Judd arose from his seat with a sparkling face and crossed over to where his chum was sitting.
"Here's my hand on it; and I say, Budd, you are a brick," was his rather ambiguous but expressive answer.
Budd had caught something of his companion's enthusiasm, and with intense eagerness he continued:
"Now as to our plan of operations. In this you must be the chief adviser."
"Thirty-five dollars in money as a basis," said Judd, slowly. "If we only had a hundred, I would say invest in a fish-pound. As it is, we will have to content ourselves with smaller operations at first. A gill-net would work nicely over in 'the narrows' at the south of 'The Hummocks,' and would cost about eight dollars. We must have that."
"How do you work it?" inquired Budd.
"It has large meshes, and you can stretch it right across 'the narrows,' fastening it to stakes on either side so as to keep it upright. The leads on the lower edge keep that down to the bottom. We will set it at night just at the turning of the tide to go out: then whatever fish are up the cove will come down against it, and more or less of them will get their heads through the meshes and be caught. Six hours after, the tide will turn, and all fish going into the cove will come up against the opposite side, and some of them will be caught. In the morning we will pull it, and leave it up until the next night. We ought to get as many fish that way as we can with our hooks--perhaps more; and thus we will have a double quantity to dispose of," exclaimed Judd.
"Good!" exclaimed his comrade. "What next?"
"We must put in some lobster-pots also; but those we can make, and two dollars will buy all the necessary lumber. That will take ten dollars, and leave us twenty-five. With that we must buy the sloop Sea Witch, and then we can take out sailing or fishing-parties in good shape, as well as make the wind do a large part of our work for us. It will save lots of time and labor, as well as add to our revenue."
"It can't be much of a boat for that money," remarked Budd.