cried Delight, addressing Bob, her cheeks scarlet with excitement. "See, here they come! Did you ever hear such a chatter! Zenas Henry is swinging that clam bucket as if there wasn't a thing in it. He will spill them all out if he isn't careful."
On strode the four men. With a bound they cleared the bank before the Spence cottage and crowded in at the narrow gate.
"Whar is he? Whar's Willie?" demanded Zenas Henry. Then, catching sight of the old inventor half concealed behind his workbench, he shouted:
"Here, Willie, you rascal, out with you! Don't go hidin' there behind that table. Man alive, why didn't you tell us what you was up to?"
"Did it work, Zenas Henry?" queried the little fellow eagerly.
"Did it work!" mimicked Zenas Henry with a guffaw. "Say, Phineas, did it?"
The fishermen gave an exuberant roar of laughter.
"Did it work?" repeated Zenas Henry so out of breath that he could scarcely articulate the words. "Good Lord, don't it just! Why, we clipped along through that seaweed as if it warn't there."