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diff --git a/old/54767-0.txt b/old/54767-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4c70904..0000000 --- a/old/54767-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8224 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Hard-Scrabble of Elm Island, by Elijah Kellogg - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Hard-Scrabble of Elm Island - -Author: Elijah Kellogg - -Release Date: May 23, 2017 [EBook #54767] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HARD-SCRABBLE OF ELM ISLAND *** - - - - -Produced by Wayne Hammond and The Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -[Illustration: BEN, JR., TRIES HIS GOAD.--Page 78.] - - - - - ELM ISLAND STORIES. - - BY - REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG. - - [Illustration] - - HARDSCRABBLE - - _JOHN ANDREW--SON_ - - LEE & SHEPARD BOSTON. - - - - - ELM ISLAND STORIES. - - - THE - - HARD-SCRABBLE - - OF - - ELM ISLAND. - - - BY - - REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG, - - AUTHOR OF “LION BEN OF ELM ISLAND,” “CHARLIE BELL OF ELM ISLAND”, - “THE ARK OF ELM ISLAND,” “THE BOY FARMERS OF ELM - ISLAND,” “THE YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS - OF ELM ISLAND,” ETC. - - - _ILLUSTRATED._ - - - BOSTON: - LEE AND SHEPARD. - 1871. - - - - - Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, - - BY LEE AND SHEPARD, - - In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. - - - ELECTROTYPED AT THE - - BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, - - 19 Spring Lane. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -This volume of the series finds the boys entering upon manhood. -Already, by integrity and energy, have they secured the respect and -confidence of their employers and the community. - -Isaac at sea, John behind the anvil, Fred in trade, and Charlie in -the shipyard. Fired by the success of Lion Ben, and the spirit of -enterprise abroad, among a people who, having burst the shackles of -arbitrary power, were leaping forward, with long strides, in pursuit -of wealth, knowledge, and power, they resolve to build a vessel. When, -by severe toil, and all manner of make-shifts, they have completed the -hull, their means fail. Roused by necessity to still greater efforts, -they weave the canvas for the sails in household looms, betake -themselves to the depths of the forest, there spend an entire winter -hunting and trapping. When the spring opens, they build canoes of bark, -and return by water, unloading their furs, and carrying their canoes -round the rapids, thus obtaining sufficient to accomplish their purpose. - -So severe and protracted has been the conflict, they call their vessel -the Hard-Scrabble. - -She arrives at Martinique during the contest occasioned by the French -revolution; war prices are obtained for the cargo, affording a most -ample return. The property thus acquired is used to create business for -the benefit of the community. - - - - -_ELM ISLAND STORIES._ - - - 1. LION BEN OF ELM ISLAND. - 2. CHARLIE BELL, THE WAIF OF ELM ISLAND. - 3. THE ARK OF ELM ISLAND. - 4. THE BOY FARMERS OF ELM ISLAND. - 5. THE YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS OF ELM ISLAND. - 6. THE HARD-SCRABBLE OF ELM ISLAND. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. INSTINCT TRIUMPHANT. 9 - - II. I’LL GIVE HIM QUICKSILVER. 13 - - III. THE BOYS CATCH THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE. 31 - - IV. NEWS FROM HOME. 40 - - V. TIGE’S NOSE BETTER THAN THE CAPTAIN’S SPY-GLASS. 45 - - VI. TELLING AND HEARING THE NEWS. 55 - - VII. CHARLIE AT HOME AGAIN. 64 - - VIII. JOE GRIFFIN AT HOUSEKEEPING. 77 - - IX. HOW JOE ENTERTAINED HIS GUESTS. 88 - - X. TRAPPING AND NETTING. 104 - - XI. MOST IMPORTANT DECISIONS. 118 - - XII. GENIUS STRUGGLING WITH DIFFICULTIES. 135 - - XIII. SCATTERING FRAMES. 148 - - XIV. CHARLIE ACHIEVES SUCCESS. 162 - - XV. DIFFICULTIES WHET THE EDGE OF RESOLUTION. 169 - - XVI. SALLY COMES TO THE RESCUE. 188 - - XVII. CHARLIE’S THEODOLITE. 200 - - XVIII. HARD-SCRABBLE. 204 - - XIX. PLEASURE AND PROFIT. 219 - - XX. CAMPING. 234 - - XXI. UNCLE ISAAC’S BEAR STORY. 246 - - XXII. RAID ON A BEAVER SETTLEMENT. 266 - - XXIII. BREAKING CAMP. 276 - - XXIV. THE HARD-SCRABBLE WEIGHS ANCHOR.--CHARLIE GETS MARRIED. 284 - - XXV. STRIKING WHILE THE IRON’S HOT. 300 - - XXVI. PROGRESS. 312 - - - - -THE HARD-SCRABBLE OF ELM ISLAND. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -INSTINCT TRIUMPHANT. - - -We took leave of our young friends at the close of the previous volume -as they separated, John to return to the blacksmith’s shop at Portland, -Charlie to the ship-yard at Stroudwater, while Fred Williams remained -in his store, which was in one part of his father’s mill. - -On Elm Island, Lion Ben was recovering from a severe sickness, through -which he had passed without any other attendance than that of his wife, -or medicine save those simple remedies which nature and experience had -taught our mothers, or had been learned from the red man. - -As Ben was not reduced by bleeding or purgatives,--the mode of medical -practice prevalent in those days,--he gained strength rapidly after -the first few weeks, soon being able to go about the house, and at -length to extend his excursions to the workshop and barn. - -He soon discovered that the partridges were missing; and upon asking -Sally, she told him she remembered having seen them a week before, but -had been so much occupied since that she had not given any attention to -them. - -“Then they are gone,” replied Ben; “some owl or hawk has carried them -off.” - -“I don’t believe they would go of their own accord,” said Sally; “they -seemed just as tame and contented as the rest. Perhaps the coons have -got them. There are no skunks or foxes on the island.” - -“That’s it. I’m sorry, because Charlie will feel bad about it.” - -A few days after, Ben went out quite early in the morning to the barn, -and instantly returning, called Sally to the door, and told her to -stand still and listen. - -Soon a sound was heard in the woods, like that of distant thunder. - -“Do you hear that noise, Sally?” - -“Yes; what is it?” - -“It is one of Charlie’s partridges drumming. They have taken to the -woods. Uncle Isaac said they would, but I didn’t believe it. It’s all -the better; they will breed, and fill the island full in a few years, -and get their own living. Charlie will be glad of it, for he will have -them to shoot.” - -“But won’t they fly away?” - -“No; it’s too far from the main land. They can’t fly but a little way -before they have to light. Thus we shall have coons, partridges, and -gray squirrels grow at our own door.” - -“How nice it will be for Charlie to have all these things right on the -island! He loves dearly, after supper, when he has done a good day’s -work, to go shooting. How much better it would be, when he was tired -and had not much time, to be able to find game here, instead of pulling -three or four miles to some ledge or island!” - -“Yes, this island is so large, we might have almost anything, except -wolves, bears, and foxes; we shouldn’t want them.” - -“Ben, what are you going to do with the corn-house that Charlie made? -You don’t want two corn-houses.” - -“I thought, when I was able, I would cut off the legs, and make a -pigsty of it. ’Twould make a capital one. He needn’t have set it up on -posts. There are no mice here; but I suppose he thought he must make -it just like Uncle Isaac’s.” - -“I never would make a pigsty of it in this world, it is so handsome. -Charlie took so much pains with it, and was so proud of it when he got -it done. Give it to me.” - -“What do you want of it?” - -“O, I want to keep flax and yarn there in the summer, and perhaps put -the loom there.” - -“Well, I’ll stop up the openings left to air the corn, and you may have -it.” - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -“I’LL GIVE HIM QUICKSILVER.” - - -The partial reformation in James Welch, to which his father referred in -the conversation with Captain Rhines, already narrated, proved to be, -like too many of those delusive hopes to which fond parents cling as -drowning men to straws, void of foundation; and the father, driven to -extremity, and perceiving at length that much of the criminal conduct -of the son lay at the door of his own indulgence, determined to use -sharper measures. - -He informed James that he must go to Elm Island for the summer, there -struggle with his habits, in the absence of outward temptation, or -leave his house forever; that his mother, utterly discouraged, had come -to the same conclusion. - -James Welch, who, on the 15th of June, came to Elm Island, and became -an inmate of Ben’s family, was a young man of superior general ability, -remarkable business talent, fine appearance, affectionate, generous -disposition, although of hasty temper, and exceedingly attractive in -his manners. - -He was passionately fond of all out-door recreations; but a drunkard -at two-and-twenty. He proved a great accession to the society on Elm -Island, being an excellent singer, fond of children, and rare company -for Bennie, who was lonely enough without Charlie. They all enjoyed -themselves finely, sitting on the door-stone at twilight, and singing -together. - -It was difficult even for Ben, but especially for Sally, to credit the -stories they had heard of him. - -As his father had predicted, the first time he came in contact with -Uncle Isaac, he conceived a liking for him, which continually increased. - -He soon learned to manage a boat; and Captain Rhines let him take his, -and keep her at the island, although he took the precaution, unknown to -Welch, to cut her sails down. - -He would take this boat, and go over to Uncle Isaac’s Point; if he was -working, off coat, and help him, in order that Uncle Isaac might be -able to fish or hunt with him. - -He was naturally of a mechanical turn, and would amuse himself in the -shop with the tools. Indeed, he was, with one exception, universally -liked. He could not make friends with Tige, and never dared to go to -Captain Rhines’s in the evening. With Sailor and Uncle Isaac’s Watch he -was a sworn friend; but Tige would have nothing to do with him, and it -was by no means safe to _force_ attentions upon Tige. - -His attenuated limbs became round and plump with muscle; his haggard -cheeks began to crimson; his step regained the elasticity, and his eye -the fire, of youth, which seemed forever to have departed. - -Uncle Isaac said he was as fine-looking and good-hearted a fellow as -ever the sun shone upon. - -He learned, after upsetting several times, to manage the birch. Uncle -Isaac permitted him to keep her at the island. Thus he had two boats, -and when it was calm, would take her, paddle over to the main, and up -the river, following all its windings. In one of these excursions, he -discovered Pleasant Cove. Enraptured with the beauty of the spot, he -carried his canoe around the fall, and paddled up the brook into the -pond. - -“Ben,” said he, on his return, “I have known people spend thousands of -dollars to make a beautiful place, and not obtain anything half so fine -as the place I have seen to-day. I mean to ask father to buy it. Would -Charlie sell it?” - -“When he sells himself,” replied Sally. “Besides, there’s another party -as much attached to it as he is.” - -“Well, I mean to sketch it, at any rate.” - -Matters went on thus pleasantly for some time. James would often start -off, taking a luncheon, fishing-lines, cooking utensils, and be gone -a day or two, sometimes longer, camping in the woods, sleeping at -Captain Rhines’s or Uncle Isaac’s, just as it happened. Sometimes the -first thing they would know of him, he would make his appearance at the -breakfast-table, having come across in the night. - -His parents, who were informed of his good doings by Captain Rhines, -and especially of his friendship with Uncle Isaac, with that parental -credulity ever prone to catch at the shadow of a hope, were greatly -encouraged. - -“No one,” wrote his father, in reply, “could like Uncle Isaac so well -as I know he does unless there was some good in them, and some hope of -them.” - -Captain Rhines shook his head. He had seen, in a life spent at sea, too -much of the strength of the appetite for liquor to leap at conclusions. - -One morning after breakfast, as Ben was going to the field, he -saw James, as they now called him, paddling out of the cove in the -birch. Two days after, about ten o’clock in the forenoon, Uncle Isaac -espied from his point the birch half way over to Elm Island. She was -apparently empty, drifting down the bay with the tide. - -He waited a while, and seeing no one coming after her, took his boat, -and pulled off, when he found James Welch flat on his back in the -bottom of her, and an empty bottle beside him. He was completely -stupefied with liquor. It appeared afterwards that he had gone along -shore gunning, camped a night in the woods, and the next afternoon came -upon some men who were making potash, and well provided with liquor. -They offered him some. This awoke the slumbering appetite. He bought -a bottle, and kept drinking. Through the aid of that Providence which -seems to watch over drunkards, he made out to get into the birch, and -push off, when becoming helpless, the tide was drifting him to sea. -Uncle Isaac, with a sad heart, towed the birch, with its occupant, to -the island. Ben took him up in his arms, carried him to the house, and -laid him on the bed. - -Sally, who had felt greatly encouraged, was affected to tears. - -“Stop to dinner, Uncle Isaac.” - -“I’ll stop and rest, and cool off, Benjamin; but as for eating, this -thing has taken away all my appetite.” - -“I’m sorry for his poor parents; but I’m afraid it’s no use.” - -“O, Ben, it’s too much! It’s more than I can bear to see so fine a -young fellow go to ruin right before my eyes! We’ve done all that can -be done in the way of counsel, coaxing, and kindness. I mean to give -him a dose of quicksilver.” - -When James Welch recovered his senses, his reflections were most -harrowing. Having formed a strong and healthy attachment to Ben and his -family, he was deeply mortified when he reflected upon the exhibition -he had made of himself before them. But he was, most of all, attached -to Uncle Isaac, and loved him with all his heart. How he got back -to the island, whether Uncle Isaac knew what had taken place, were -questions he could not solve, and was too proud to ask. - -He went to the cove. The birch was there. He then concluded that Ben -went in search of and picked him up; that Uncle Isaac knew nothing -about it, and had half a mind to go over and see him; but he was by no -means sure that Ben would permit it. His pride inclined him to remain -where he was, rather than ask or attempt to go and be prevented. Ben -had not made the most distant allusion to his conduct; but he saw he -kept his eye on him, and knew he was in the hands of a giant. - -He wandered over the island a day or two, miserable enough, and for -the first time in his life really sorry for his acts. While in this -state of suspense and misery, uncertain whether he was a prisoner or -not, Uncle Isaac came to the island, apparently as cordial as ever, -and invited him to go after fowl. The invitation was most joyfully -accepted, and they set out. He now felt sure that Uncle Isaac was -ignorant of all that had taken place; but he was soon undeceived. - -They killed a few birds; then went to Pleasant Cove, and landing, sat -down to rest beneath the birches at Cross-root Spring, when Uncle -Isaac, in a kind but commanding tone, said,-- - -“James, I was at work last Tuesday forenoon on the eend of my p’int, -and happening to look off in the bay, I saw the birch drifting about. -Going to see what was the matter, found you dead drunk in the bottom of -her. Don’t you feel ashamed of yourself?” - -The fiery temper of the young man was roused in an instant by this -blunt question. Forgetting the usual urbanity of his manners, and the -deference he always paid to his friend, he exclaimed,-- - -“What concern is that to you? I should like to know what business you -have to go nosing round after me, watching my proceedings?” - -“The birch was mine. I had a perfect right, and it was my duty, to look -after my own property when I saw it adrift and likely to go to sea. -It is, moreover, the duty of every one who loves his neighbor to give -seasonable advice, and even to reprove, in a kind spirit, a young man -who is ruining himself, bringing disgrace upon his friends, and setting -a bad example to those who have had fewer privileges.” - -“Murch, you ignorant, meddlesome old codger you! Because I have -permitted you some liberties, you presume on my condescension to insult -me. But,” he replied, with an awful oath, “I’ll make you know your -place! I’ll trample you under my feet!” - -“Please not swear in my presence, young man. It’s wrong, and hurts -my feelings. I am indeed ignorant, as you say, having had but few -privileges; but I certainly have the advantage of you in one thing. -I have made the best use I know how of the few a kind Providence has -given me. Neither am I a pauper, swearer, drunkard, or thief.” - -“This to _me_, you old villain!” exclaimed Welch, leaping to his feet, -with both fists clinched, and livid with passion. “Take every word of -that back, and humbly ask my pardon, or I’ll beat you like a dog.” - -A quiet smile played over the features of Uncle Isaac, as he replied, -“I do love to see a mud-puddle in a squall.” - -Pulling a bulrush out of a clump that grew beside the spring, he flung -it across one of the enormous roots of the birch that towered above -them. - -“You speak of beating me, young man. What that rush is to this birch -would you be in my hands. You have drunk too much liquor to have any -strength, even if you was made for it, which you are not. Just open -these fists, which look more like potato-balls than anything else. Sit -down on that flat rock, and listen to what I have to say, or I shall be -tempted to call you a fool, which is contrary to Scripture. ‘A little -pot soon biles over.’ If I had no more government over myself than you -have, I should set you on your head in this spring, when you would -probably die by water, which is a much more respectable death than the -one you seem to be preparing yourself for.” - -“I will leave you, at any rate,” replied Welch, in a much more subdued -tone; for he now bethought himself that he was in the woods, miles from -any human being, and entirely in the power of a man whom he had most -grossly insulted and threatened, and whose forbearance he might well -distrust. - -“No, you won’t, except you can outrun a man who has run down a -bull-moose more than once or twice. Did you hear me tell you to sit -down?” - -This was spoken in a tone so peremptory that Welch obeyed at once, -trembling with passion and fear. James Welch was the idol of his -parents, and with an overweening affection by no means uncommon, they -had injured him by indulgence. - -Uncle Isaac, with that instinctive discernment of character that can -neither be learned nor taught, had become aware of this. He had also, -during their long and familiar intercourse, obtained an accurate -knowledge of his character; as he would have phrased it, “knew just how -much of sound wood there was in him to nail to.” - -In view of the estimate thus formed, he had resolved, as he told Ben, -to give him quicksilver. This was a metaphoric term for stringent -measures, borrowed by Uncle Isaac from the practice of physicians in -his day, who were accustomed, in severe cases of stoppage, where life -was at stake, to give quicksilver, which, by its weight, was sure to -force a passage, either by the ordinary channel, in which event the -patient recovered, or through the walls of the intestines, when death -was the result. Thus it became a synonyme for “kill or cure.” - -“I have said,” he continued, addressing his involuntary listener, -“that you are a profane swearer and a drunkard. You have sworn in my -presence. I found you drunk in my birch, and it is well known that -these are your customary habits. You are also a pauper. All property, -everything that goes to support life, in these parts, of any amount, -comes by the hard work of somebody,--either bone labor or brain -labor,--the labor of those who now possess it, or of those from whom -they inherited it. That, I take it, you can’t deny, though you’ve been -to school and I ’aint. If a great, stout, hearty feller, able to work, -should go about the country, eating the bread and wearing the clothes -somebody else earned, sleeping in the beds and warmed by the fires -that others provided, I take it there wouldn’t be much doubt he was a -pauper. That’s just the way with you. You have eaten your three meals -a day ever since you was born, and never earned one--no, not the salt -that seasoned them. That makes you out to be a pauper, and it’s only -your father that keeps you off the town. Everybody who lives in society -is bound to do something for the society in which he lives--to help -bear its burden, and return something for the benefits he receives from -his neighbor, and be a man among men. If he don’t do it, he’s not one -whit better than a thief, because he takes from the common stock, eats -up what ought to go to those who ain’t able to earn it, and he makes no -return to society for what he draws. That’s just what you are doing. -You are useless, which seems to me to be the meanest of all things, -just about as bad as being a drunkard or thief. You are not of so much -account as one of the clams in these flats, or one of the frogs in -this spring, for they answer the end of their existence, and get an -honest living, which you don’t. Your father and mother begun the world -with nothing but their heads and hands; and your father, moreover, had -to support your grandfather after his misfortune, and pay his debts; -but by industry, good principles, and the blessing of God on their -labor, they have got together a large property, and bear nobly their -share of the burdens of society. They have spent--I would say, thrown -away--a mint of money on you; given you the best of larning, the best -of opportunities to go into business, do for yourself and others, -make something of yourself, and be looked up to; but here you are at -two-and-twenty years of age. You’ve done nothing, you’re good for -nothing, and are going to the devil as fast as you can. Look at Charlie -Bell. He came to Elm Island a poor, ragged orphan. See what he’s made -of himself. Talk about beating me! He could lay you on your back faster -than you could get up. Look at Fred Williams. His father and mother -never knew how to treat a child, always hectoring and fretting him; and -now that his father is poorly, and can do but little, that boy is at -work from daylight till dark, tending mill and store, making fish, and -seeing to the whole family; while you are lazing round here, and can’t -be trusted with yourself, spending money you never earned a dollar -of, and killing the best of parents by inches. Look at John Rhines. -Yes, there’s a case in _pint_. Look at that boy. He might have staid -at home, worked or played, laid abed or got up, as he liked; for his -father is indulgent, and as well off as yours, considering the small -expense at which he lives, and that he hasn’t got a reprobate son to -break his heart, and spend his hard earnings. There he is, larning a -blacksmith’s trade; up early and late, sweating at the anvil. He scorns -to live on his father and grandsir’s substance. Yes, and I may say your -grandsir, for Elm Island stood in his name, though he would have lost -it shortly, for the mortgage had nearly eaten it up, when your father, -from his own earnings, cleared it. Yes, and took care of your grandsir -in his old age. When your father is in his grave, which will be shortly -unless you turn over a new leaf, you will be living on what he leaves, -gnawing the bones of the dead--a business that I never knew any dumb -cretur to foller for a living but a wolf. When you die, you’ll be no -more missed than yonder dead limb on that leaning beech. Now, if you -ain’t the smallest, pitifulest consarn there is round here, I should -like to know who is. There’s another thing to be thought of, young man. -Where God has given great capacity and great privileges, there’s great -accountability; there’s Holy Scripture for that. You _may_ see the time -that you will wish you had been born a fool, or not born at all. Come, -it’s time we were going.” - -Welch uttered not a word in reply, or on the way home. - -“What have you done to him?” asked Ben, astonished at the appearance of -Welch. - -“Given him quicksilver, and it’s my opinion ’twill either kill or cure. -I do hope he’ll rally, for I love the young man, though I felt it my -duty to speak quite plain to him. Indeed, I spoke quite plain to him. -He feels bad, Benjamin--all mixed up, half crazy. We must let him sweat -in his grease. I shouldn’t wonder if he had a strong craving to drown -trouble in liquor. I think you had better keep him on the island for a -day or two.” - -When James Welch got out of the boat, he would have killed Uncle Isaac -if he could. O, how he wished he had the strength of Ben! But God -generally gives great strength, and a mild temper in connection with -it, to those who know how to use it. - -He declined coming to the supper-table, saying he was unwell, and -shutting himself in his room, paced the floor till midnight, half -demented. At length there came over him a craving for liquor, that he -might escape from himself in the delirium or stupor of intoxication. He -knew the men who were making potash had half a barrel of New England -rum in their camp, and went to the shore resolved to go after some; -but Ben had hauled the boats so far up on the grass-ground that he was -unable to launch any of them. - -Foiled in this, he bathed his burning forehead in sea-water, and sat -down on the rocks of the eastern point, beneath the light of the stars. - -No sound disturbed the night, save the low, peculiar murmur of the -tide, as it crept around the foot of the cliff. The first paroxysm of -passion had passed away. He recalled the stinging truths to which he -had so unwillingly listened. They no longer excited his anger, but -appeared to him in a very different light. His ingratitude to his -parents assumed a new aspect when presented by another, and touched him -to the heart. He could no longer doubt that Uncle Isaac had faithfully -portrayed the estimation in which he was held by the community at large. - -No part of the conversation had touched him so nearly, or cut so -deep, as the parallel instituted between himself and John Rhines. So -completely was he absorbed in thought, that the flowing tide wet him to -the knees unperceived. - -In that still midnight hour, on the ocean cliff, the better nature of -James Welch won the victory. - -“Uncle Isaac is right,” he said. “I have been a drunkard, swearer, -pauper, and thief. But from this hour I am so no more.” - -The gray light of morning was breaking, as, utterly exhausted in mind -and body, he flung himself upon the bed, and sank into a profound -sleep. The next day Ben noted the change, and, surprised by his -offering to help him about his work, shoved the boats into the water. -In the course of the week, James took the boat, and told Ben he was -going over to see Uncle Isaac. Before he had fairly cleared the harbor, -Ben entered the house at a rate so unusual--for he was generally quite -moderate in his motions--and a face so replete with joyful emotions, -that Sally instantly exclaimed,-- - -“Why, Ben, what has happened?” - -“The best thing that could happen. James has gone over to Uncle -Isaac’s.” - -“Glory to God! He’s all right, or he never would do that.” - -James and Uncle Isaac came back together in the afternoon, and before -night there was another auger-hole in the great maple. - -Mr. Welch soon received a letter from his son, telling him all that had -transpired, and asking permission to come home and go to work. - -“Blessed be God!” exclaimed the delighted father. “My last days are -going to be my best days.” - -The reform proved permanent. James Welch became a partner with his -father, and assumed the position for which his abilities qualified him. -In after years, he often visited the spot where this singular scene -was enacted, and the fountain was ever after, by universal consent, -called Quicksilver Spring. In process of time the first syllable was -dropped, and many who are familiar with Silver Spring are ignorant of -the circumstances from whence it derived its present name. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE BOYS CATCH THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE. - - -After the departure of James Welch, nothing worthy of note occurred to -disturb the quiet enjoyment of life on Elm Island. - -Upon Ben’s recovery in the spring, he had hired Robert Yelf for the -summer. - -Ben, Jr., who now began to manifest as great a capacity for work as he -had heretofore evinced for mischief, made himself extremely useful. He -assumed the entire charge of the hens, ducks, geese, and turkeys. In -the spring he had dropped corn and potatoes, and assisted in planting -the garden. He pulled up weeds, carried in wood and chips for his -mother, brought up the cows at night, and drove them to pasture in the -morning. - -After haying, Ben and Yelf finished and rigged the scow, which he had -begun before he was taken sick, and built a wharf in the cove, with an -inclined platform, over which cattle could be driven to or from the -scow. They also built a boat to take the place of the Perseverance, -Jr., from Charlie’s moulds, which was an easy matter, as the work was -all laid out. - -When corn was in the milk, Sally Merrithew ventured to marry Joe -Griffin, who had been on probation since he nearly finished Uncle -Smullen. Joe built his log house in the midst of a burn, where he had -planted corn and sowed wheat in the spring. Ben gave Sally a cow and -Captain Rhines a pig to begin housekeeping with, and Ben continued to -pasture her sheep on Griffin’s Island, as Joe had no land cleared for -pasturing sheep, and they were safe from the wolves on that island. Elm -Island gradually improved in beauty as Ben ploughed and removed the -stumps; and the fruit trees in the new soil increased rapidly in size. - -Amid these quiet occupations and enjoyments, interspersed with tramps -in the woods, bear-hunts and gunning expeditions with Uncle Isaac, the -autumn, winter, and succeeding summer glided rapidly away. - -Very different was the appearance of Elm Island, with its comfortable -and roomy buildings, broad fields covered with crops, now fast ripening -to the harvest, and vocal with the lowing of kine and the song of -birds, from its appearance the morning that Uncle Isaac and Joe -Griffin landed on the beach, and startled the herons from their nests -with the sound of the axe and the crash of falling trees. Great as -was the change that had taken place on Elm Island, it was trifling in -comparison with that which obtained in respect to the country at large. - -Then it was a period of general poverty and distress, although -money was made by individuals through superior energy, tact, and -the irregularities then existing in trade, and the intercourse of -nations,--Ben and his father being among the fortunate ones. - -Then there was neither revenue nor power to collect any; the country -oppressed with debt, and no means to pay the old government under which -the war of the revolution had been fought--a rope of sand--and no -confidence in any quarter. The states were deluged with importations -of all kinds--French gewgaws, English broadcloths, iron, cordage, and -duck from Russia and Sweden--which people who had any means or credit -were but too much inclined to buy, despite the efforts made by the -government to discourage it, and encourage home manufacture. - -But now the Federal government was established, and Washington at its -head, with power to form treaties of amity and commerce, lay duties and -imposts; the national debt funded, affording an opportunity for safe -and profitable investments; and banks were established. The spirit of -the country was up, and rose with a bound over all obstacles, ready to -grapple with any odds. - -Nowhere was the exhilarating influence of the times more eagerly -responded to than in the District of Maine,--with a vast extent of -sea-coast, and to a great degree aquatic population, and the town -of Portland in particular, then but recently arisen from its ashes -after its bombardment by the British, and incorporated, with an -unrivalled harbor, a back country almost one unbroken forest of timber -of all kinds, for which there was an abundant demand at high prices -in Europe and the West Indies, with extensive water-power for its -manufacture; vast quantities of ship-timber, with mechanics both native -and imported; and a population whose energies were _then_, and have -_continued_ to be, equal to every demand made upon them. - -This town was among the first to avail itself of, and profit by, these -altered circumstances. Mills were going up on every waterfall, wharves -building, distilleries erecting, the keels of vessels laid, and the -roads thronged with teams dragging the masts, spars, and boards to the -place of shipment. Mails were established, and a newspaper published. -It is easy to perceive what effect these new excitements must make upon -boys so impressible as Charlie and John, at work in the midst of such -scenes. They read the Cumberland Gazette, which Mr. Starrett took; also -the Columbian Centinel, printed at Boston, which he borrowed from one -of his neighbors; a Portsmouth paper, which was sent to a Portsmouth -man who worked in the shop. They listened with sharp ears to every -word of the excited conversation that occurred within their hearing, -in that stirring period, when the state of Europe, its politics, its -markets, the troubles in France, and their bearing upon the prosperity -of America, became subjects of discussion, and were every whit as much -interested as the actual participants, and, when they were alone, -talked over all they had heard between themselves. - -John was now working as a journeyman, and received four-and-six a day. -Charlie found an excellent employer in Mr. Foss, who instructed him by -every method in his power, and put him on the best work, as he found -that he was capable of doing it, and also increased his wages. - -Fishing, too, had received the same impulse as other pursuits, not -merely by reason of the increased market for fish, and increased -facilities for carrying them to foreign parts, but also in consequence -of a bounty granted by the government. And Fred Williams, who, to his -traffic in fish and groceries, had added the buying of potash, beef, -and pork, was steadily acquiring. - -As the country became cleared, great numbers of cattle were raised, and -salted beef found a ready market in the West Indies for the use of the -slavers. - -Potash was in great demand in Europe. Fred was able to barter goods for -potash, sell it in Boston at a large advance, and thus make a double -profit--making more in that way than by all his other traffic. - -Charlie, finding that the price of land was rising, sent word to Uncle -Isaac to purchase enough more of the heavy pine growth abutting on the -back part of his lot to make, with what he already had, four hundred -acres; but Uncle Isaac bought the whole lot, and informed Charlie he -might have of him, at the price he gave, enough to make out his four -hundred acres. Charlie also bought Birch Island of the state, as he -did not relish the idea of being a squatter; and the whole island, -containing six acres of first-rate land, covered with a heavy growth of -birch, an excellent harbor, and a noble spring of water, cost him only -nine shillings. But in those days land on a small island like that was -but lightly valued, while birch wood was not considered worth thanking -God for. - -“Charlie,” said John, in one of those confidential interviews that -generally occurred on Saturday night, “couldn’t you build a vessel now?” - -“I don’t know but I could. I lined up the Freebooter, while Mr. Foss -was laying the keel of another vessel.” - -“What is the reason we couldn’t build a vessel? I know I could do the -iron-work.” - -“I suppose we might do the work if somebody would find the money. It -takes a heap of money to build a vessel and fit her for sea.” - -“But couldn’t we build one, take time enough, and sell her just as you -do the boats--without rigging her?” - -“I’ll tell you what we might do.” - -“What?” - -“Build one, take our own time for it,--I’ve got timber enough on my -land to build and load ever so many,--then keep a part of her, and sell -the rest; put our work, my timber, and what little money we could -muster, against somebody else’s money.” - -“Yes, we could do that; but I should much rather have her to -ourselves,--say you, and I, and Fred.” - -“We might go to work, cut the timber, and set up a vessel, get her -along as far as our means would allow, then let her stand till we could -earn more. But we should want a captain.” - -“That is true; and perhaps Seth Warren or Sydney Chase might take a -part, and go in her.” - -“Yes, that would be a quarter apiece.” - -“Charlie, I heard Captain Pote say, in this very house last Saturday -night, that if anybody could get a load of lumber to the West Indies, -at the right time, he could make enough to build another vessel.” - -“How much do you suppose it costs to build a vessel?” - -“I don’t know; the rigging and sails are the most. You can build the -hull very cheap, so that she will last a little while without much iron -fastening; but you must have good rigging and sails, or else you are -liable to lose vessel and cargo.” - -“How much?” - -“I know Mr. Foss built a vessel for Weeks and Tucker, hull and spars, -and found everything, for fifteen dollars a ton, delivered at Pearson’s -breast-work, in Portland.” - -“Fifteen hundred dollars for the hull and spars of a vessel of a -hundred tons?” - -“Yes.” - -“Then I’m sure we could build a sloop of fifty.” - -“But a sloop of fifty tons wouldn’t be of any use to carry such bulky -cargoes as boards, spars, ton-timber, and molasses, which is what we -must do.” - -“Ye-e-e-e-s.” - -Here the conversation came to an abrupt termination by Charlie’s -falling asleep. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -NEWS FROM HOME. - - -As the summer was drawing to a close, the evenings grew longer, and -these conversations were renewed from time to time, as the boys were -excited by hearing of some great slap made by an enterprising captain, -or some smuggler making a fortune in one or two trips to Havana. -Captain Starrett, the brother of John’s master, was an inveterate -smuggler. The house was resorted to by seafaring men, masters and -mates, and the boys had abundant opportunities to gain information in -respect to voyages and profits. - -Both Mr. Foss and Mr. Starrett owned a small part of several vessels, -which afforded the boys an excellent opportunity to obtain accurate -and reliable information, of which they did not hesitate to avail -themselves. - -As there were no mails east of Portland, the only way in which the boys -obtained letters from home was by some coasting vessel. When they did -get one, it was correspondingly valued, read and re-read, commented -upon, and formed the subject of conversation for a month. John received -a letter one afternoon, and on opening it, found enclosed one from Ben -to Charlie. - -The moment he was done work at night, he went to Stroudwater to see -Charlie, spend the night with him, and walk in before work-hours in the -morning. To the no small delight of the boys, they were informed that -it was nearly two years since they had been at home, with the exception -of the time when Ben was sick; that neither Captain Rhines’s family nor -Ben and Sally could stand it any longer, and they must come home, and -make a good visit. - -“Ain’t I glad!” cried John. - -“Ain’t I!” replied Charlie. “I wanted to go bad enough, but I didn’t -like to lose my time, and was afraid Mr. Foss would think I was a baby.” - -“That was just the way with me.” - -Mr. Foss had a vessel that would be ready to launch in a fortnight, -and wanted Charlie to stay till after launching. They wrote home by -a coaster, that was to sail the next day, that they would start in a -fortnight in the boat. - -Meanwhile the Perseverance, Jr., was hauled up, repaired, re-painted, -and put in first-rate order for the cruise. During that fortnight there -was but one subject of conversation, and that never grew stale--_home_, -and what they should do when they got there. - -“There’ll be partridges and coons, lots of ’em, to shoot on Elm Island, -Charlie.” - -“There’ll be bears on my land, John.” - -“Won’t Tige wag his tail off?” - -“Won’t Bennie and the baby have a time?” - -“What will Fred say?” - -“We shall see Uncle Isaac!” - -“Yes, and Joe Griffin and Henry.” - -“Yes.” - -“I wonder if they’ve got any boat there that’ll outsail the Wings of -the Morning?” - -“Do you calculate to come back here, Charlie?” - -“Do you?” - -“I don’t know; Mr. Starrett wants me to. I shall come if you do.” - -“Mr. Foss _wants_ me, too; but I can do better building boats at home -than I can working in the ship-yard. I’ve learned about all I can here.” - -“I could get just as good wages at Wiscasset as I can here, and go home -every few weeks.” - -“Ain’t we going home in a glorious time of year? The sea-fowl will be -coming along.” - -“There will be berries.” - -“Pickerel in my pond.” - -“O, Charlie, I’ll tell you what we’ll do--you, and I, and Fred.” - -“What?” - -“We’ll borrow Uncle Isaac’s birch, and go up the brook to the falls, -then take her on our shoulders, and carry her round the falls, then -follow all the crooks of the brook till we come to the pond. It is real -crooked; I dare say ’twould be three or four miles.” - -“That would be something we never did; and the water in the pond will -be so warm to go in swimming!” - -“Yes; I never thought of that.” - -“O, John, I tell you, we’ll go on to Indian Island, and make a birch of -our own--a smasher. I know I can make one.” - -“And we’ll get Uncle Isaac to work the ends with porcupine quills.” - -“Then we shall have the Perseverance, Jr., to go outside in and fish, -and take the girls to sail. We’ve got a boat now--no old dugout--and -we’ll go exploring just where we like--way down the coast.” - -As is often the case with boys, they planned employments and enjoyments -enough to occupy a whole summer, while they intended to allow -themselves not more than three weeks of vacation at the outside. - -“I felt real bad, John, when father wrote that the partridges had gone; -but come to think, I’m glad of it, ’cause they’ll breed in the woods, -and if I want to try to tame some more, I can find the eggs.” - -“I should be; because when it blows, and you can’t get off the island, -or any time after supper, you can take the gun, and find them in the -yellow birches.” - -While the boys are revelling amid these anticipated pleasures, let us -note what effect the announcement of their coming produced at home. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -TIGE’S NOSE BETTER THAN THE CAPTAIN’S SPY-GLASS. - - -No sooner had Captain Rhines received the letter, informing him of the -time at which they expected to set out, than he hurried home with it, -and then, getting into his boat, made sail for Elm Island, where his -information caused no little gratification. He had scarcely left the -shore on his errand, when Elizabeth made the discovery that there was -not a needle in the house fit to sew with, nor one grain of beeswax. - -“You must go to the store, Elizabeth, and get some needles and wax,” -said her mother; “and tell Fred to send me half a yard of cloth from -the piece I looked at yesterday. I must finish John’s waistcoat before -he comes home.” - -Thus Fred was made acquainted with the tidings, and through him Uncle -Isaac, Henry Griffin, and Joe. - -“I do believe,” said Mrs. Rhines, “that Tige knows what is going on, -for every time John’s name is mentioned, he wags his tail, and seems -uneasy.” - -“Knows!” replied the captain; “to be sure he does. Any fool of a dog -might know as much as that; and Tige has forgot more than most dogs -know. Here, Tige--go find John.” - -The dog instantly ran to the door, and barked to be let out. After -making a tour of the premises, he came in, ran up to John’s bedroom, -and came down with one of his jackets in his mouth, and laid it at his -master’s feet. - -“See that, and tell me he don’t know what we are talking about!” - -Ever since Tige had saved little Fannie from drowning, she had been in -the habit of making him frequent visits, bringing with her something -she knew he would like to eat. Tige never returned the visits, for it -was not in accordance with his habits and principles ever to leave the -premises, except sent on an errand by his master, or with one of the -family; but he always received her with great cordiality. Fannie could -talk plain now. Ever since the promise to her from Captain Rhines, that -Tige never should be whipped, do what he would, she had entertained a -very high opinion of the captain, who loved dearly to play and romp -with her. - -While Captain Rhines and his wife were conversing, Fannie came trudging -along, with gingerbread and meat in her basket for Tige. - -“Good morning, my little woman! Have you come to see me, and have a -good frolic?” - -“Fannie came to see Tige.” - -“Then you think more of Tige than you do of me?” - -“I love Tige.” - -“That’s a fact.” - -I’ve no doubt Tige by this time had his nose in Fannie’s basket. - -“Captain Rhines, you know Tige loves babies.” - -“Yes, my dear.” - -“Don’t you know we have a little baby?” - -“Yes.” - -“I’ve come for Tige to go and see it.” - -“What a comical little thing you are! Well, I suppose he must go. Then -you’re not going to stop and play with me?” - -“No, sir; because Tige wants to see the baby.” - -“He won’t go with her,” said Mrs. Rhines, “without some of us go with -him.” - -“Yes, he will,” said the captain, “if I tell him to, and give him -something to carry.” - -“Then you must give him something that he won’t eat, or she’ll give -every mite of it to him.” - -Captain Rhines filled Fannie’s basket with apples, and put in some -flowers, and Mrs. Rhines gave her some cake to eat herself. Tige took -the basket in his mouth, and away they went; but Fannie gave him all -her cake before she got home. - -She made out to get him into the house, where he licked the baby’s -face, and frightened it half to death, and then set out for home, -refusing the most urgent solicitations to stay to dinner. - -Tige also had the promise of going over to Elm Island again, to see the -baby there. - -The heart of Captain Rhines was bound up in John. Two days had now -passed since the time fixed in his mind for their arrival. He became -very uneasy. Every few moments he would catch the spy-glass, and run -out on the hill to look. - -“Why, Captain Rhines,” said his wife, “I don’t think you need laugh any -more at us women for being nervous and fidgety when our friends are -away! I’m sure you beat us all. Old Aunt Nabby Rideout, of Marblehead, -that they say used to bank up her house with tea-grounds, never begun -with you! You can’t expect folks that are coming by water to come just -at the time they set. You must have patience.” - -“Patience! I’ve had patience to kill.” - -“Perhaps they’ve had a head wind, or calm.” - -“No, they haven’t! I know how the winds have been. They’ve had as good -and steady a wind as ever blew--just the breeze for a boat.” - -The next day after this conversation, the captain, after running in and -out half of the forenoon with the spy-glass in his hand, said, “Wife, -I won’t look any more till they come. I’m going to have patience; but -there’s Tige been laying all the morning before the door, with his -nostrils to the wind.” - -He put the glass in the brackets, and taking up a book, began to read. -He had hardly commenced, when a tremendous roar, ending in a prolonged -howl, rang through the house. - -“Heavens!” cried the captain; “why couldn’t I have seen them? I’ve been -looking with all the eyes I’ve got the whole morning;” and rushing to -the door, he caught a glimpse of Tige’s tail disappearing round the -corner of the wood-pile. - -To his astonishment, there was no boat to be seen in the cove, nor in -the offing. Turning round to learn what had become of Tige, he espied -him going at full speed across the orchard, clearing logs and fences -at a leap, for the main road, emitting sharp, short barks as he ran, -and was soon lost to view around a point of thick woods. The captain -sat down on a log to see what would turn up next, and in a quarter of -an hour was joined by all the family. - -“What do you suppose it means?” asked Mrs. Rhines. - -“_Means?_ It means they are coming along the road. Tige has known it -since six o’clock this morning. I knew he did by his actions, and that -was what made me so patient.” - -“Yes, you was very patient; but what has become of their boat?” - -“I don’t know. Perhaps she has sprung a-leak, or they run on to some -reef and punched a hole in her. Here they come!” roared the captain, -as Tige’s voice was again heard. He was evidently returning, and the -barking sounded louder and louder. In a few minutes Tige appeared in -view around the point of woods. - -He presented a comical appearance. He was coming sidewise, doubled all -up like a rainbow, or the colonel’s horse prancing at the head of the -regiment general-muster morning, caused by the effort to keep one -eye on the boys and the other on Captain Rhines and his company, and -progress at the same time. - -These anxiously-expected ones came in sight, each with a pack on his -back. John also bore a gun on his shoulder, and Charlie a hatchet in -his hand. - -“They have travelled all the way!” exclaimed Captain Rhines. - -“What are we thinking about! Here it is, most noon, not a thing done -towards dinner, and these poor boys tired and half starved!” said Mrs. -Rhines. - -This was the signal for a general stampede in the direction of the -house. - -“I’ll get some dry wood, and have a fire in no time, wife.” - -Then, with the combined efforts of these practised hands, a great -fire was roaring in the chimney, the teakettle boiling, the table in -the floor, and eggs frying by the time that Tige burst into the room, -followed by the boys. - -“Why, John, how you’ve grown!” said Captain Rhines, twirling him round -on his heel; “and Charlie, too; I believe he has grown more than you -have. There was more chance for it. You was as big as a moose before.” - -“I guess hard work agrees with both of you,” said Mrs. Rhines. - -“It always did,” replied Charlie. “We’re the boys for that.” - -“Yes,” added John, “none of the western boys can lay us on our backs, -either. Mother, do your hens lay well?” - -“Yes; but what makes you ask that?” - -“Because, if you think there’s eggs enough in that kettle, you’re very -much mistaken.” - -“There’s half a bushel in the buttery,” said his father. “They’ll stay -your stomachs, and after dinner I’ll kill a fat wether I’ve got in the -barn.” - -The captain could not well have given stronger evidence of hospitality -and glad welcome than by his resolve to kill a wether, that would -afford double the wool which could be sheared from an ordinary sheep, -as will be evident if we reflect a moment upon the state of affairs -at that period. Before the war of the revolution, when the British -government was imposing onerous taxes upon our fathers, prohibiting -American manufactures, and endeavoring to compel them to purchase -those of the mother country, they not only threw the tea overboard, -but in every way attempted to clothe themselves, that they might be -independent of Great Britain. In order to be provided with material -for cloth, the people of Massachusetts resolved to eat no lamb, and -not a butcher dared to offer any for sale. Bounties were offered for -wolves, flocks of sheep were increased by every possible means, great -quantities of flax were raised, and every household was transposed into -a manufactory, where wool and flax were carded, spun, and wove, and -colored with barks and roots found in the woods. - -“Save your money, and save your country,” became a proverb. - -After the war, and at the period of our tale, when the country was -oppressed with debt, and its infant manufactures were struggling for -existence, when Great Britain, while excluding us from her West India -ports, was deluging the country with her manufactures in order to -effectually crush our own, all true patriots, and the government to -the extent that lay in its power, strove to sustain the old spirit of -independence, and raise wool and flax. Captain Rhines very rarely, and -Uncle Isaac never, killed a lamb; but on this occasion the glad father -was willing to slaughter even a wether. - -Evil kills the home-feeling; virtue deepens and strengthens it. The -fact that the presence of these boys added so much to the happiness of -home, and that they were so happy to get home, was a fine tribute both -to their heart and principles. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -TELLING AND HEARING THE NEWS. - - -“What’s the news, father?” asked John, when the protracted meal was at -length finished. “Who’s dead? who’s married?” - -“Are all well on the island?” interposed Charlie. - -“All are first-rate on the island. Aunt Molly Bradish, good old soul! -has gone to heaven. She was buried a week ago Tuesday. Nobody else has -died that you are much acquainted with; but old Mrs. Yelf is very sick, -and you must go and see her. She has talked about you ever since you -have been gone, and will never forget the good turns you did her after -her husband died.” - -“How is Uncle Isaac, father?” - -“Smart as a steel trap; has killed lots of birds, and last winter -bears, deer, and three wolves; and the last time I rode by there, I saw -a seal-skin stretched on the barn.” - -“How is Fred?” - -“First-rate.” - -“Has he built a new store?” - -“A real nice one.” - -“And put a T on the wharf?” - -“Yes.” - -“Why don’t you talk some, Charlie?” asked John. “You sit there just as -mum!” - -“He can’t get a word in edgewise,” said Mrs. Rhines, “you talk so fast -yourself.” - -“Well, then, I’ll hold my tongue.” - -“There’s another hole bored in your great maple, Charlie,” said Mary. - -“There is? Who bored it?” - -“Guess.” - -“Joe Bradish?” - -“Guess again.” - -“Sydney Chase?” - -“Guess again. O, you’ll never guess! James Welch;” and she told him the -story. - -“I’ll name that spring ‘Quicksilver Spring.’” - -“Father,” said Mary, “you haven’t told the boys who is married.” - -“Indeed, their questions follow each other so fast, I lose my -reckoning. Joe Griffin.” - -“Joe!” cried John. “Where does he live?” - -“Right on the shore, between Pleasant Point and Uncle Isaac’s, in a log -house.” - -“Then he’ll be close to me,” said Charlie. - -“Yes, only two lots between. They say he’s raised the biggest crop of -wheat that was ever raised in this town, and has got the handsomest -crop of corn growing.” - -“Then Sally mustered up courage to marry him?” - -“_Marry him!_ She may thank her stars she got him. Let them talk as -much as they like about his being a harum-scarum fellow. There’s not -a smarter, better-hearted fellow in this place, nor a man of better -judgment. He showed a good deal more sense than our Ben, who, folks -think, is all sense.” - -“How, father?” - -“Why, Ben built his house, and then set his fire, and liked to have -burned up his house, baby, and all the lumber that went into his -vessel, and did scorch his wife; but this harum-scarum fellow burnt his -land over first, and put something in the ground to live on.” - -“They say,” said Mrs. Rhines, “that they are the most affectionate pair -that ever was. Joe thinks there is not her equal in the world.” - -“That’s just what he ought to think, wife. I hope it will last, and not -be with them as it was with Joe Gubtail and his Dorcas.” - -“How was that?” - -“Why, he said, when they were first married, he loved her so well he -wanted to eat her up, and now he wishes he had.” - -“I don’t think it will, for they have been fond of each other since -they were children, and ought to be well acquainted.” - -“You haven’t said anything about Flour, Captain Rhines,” said Charlie. - -“O, he ain’t Flour any longer. He lives in a frame house on his own -land, is Mr. Peterson, has money at interest, can read, write, and -cipher, and is master-calker at Wiscasset.” - -“Good! Won’t we go over and see him? Didn’t they cut up some rusties on -Joe when he was married?” - -“No.” - -“I should have thought the boys would have done something to him to pay -him up for all his tricks, for there’s hardly anybody in town but has -something laid up against him.” - -“So should I,” said John. “I should have thought they would have given -him a house-warming, and paid up old scores.” - -“I suppose there were good reasons why they didn’t.” - -“What were they?” - -“One was, that everybody loves and respects his wife; another, that Joe -had been very quiet for a long time before he was married, and they -didn’t quite like to stir him up again, for fear they might get the -worst of it, get into a bear-trap, or he might fire a charge of peas or -salt into them. Joe Griffin isn’t a very safe fellow to stir up.” - -“I suppose,” said Charlie, “they thought as I did about the bear at -Pleasant Cove--if you’ll let me alone I’ll let you alone.” - -“That’s it.” - -“_I_ can tell you some news,” said Mrs. Rhines. - -“Let’s have it, mother.” - -“Isaac has arrived.” - -“Isaac Murch?” - -“Yes.” - -“And has come back mate,” said the captain. - -“Where is he?” - -“In Boston; but he’s coming home to stay some time. They’re going to -heave the vessel out, recalk, and overhaul her thoroughly.” - -“Where is Henry Griffin?” - -“Gone to Liverpool in a snow out of Portland.” - -The conversation was now interrupted by the entrance of Fred. While -the boys were greeting and talking with him, Mrs. Rhines and the -girls embraced the opportunity to clear away the table; and when this -necessary duty was accomplished, all drew up, and formed a happy circle. - -“Here we are, all together again,” said John, thrusting his chair -between Charlie and Fred, and taking a hand of each, while Tige, who -could bear “no rival near the throne,” put his nose in John’s lap. - -“Now,” said Mrs. Rhines, “we have answered all your questions, and told -you all the news, we should like to have you tell us some; and first, -why did you come afoot? You wrote us you was coming by water. What has -become of the boat, Charlie?” - -“Sold her to Mr. Foss. Just before we were going to start, he offered -me twenty-five dollars for her. I asked John what he thought about it. -He said, sell her; ’twould be a great deal better fun to come through -the woods, and camp out; that sailing was nothing new to us. So we put -our things aboard a coaster, took our packs, and started.” - -“And you had rather go through all that than come comfortably in the -summer time, with a fair wind, in a good boat?” - -“Yes, father; we had a first-rate time. I can tell you they are going -ahead in Portland, building vessels at a great rate. Congress has -granted money to finish the light on Portland Head, and it’s almost -done.” - -“They’ve got wagons and sleighs there,” said Charlie. “They don’t ride -altogether on horseback as they do here. In one of these wagons a -farmer can carry a whole ox, or three or four calves; carry a barrel -of molasses, and two folks ride besides; or eight or ten bushels of -potatoes, and whole firkins of butter. They don’t have to carry a -little, stuck in saddle-bags.” - -“I should be afraid they would upset,” said Mrs. Rhines. - -“Father, they’ve got the biggest ox-wagons, that haul monstrous loads -of boards, and the wheels have iron hoops on the rims. Our wheels are -all wood.” - -“You can’t expect such things, John, in new places. Portland is an -old-settled place.” - -“They’ve got a wagon with two horses, that carries the mails and -passengers to Portsmouth, to meet the Boston stage. They’ve got -chaises, lots of them. All the ministers have them; and there’s a man, -just come there from Newburyport, that’s going to make chaises.” - -“Captain Rhines,” said Charlie, “there are big Spanish and English -ships come there after spars.” - -“It must be a great place,” said Mary. - -“I guess it is. Everybody that lives there says it can’t help being -a great place. They are expecting it will be an awful big place; and -there’s a company getting up to build a wharf clear to the channel,--O, -I don’t dare to tell how long!--with stores on it. They’re going to -call it Union Wharf.” - -“Father,” said John, “a man came there lately who wears loose breeches -that come clear to his shoes. They call ’em pantaloons. Captain -Starrett says it’s because he’s spindle-shanked, and wants to cover his -legs up.” - -In the course of the afternoon, Captain Rhines put the saddle on the -horse, and sent Elizabeth over to Uncle Isaac’s; and when she returned, -both he and his wife came with her. - -“Charlie,” said Captain Rhines, “in the morning you and John must go -and see old Mrs. Yelf.” - -“O, sir, I can’t go anywhere or do anything till I see father and -mother.” - -“You must see her, because the poor old lady won’t live long, and she -longs to see you. It will take but a few minutes to go over in the -morning, and then John can set you on to the island.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -CHARLIE AT HOME AGAIN. - - -The next morning, after making their call upon Mrs. Yelf, greatly to -the old lady’s satisfaction, they started for Elm Island. - -Ben and Sally, having been informed by Captain Rhines of the time at -which the boys would start, and of the manner in which they expected to -come, were equally, with him, eagerly expecting their arrival. - -Many times she left her work during the day, and went to the door to -see if they were coming. During the period that had elapsed since -the brief but glorious career of the West Wind, the old dugouts had -either passed into oblivion, or were debased to mere tenders for the -whaleboats, which were kept afloat at their moorings, or even used as -cars (cages) to keep lobsters and clams alive in. Whaleboats had also -increased in numbers, by reason of the impulse given to fishing, and -were frequently seen going to and fro in good weather; and Bennie, who -took every sail, it mattered not in what direction they were heading, -for the Perseverance, Jr., kept his mother in a constant state of -excitement by running into the house, and bawling out, “Marm, they’re -coming! They’re most here!” Ben also frequently, in the course of the -day, swept the horizon with his spy-glass. They expected the boys would -land at Captain Rhines’s first, stop all night, and then John come over -with Charlie. Accordingly he frequently inspected the cove, and the -adjacent shores, and if he manifested less outward show of interest -than his father, it must be attributed to his sluggish temperament, -which was less easily roused, and the fact that he had more to occupy -him, and was just at that time engaged with his hired man upon a job -that interested him exceedingly. He was at work in his orchard. - -When Ben declared that he would make cider yet on Elm Island, it was no -idle boast. He had gone to work in the best possible way to accomplish -his designs. He had, in the first place, burned the land over, the same -season in which the growth was cut, and before it was dry, on purpose -that the fire should not burn too deep, and consume the vegetable mould -down to a barren subsoil. The growth of wood was also of a kind that -was rich in potash, an element in which the apple, of all the trees -of the field, delights. Instead of waiting till he had taken several -crops from the land, the stumps had decayed, and it was exhausted by -many ploughings and plantings, he set out three hundred grafted trees, -of choice fruit, that Mr. Welch had given him, right in the ashes, and -among the stumps. Wherever a stump interfered with the regularity of -the rows, he dug it up, otherwise set the tree close beside it, and -the young tree fed upon its decaying roots. In addition to this, the -soil was filled with the excrements of sea-fowl, that for centuries had -bred upon the island, and it was abundantly supplied with lime from the -shells of muscles, cockles, and bones of fish with which they fed their -young. - -The orchard was upon a southern exposure, sheltered by cliffs, forests, -and rising ground from cold and blighting winds, and the bowlders, -sprinkled here and there over the surface of the land, were granite. -Enjoying all these advantages of soil and exposure, protected with -jealous care from the encroachments of cattle, the trees grew more in -one year than they would in one of our old exhausted fields in four. -Ben, excessively proud of them, stimulated their growth by every -means in his power, especially as he expected Mr. Welch to make him -another visit before long, and wanted to show him what could be done -on Elm Island, as he had expressed some doubts if apple trees would do -anything so near the sea. - -He was now engaged in burning the weeds and brush, which had been -previously cut and piled up, intending to scatter the ashes around the -roots of the young trees. He was also removing the stumps, a sharp -drought proving very favorable to his operations. There were a few pine -stumps on the piece, which, when not too near an apple tree, were set -on fire, and completely exterminated, the fire following the roots into -the dry soil, and living there sometimes for weeks. - -The greater proportion of the stumps were rock-maple, beech, birch, and -oak. The roots of these had become a little tender, and by chopping off -some of the larger ones, could be upset and wrenched from the soil with -oxen, aided by a pry, to which the great strength of Ben, supplemented -by that of Yelf, was applied. Setting cattle for a severe pull, and -making them do all they know how, seems to consist in something more -than practice. It is a gift, and it was one that Ben possessed in -perfection. - -When a lad, before he went to sea, he was considered the best teamster -in town, except Uncle Isaac. It was the same with Charlie, who had -not been accustomed to cattle till he came to the island, while John -Rhines, who had all his life been used to driving oxen, evinced neither -inclination nor capacity for it. As for Robert Yelf, he couldn’t, to -save his life, make four cattle pull together, and always, when he got -stuck, took off the leading cattle. Those who do possess this gift, -like to exercise it: there is to them a strange fascination in driving -oxen, so dull and stupid a business to others. It was thus with Ben; no -music was so sweet to him as the singing of the links of a chain and -the creaking of the bows in the yoke as the cattle settled themselves -for a severe pull, their bellies almost touching the ground. He had -a noble team,--six oxen,--the smallest ox in the team girthing seven -feet three inches, fat and willing. He had them so perfectly trained, -that after attaching them to the stump, and placing them for a twitch, -he and Yelf would apply their strength to the pry, Ben would speak to -the oxen, rip, tear, snap would go the great roots, out would come the -stump, taking with it earth, stones, and bushes, while Bennie would -scream, “Get up, Star, you old villain!” pounding on the ground with -his stick, till he was red in the face, the baby sitting in his little -cart, would crow, and Sailor bark in concert. - -It is often that friends, for whom we have been persistently watching, -surprise us after all, when we least expect them; it was so in the -present instance. Ben was so much occupied in his work that day (and -having been disappointed), that after taking a look in the morning, he -had not again inspected the bay. - -As for Sally, after having cooked up a lot of niceties to welcome the -boys, and running to the door to look the greatest part of the time for -three or four days, she concluded that something had delayed them at -Portland, and there was no telling when to look for them. - -Since the stump-pulling had commenced, and the fires been started, -Bennie, having changed his playground from the green before the front -door, which commanded a full view of the bay, to the orchard, was -busily employed roasting clams by a fire made under a pine stump; -Sailor was helping him, the cat patiently waiting for her share of -the repast, the baby asleep in the cradle, and Sally busy getting -dinner. Aided by all these circumstances, the boys entered the cove -unperceived, and with all the caution of whalemen approaching a -slumbering whale. - -“What a splendid wharf!” whispered Charlie to John, as silently they -crept along the footpath to the house, expecting every moment to hear -an alarm. The hop-vine had covered half the roof, and reached the -chimney in one broad belt of green, the honeysuckle hung in fragrant -festoons around the door and windows; Charlie gave John a punch, and -pointed to them, which was answered by a nod. - -The doors were all open, for it was a warm day. Slipping off their -shoes, they passed on to the kitchen. Sally was frying fish in the -Dutch oven, and talking to herself all the while. - -“I don’t see what has got those boys: they ought to have been here a -week ago. Here I, and all of us, have been watching, and I have been -cooking, to have something nice for them when they come. There are -the custards, that John likes so well, as sour as swill; the cake all -mouldy, and the chicken pie soon will be. Charlie likes warm biscuit so -well, I thought we should see them when they got to the other shore, -and then I should have time to bake some, and have them piping hot -when they get here; now I don’t know what to do. There’s that mongrel -goose, the first one we have ever killed, Charlie thought so much of -them, and took so much pains to raise them, I did mean he should help -eat the first one. O dear, I wish I hadn’t killed it; but now it’s -killed and cooked we must eat it, or it will spoil; Charlie ain’t here, -nor like to be.” - -“Yes, he is, you good old soul you.” - -With a scream of delight Sally flung herself on his neck. - -“How you started me, you roguish boy, you and John too. Why boys, where -have you been? We’ve been looking more than a week, with all the eyes -in our heads, and you’ve come at last, just as we had given up.” - -“What boat is that at the mooring, mother?” - -“One your father built the year after you went away.” - -“I’m right glad, for I’ve sold mine in Portland, and was afraid I -shouldn’t have any to sail in. Whose scow is that?” - -“Ours; your father and Robert built it.” - -“Where is father?” - -“Out in the orchard, pulling up stumps.” - -“Come, John, let’s go and surprise them.” - -In this they were disappointed. Sailor espied them, and gave the alarm. - -“Why, how you’ve grown, you dear child!” cried Charlie, catching Bennie -up in his arms, who came running to meet them. - -“I should think somebody else had grown too,” said Ben, taking them -both up, setting Charlie astride one of the near oxen’s back, with the -child in his arms; “but I believe John has grown the most,” putting his -arm around him, with an appearance of great affection. - -“What a noble team you’ve got, Ben; are these the same cattle you had -when we went away?” - -“Yes, all but them sparked ones on forward; they are twins, and are -seven feet and a half. I went clear to North Yarmouth after them, and -I never have dared to tell how much I gave for them. I’ve never asked -them to do anything yet, but what they’ve done it: that yoke ain’t fit -for them, it’s too narrow between the bow holes, and hauls upon their -necks. Charlie you must make me one.” - -“I will, father, I’ll make one that will fit them. But how these apple -trees have grown, I couldn’t have believed it possible.” - -“Ah, Charlie, what do you think now about making cider on Elm Island? -In three years more some of these largest apple trees will begin to -bear, and one of these in the garden, that Uncle Isaac gave you, -blossomed last spring.” - -“Mother says dinner is ready.” - -“How does the goose go, Charlie?” asked Sally, when they were well -entered upon the repast. - -“Never tasted anything better in my life,” said he, speaking with his -mouth full. - -“I must go now,” said John, when the meal was ended; “I promised father -I wouldn’t stop.” - -“No, you won’t go,” said Sally, “till after supper. I baked some -custards for you, and kept them till they were sour. You can’t go till -I bake some more; so it’s no use to talk.” - -“We’ll have supper early,” said Ben, “and you can get home before dark.” - -They spent the time till supper in social chat, and in looking at the -crops and improvements that had been made on the island. - -Charlie found the swallows had multiplied amazingly, the eaves and -rafters of the barn being filled with long rows of nests. - -“What a master slat of fowl” said both the boys. - -“I shouldn’t think you ever killed any,” said Charlie. - -“We haven’t many,” replied Ben; “we’ve been saving them till you came.” - -“Well Charlie,” said he, as they stood at the shore looking after John, -as he departed, “I suppose Elm Island seems rather a dull place, and a -small affair, after being in such a great place as Portland.” - -“Portland!” cried Charlie, in high disdain, “I wouldn’t give a gravel -stone on this beach for Portland, and all there is in it.” - -“Nor I either. I suppose to-morrow you’ll want to go over and see Joe -and Uncle Isaac, and go to Pleasant Cove.” - -“Not till that orchard is done. I want to drive those oxen. O, father, -won’t we have a good time burning the stumps, putting the ashes round -the trees, making it look neat and nice, and picking up all the stones?” - -“I see,” replied Ben, “you have brought back the same heart you carried -away.” - -“Why, father, how could I go right off, when you have got so much to -do, and it is such a nice time to do it? Besides, I haven’t seen the -maple, nor been up in the big pine; and I’ve only just looked over the -fowl, and haven’t taken particular notice of any of them, nor of the -birds; then there’s a leg gone out of mother’s wash-bench, a latch off -the kitchen door, a square of glass broke in the buttery, and that yoke -to be made, and the piece must be cut and put to season. You must have -a better goad, father; it’s a shame to drive such a team with a beech -limb. There’s a tough little white-oak butt, as blue as a whetstone, in -the shop, that Uncle Isaac gave me: I’ll make a goad of that. Then I -mean to make a pair of cart wheels, such as I saw in Portland, on the -Saccarappa teams, and John says he’ll put tires on them. Why shouldn’t -we have things on Elm Island as well as they up there.” - -“If you’re going to do all that, or half of it, you wont get off the -island this month.” - -“I don’t know as I shall do it all now, but I’ll begin, and I’ll make -the goad before it’s time to go to work to-morrow. Come, father, let us -go and split up the butt before dark.” - -They took the small oak butt, set it on end, Charlie held the axe to -the end of it, Ben struck the pole of the axe with a piece of wood, and -they split it in halves, saved one half for axe handles, and split the -other up fine for goads. Charlie was up betimes in the morning, made -a beautiful goad, scraped it with glass, then rubbed it with dogfish -skin, oiled it, and put a brad in it. It was tough as leather. He -made another for Bennie, Jr. Proudly the little chap strutted beside -Charlie with his goad, kindled fires, heaped the brush and roots on -them, roasted clams, baked potatoes in an oven Charlie made for him, -and blessed his stars that Charlie had come. - -Before two days Charlie had cut down an elm, roughed out a yoke, -bored the bow-holes, and put it up in the smoke-hole to season, to be -smoothed by and by. He counted sixteen partridges among the yellow -birches, but by Ben’s advice abstained from killing any till they -should have increased in numbers. - -“Let them alone, and give them a chance to lay and breed another spring -and summer,” said Ben, “and then we can shoot as many as we want to -eat, and they will hold their own.” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -JOE GRIFFIN AT HOUSEKEEPING. - - -When Ben, Jr. received his goad, made as smooth as glass and fish-skin -could render it, oiled with linseed oil to give it a handsome color and -make it more pliable, he was highly gratified. The youngster, however, -soon ascertained that in one very important respect it was deficient: -there was no brad in it. - -The discovery was by no means satisfactory; a goad without a brad, -was no goad at all, and he teased Charlie till he put in one of -considerable length, as sharp as a needle, but told him he must not -stick it into the oxen. It unfortunately happened that this was just -the thing Bennie wanted to do, and wanted the brad for. Charlie stuck -it into the oxen, and he flattered himself that he could perform -equally well. While his father and Yelf were at the pry, he strutted -alongside of Charlie, leaping up and down when it came to a severe -pull, very red in the face, smiting on the ground, and screaming, “Gee -Turk! back Buck! her Spark up, you old villain.” - -For a while he amused himself by sticking the brad into chips and -flinging them to a distance, or impaling wood-worms and grasshoppers; -but these amusements soon ceased to be exciting. The little Mischief -longed, but didn’t _quite dare_, to try it on the oxen; he at length -determined to do or die. Watching his opportunity when Charlie’s back -was turned, he set his teeth, went close to old Turk, shut both eyes, -and jabbed the brad into his thigh the whole length, with such good -will that the blood followed the steel. All around the scene of labor -were great stumps which had been torn from the ground, some of the -pines ten or fifteen feet in circumference, sitting on their edges, the -sharp points of their roots protruding in all directions. The enraged -ox administered a kick that sent Bennie through a thorn bush, in -amongst the jagged roots of a pine stump, where he was wedged in fast, -screaming piteously. There was, indeed, abundant cause for lamentation; -the thorns had torn his hands and the side of his face, the point of a -pine root had gone through his upper lip, and the skin was scraped from -his thigh. - -Notwithstanding his fright and wounds, though the blood was running -from his lip and hands, he resolutely refused to be carried to his -mother till he obtained his goad, thoroughly convinced that it was a -real one, and effectual, clung like birdlime to the instrument of his -misfortunes. The next day being rainy, Charlie went to work in the shop -upon a pair of cart wheels, and during the rest of the week continued -to work on them. - -When Saturday evening came, Sally said to him, “Now, Charlie, not -another stroke of work shall you do till you’ve been to see Uncle -Isaac, Joe Griffin, and the rest of your friends. Here you’ve been away -going on two years, and come home for a visit, and stick right down to -work the very next day. It’s too bad. Uncle Isaac will think you don’t -care anything about him. I should think you’d want to go to Pleasant -Cove.” - -“So I do, mother; but you know father has been alone a great part of -the time, and I wanted to help fix the orchard, get the stuff sawed out -for the wheels, and then I’m going to get Uncle Isaac to help me make -them.” - -“Well, when we go over to meeting to-morrow, I shall leave you, and -you must stay till we come over the next Lord’s day, and see all hands.” - -“I will, mother.” - -John and Charlie went over to Uncle Isaac’s and staid two days and -nights. There they learned that Isaac, his nephew, was expected that -week. From there they went to Joe Griffin’s. His farm was situated on a -ridge of excellent land that rose gradually from the water, the summit -being covered with a mixed growth, in which beech largely predominated, -succeeded on the declivity by rock maple, ash, and yellow birch. In -front of the house was a cove, with a point on the south-west side, -which sheltered it from winds blowing from that direction, but was -exposed to the north and north-west winds. The house itself stood -within a stone’s throw of the shore, in the middle of a clearing of -about six acres. It was a log house, of the rudest kind, as Joe thought -it very likely he might burn it up before he got done setting fires. -Rude as was its appearance, the whole scene presented to the eye an -aspect of comfort and plenty. The burn had a noble log fence around -it; a magnificent piece of corn completely surrounded the house and -log barn, growing to the very threshold, leaving only a footpath by -which to reach the house; on the other side, the lot had been sown with -wheat, which was now cut, and large stooks were scattered over the -field. - -As the boys approached, they paused in admiration. - -“I have seen a good many pieces of corn planted on a burn, but I never -saw anything that would begin with that.” - -“Look at the grain,” said Charlie, “don’t that look rich? Well, they’ll -have enough to eat, that’s certain.” - -Entering the house, they found Mrs. Griffin at the loom, weaving, and -received a most cordial welcome. The house had but two rooms, but the -roof being sharp, and the house large on the ground, there was room to -put beds in the garret. Skeins of linen and woollen yarn, hanging up -all around the room, attested Sally’s capabilities. - -“Where is Joe?” asked Charlie. - -“In the woods, on the back end of the lot, falling trees. He goes into -the woods as soon as he can see, and stays as long as he can see.” - -“He must make an awful hole in the woods in a week,” said John. - -“Have you got any pasture?” - -“No; but the cow does first-rate on browse, and what grass grows on -open spots in the woods. Now Joe gives her cornstalks, she does better -than our cows ever did at home in the best pasture.” - -“Have you got a pig?” asked Charlie. - -“Yes, a real nice one. Come, go look at him. We’ve had milk enough for -him till lately. Now Joe has to buy potatoes for him; but we shall have -corn enough of our own by and by.” - -“That you will,” said John. “I don’t see how you get your cow into the -barn. You can’t drive her through this cornfield; it’s all around the -barn.” - -“We don’t. I go out in the woods to milk. We’ve got a cow-yard there; -and when it rains Joe milks.” - -“You have real nice times--don’t you, Sally?” - -“I guess we do, John. We work hard, but we are well and strong: work -don’t hurt us, and we’ve enough to eat. Our place is paid for. There -ain’t a man in the world has a right to ask Joe for a dollar, and there -never was a woman had a _better_ husband. We are just as happy as the -days are long.” - -After seeing the pig and hens, the boys said they must go and find Joe. - -“Well, go right to the end of the corn, and you’ll hear his axe. Do you -like coot stew, boys?” - -“Don’t we!” said Charlie; “and haven’t had one since we left home.” - -“Then you shall have one for supper. Joe shot some coots this morning.” - -The boys proceeded through the woods, guided by the sound of the -axe, and soon perceived their friend through the trees busily at -work. Creeping cautiously on their hands and knees, they succeeded in -approaching within a stone’s throw, and concealing themselves behind -the roots of an upturned tree, observed his movements. For a long -distance in front of him were trees cut partly through, the white chips -covering the ground all around their roots. He was now at work upon an -enormous red oak, with long, branching limbs. Having finished his scarf -on the side next to some partially cut trees, and which had taken the -tree nearly off, he wiped the sweat from his brow, and with an upward -glance at the sun, leaned upon his axe-handle. - -It was evident to the boys that Joe had been chopping trees partly -off during the whole afternoon, and was about to fall the monster -oak on them, in order to make a drive; and as he knew by the sun it -was not far from supper-time, this was the last he intended to cut -before supper. He had evidently done a hard day’s work. The sweat was -dropping from his nose, and his clothes were saturated. Nevertheless, a -smile passed over his features, as he stood with a foot on one of the -great spur roots of his victim, leaning forward upon the axe-handle, -evidently in a very happy frame of mind. - -“He’s thinking about that piece of corn,” whispered Charlie, “and what -a nice farm he’ll have when he gets these trees out of the way.” - -“Didn’t you see him looking at the sun? He’s glad it’s most -supper-time, when he can see Sally.” - -Joe now resumed his work, and taking hold of the end of his axe-handle -with both hands, delivered long, swinging blows, with the precision and -rapidity of some engine, while the great chips fell from the scarf, and -accumulated in a pile around the roots. - -“I told you he wanted to see Sally. Only see that axe go in! How true -he strikes, and what a long-winded creature he is!” - -“Won’t that make a smashing when it falls? Such a big tree, and such -long limbs! There it goes! I can see the top quiver!” - -Crack! snap! Joe ceased to strike as the enormous bulk tottered for a -moment in the air, then falling upon the trees adjoining, which were -cut nearly off, bore them down in an instant, these in their turn -falling upon others. Beneath this tremendous aggregate of forces, the -forest fell with a roar and crash, as though uprooted by a whirlwind, -the air was filled with branches and leaves, and when the tumult had -subsided, a long, broad path was cut through the dense forest, with -here and there a mutilated stub standing upright amid the desolation. -As the last tree touched the earth, a loud cheer, mingled with the -sound of cracking timber and rending branches. Turning suddenly around, -Joe confronted John and Charlie. - -“How are you, old slayer of trees?” cried Charlie. - -“First-rate, my little boat-builder,” replied Joe, taking both his -hands; “and how are you, John?” - -“Well and hearty.” - -“I’m right glad to see you, boys, and take it real kind in you to come -clear up here to visit me. When did you get home?” - -“Last week,” said Charlie. “We came over to Uncle Isaac’s, and from -there here. You’ve got a real nice place, Joe. How much land have you?” - -“Two hundred acres. It is well watered and timbered. There’s pine on -the back part, as there is on your’n, and all these lots. Did you see -my corn?” - -“Yes, we’ve been to the house, and came right through it. I never saw -such corn before!” said John. - -“That’s what everybody says, and the wheat is as good as the corn. If -the frost holds off, and the bears don’t eat it up, I shall have a lot -of corn; but right here in the woods the frost is apt to strike early.” - -“Been cutting up any shines lately, Joe?” asked John. - -“Not a shine. I’m an old, steady, married man.” - -The horn was now heard. - -“Come, boys, there’s supper.” - -It was only five o’clock. It was the farmers’ custom in those days to -have supper at five or half past, and then work till night. Sally had -provided a bountiful supper--a coot stew, flapjacks, with maple sirup -and custards. - -“Did you make this sirup, Joe?” asked Charlie. - -“Yes, or rather, Sally did, and sugar enough to last a year. I tapped -the trees, and fixed a kettle in the woods, and she made it while I was -clearing land long before the house was built. She said if I was going -to have corn to begin with, she would have sugar, and you see she’s got -it.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -HOW JOE ENTERTAINED HIS GUESTS. - - -After supper the boys prepared to take leave. - -“Go!” cried Joe; “you ain’t a going to do any such thing. You’re going -to stay a week. What did you come for--just to aggravate a fellow? It -is like showing a horse an ear of corn out of the garret window.” - -“But we want to go and see Flour, and Fred, and lots of folks,” said -John. - -“Flour’s over to Wiscasset: besides, you mustn’t call him Flour; he’s -Peterson, now.” - -“But you want to be clearing land, and we shall only hinder you.” - -“I tell you you _can’t_, nor _shan’t_ go; so say no more about it. I -want you to help me make a bear-trap to-night, and shoot some pigeons -in the morning on the stubble.” - -“Then I’m sure I shan’t stir a step,” cried Charlie. - -“Nor I, either,” said John. - -“I thought I should bring you to your senses. Have you seen the pig?” - -“Yes; he’s a beauty!” - -“Well, you haven’t seen the garden.” - -“A garden on a burn! Who ever heard of such a thing?” said Charlie. - -“You don’t know everything, if you have been to Portland, and worked in -a ship-yard. Come ‘long o’ me.” - -He led them to the south side of the log barn, and there they beheld a -sight that astonished them not a little. Right among the stumps were -growing, in the greatest imaginable luxuriance, beans, peas (second -crop), squashes, cucumbers, potatoes, cabbages, watermelons, and -flat-turnips. The peas and squash-vines had completely covered the -stumps, and large squashes were hanging from them, and lying between -the great forked roots of the trees in all directions. - -“Didn’t take many sticks for the peas,” said Joe, “stumps are so thick. -What do you think of that for a cowcumber?” pointing to a very large -one. “Just see the watermillions!” taking up one as large as a large -pumpkin. “All this kind of truck grows first-rate on a burn--squashes, -turnips, peas, and especially watermillions. But come, if we are going -to set that bear-trap, it’s time we were at it.” - -When they arrived at the place Joe had selected, he cut a large log, -three feet in diameter and about fifteen feet long, rolled another of -the same length and size on top of it, then set two large stakes at -each end where the two logs were to touch each other, driving them down -with his axe. These were to keep the top log from rolling off the under -one. They now lifted the top log up. It was as much as the three could -lift, and John held it with a handspike, while Joe and Charlie set the -trap, which was done in this manner: A round stick was laid across the -bottom log, and a sharpened stake set under the upper one, the end of -it resting on this round stick, and the bait fastened to the round -stick. The moment the bear pulled the bait towards him, it caused the -round stick to roll, and down came the great log on his head. - -“I could have set it more ticklish,” said Joe, “but I was afraid the -wind would spring it; and these plaguy coons, that eat whatever a bear -eats, will do it.” - -It is evident, that as the trap is now arranged, the bear might -approach on the side, pull the bait out, and spring the trap without -being caught. In order to prevent this, a row of strong stakes is set -in the ground on the side where the bait is, forming a pen enclosing -the bait placed upon the end of the round stick, which projects into -the pen; thus the bear, in order to reach the bait, must crawl between -and across the logs, and by pulling the bait, brings down the top log -upon him. - -“Charlie, I’ve forgot the bait,” said Joe. “Run up to the house, and -ask Sally to give you the quarter of lamb Uncle Isaac gave me. Don’t -you think the wolves killed ten sheep last night for him and the -Pettigrews!” - -“How did they get at them?” - -“There hadn’t been any wolves round for some time, and they left them -out of the fold. Uncle Isaac sent the meat of one to me.” - -It may be well to inform our readers that in those days sheep were -folded every night, to protect them from the wolves. A log pen was -built on a piece of land where some one of the neighbors intended to -plant corn the next year, and a number of flocks of sheep were driven -in every night. After a while the pen was moved to another spot, and -the land was thus thoroughly enriched. - -The next year, the sheep were folded upon another person’s land. -Sometimes, as in the present instance, through neglect, or not being -able to find them, they were left out, and fell a prey to the wolves, -who not only killed what sheep they wanted to eat, but would bite the -throats and suck the blood of all they could get at. - -When Charlie came with the meat, Joe fastened it to the round stick, -taking several turns with the rope around the stick, in order that it -might roll when the bear pulled the meat towards him. - -“Now,” said Joe, “all that’s wanting is the bear, and there’s just time -enough before dark to set a spring-gun. Did you know I’ve got Ben’s big -gun over here?” - -“No.” - -“I have. He said I might have it a while if I would make a handsome -stock to it. It’s just the thing for bears. Come, go with me and get -it, right in my shop. You haven’t seen my work-shop yet.” - -“Have you got a work-shop?” - -“To be sure I have. Not quite so nice as yours on the island, but it -answers the purpose very well.” - -Joe led the way to the house. On the side of it he had built a lean-to -of logs, quite large, and in it a stone fireplace, with a chimney of -sticks of wood, filled in with clay; but he had an excellent set of -tools, of the kind used in that day, and a bench. Here Joe worked for -others, not for himself, and made yokes, harrows, ploughs, and other -utensils for his neighbors, who did not possess the tools, or the gift -to use them, and received his pay in labor or provisions, and a little -money. - -In his proceedings was realized the proverb, “The shoemaker’s wife and -the blacksmith’s mare always go bare;” for while he made all kinds of -conveniences for others, he had none for himself, but intended to have -them all by and by, when the land was cleared, the place stocked, and -he built a frame house. - -“Look here, Charlie,” said Joe, showing him a piece of wild cherry-tree -wood, in which the veins were very much diversified, “won’t that be -handsome when it is worked off and polished? I mean to make a stock of -that for the old gun, that will come to a fellow’s face like a duck’s -bill in the mud; but the old one is just as good for me to knock round -in the dirt, and set for bears.” - -Joe threw the gun on his shoulder, and they started for the cornfield. -He had planted the corn somewhat regularly in rows, though they were -often broken by stumps. - -He showed the boys a gap in the fence, where a bear had come in a few -nights before. - -“Why don’t you stop it up?” asked Charlie. - -“What would be the use of that? You can’t fence against a bear. You -might as well fence against a cat. Besides, when a bear has come into a -field once, he will most always take the same road next time, and I’m -going to plant my battery on that calculation.” - -It so happened that the gap in the fence through which the bear had -made his entrance on previous nights ranged between two rows of corn. -In the centre, between these rows, Joe drove two stout stakes into the -ground, and splitting their ends with the axe, forced the gun, heavily -loaded with ball and shot, into the splits, the muzzle directed towards -the gap in the fence. At the breech of the gun, near to, and a little -behind the trigger, he placed a crotch, in which he laid a stick, one -end of it resting in the ground before the trigger, to the other end -he fastened a stout cod-line, thus forming a lever purchase. This line -was conducted by crotches driven into the ground directly in front of -the gun, then ran across the row back again, and was fastened to the -stake which supported the muzzle of the gun. If the bear trod upon or -leaned against this line, he would discharge the piece, shoot himself, -and thus his blood be upon his own head. If he came through the gap, or -along between the rows, he could not well help stepping on the line. - -“There ain’t much likelihood of shooting a bear with a spring-gun,” -said Joe, when he had made his preparations. “They have got to come -right before it. If he don’t come through this gap to-morrow night, -I’ll put some bait before the gun to tole him.” - -They now returned to the house. - -“It must be nice to have bears!” said Charlie. “What a good time I -might have if I was on my place, making traps, setting guns, and -hunting!” - -“It ain’t so very nice,” said Joe, “to work hard, and raise a piece of -corn, then just as it is in the milk, and growing as fast as it can, -have a whole army of bears and coons waiting to destroy it the moment -you shut your eyes.” - -The boys, when they retired, thought they should certainly hear the gun -if it went off in the night; but instead of this, they slept so soundly -they did not wake till Joe called at sunrise. - -“Has the gun gone off?” cried Charlie, almost before his eyes were -open. - -“Don’t know. Didn’t hear it. Didn’t calculate to.” - -“Is there any bear in the trap?” cried John. - -“Haven’t been to see.” - -The boys were quickly dressed, and all three were on their way to the -cornfield. - -“It’s sprung! Hurrah! The trap’s sprung!” shouted Charlie, standing on -tiptoe, and looking ahead. - -The boys broke into a run, leaving Joe, more cool and probably less -sanguine, to follow at his leisure. When at length he reached the spot, -he found them standing with blank faces before the trap, in which was -the head and shoulders of a coon, the remaining portion of the body -having been eaten off. - -“You mean, miserable little rat you!” exclaimed Charlie. “Nobody wanted -you. What business had you to get into a bear-trap?” - -“What do you suppose eat the coon?” asked John. “Foxes?” - -“Foxes? no,” replied Joe. “A bear. Look at that corn,” pointing to -a place where the bear, after eating the corn, had broken down the -stalks, eaten some ears, bitten others, and apparently lain down and -wallowed. - -“Look there,” said Charlie, taking up a stalk of corn that was bloody; -“that was the first one he bit, and some of the coon’s blood is on it.” - -“He hasn’t done much hurt,” said Joe; “didn’t get in till most morning, -or he would have done more; he’ll be sure to come back again, as he got -part of a bellyful, and didn’t get enough.” - -They now went to the place where they had set the gun. - -“It’s gone,” screamed the boys, who had gone ahead; “there’s no gun -here.” - -When Joe came to the place, he found the gun gone, the stakes that had -held it upset, the crotches torn from the ground, and the cod-line -wound around the hills of corn, which was trampled down in all -directions. - -“Here’s the gun,” cried John; “it’s gone off.” - -“Here’s blood,” said Charlie, who had gone to the gap in the fence; -“here’s blood all over this log, where he bled getting over.” - -“Look here,” said John, holding up the gun; “only look at the stock.” - -“That’s where he bit it,” said Joe; “he was mad, and so he bit the -thing that hurt him.” - -“I don’t blame him,” said Charlie, “if he got all that buck shot and -those balls in him.” - -“I guess he’s hurt bad; he’s got some of ’em in him.” - -“Let’s go right after him this minute: we’ll have him.” - -“Not so fast, my boy; we’ll have some breakfast first; we may have to -follow him miles.” - -Breakfast was soon despatched. Joe loaded up the big gun, gave John his -own rifle, and Charlie an old Queen’s arm that belonged to Henry. - -“There’s been two of ’em in the corn, I know as well as I want to,” -said Joe. They were able to track him by the blood and a peculiar mark -like a scratch on the leaves, and wherever the ground was soft. - -“He must have one leg broke or hurt,” said Joe: “see there! every -little while he drags it.” - -Thus they followed for hours, sometimes losing the track, and then, -after a long search, finding it again, which consumed a great deal of -time. The trail led them in the direction of Charlie’s place. - -“It’s one of your bears, Charlie; they are breachy. I wish you would -keep them at home out of my corn.” - -“You must put them in pound, Joe.” - -Pursuing till they came to the brook, they lost the track altogether. -Thinking he might have gone into the brook, they followed along the -banks on each side to the pond, hoping to regain his track when -he left the water, but without success. They were now hungry and -discouraged,--it was the middle of the afternoon,--and were about to -abandon the search and return, but sat down under a short, butted, -scrubby hemlock to rest and consult. - -“If we only had Tige,” said John, “he would take us right to him.” - -For the last hour they had seen no blood, and Joe reckoned that the -blood had clotted in the wounds, or he had stuffed them with moss. - -“We shall have to give him up; he’s got into his den,” said Joe. - -“Why couldn’t we go home and get Tige on the track, and start, early in -the morning?” - -While they were conversing, a drop of blood fell on the back of -Charlie’s hand. Looking up, he saw the bear in the tree right over his -head. - -Worn out with fatigue and loss of blood, and unable to reach his den, -with the last efforts of remaining strength he had crawled up the -tree, with the design of ascending to the thick top, and escaping -the notice of his pursuers; but having tangled the cod-line, to which -the stake which supported the muzzle of the gun was attached, round -one of his hind legs, he had dragged it after him, and catching it in -the lower limbs, he, being exhausted, was brought to an anchor. The -exertion of climbing the tree had made the wound bleed afresh. - -“Good afternoon, friend,” said Joe, who was greatly elated at this -unlooked-for success; “see what you did,”--holding up the long gun, and -showing the bear the marks of his own teeth on the stock. “Who do you -think is to pay for that, eh? Don’t you wish you’d kept out of my corn?” - -“See how guilty he looks,” said John, pointing to the creature, who lay -with his fore paws on a large branch, gravely regarding his foes with -the stoicism of an Indian at the stake. - -“Come, boys, which of you want to shoot him?” - -They both were silent. - -“John does,” said Charlie, at length. - -“Charlie does,” replied John. - -“Both of you do. Well, both of you fire at him.” - -[Illustration: THE LAST OF THE BEAR.--Page 101.] - -Scarcely were the words uttered when their guns made a common report, -and the bear tumbled to the ground perfectly dead. - -“Ain’t you glad you didn’t go home yesterday?” - -“Guess we are.” - -“Ain’t a bit hungry, nor tired, now?” - -“Not a bit.” - -“It’s nearer five o’clock than four, and that bear must be got home and -dressed to-night. I thought his leg was broken, but it was that stake -dragging that made the trail, and helped greatly to tire him.” - -Joe tied his legs together with the cod-line, and finding a dead -spruce, they broke it down, and thrust it between his legs; Joe taking -one end on his shoulders and the boys the other, they carried the -carcass to the shore. - -“This is a big one,” said Joe, drawing a long breath: “he weighs every -bit of three hundred. Well, I’ve kept him well; he’s had all the corn -he’s wanted, and the best of corn too; and there’s been any quantity of -blueberries this year. Now let us take a drink at Cross-root Spring, -leave our guns here, go home and get supper, then take the boat, come -up and get the bear.” - -“We are going to call it Quicksilver Spring now,” said Charlie: “you -know what happened here.” - -“Well, Quicksilver Spring, then.” - -“It was a noble day’s work Uncle Isaac did that day.” - -“He saved that young man; but we are not a going to have to fight the -battle, a handful of us, with liquor much longer.” - -“Why not?” - -“Because people that have got larning, and that are looked up to, -are beginning to take it up. James Welch sent a newspaper to Uncle -Isaac that has printed what Dr. Franklin said about it long ago; and -there’s a long piece that the College of Doctors in Philadelphia sent -to Congress, about it, saying something ought to be done; that rum -was ruining the country, and upsetting all we had done in getting our -liberty: the paper’s at the house; you can read it. Now, when the -papers take anything up, it’s a sartain sign that there are a good many -people thinking about those matters, and want to hear about them; they -never bark till the deer’s afoot; it will spread just like ile when you -drop it on the water to spear a flounder.” - -Thus beguiling the rough journey through the forest, they arrived home -just before sundown. - -“Now, boys, while Sally’s putting supper on the table, we’ll just set -the trap again.” - -After resting a while, and eating a substantial meal, having eaten -nothing since six o’clock that morning, they took the boat, and being -favored with a fair wind and tide, sailed leisurely up the bay under a -bright starlight. - -“We’ve got the night before us,” said Joe, “so needn’t hurry.” - -“This is easier than walking,” said Charlie; “the tide will turn by the -time we get there, and if we do have to beat or row back, we shall have -a fair tide.” - -They were favored in this respect; for by the time they had placed the -bear in the boat, and were ready to start, it fell calm, and they rowed -leisurely home with the tide. - -It was much nearer morning than midnight, when, having dressed the -animal and hung him up in the barn floor, they went to bed. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -TRAPPING AND NETTING. - - -It was eight o’clock when the boys got up the next morning. Joe was -stretching the skin on the barn door, and his wife frying bear’s steaks -for breakfast. They had eaten but two meals the day before, and though -the last was a very hearty one, yet, as they had been at work out of -door, the greater part of the night, they awoke hungry. The smell of -the meat was so savory, and it looked so tempting, as Sally piled up -the large slices on the plate, and prepared to place them on the table, -that, resisting the impulse to go out of doors, the boys sat down to -await breakfast, which they saw was nearly ready. - -“Where is Joe?” inquired John. - -“Stretching the bear’s skin.” - -“Has he been to the trap?” - -“I don’t know.” - -Charlie shoved back the sliding shutter of the window that commanded a -view of the barn (there was but one glazed window in the house; the -others were furnished with wooden shutters, in two of which there were -diamond-shaped holes cut, and small squares of glass set in them), -where Joe was at work. - -“Joe!” - -No reply. - -“Joe!” - -Joe kept on driving the nails into the edges of the hide. - -“Jo-o-o-o!” - -“Well.” - -“Have you been to the bear-trap?” - -“Been _where_?” - -“Why, to the trap, to see if it was sprung.” - -“How could I go, when I had this hide to take care of?” - -“Will you say you haven’t?” - -“Guess not.” - -“Is there anything in it?” cried Charlie, stirred up by the evasive -answers he received. - -“How you do like to ask questions!” - -“A bear! a bear!” roared Charlie, jumping out of the window and running -full speed for the trap, with John at his heels. When they arrived at -the spot, the trap was sprung, sure enough, and in it was a bear of -the largest size, with his body across the lower log, the upper on his -back, and his hinder parts on the ground. - -“Ain’t he a big one!” said John: “see what handsome fur; a real jet -black,”--passing his hand along his back; “they are not all so black; -some of ’em are kind of brown and faded out.” - -“See what claws!” said Charlie, taking up one of his fore paws and -spreading apart the toes with his fingers. - -“They are awful strong,” said John: “Uncle Isaac says they will stave -the head of a barrel of molasses in with blows of their paws, and that -he has seen ’em, when hunting after bugs and wood-worms in old rotten -logs, strike with their paws, and split them right open.” - -The horn now sounded for breakfast. - -“How much is that bear-skin worth, Joe?” asked Charlie. - -“About six dollars; perhaps more.” - -“Then you’ll get some pay for your corn.” - -“Yes; and then the meat is good.” - -“And the fat is first rate to have in the house; it’s as good as lard,” -said Sally. - -“The worst of it is,” said Joe, “we have it all at once; now we’ve got -the meat of two bears, and it will spoil before we can eat half of -it; then there are sea-fowl, lobsters, and pigeons, so that everything -comes together. We ought to give some of this meat to the neighbors: -bears ain’t so plenty down to the village as they are up here in the -woods.” - -“I’ll go over to Uncle Isaac’s,” said Sally, “and tell him he can send -word to some of the neighbors, and to your father’s folks, to come and -get some.” - -“When the boys go home I will take them down to Captain Rhines’s in the -boat, and carry some meat to him and Ben.” - -“We’ll help you dress the bear, Joe, and then we must go,” said -Charlie: “we can’t stay any longer; we should like to; we’ve had the -greatest time that ever was, but we must go now.” - -“Don’t want to hear any such talk as that; it’s no kind of use to talk -that way here; can’t spare you; we’ve got just as much to do to-day as -we can spring to, then fix the pigeon-bed, set the net, make a cage to -put them in, dress this bear, and set the dead-fall for another.” - -“A pigeon-net? What is that?” - -“Why, Charlie,” said John, “don’t you know what a pigeon-net is?” - -“No. I thought they shot ’em.” - -“How should he know?” said Joe. - -“Why, Charlie, they catch them by hundreds in nets.” - -“Do?” - -“Yes, and put them in a cage.” - -“And put them in a cage?” - -“Yes, they put them in a cage, or some place, and keep them, and fat -them.” - -“Don’t the net kill ’em?” - -“No. Don’t hurt ’em one mite.” - -“Then I shan’t go, if all that’s going on.” - -No sooner was breakfast over, and the bear dressed, than Joe brought -out his net. It was fifteen feet in length by ten in width. - -“Who made this net?” asked Charlie. - -“Sally: she spun all the twine on the flax wheel, and netted it.” - -Taking the net, they went on to the wheat stubble. Near the woods was -a place where there had been an opening when the land was in forest; -consequently, when the fire had burned off the moss and leaves (duff, -as Joe called it), the ground was mellow and free from roots. A portion -of this he had dug up, carried away all the sticks and stones, raked it -as smooth as a garden bed, and flung wheat on it. - -Early in the morning and towards night the wild pigeons would come, -light on the trees, look at the grain a while, then fly down and eat. -He had baited the pigeons thus for several days, till they had become -used to the spot, and quite tame: now he prepared to net them. - -In the first place, they set down, at each corner of the bed (which -was a little larger than the net), pieces of plank with their edges -directed across the bed, about a foot above the surface of the ground: -in the sides of two of them cut slots, on the inside of one and the -outside of the other, that is, the corner ones; on the longest side, at -the distance of about twelve feet from the planks and on the opposite -side from the posts in which the slots are cut, they put down, three -feet into the ground, and on a line with them, two tough green beech -saplings, three inches through at the butt, and six feet in height. -To the top of these posts he fastened a strong rope forty feet long, -and the edge of the net to this rope. The lower edge of the net was -fastened to the ground by little crotches, on the opposite side from -the high posts, and merely slack enough left of the rope to admit of -taking the net and rope across, and permitting the net to lie nicely -folded in as compact a form as possible on the ground along the edge -of the bed. He then took two strips of stiff, hard wood board, an inch -and a quarter thick and two inches wide, with a dove-tail notch in one -end to hold the rope; one end of these he set against the plank posts, -which were well over towards the middle of the bed on the side the log -posts stood, put the notched end against the bight of the rope to which -the net was fastened, and, pressing down with all his might, sprung -the stiff beech posts enough to force the sticks (flyers he called -them), with the rope attached to them, into the slots in the plank -posts. The net, which lay nicely folded along the edge of the bed, was -then covered over with earth; long limbs, thickly covered with leaves, -were now cut and set up, forming a booth around one of the high posts -at one end, bringing the line to which the flyers were fastened into -the booth, thus enabling the hunter concealed there, at one twitch, to -pull the flyers, which held the net down, out of the slots, when the -tremendous spring of the beech poles would fling the net over the bed -in an instant. - -Wheat was now strown in a long row the whole length of the bed, and -nearest to the side on which the net was folded, that the pigeons, when -they came on, might be sure to be completely enveloped, being nearer -the centre of the net. Some saplings were set in hollow stumps and in -the ground to form lighting places, as pigeons like to have a chance to -reconnoitre before flying down. - -Joe had not intended to set the net so soon, but to have built the -booth, set up the poles, and put on the rope, in order that the pigeons -might get accustomed to the sight of these objects; but he had hurried -up matters to keep the boys there and gratify them. - -“We won’t spring it to-night, boys, but let them come here, get their -supper, and see all these fixings. They will come and light on the -trees, look round, see the grain; some of them will come to the bed, -eat a little, and make up their minds that all is right. To-night we’ll -put on fresh grain, and in the morning make a real haul.” - -The forenoon was fully occupied with the bear and the pigeon-bed. In -the afternoon they went to work to make a cage to keep them. They made -it of logs, covering the top with small poles, that they might have -plenty of light and air, put in roosts, and made a trough for water. - -The cage, instead of being square, was made in the shape of a blunt -wedge, and the apex lined with a net, so that they could be driven into -the narrow part into the net, and caught without difficulty. - -At night they visited the bed, found the pigeons had been there, and -having put on fresh grain, went home, and, being weary from the work of -the previous night, retired early, with sanguine expectations for the -morrow. - -Joe called them before the dawn of day, and they were all three soon -secreted in the booth. As the day broke, they began to hear a flapping -of wings. First came three or four, then more, till long before sunrise -the saplings, trees in the woods, and even the rope that ran from the -spring-pole to the ground, were all covered with them. - -Charlie was quivering with excitement. He had never seen anything like -it in his life, and could scarcely contain himself as he watched them -through the network of branches. There they sat, arching their necks, -turning their heads first to one side and then to the other. At length -one flew down to the grain, instantly followed by others; and then the -whole flock came down, crowding together, and eating with the utmost -voracity. As they were coming to the place, Charlie had entreated Joe -to let him spring the net, and now stood with his hand on the rope; -but when the crisis came, he felt that there was too much at stake, and -made a sign to Joe. He gave a sudden jerk; whiz! went the rope. The -fliers were flung twenty feet in the air, the whole front of the booth -fell over, flung off by the rope, and such a fluttering of wings you -never heard! - -“O, my soul!” exclaimed Charlie. “There, there, I’ve lived long enough! -Only see the--see the necks!” - -“There’s forty dozen if there’s one,” said Joe. - -“That’s what I call a haul,” said John. - -“But,” said Charlie, “only see how pert they look, and happy, too! I -thought it was going to hurt or kill some of them.” - -When the net goes over the pigeons, they will stick up their necks -through the meshes. It was this sight, so singular to one unaccustomed -to it, that excited the wonder and prompted the exclamation of Charlie. - -“I have made up my mind to one thing,” he continued. “I _will not_ go -back to Portland if I can get my living here.” - -“Nor I, either,” said John. - -“Glad you’ve both got so much sense. What ails you to get your living? -I’ll give both of you your board and clothes to come and work for me.” - -“Much obliged, but we want to do a little more than that.” - -“Well, haven’t you got a good farm, all paid for, or something to make -one of? Ain’t you a boat-builder? Ain’t John a blacksmith?” - -“If anybody was living here,” said John, “they could put in and do a -lot of work, then go off and hunt, have a grand time, get straightened -out, the kinks taken out of them, and then come back and work all the -better.” - -“Yes,” replied Charlie; “and it pays to net pigeons, kill bears and -coons, and get the flesh to eat; also sea-fowl, seals, and deer, and -have the feathers and skins to sell. But in Portland, if you’re out -of work, all you can do is to sit on the anvil, or stand in the sun, -leaning against an upright in the ship-yard, chewing chips, making up -sour faces, and saying, ‘O, I wish somebody would give me a job! some -farmer lose his axe and want another, or some ship would get cast away, -so I could build one.’ I tell you, I won’t go back. The more I think of -it, the more I don’t want to.” - -“On the strength of that,” said Joe, “kill half a dozen of these -pigeons, and we’ll go home and get some baskets to take the rest to the -cage.” - -Our readers know that Charlie was exceedingly fond, not only of -the soil, but of trees and plants of all kinds. Born and reared in -early life in a land where trees are comparatively rare, and prized -accordingly, he was not at all pleased with the wholesale destruction -Joe had made with axe and firebrand. Joe, on the other hand, possessed -the true spirit of a pioneer, and had been educated to consider trees -as natural enemies, and that a person’s pluck was to be measured by the -number he could destroy. - -“Joe,” said Charlie, “why didn’t you save some of those splendid great -maples, ash, and birches to shade your homestead?” - -“_Save_ ’em! I’ve had trouble enough to get rid of ’em. I’d rather have -corn and wheat.” - -“But after you get all this land into grass, and a frame house built, -then you’ll wish you had, and go to setting them out; and by the time -they’re grown you’ll be an old man. Don’t you think the trees around -our brook, and before Captain Rhines’s house, look handsome?” - -“Yes,” said his wife, “I’m sure I do; they look beautiful. There’s one -tree I don’t believe Captain Rhines would sell for a hundred dollars.” - -“You can’t save ’em. You got to put the fire in to clear your lands, -and do it when it’s dry, or you can’t get a good burn; and if you leave -any trees, the fire will roast the roots and kill ’em. Those trees of -Captain Rhines’s wasn’t _saved_. His father set them out, and I’ve -heard Uncle Isaac say people thought he was in his dotage for doing it.” - -“They don’t think so now. I don’t see why you can’t pull the brush and -other trees away from their roots.” - -“I tell you, you can’t; for in a dry time the old leaves, moss, and -the whole top of the ground will burn, or at any rate be hot enough to -scald and kill the roots.” - -“I don’t believe you ever tried very hard to save a tree, Joe.” - -“I don’t care. I saw Seth Warren try to save some sugar maples, and he -couldn’t.” - -“Well, if ever I build a house on my place, I’ll save some, and a good -many, too; see if I don’t.” - -“We shall see. When is that happy time coming?” - -“I don’t know, but hope it will be before you kill all the bears.” - -“You and I ain’t much alike. You want to save all the bears and trees, -and I want to use up both.” - -“Joe, there’s one thing I wish you’d do for me.” - -“What is that?” - -“If you ever come across a little cub, save it for me, or a pair if you -can.” - -“You going to stock Elm Island with bears?” - -“I would if I could. Joe, what’s the reason pigeons don’t come to Elm -Island? Only once in a while half a dozen light as they go over.” - -“’Cause there’s nothing for them to eat there. They live on what bears -do--acorns, beech-nuts, and blueberries; but on your place there’s -enough for both. Come, hurry up your cakes, and get on to it, and we’ll -hunt in company.” - -In the afternoon Joe carried the boys down to Captain Rhines’s in the -boat, with pigeons and bear’s meat enough for his family and Ben’s. -After meeting Sunday, Charlie returned to the island. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -MOST IMPORTANT DECISIONS. - - -One would naturally suppose that Charlie, returning to the quiet of Elm -Island after the exciting week he had passed, would have experienced -at least a transient feeling of loneliness; but he manifested no such -sentiment, and went to work at his cart-wheels with the greatest -assiduity and evident enjoyment. - -In the course of the week he was most agreeably surprised by a visit -from John and Fred, bringing Isaac Murch, Jr., with them, now a tall, -strong young man, swarthy from long exposure to the East India suns -and sea-winds, bearing a very strong resemblance to his uncle, with -intelligence and energy in every feature. - -It was past the middle of the afternoon when the boys arrived at the -island. After Isaac had spent some time with Ben and Sally, the four -friends strolled up to the old maple. They told Isaac the history of -the holes bored in it, and of all that had transpired in respect -to temperance while he had been away, and then listened with great -interest to an account of his life at sea, and the scenes he had -witnessed in the East. John at length inquired if he intended to -continue in the same employ; to which he replied that he did not. - -“I see no prospect,” said he, “of being anything more than mate. Mr. -Welch has a great many relatives who follow the sea, and so have the -captains who have long sailed in his employ, and are at the same time -owners in the vessels they go in. Captain Radford, I’m with, is an old -man. If there was nobody in the way, he would give me the vessel in -a year or two, for he wants to retire. But he has a son who is going -second mate this voyage. The next voyage, or the next after, he’ll put -him in captain over my head if I am willing to remain; and so it is -all through. Now, if I had a vessel,--any kind of a thing, if it was -like the Ark,--to get a cargo of spars to Europe, or lumber, spars, and -other truck to the West Indies, I could pay for it, and build a better -one in a short time; with good luck, make more in one year than I can -going mate in five.” - -“I believe that,” said John; “for I know by what I’ve heard captains in -Portland say, and what Mr. Starrett, that I learned my trade of, who -is concerned in several of these lumber vessels, has told me.” - -“Some of those Portland captains have coined money; but it is a good -deal as you happen to hit. If you get to a West India port when the -market is empty, you get your own price; if not, you won’t make much.” - -“Only see,” said Fred, “what Captain Rhines did in the Ark!” - -“That was an exception. He arrived off the harbor of Havana in a -peculiar time. Lumber was scarce, they had no beef for their slavers, -they gave him a license to trade, and the captain-general remitted -the duties. He saved by that remission more than two thousand five -hundred dollars. The Federal Constitution was not formed then, and he -had no duties to pay in Boston. However, I’m going to stick where I am -this voyage, and perhaps another, till I get money enough to take a -part of some kind of craft, if it’s only a pinkie, go round among the -neighbors, scare up owners, and try my luck. I’d rather be a king among -hogs than a hog among kings. I’d rather be skipper of a chebacco boat -than mate of a ship,--to sail the vessel, take all the responsibility, -endure all the anxiety for somebody’s son or nephew, who runs away with -all the credit, and the money to boot, and don’t know how to knot a -rope-yarn, or handle a ship in a sea-way.” - -There was now a pause in the conversation, when Charlie, who, though -an attentive listener, had not uttered a word, said, speaking -deliberately, “We will build you a vessel, Isaac.” - -“_We!_” replied Isaac in astonishment. “Who’s _we_?” - -“We three sitting here.” - -“Three _boys_ build a vessel!” - -“We may be boys, but we are all able to do a _man’s_ work. I think, -as you say you are in no hurry, give us time, we could build a cheap -vessel, that would be strong and serviceable to carry heavy cargoes for -a few voyages, which you say is all you want.” - -“I think as much,” said Fred. “We three boys have always been together, -and have undertaken several things, and have never yet failed to -accomplish what we have attempted.” - -“But you never undertook anything like this, or to be compared with it. -Building a vessel is quite another matter from making _baskets_.” - -The reader will bear in mind that Isaac had been away during the -period in which the boys had developed most rapidly, and was not so -well aware of what they might be expected to accomplish as he otherwise -would have been. - -“But,” asked Isaac, “where are the carpenters coming from? There are -none here but Yelf and Joe Griffin, and neither of them have ever been -master workmen. You must go to Portland or Wiscasset for a master -workman and blacksmith; and where is the money to pay them, fit up a -yard, build a blacksmith’s shop, buy tools and iron?” - -“Charlie,” replied John, “can be master workman.” - -“John,” said Fred, “can do the iron-work.” - -He then told Isaac of their capabilities, and what they had done since -he had been gone, which greatly astonished him, and presented the -subject under discussion in a very different light, especially when -Charlie told him that he could cut the timber entirely on his own land, -the spars, and also spars and lumber to load her. - -“But,” said Isaac, “you must have carpenters. You can’t build her -alone.” - -“To build a vessel in the manner we shall build one, we don’t need but -three good carpenters, and there are plenty of men round here that can -hew, bore, drive bolts, and saw with a whip-saw. Yelf is a capital man -with an adze, and so is Ralph Chase. They can do all the dubbing.” - -“My uncle can make the spars,” said Isaac. - -“Peterson,” said John, “can calk and rig her, and father and Ben can -make the sails.” - -“The next question,” said Charlie, “is, What kind of a vessel do you -want?” - -“I want her built to lug a load and to steer well. Speed is no object -to what the carrying part is. The voyages will be short, and wages -and provisions are not high in comparison with the value of cargoes. -I don’t want one cent laid out for looks. We must go on the principle -of the man who goes on to new land. He lives in a log cabin, built as -cheap as possible, because he expects to have a better one.” - -“But you wouldn’t have her look too bad,” said Charlie. - -“That’s just the way I want her to look. All I’m afraid of is, you -can’t make her look bad enough. I want a sloop, with good spars, -rigging, cables, and anchors.” - -“What makes you want a sloop?” - -“Because she is cheaper rigged and handled.” - -“How large?” - -“Two hundred tons.” - -At this all the boys expressed their astonishment. - -“A sloop of two hundred tons! Why, who ever heard of such a thing!” -said Charlie. “The most of brigs are not more than that, many less. I -never saw a sloop bigger than eighty-five tons.” - -“I saw one last week, in Boston, that had just arrived from Liverpool -with a load of salt, that was one hundred and fifteen. If you want to -carry timber, you must have some bigness, and if spars, some length.” - -“But what an awful mainsail! How could you ever handle it?” - -“I’ll take care of that part of it. Shorten the mast, and put a good -part of the canvas into a topsail, top-gallant sail, and jibs.” - -“I never saw a sloop with a topsail,” said Fred. - -“They are common enough,” said Isaac, “though not round here.” - -“Now,” said Charlie, “it is best to have a fair understanding. I think -we can build this vessel, although you want a larger one than I had -expected. We are used to working together, are of one mind, and, as -Fred says, never undertook to do anything we didn’t accomplish; but it -will be a hard, trying thing, and we may have to leave off two or three -times, and go to work at something else to earn money to go on again.” - -“I will go mate till you get her done, no matter how long it is. I -shall be contented if I have something to look forward to.” - -“I suppose,” said Fred, “Captain Rhines or Mr. Ben would help us out if -we got stuck.” - -“Not with my consent,” said John. “If we’ve got to fall back on the old -folks, I’ll have nothing to do with it.” - -“That is just the way I feel. I only wanted to see what you would say.” - -“My idea is just this,” said Charlie. “If we conclude to build her, go -to work and set her up, pay our bills as we go along, and before the -money quite runs out, stop and earn more. I’m one of those chaps that -want to know just how I stand every Saturday night.” - -“If we begin,” said John, “we’ve got to go ahead, for everybody within -twenty miles will know it; and if we slump, we might as well leave the -country.” - -“I know just what they’ll say,” replied Charlie. “They’ll say, there’s -a parcel of boys thinking they are going to build a vessel, and a nice -piece of work they’ll make of it! lose what little they’ve earned, and -find out they don’t know as much as they thought for. I wonder Captain -Rhines and Ben allow them to do it!” - -“That,” said John, “is just what was said when we undertook to carry on -the farm; but they didn’t laugh when harvest-time came.” - -“You say you want her two hundred tons, but you have said nothing about -the dimensions.” - -“I want her a great carrier, and as good a sea-boat as she can be and -carry. I know enough to know that a vessel can’t be full and fast both; -but there’s a medium, to hit which you know more about than I do; if -you don’t, you know where to get information. I don’t care how rough -she is. We can’t afford to do anything for looks. She can’t look worse -than the Ark. I wish you could have heard all that was said when she -went into Havana! Why, the darkies laughed and opened their mouths -till I thought they never would shut them again. I couldn’t understand -Spanish, but Flour told me what they said. All I have to say about -dimensions is, I want her one hundred feet long, twenty-six feet beam, -eight and a half feet deep. There is length enough for spars, depth -enough for two tier of molasses. If you can make her any other than a -great carrier with that breadth of beam, you’re welcome to. Where would -you build her?” - -“At my shore,” said Charlie. “The timber is at the water’s edge. Never -was a better place to set a vessel.” - -“But there’s no house where you could live.” - -“Build a log house,” said Fred. - -“Ten men would build her,” said Charlie, “especially such men as Joe -Griffin, Peterson, and Yelf. Peterson can use a broadaxe or whip-saw as -well as a calking-iron. Uncle Isaac would work after haying, and Black -Luce could cook for us.” - -“What would you do for a blacksmith’s shop?” - -“Build a log one,” said John, “and burn our own coal.” - -“The hardest nip,” said Isaac, “will be the sails, rigging, and -anchors.” - -“I know that,” said Charlie; “but if I find the timber, and turn in my -work on the vessel, John turns in his, Fred pays the men in part out of -his store, then we shall economize what little money we have to pay the -men, buy sails and rigging.” - -“Mine will be all cash. I’ll leave what I’ve got in Captain Rhines’s -hands, part of my two months’ advance, and I can leave a draw-bill on -the owners.” - -“How long will you be gone?” - -“About two years. We shall trade out there, or perhaps go from there to -Europe and back.” - -“The _iron_ will be a heavy bill,” said John, “for it will have to be -imported.” - -“If we make the timbers large, timber her close, put in plenty of -knees and treenails, we can save on the iron,” said Charlie. “There’s -a vast deal to be saved in a vessel if you don’t stand for looks, -especially if you have _time_, and the vessel will answer the purpose -just as well. If a man contracts to build a vessel for so much a ton, -in so many days, he has got to work right through, short days as well -as long, perhaps in bitter cold weather, when it will take a man one -quarter of the time to thrash his hands, and another quarter to stamp -his feet, and very often the timber has to be dug out of the snow; -then, if iron, wages, or pitch goes up, he must pay the price; he can’t -wait. But building as _we_ shall, we can take advantage of all these -things, and work in the long days, especially if we pay as we go along. -I’ve known ship-builders who were afraid to discharge a man, lest he -should ask for his money.” - -“We are great fellows!” said Isaac. “Here we are talking about where we -will build, and what we will build, fixing our yard, boarding our men, -making all our calculations, and nobody has even _asked_ what she’s -going to _cost_. That’s neither according to reason nor Scripture.” - -“Speaking about Scripture,” said Charlie, “just brings to my mind _one -thing_, that, now we are all together, I _must_ speak about. Here are -three of us that have professed religion, and Isaac, I know, respects -it.” - -“To be sure I do. I wouldn’t have any _Murch_ blood in me if I didn’t.” - -“Well, here we are, laying plans, as I may say, for life, just starting -out to do for ourselves, and we haven’t one of us done anything for the -Lord, or the support of his gospel.” - -“I should think,” replied Fred, “that if we build this vessel, we shall -have about load enough to carry. When we are twenty-one we shall be -_called upon_.” - -“I think it would be a great deal better not to wait to be _called_ -upon. When we were so hard put to it, while father was paying for this -island, and had to live mostly on clams and sea-fowl, before we got -any news from the Ark, and didn’t know as we ever should, he, in his -_poverty_, paid something for the support of the gospel. I think, when -we are not pressed in any way, only pressing ourselves, we ought to do -_something_.” - -“So do I,” replied John. “Don’t you know, Fred, how hard we worked to -make that garden, and cut the hay on Griffin’s Island, just to let Ben -and Sally know that we had hearts and consciences, knew when we were -well used, and who our friends were? I would like to show my heavenly -Father the same thing.” - -“That’s the talk, John,” said Isaac. “I’ll do my part.” - -“So will I,” said Fred, “and I’m ashamed I said what I did; but you -know I always was meaner than the rest of you.” - -“I don’t know any such thing,” said John. “You’ve had your parents to -help, while we’ve had all we’ve earned, and all our clothes given us. -I didn’t mean we should give _much_, nor all alike, but we’ll make a -beginning. By and by, perhaps, we can do more.” - -“Now I feel right,” said Charlie, “and we’ll talk _vessel_. I didn’t -say anything about the price, because this is all talk. We shouldn’t -feel like _doing_ anything,--at least I shouldn’t,--before asking -father, Captain Rhines, and Uncle Isaac. They are the best friends -we’ve got in the world, know every crook and turn, and ain’t like some -old folks, who think everybody must be forty years old before they can -do anything.” - -“We might as well talk about price,” said Isaac, “as about the rest. -What do you imagine she would cost?” - -“The man I worked for in Portland sold a vessel of two hundred tons, -hull and spars, for sixteen dollars per ton. He bought the stump leave -of the timber, and hired it hauled six miles.” - -“That would be three thousand two hundred dollars for the hull and -spars.” - -“Yes; what it would cost for rigging, sails, and the rest, you know -better than I do.” - -“It would cost about half as much more.” - -Timber, labor, and board were cheap then--canvas, rigging, and iron -extremely high. - -“But then it ain’t a going to cost us near that to build the same -number of tons.” - -“Neither is it going to cost so much to rig and spar a sloop as a brig.” - -“Nor so much for iron-work,” said John. “The more spars, the more -chain-plates, blocks, bolts, bands, boom-irons to make, and caps to -iron.” - -“I believe she could be built in the way we should build her for twelve -dollars per ton, and I don’t know but less, hull and spars. The timbers -and spars are not much account here; the hauling is nothing. But she -will be an awful _looking_ thing, though!” - -“Then she would cost two thousand four hundred dollars, six hundred to -a share, hull and spars, and half as much more to rig her.” - -“Yes, I know she can be built for that; but there won’t be a brush full -of paint on her, and I don’t know but the name will have to be put on -with _chalk_. _I_ wouldn’t go to a foreign port in her.” - -“_I_ will, though. I’m fire-proof. I’ve been in the _Ark_. Let us -calculate. Twelve dollars per ton. I can take a quarter at that rate, -and more on a pinch; for in addition to my wages, I have made something -by ventures.” - -“I can take a quarter,” said Fred, “if I can have orders to pay some of -the men out of the store.” - -“I,” said Charlie, “can take a quarter by turning in my labor. If I -hadn’t bought my land, I could have taken more.” - -“Well,” said John, “I can take a quarter, and turn in my work.” - -“What we want to know,” said Isaac, “is, how much _cash_ we can raise -to pay the men, buy iron, rig her, and for other materials. I can pay -my part in cash by the time it is wanted, and six hundred dollars of it -now.” - -“I,” said Fred, “can pay in cash one hundred dollars.” - -“I,” said John, “two hundred.” - -“I,” said Charlie, “one hundred.” - -“Well, there’s so much to begin with. Now the question is, _can_ we -begin with that?” - -“We will carry all these calculations to father,” said Charlie, “and -ask him.” - -It was dark when they arrived at the house. - -“Why, boys,” said Ben, “where have you been all this time?” - -“I should have thought,” said Sally, “hunger would have brought you -home before this. I told Ben you must have camped again in the top of -the old maple. I’m afraid you’ll have but a cold supper.” - -“I declare,” said Charlie, “I never once thought about supper.” - -“I thought I’d been to supper,” said John. - -“You must have had some interesting matter on hand.” - -“The most interesting thing in the world,” said Charlie. - -“Do let me know what it is.” - -“I’m going to after supper.” - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -GENIUS STRUGGLING WITH DIFFICULTIES. - - -When the meal was concluded, the boys all surrounded Ben, and Charlie -laid the whole matter before him. To their great delight and no -little surprise, Ben gave his unqualified assent, told them they had -a great and difficult enterprise before them, but that he admired -their resolution, and to go ahead. When he concluded, there was a dead -silence. Charlie was completely nonplussed, for he had arranged a -series of arguments to meet the objections he supposed his father would -make; and though he hoped, with the aid of his mother, to carry the -point, he expected and was prepared to exert his powers of persuasion -to the utmost. This hearty approval quite disconcerted him, and he was -very much in the situation of Uncle Isaac, when he took Sally over to -Elm Island to see her future home, prepared for tears, and, to his -utter amazement, was greeted with a hearty, ringing laugh. - -“But, father,” asked Charlie, “do you think we’ve got money enough?” - -“Yes, indeed, plenty to begin with; you’ve got enough, upon the largest -calculations, to set her up, plank her, get out all your deck plank, -water-ways and spars, and have them seasoning;” and without paying the -least attention to Charlie’s “ifs” and “ands,” Ben went right on, to -inquire where he was going to build her. - -“At my shore,” was the reply. - -“But,” said Isaac, “ought we not, I especially, to ask your father’s -advice? He was my earliest friend, set me agoing, and has always been -interested in me. I shouldn’t have been alive to-day if it had not been -for him.” - -“Certainly; but he will approve of it; so we can go on and talk.” - -“Mr. Rhines,” said Fred, “isn’t she a monster?” - -“No, Fred, not one whit too large to carry lumber or molasses; she -won’t be as big as the Ark; and the English mast and timber ships that -come to Wiscasset and Portsmouth, are seven hundred tons and rising.” - -“Isn’t she large for a sloop, sir?” - -“Yes, but, as Isaac says, it will cost less to rig her, take less men -to handle her, and if you find she don’t work well, you can stick -another mast in her any time. Boys, let me plan a little for you; build -her here, Charlie.” - -“O, father, what an awful job it would be to bring all the timber from -Pleasant Point, over here! and how much it would cost!” - -“It won’t cost near as much as it would to build her there. If you -build her there, all you’ve got is the timber; you must build a house -to live in with a chimney, and even if it is a log house, it will cost -something; you must hire or buy cattle to haul your timber, hay to keep -them on, and somebody to cook for you. I’ve got a piece of land that -I want cleared: if you will fall the whole piece for me, you can take -your timber out of it. I’ll board your men for less than it would cost -you to board them, a great deal; you and John won’t have to pay any -board, for you’ll be at home.” - -“But it’s _pine_ timber, father.” - -“Well, build her of pine; the trees are big enough to hew all the sap -off, and it will last as long as you want her to, and she will be so -buoyant you can’t load her.” - -“But,” said Isaac, “the keel, stem, stern-post, and keelson must be -hard wood, or oak.” - -“Well, there’s hard wood enough for that on the lot; there’s rock -maple for keel, yellow birch for keelson, stem and stern knees, -and spruce for knees above. Charlie can get oak stem, stern-post, -breast-hooks, or any other particular sticks for bitts or rudder he may -want, at Pleasant Point.” - -“I never heard of a vessel being built of pine,” said Charlie. - -“I have; the Russians build all their frigates of fir, that ain’t one -quarter as good. There was a brig built at Salem of pine before the -war, and I’ve heard she’s a capital vessel; she has been to India three -or four times, and they say, though she is sharp, she is so light -she carries first rate. This old-growth, thin sap, pumpkin pine will -outlast any oak, and won’t eat up the iron, nor cost near as much to -work it.” - -“That’s so: there would be a great difference between dubbing pine and -oak, or in sawing out plank with a whip-saw.” - -“So there would in hewing, and all through; there’s nothing better for -beams than a heart of hemlock.” - -“O, father, folks think hemlock ain’t worth anything.” - -“They will think differently one of these days: see how long a hemlock -stub will stand, or a windfall last, in the woods. There’s hemlock -rails in our fence, that my grandfather put there more than a hundred -years ago; they are worn thin in the weather, but are just as sound as -ever. It’s all a notion about oak. Unless you want to build a vessel of -six or seven hundred tons, to carry iron, salt, or stone, pine is just -as good only make it larger.” - -“I’m sure, father, it would be a great deal better for us to build her -here, and we are all very much obliged to you.” - -The others all expressed their gratitude to Ben. - -“There are other things,” said he, “that will be quite an object with -you: here is a good work-shop to shoot treenails, keep your tools in, -and to work in rainy days. There’s the barn floor, where you can use -the whip-saw in the winter if you want to; then here are six great fat -oxen, doing nothing, that you can take to haul your timber, which will -all come down hill, and you can haul it as well on bare ground as on -the snow. Here is a whip-saw, a cross-cut saw, and a threefold tackle; -thus, you see there are many advantages in building here rather than in -the woods; besides, if I am round, you can call on me when you have a -hard lift or a wale piece to lug; you can give me a lift in haying or -hoeing, and that will be a mutual benefit.” - -“We’ll do that, father; we’ll put the haying through.” - -After the boys went up to bed, they expressed in no measured terms, to -each other, their surprise at the readiness with which Ben had entered -into their plans, and our readers may also feel the same; but the fact -was, the boys had merely anticipated purposes which had for some time -occupied the thoughts of Captain Rhines, Uncle Isaac, and Ben, and, -indeed, been a matter of conversation between them. - -They had long cherished the desire to make their property a source of -benefit to their neighbors, the place where they lived, and the young -men growing up around them. Captain Rhines wanted to take advantage of -the facilities for ship-building furnished by the forests, and give -to the young men growing up lucrative employment at home. He had, -therefore, watched with great interest the development of Charlie’s -capacities in that direction, and for the same reason did all in his -power to train Isaac, not merely in the matter of seamanship, but also -to inculcate those principles of integrity more valuable than silver -or gold; and he was more pleased than he cared to show when John wanted -to learn the trade of a blacksmith. - -“When these boys get older,” said the captain to Ben and Uncle Isaac, -“we’ll raise our own mechanics and seamen, and make the place what it -ought to be.” - -Thus, in Ben’s opinion, it mattered very little whether the boys had -half money enough or not. He was pleased with their grit, told them -to go ahead, intending, whenever their means failed, to help them -out. The boys met with the like encouragement from Captain Rhines and -Uncle Isaac, none of them aware, however, of the compact the boys had -entered into to receive no aid, or dreaming that they would refuse it -if proffered. - -Captain Rhines now drew up their building contract in due form, -although it was good for nothing in law, since no one of them was of -age, except Isaac, and he but just twenty-one, though he called the -others _boys_. - -“Now, Mary,” said Captain Rhines, rubbing his hands, after the boys had -gone, “we’ve got all our chickens at home once more, and we shall see -what they will do.” - -The boys lost no time in giving him the desired information. - -The birch they were going to build on Indian Island, the pickerel they -were to catch in Charlie’s pond, the bears they were to kill, and -exploring expeditions to be undertaken, were forgotten, driven from -their minds by the expulsive power of this new affection. - -It is not our design to enter into the details of ship-building. Boys, -if they want to build ships, must begin with boats, and go into the -ship-yard, as Charlie did, where they will find competent instructors. -We intend merely to give such details as may note the progress made, -and show the indomitable energy of those who laid the foundations -of our commerce, the difficulties with which they were compelled to -struggle, and the rude beginnings from which the fleet, and beautiful -specimens of naval architecture that now grace our seaports, have grown. - -There was no scientific draughting of vessels then. No close models, -or even rack models. There were, indeed, among carpenters, some few -general principles; but the whole shaping of the vessel was by the eye, -judgment, guess-work. - -Let us see how Charlie went to work; for it was not much like the -way ship-builders go to work now, and quite original. He took a -piece of board, a little over two feet in length by one in width, -and planed it perfectly smooth. This he dignified with the name of -a draughting-board, although, as we proceed, our readers may think -there was very little draughting about it. Charlie dearly loved a -sharp model. He wanted something that would sail. His first model was -a mackerel. His first efforts in boat-building had all been in that -direction, and were successful. His tastes would have been gratified -had he been set to build a clipper or a pilot-boat. He was now -compelled to do violence to these inclinations, by stern necessity -to abjure all ideas of grace and beauty, consult only _profit_, and -build this “box,” as he termed her. He was not devoid of experience in -this direction. It was just the kind of vessel he had worked upon in -Portland, designed for the same business, with the exception that there -were some attempts at finish about them, the wales and bulwarks being -foreplaned. In the cabin was some joiner-work; the wales and bulwarks -were daubed with lampblack, fish-oil, and red ochre, but the bottom -was left rough, and pitched. Here their means would admit of no such -attempt at ornament. - -Captain Rhines and Ben had determined to allow the boys to proceed -entirely in their own way, giving no advice till it was asked, nor -offering to aid till they were in _extremity_. - -Charlie was by no means inclined to adopt notions without examination. -He knew from the report of all the sea captains that the vessels Mr. -Foss built, though carrying enormous cargoes, and _profitable_, were, -when deep loaded,--and that was nearly all the time,--terrible things -to steer and live in, and would not sail much more than a raft, and -_thought_ he knew the reason. They were so full aft, and the transoms -so low, that when this great buttock was brought into the water by a -heavy cargo, they could not be otherwise than unmanageable. The bilge -also went up with a square turn, resembling a scow. Without presuming -to criticise, Charlie, while at work, had been constantly revolving -these matters in his mind, listening to the criticisms made, and the -improvements suggested, by masters and seamen. He knew the Perseverance -sailed well and steered well, no matter whether she was deep or light, -and so did his boats. - -“I’ll see if I can’t make her steer and sail a little better than a -log, and carry just as much,” said Charlie, as he sat under the big -maple with the board on his knees, a piece of chalk and compasses in -his hand. “I’ll give her a round side, instead of a square knuckle.” - -He at length determined, while giving her a long floor and large -breadth of beam, to cut through at the bow and stern, and sharpen the -ends something like his boats, instead of keeping them full, like the -vessels he had worked on. Upon a scale of a quarter of an inch to a -foot, he drew lines to represent his keel, stem, and stern-post. He -then marked on the keel the dead rise amidships, forward, and aft, and -with a limber batten drew a line through these points, forming a true -sweep. This he called the rising line. On this line he divided up the -rise on every timber, giving a very long floor, kept well out forward; -next marked on the keel the length of his floor at the midships, -forward and after frames, drew a line through these points, which -he called his shortening line, to regulate the length of the floor -timbers, and also dividing them up on this line, marked the respective -lengths by letters of the alphabet, as he had their dead rise by -numbers; marked on perpendiculars drawn from the keel the breadth both -amidships, forward, and aft, and the depth, and drew a line through -these points, representing the shape of the top and the hanging wale. -The curve of the stem and the rake of the stern-post not suiting him, -he rubbed out his work, and drew it again and again, till he was -satisfied; then went to the shop, and with a pencil and dividers, took -it off on the other side of the board, making some little further -alterations. These three lines on a board were all that Charlie had to -guide him, as far as lines were concerned, in building his vessel. He -now wanted to represent the round of the side, that he might see how -it would look on a larger scale than he could if on a board, and took -a queer method to obtain his end. - -At the mouth of the brook was a flat, smooth beach of white sand, so -hard that when wet an ox would not print it with his foot. He tool a -pole eighteen feet in length, drove a nail through one end of it, bored -a hole in the other end, and made a long, pointed peg to fit it. He -represented on the sand the actual length of the vessel, stem, stern, -and floor timbers; then, fastening one end of the pole to the ground by -the peg, in such a manner that it would revolve, he, by means of the -nail in the other end, swept out the round of the whole side, till he -got a shape to suit him, then took it off, and reducing it to a proper -scale, transferred it to his board. - -His draughting, such as it was, being thus finished, he was prepared, -having the proportions and dimensions, to make his moulds. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -SCATTERING FRAMES. - - -By the modern process of scientific draughting, an exact mould of every -timber in the vessel is made in the moulding loft, from lines drawn -on the floor, the bevel of each timber ascertained, and marked on the -mould. These moulds are then taken into the forest, or wherever the -timber in its rough state is, and it is hewed out to these moulds. - -They are often packed up, taken to Virginia or Delaware, and the -whole frame of a vessel moulded with such accuracy, that when it is -brought home and set up, if it does not come within half an inch, it is -considered bungling work. - -Thus a vessel can be commenced at different points, by different -parties of workmen, and built with the greatest despatch. All that is -needed is men and money enough. They can all be at work at once, and a -large ship can be built in ninety days as well as in a thousand. One -gang begin to stretch out and put together the keel, which is brought -into the yard rough-hewed, and put on the midship frames, which are put -together and raised at once. While this is being done, another gang are -at work upon the stern, another upon the stem, which are ready to go -up with the rest, another making the windlass, and still another the -rudder. In the mean time the blacksmith, knowing the exact model of -the future ship, and size of everything, can make the iron-work ahead, -before the stem and stern are set up. Another gang begin to put on the -plank, and another, whose business it is, bore every hole and drive -every bolt. The joiners plane the whole outside of the ship, smooth -up everything, and do all that comes in their line. The calkers and -painters follow close at their heels, and after them the riggers. - -But all this accuracy and despatch, resulting from a division of labor, -has been a work of time, brought about by the efforts of many minds, -and from very rude beginnings. - -We cannot go into detail. It is sufficient to say that, in the present -system of what is termed close modelling in this country, the master -workman puts together with screws or keys, so they can be taken apart -at pleasure, some pieces of soft pine, half an inch in thickness, three -feet, two, or eighteen inches in length, according as he intends to go -upon the scale of a fourth of an inch or an eighth, more or less, to a -foot. - -From this block he cuts out half his future vessel, making it to suit -his eye. As these pieces, being in leaves, can all be taken apart, he -can take by measurement the exact proportions of every part on the -floor of a large loft, mark them down, enlarged to the full size, and -from these make his moulds of every timber. - -It is evident that the mechanical genius here lies in making this -model, shaping the vessel in the mind of the architect. All, after -this, is a matter of measurement and arithmetic. It requires -mathematical ability to take off this complicated system of lines from -the model, a clear head and mechanical ability to make the moulds; but -after this any one who can handle tools can follow the patterns, and -cut out the timber. But carpenters were hundreds of years getting as -far as this, although they were building vessels all the time, some -very good, where the workman was possessed of superior genius; but the -great majority were wretched models, requiring an enormous waste of -time, labor, and timber. - -The first decided approach to the present method was the rack model, -which consists in fastening several pieces of board edgewise to a flat -surface, to represent the frames of a vessel, and cutting out the -model on the edges of these. By measurements from these, the moulds -were made, which insured accuracy, economized labor and timber. The -first water-line model now in use was made by Orlando B. Merrill, of -Newburyport, in 1794; but, like all new things, there were prejudices -against it. The old carpenters would have nothing to do with the -“newfangled thing.” - -It was a long time before it was used in Massachusetts, and thirty-six -years getting into Maine. The first vessel built from the new plan -there was the ship Burmah, of Portland, built by Water-house, from New -York, in 1831, for the Messrs. Oxnards, who came there and modelled -her; but, after all, she was not so good a vessel as many built on -the old plan, to the great delight of the old carpenters, who “knew -it would turn out just so.” Even then they got no farther than the -forward and after frames, but had to timber out the ends by guess for a -long time. The fact is, the ground of success lies in originating the -model. Thus the same principles are involved in both methods, whether -a man holds all the proportions of a vessel in his mind to a great -extent, sets her up, and makes his model as he goes along, altering -his ribbands and cutting his frames to suit his ideas, or does it all -on a block of wood beforehand. The same man will build as good a model -in one way as the other. The difference is, that in one case he knows, -when he has made his model, precisely what kind of a vessel he will -have. The draughting from the model is a matter of mathematics. The -result must follow as inevitably as a sum in the rule of three, if -rightly stated and accurately worked. In the other way he cannot know -this till she is timbered out. To work by the first method, some little -education is needed; in the other, not the least. - -Another more important matter is the great saving of time, rendering -it possible for all parts of a vessel to go on together, and the great -saving of timber. - -The man who works from the modern plan knows just what wood he needs to -form every timber; whereas, in the old way, some of the timbers were -half cut off, some had to be thrown away, and others that would not -fill up the ribband furred out; but neither time nor timber was worth -a third as much then as now. A mast that cost sixty dollars then now -costs two hundred and forty dollars, while those of the largest size -cannot be obtained at all, but must be _made_ in pieces and hooped. A -carpenter who was worth a dollar a day then is worth four now, and it -costs twice as much to feed him. - -You will perceive, my young friends, there is the same, and -even greater, scope for ability now than there was then, with -this difference, that there is a greater opportunity for sham. -Ship-carpenters can now pony in ship-building as well as in these days -of mathematical keys and translations; students can “pony” in algebra -and Æschylus. Then they had to make their own keys and unlock their own -doors. - -All the way a carpenter, who was a good mechanic, but not possessed of -ability to model a vessel, could build one, was to get some one who had -to timber her out to the ribbands, after which he could finish her; but -then everybody knew it. Now a person, by paying for it, may (privately) -get any kind of a model he likes, build from it, and nobody--or but a -very few--the wiser. Thus a man with modern helps can build vessels, -and good ones, who, for the life of him, could not have gone to work, -set up, and built a vessel, as Charlie did on Elm Island. - -A master workman meant brains then, though the workmanship was rough -and the beginnings rude. Even in this first rudest form of building, -accuracy, by a person of genius, could be obtained. If they made -one side of the vessel fuller than the other, it was the result of -negligence, not of necessity, by suffering their shores to slip, or not -proving their work by a plumb line. - -Mr. Foss was one of those rude beginners. He built vessels on the -same general principle as the May Flower. Charlie was another; but -having received the instructions of Mr. Foss, listened to the remarks -of seamen, the result of experience in the actual management of -vessels, and with greater genius than his master, he had already, and -even in this rude craft, made improvements. What is more, they were -improvements that he had originated, and the principles of which were -first suggested to his mind by taking the model from the fish. - -We have seen how perfectly prepared the scientific draughtsman is -to go with his moulds into the forest, and mould his timber. Let us -now ascertain how our young ship-builder, alone on Elm Island, went -to work from the scanty data he had to make moulds to cut timber by. -All his three lines told him was the shape of the floor timbers, the -proportional length of them, the shape and sheer of the top; and his -pole, with a nail in it, the sweep of the side. - -He made moulds from his rising line of the floor timbers, of the stem -and stern-post from their shape on the board; his shortening line gave -him a water line along the heads of his floor timbers, the rising-line -the shape of the bottom. - -But now his lines fail him. He has not, like the scientific -draughtsman, a line for every timber, from which to make his moulds. -Well, he don’t make any more, except five or six, of what he calls -“scattering frames.” His third line has given him the length of the -vessel, and general shape on top, and the sweep on the sand of the way -in which her side will round; and he goes to work, and makes by his -eye, and what aid he can derive from these moulds futtocks, naval, and -top timbers, which, put together, form the side, cuts and alters them -till they suit his eye; and that is all there is about it. When he gets -them done, he calls them the moulds of the scattering frames. He makes -five or six of them, perhaps more--one amidships, one at the forward -and one at the after floor timber. They are called scattering frames -because they are scattered along the keel for guides. By and by we -shall see what he will do with them. Instead of making, as is now done, -a mould for every timber, amounting to hundreds, and occupying weeks, -he makes no more. His moulds are all made, and he is ready to cut his -timber. He will, however, lose four times the amount of time, fussing, -guessing, and moulding his vessel as he goes along, and doing work over -two or three times, than he would if he had known the present method. - -In cutting timber there is a great deal of work to be done with the -narrow axe, and a great deal of digging out roots for knees, for -which it is not necessary to employ skilled labor. There were also, -in this new country, many men who had been used all their lives to -handling a broadaxe, hewing ton timber for exportation to Europe, and -ranging timber for the frames of buildings. The saw-mills, in those -days, especially in new places, where there were not means to purchase -machinery, were in a very imperfect state, possessed but little power, -could not saw greater length than twenty feet, while the carriage, -instead of being run back by touching a lever, and by the power of the -water-wheel, as at the present day, was slowly and laboriously pushed -back by turning a wheel with the foot. Mill-cranks were all imported -from England, and people, under the pressure of necessity, made cranks -of a crooked root, sometimes hunting for weeks in the woods to find one -that had the right turn, and was of tough wood. This was the case with -the mill in Charlie’s vicinity, which, however, was six miles off. - -In this state of things there was a great deal of sawing done with a -whip-saw. It was cheaper, in many cases, to do this than to haul the -timber a great distance to a mill. There was no other way when plank -and boards were required longer than the mills; but with the whip-saw -you could have it whatever length you wished. In ship-building it is -especially desirable to have the stuff as long as can be worked, as -there will be fewer joints to calk, less danger of leaks, and greater -strength. Even now a great deal of long stuff is sawed with a whip-saw. - -This species of labor then being so much in vogue, plenty of men could -be found, who, from youth, had been accustomed to the use of the -broadaxe and whip-saw. They were not carpenters, could not edge planks, -fay knees, make scarfs in keels, as Joe Griffin, Uncle Isaac, and -Yelf could; but for cutting timber in the woods, beating it out, with -a master workman to boss them, and for two thirds of the work in the -ship-yard, they were just as good, and would work for a great deal less -wages. - -John Rhines, who would not have any blacksmith work to occupy him -till they began to put the timber together, was equally useful with -the narrow axe in cutting, and as a teamster in hauling the timber. -Charlie, who was keenly alive to all these matters, sat down, pencil in -hand, to calculate. - -“My plank,” he said, “and wales must be sawed with a whip-saw. My deck -plank, I need about nine thousand five hundred feet; wales, three -thousand three hundred; outboard and ceiling plank, two thousand four -hundred feet.” - -Knowing the price of sawing at the mill per thousand, how many feet two -men would saw in a day, and about what it would cost to hire the kind -of men I have described, who could saw and hew both, he found he could -saw his deck plank for less on the island than it would cost to raft -the logs to the mill, have them sawed, and get them back. - -In addition to this, he knew what length the mill would saw, and that, -as the planks must butt on the beams, there would be a piece to cut off -of almost every plank, when he would lose the timber, and expense of -sawing and cutting; whereas, knowing the exact dimensions of his deck, -he could cut his logs the length he wanted them, lose no timber, and -only pay for cutting and sawing what he used. - -The first thing Charlie did, after making these calculations, was to -construct fixtures for four men to saw, both out of doors and in the -barn, make a gin, with a windlass and a tackle on it, to hoist the -timber up on the stage. Thus, in fair weather, they could work beside -the vessel, and in stormy weather in the barn. - -When the two boys had arranged these matters, Charlie hired four men, -such as we have described. Two of them were Eaton and his brother; one -of whom, Danforth, shaved the clapboards for Ben’s house. The others -were Thorndike, that smart man who worked with Uncle Isaac, and helped -the boys plough the garden; the other, our old acquaintance, Joel -Ricker, who came to Elm Island to wrestle with Ben. By the advice of -Uncle Isaac, Charlie sent for him. - -“You don’t want many men,” said Uncle Isaac, “because Ben has not room -for a great crowd; so you must have them strong. He’s a master strong, -smart man, and he’ll be a real pleasant fellow, now Ben has brought him -to his bearings, and taken the wind out of him. Then, when you come to -have Joe, Yelf, and one or two more, you’ll have a whole team, I tell -you.” - -“And you, Uncle Isaac, O, do come!” - -“Well, if I can get anybody to do my harvesting, I will, when you begin -to put timber together, and need carpenters.” - -Charlie hired the four men for three shillings each, per day. The first -thing he cut was the stocks for deck plank, hauled them out, and some -of them into the barn, in order to keep his men at work sawing in rainy -weather, and in order to permit the plank to season. He next began to -cut his floor. We have said that the modern carpenter takes a mould for -every timber into the woods. What do you suppose Charlie did? He took -a pole, thirteen feet long, the length of his longest floor timber, -with the dead rise of each timber marked on one side, and the length -of each, in letters of the alphabet, on the other. This he called the -rising rod. When the men cut a stick, he laid this across it, and -measured down from the middle for his rise, according to the scale -on the rod, and lined it out; then they cut it the right length, and -beat off the wood to lighten it for hauling. As for the other timber, -knowing the length, he guessed at the shape. - -In this rude way, to modern eyes, he cut his frame; and in about forty -days the timber was in the yard, and the stocks for planks and wales -at the saw-pit. It required no small degree of mechanical ability to -build a vessel in this way. Sometimes they got them fuller on one side, -so they would sail faster on one tack than the other. It was just like -preaching without notes. Sometimes you’ll hit first rate, and then -again you won’t. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -CHARLIE ACHIEVES SUCCESS. - - -In the modern mode of building, the carpenter will stretch out his -keel, begin to timber out in the middle, perhaps timber out as far as -the forward and after frames, and even put in some ceiling, before -raising the stem and stern, because the vessel is all modelled, and -he can put every timber in her, and hold her together with ribbands -without putting on a single plank. But in the old mode, nothing could -be done without the stem and stern-post, as they were needed to shape -her by. We shall now see what use Charlie made of his scattering -frames, as he called them, since they are to play a very important part. - -Although Charlie was not working by contract, and limited as to time, -yet he thought he should need ten men to handle the timber, which was -all green and of large size, especially as, being on an island, it was -not very easy to procure more. He already had six; Uncle Isaac, Joe, -and Yelf would make nine: four of these, however, would be employed in -sawing, and the whip-saw must be in steady use, in order that plank and -wales might be in readiness, since, in his method of working he must -plank up as he went along; it was also necessary that his deck plank -should be sawed out and stuck up to season. This would leave him but -five men to work on the frame and handle the timber. He therefore hired -four more. He could, upon occasion, call the men from the saw-pit, John -from the anvil, and, more than all, he could have the aid of Ben, in -case of a heavy lift. Ben’s house now very much resembled a bee-hive, -both as to the number of its inhabitants and their industry. There was -no ten-hour system then. It was, begin with the sun and work as long as -you can see to pick up your tools. But on the other hand, as the men -were not so particular as at the present day, to work just so long to -a minute, insomuch that, if the axe is uplifted, and the clock strikes -six, they won’t let it fall, so neither was the employer. The master -workman was not always on the watch to see if a man stopped to rest his -back or light his pipe; whether he ground his tools in his own time or -that of his employer: if a man had a first-rate story, not too long to -tell, he told it. - -Sometimes, if a coon ran across the yard, or a squirrel got in among -the timbers of the vessel, the master workman would go for him with -the whole crew at his heels; and then, enlivened by a little fun, they -would work enough faster to make it up. Where all were neighbors, men -of principle, and calculated to earn their wages, and unwilling to be -outdone, there was no necessity for drawing lines, as with the kind of -labor often found in yards at the present day. - -Henry Griffin, coming home from sea, resolved to give it up, and learn -the blacksmith’s trade, as he was, like all the Griffins, strong, -willing, and ingenious. John gladly received him as an apprentice. Thus -the family, including the children and Sally’s hired girl, numbered -twenty-two. Taking away the partition between the workshop and the -wood-shed, they threw it all into one room, which made a splendid -workshop in rainy weather, large enough to hew timber or joint deck -plank. The chamber overhead they filled with beds, while Charlie, John, -Henry, and Ben, Jr., slept in the sap camp. It was such a handy place, -after they had worked from sun to sun, to run out and shoot a coon -among the corn in the moonlight evenings! - -The stem and stern-posts were bolted on to the keel, lying on the -ground; the whole was raised together and held in position with shores, -and the transom bolted on when it was half up. Charlie now took the -moulds and moulded his scattering frames, and fastened them, together -with the floor timbers, to the keel. These frames, extending from the -keel to the deck, and ranged along at intervals from stem to stern, -kept in position by spruce poles spiked to them and to the stern and -transom, and also to cross pawls at their tops, gave the outline of -the whole vessel. In the modern process of working, the timber, being -all accurately moulded from the draught, the timbering out is a very -rapid process--the planking, fastening, and finishing occupying a much -greater length of time. - -But in respect to Charlie, the regulating of these scattering frames, -being accomplished entirely by the eye, was not only a good deal of -work, but it was a very anxious period, since upon this depended the -whole shape of his vessel. - -It was no light matter for a boy, not quite twenty, with such men as -Uncle Isaac, Joe, and Yelf looking on, to model a vessel. - -They offered no advice; Charlie asked none. He would set up a -scattering frame, squint at it, draw it in or let it out, cut it away, -shape it with the axe or adze to suit his eye, then put up another. He -proved his work by a plumb-line, as he was determined that one side -should not be fuller than the other. - -This doing and undoing,--for some of the frames were cut half -off,--occupied a vast deal of time, as nothing could be prepared -beforehand. It was not so very slow work when they tumbled them in -any how, letting anything go that came within hail, not concerning -themselves whether she was fuller one side than the other; but it _was_ -in Charlie’s way, who would have everything in proportion, however -rough it might be, no matter how much time it occupied. - -The weather was cold, the ground hard-frozen. Charlie was anxious to -plank up before he left off. The custom was to plank up to the heads of -the floor timbers, then put in another set, plank up to them, and so on. - -“Uncle Isaac,” said he, “the scattering frames are all in, and nearly -all the others. You can see the shape of her. How do you like her? I’ll -make any alterations that you or father think for the best.” - -“Don’t disturb anything. Don’t start a cross-band or a ribband. She’ll -steer well, carry like blazes, sail well for a full vessel, or I’m much -mistaken. Joe and your father are of the same opinion.” - -“She looks better than I expected,” said Charlie, drawing a long -breath, struggling to conceal his delight under an appearance of -indifference. “I wish we were able to finish her in good shape, smooth -her up, and paint her.” - -“I can see the boat-model in her. You haven’t got that out of your -head, and I hope you never will.” - -“I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Uncle Isaac. I’ll build a yawl for her, -that shall be as handsome as any of the boats Isaac will run afoul -of--you see if I don’t. Do you think it would do to plank with these -green plank? or would they shrink all up--make an open seam to eat up -oakum?” - -“Shrink? No, indeed! They are froze as hard as a rock, and won’t shrink -one mite if you put them on frozen.” - -“Is that so?” - -“Yes, indeed. A piece of timber, hard-frozen, is as small as ever it -will be. I’ve laid a house-floor with boards green from the mill, in -the dead of winter, put them down froze, and the next July you couldn’t -put a pin in the joints.” - -“Then I will plank her up, and knock off till spring. It is not -profitable to hire in these short, cold days. John and I will do what -we can this winter, which will make our money hold out.” - -“What are you going to make your treenails of?” - -“White oak, of course.” - -“I wouldn’t.” - -“What would you make them of?” - -“Spruce limbs.” - -“Spruce limbs? That’s a funny thing to make a treenail of!” - -“They are better than white oak. They are hard, stiff, all heart, and -full of pitch. They’ll never rot.” - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -DIFFICULTIES WHET THE EDGE OF RESOLUTION. - - -While Charlie and his men were hewing the timber, John Rhines and his -apprentice were getting ready to do the iron-work. - -They built a blacksmith’s shop of logs,--the floor was of earth,--made -a bench, and shove-windows. Leaving the rest to complete in rainy days, -they began to prepare coal. Very little coal, except charcoal, was then -used by blacksmiths, small quantities being imported from England into -the seaports, but none at all used in the country shops. - -The boys could not afford to buy it. John and Henry went into the -woods, and cut birch and maple into proper lengths for their purpose. -Then, on a flat piece of ground they built up a little cobwork of small -sticks of dry wood, forming a little chimney about six feet high. -They then set green sticks of cord-wood up around this chimney in a -slanting direction, filling the interval between with short sticks. -When a sufficient quantity of wood was set up, they rounded the top -with shorter sticks. They dug green, strong turf, and covered the pile -all over with it, grass-side down, except the top of the chimney, and -some air-holes at the bottom, to make draught enough to keep the fire -steadily burning. Then they threw earth all over it, and stopped the -cracks where the pieces of turf came together, filled the chimney -full of shavings and dry stuff, and kindled it at top. When it had -burned down into the body of the kiln, and the whole mass of wood was -hot and fairly on fire, they put turf on top, and made all tight, the -air-holes at the bottom affording just draught enough to make the wood -coal, without burning to ashes, as it would in an open fire. By these -air-holes they could regulate the draught. If the wind blew hard, and -the draught was too great, stop them up on the windward side; if too -weak, open them. - -Boys will have fun out of anything. One wouldn’t think there was a -great deal of fun in watching a coal-kiln night and day, so as to be -ready to fling on earth, or put on turf, if the fire should burst out -anywhere; but they had lots of fun out of it, and the best times -imaginable. They built a camp, made it rain-proof by putting a board -roof on it, built a chimney of stones, where they could cook in rainy -weather, though in fair weather they always built their fire before the -door of the camp, hunter fashion. They loved to see the stars, the fire -flashing through the trees; and somehow things tasted sweeter when the -kettle hung by the crotch out of doors. The care of the coal-kiln did -not occupy much of their time; but one of them was always obliged to -be there, in the event of the fire breaking out. Thus, while one kiln -was burning, they cut the wood for another. Rare times they had of it -in the evening! They roasted coons, that could always be found round -the edge of the corn, clams, and ears of corn, baked potatoes, and had -all the maple sugar they wanted, roasted eggs, and sometimes a chicken. -Neither did they lack for company. Charlie, Uncle Isaac, and Joe were -pretty sure to be there every night. Sometimes Sally would take her -knitting-work and come up; and it was by no means rare for all on the -island, except the baby and whoever had the care of him, to come; and -there was not a happier visitor at the camp than Tige Rhines, who -insisted on coming to the island with John, and could not be persuaded -to return without him, although Captain Rhines, who was a frequent -visitor to the island, used all the arts of persuasion he was master of -to engage him to return with him. - -It is no marvel the coal-kiln was a popular resort. The captain never -failed, when he came on, to bring apples, pears, plums, and a jug of -new cider to John. He was by no means chary of his treasures; and it -was quite agreeable to tired men to sit around a blazing fire, eat -apples and pears, perhaps a piece of baked coon, with a roast potato, -drink a mug of sweet cider, and tell, or listen to, a good story. - -Upon such occasions Joe Griffin generally kept the company in good -humor. Ricker, who had now become a universal favorite, contributed a -song. The change in this man was most remarkable. From being a bully -and a brag, he had become a most agreeable, pleasant companion. He had -also manifested a great capacity for handling tools; since latterly, -the four men having sawed out all the plank that was needed for present -use, Charlie had taken him and Thorndike from the saw-pit, and set them -at work on the vessel. - -“The best thing that ever happened to me,” said he to Uncle Isaac, -“was when I fell into the hands of Lion Ben. Before that, I thought -there was nobody could handle me, and the idea came near ruining me. I -left off work, thought of nothing but wrestling; was running to every -launching, raising, hauling, muster, and log-rolling I could hear of, -and was straining myself all to pieces.” - -“I,” replied Uncle Isaac, “used to wrestle a good deal in my young -days, and I know that in some of those scrapes I have injured and worn -myself out more than I have in a year’s work; yes, more than in two.” - -“No doubt you have. I wrestled once, at North Yarmouth, till the blood -spun from my nose a stream, and I was as sore the next day as though I -had been pounded with an ox-goad. Then I was always treating and being -treated, and got so I couldn’t settle myself to work; and liquor was -fast getting the upper hands of me; but after I went home from here, I -thought of Mr. Rhines’s advice, and determined to follow it. I never -was among such people as the folks are here. They don’t drink as they -do up our way,--at least those that I’ve seen and worked with,--and are -just like brothers.” - -“There’s plenty of drinking here, but you have been among those who -have seen the evil of it, and left it off. There’s not a man you work -with, myself included, but, three years ago, drank spirit. Now we think -we’ve found a better way, one that is more pleasant, better for the -pocket, the health, and the conscience.” - -“It _is_ a better way, and I’m going to join you, and do as you do.” - -“You are a young man, Mr. Ricker. Have you any parents depending on -you?” - -“No, sir. My parents both died when I was a child. My father was killed -by a falling tree. My mother took sick and died, and my uncle brought -me up.” - -“Well, then, just stay here amongst us. There is plenty of work to do -round here--chopping, logging, and river-driving. There will be more -vessels built here, too. I don’t know whether Charlie will work much -longer or not; but if he don’t, I will give you and Thorndike work all -winter, logging and making shingles; and when you are not at work, -you’re welcome to make my house your home.” - -“I’m very much obliged to you, Mr. Murch, and shall be right glad, if -Master Bell don’t work, to take up with your offer.” - -“There’s plenty of land here, that can be bought cheap--good land, -too; and there’s plenty of nice young women, that know how to spin and -weave, and would make a striving man a good wife, take care of whatever -he brings into the house; and, though I say it myself, there’s not a -more industrious, neighborly set of people in the United States of -America than live in this town; and you travel the country through, -and you won’t find a better principled, more enterprising set of young -men; and I mean to do what little I can to encourage them, and there’s -others feel just as I do.” - -“I mean to be governed by your counsel, Uncle Isaac. But, to tell the -truth, there’s a young woman up our way that I’ve had some dealings -with, and we were engaged once; but she didn’t like my drinking, -wrestling, and carousing about, and neglecting my work, and her folks -set in, and that made a coldness between us. I love her as the apple of -my eye, and I drank more to drown trouble.” - -“You ought to think the more of her for not approving of your drinking -and idleness.” - -“So I do.” - -“Well, then, all you have to do is, just to go on as you are now -doing, stay here out of the way of temptation, and build up a good -reputation. The news won’t be long getting back to your place. -They’ll miss you at musters and raisings, and begin to inquire, -‘Where’s Ricker? We want him to take hold of this man that’s throwing -everybody.’ The answer will come back, ‘Ricker’s given up drinking and -wrestling, and is at work on Elm Island, having the best of wages. -People there think everything of him, and won’t let him go. He’s going -to buy a farm, and live among them.’ Take my word for it, the young -woman will be the first one to hear of it; and in time matters will -right themselves.” - -The first kiln that John and Henry burned contained forty bushels; the -next, eighty. They burned one more, drew the kilns, and put the coals -in a pen in one corner of the shop. - -Captain Rhines came over to see how matters progressed, and spent the -night. In the evening Charlie and John held a consultation in respect -to iron, which would soon be wanted, and fixtures for the blacksmith’s -shop. - -“We can get along,” said John, “with an anvil, bellows, two pairs of -tongs, hand hammers, sledges, and cold chisels.” - -“Won’t you need a vice?” asked Charlie. - -“It would be handy; but there won’t be any screws to cut. I can get -along without it.” - -“What do these things cost?” - -“An anvil will cost about fifteen dollars, a pair of bellows about -thirteen, and a good vice about twenty-five.” - -“That’s a good deal of money, just for tools, when we’ve got so little. -We must pinch all we can on the hull, in order to be able to obtain the -sails and rigging. That will be a heavy bill, and must be all cash.” - -“Yes; but I can do without a vice, make the hammers, tongs, and other -tools, and I think I can make the bellows; so there will be only the -anvil, the steel, and iron to buy.” - -Captain Rhines sat and listened, as they were talking in low tones in a -corner, till he could bear it no longer; and taking Ben and Uncle Isaac -aside, he told them what he had overheard. - -“It’s too bad, Ben, to let such boys as these struggle along so! -I’ll take the Perseverance, go to Portland or Boston, and buy them a -complete set of blacksmith’s tools. If we build vessels, we shall want -them.” - -“Don’t you do it, Benjamin,” said Uncle Isaac; “for the life of you, -don’t you do it! You’ll do them more hurt than good. Hardship don’t -hurt boys. It didn’t you and I. They are doing first rate--making grand -calculations! It’s drawing out what’s in ’em. If James Welch had been -put to it as they are, it would have been better for him, and saved his -parents much misery.” - -Ben siding with Uncle Isaac, the captain relinquished his purpose. - -Perhaps most of our young readers have seen a pair of house -bellows,--some have not,--stoves and coal fires having consigned them, -for the most part, to oblivion; but they were a great institution -once--from the homely kitchen to the highly-ornamented and gilded -parlor ones. - -Those boys who have not seen them can ask their grandmothers, which -will save us some detail; and, as we have so many “last things” to say -to you in this volume, it is quite an object. - -A blacksmith’s bellows is double. The wood is six feet long, three -feet four inches wide. Instead of having merely top and bottom of -wood, they consist of three pieces of plank, and are double, having -two clappers. The upper piece is solid; the middle piece has a hole -and a clapper; the bottom, another hole with a clapper. The top and -bottom covers rise and fall by means of hinges at the end. The middle -piece is permanent, and the bellows are hung in a frame by iron gimbals -driven into the edge of the middle piece. They are worked by a long -lever attached to the handle of the bottom board, the space between -the boards being leather, which is distended by bows to prevent its -collapsing too much when empty. The smith puts weights on the top plank -to press it down, and force the air into the fire, and hangs another -on the handle of the lower one to bring it down, and open the bellows -to admit air. He lifts the lever, the bellows fill through the bottom. -The moment he brings it down, the air is forced into the fire, and -the upper portion of the bellows, where it is retained by the upper -clapper. When the lever is raised again to refill, the weights on the -upper cover are still pressing the air into the fire. Thus it is a -draught all the time. - -They made their covers, middle piece, and clappers, hung them with -leather hinges, made the bows of ash, and in default of leather, -covered them with new canvas, that was left from the sails of the -Ark, closing the seams with pitch,--which they procured from the -woods,--mixed with charcoal dust. - -They found an old bolt, cut it in two on the edge of an old axe, made -a fire heat, and pointed the ends on a stone for an anvil, and made -gimbals to drive into the middle piece to hang their machine. - -“What under heavens shall we make a nose of?” said John. “That beats -me! If I had iron, I could make it; but there’s not a scrap more on the -island.” - -The nose of a blacksmith’s bellows is tunnel-shaped, and at the -extremity enters an iron tube, called a tewel, which goes into the -forge, and lies just under the fire. - -“We could make the tewel out of a gun barrel. I’ve got an old Queen’s -arm, at home, that’s spoilt.” - -“Yes; but what shall we make the nose of? That must be broad-mouthed, -and twice as big.” - -“Make it of clay, and burn it in the fire.” - -“It would be breaking. The heat would crack it; and I don’t know how we -could fay it to the wood to make it tight.” - -“Then make it of a piece of wood that has been soaking in salt water. -It will be some way from the fire. We can keep watch of it, and wet it -with a mop.” - -“I don’t believe but we shall have to.” - -“Why don’t you ask your brother Ben, or Uncle Isaac?” - -“Let us make the frame to hang it on. Perhaps we shall think of -something.” - -Before they had finished the frame, John exclaimed, “I’ve got it, Hen! -Just the thing! I’ve seen an old blunderbuss barrel, without any stock -to it, kicking round Uncle Isaac’s shop. It will make nose and tewel, -both in one. I know he’ll give it to me. ‘The lame and the lazy are -always provided for.’” - -“What is a blunderbuss?” - -“A short gun, bell-muzzled, and with an everlasting great bore, made to -fire a whole handful of slugs and balls. They don’t use them now.” - -“Go ask Uncle Isaac. Then take the boat, and go after it. As you come -along, stop into Peter Brock’s shop, ask him to put it into his vice, -and start the breech-pin for me.” - -When they had obtained the old gun barrel, they completed their -bellows, made a forge and forge-trough. They had no chimney--the gas -went out through a hole in the roof. - -John put some coal on the forge, kindled the fire, and started the -bellows. They worked capitally. - -“Hen,” said John, in high spirits, “that is what I call ‘raising -the wind’ in more ways than one. We were only two days making these -bellows, and one of them was a rainy day. That’s pretty good wages--six -dollars and fifty cents per day!” - -John and Henry now took the Perseverance, and went to Portland. John -went directly to Mr. Starrett, who received him most cordially. He -told him all the circumstances from beginning to end, upon which Mr. -Starrett lent him an anvil that was rather small for his heavy work, -and told him that Captain Pote had just got home from the West Indies, -and brought a lot of old iron that he had bought there for little or -nothing, and would sell for one fourth the price he would have to give -at the warehouse. Probably he could pick out a great deal that would -answer his purpose; that it lay on the wharf just as it was thrown out -of the vessel. - -John and Henry went to the wharf, and spent the whole day picking over -the heap. They found cold chisels, punches, sledges, hand hammers, -spikes, and ship’s bolts; eye bolts, ring bolts, studding-sail boom -irons, straps for mast circles and caps. - -John bought what he thought would answer his purpose, and threw it -into the schooner. Mr. Starrett bought the rest of his iron for him -cheaper than he could have bought it himself, because he knew just what -description and quantity of metal were wanted. When it was all on board -the vessel, Mr. Starrett came and looked it over. - -“John,” said he, “you will make a great saving by buying that old -iron. With very little labor, you will get the larger part of your -fastening out of it, a good deal of iron-work for the spars, and all -your thimbles. My boy, you will have a hard job with so few tools, to -do what you’ve got before you; but you’ll win through it. If you have -to hang up, and go to work to raise money, come to me. I’ll find you -work.” - -John thanked his friend, and they separated. He arrived home, got his -iron into the shop, his anvil on the block, his tongs made, handles in -the hammers and sledges two days before the carpenters put the keel -together and wanted to bolt it. He had no tool to head spikes; so he -just turned them over the anvil, making a head on one side, like a -railroad spike. They looked queer, but answered the purpose just as -well. Persons do not know what they can do till they are compelled to -exert their faculties to the utmost. It was this rude training in the -school of stern necessity that has made this nation what it is. - -We are to-day reaping the benefits of their trials, and shall continue -thus to do, if we do not, by prosperity, become effeminate. The -Pilgrims suffered terribly the first winter, because they came fresh -from the homes of Old England, with the habits of that country, and -were comparatively helpless. But suppose their children, born and -reared in this country, had been placed in just the same circumstances, -or a band of western hoosiers, how soon would they have built up log -shanties, found clams and lobsters on the beach, fish under the ice, -coons and bears in their dens, and when the spring opened, planted corn -on a burn? The Pilgrims had been reared among conveniences, never been -drawn out by necessity in that direction, and most of them died in the -seasoning, being too old to learn. - -But we see how Charlie conforms to the necessities of his position. -Once put on the track, and encouraged by Ben and Uncle Isaac, he seems -not one whit inferior to John Rhines in contrivance or resources to -meet exigencies as they come along. - -Charlie finished planking up the last day of December, and discharged -all his men, except Ricker. Planking up a vessel was slow, hard work in -those days, as they had none of the modern appliances to bring their -plank to the timber, and nothing better to bore the innumerable holes -through the hard timber than an old-fashioned pod augur, which must be -started in a hole cut with a gouge. They bored from inside outward, -because, the augur being destitute of a screw, it was easier. - -There was no blacksmith work of any amount to be done till the -carpenters began to work in the spring. - -Henry Griffin went to work with Ricker in the barn, sawing out ceiling -plank and other stuff. Charlie and John burnt coal enough to finish -the iron-work, cut the small spars, and hauled them out. The mast and -main boom were so large that Charlie was afraid to fall them till the -snow was deeper, for fear of breaking or injuring them; however, as he -knew the size of the spars, he made the caps, and John ironed them, -after which he learned to saw with a whip-saw: this liberated Ricker, -who was a most excellent broadaxe-man, having been accustomed all his -life to hewing timber. Charlie set him at work upon the spars, while -he himself, having plenty of seasoned stuff, built a long-boat and -yawl-boat for the vessel. In this way he could employ the two men, -John, and himself profitably: the wages were less in the winter; the -weather did not interfere with the sawing, which was done under cover. -Ricker, indeed, worked under cover in the shop with Charlie, when -it was stormy or severely cold, and helped him on the boats and the -windlass. - -Charlie built a beautiful yawl-boat, putting in gratings at the bow and -in the bottom, with a fancy yoke of mahogany, using up the last of his -West India wood in the operation, and in sheaves for the blocks. When -she was done, he painted her handsomely. - -“There,” said he; “they may laugh at the sloop, but I reckon they won’t -at the boat. Isaac shall go ashore in as good shape as the best of -them.” - -Uncle Isaac had a lathe, and Charlie engaged him to make the blocks and -turn the sheaves in the course of the winter. - -They next made the rudder. Nowadays, when vessels are steered -with wheels, the tillers are a straight stick of timber; but an -old-fashioned one required a stick of very peculiar form, something the -shape of the letter S; and what made it more difficult to get them, -was the fact that a great strain came on them, and they must be of -tough wood. Joe Griffin had engaged to hunt up a stick in the woods, -rough-hew it, and bring it to the island. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -SALLY COMES TO THE RESCUE. - - -Time now passed very pleasantly; there was a smaller family; they were -not exposed to the weather, and in the evenings enjoyed themselves -very much. Charlie employed himself in the study of surveying, and was -more or less occupied in making models of imaginary vessels and boats, -poring over an old English work on the sparring of vessels, which he -had borrowed of Mr. Foss. At that day labor was not divided, as it is -now; carpenters were both spar-makers and joiners, bored all the holes, -and put in the fastening, the blacksmith only riveting the bolts. - -John occupied himself in contriving how to economize his iron to the -greatest possible extent, and in what method, with the means and -appliances at his disposal, he should make the rudder-irons, which, -for a vessel of the size of the sloop, was a heavy, difficult job. -There was a great deal more hard sledging connected with blacksmith -work then than at present. The smith can now purchase iron of almost -any size and shape he wants; at that time there was no round iron, and -the iron for small work must be drawn, or split up from large, square -bars; it was this that made the old iron peculiarly valuable to John; -it was of the right size, as the greater part of it had come out of old -vessels; he found a great many bolts that only needed straightening, or -a piece cut off the end. - -One evening Charlie was studying, Ben reading a newspaper, Ricker -asleep in his chair, and Hen Griffin making a windmill for Ben, Jr. -John had been sitting for half an hour on a block in the chimney -corner, the tongs in his hands, with which he took up little pieces of -coal and squat them, without uttering a word. At length he flung down -the tongs, and, jumping upright, cried,-- - -“Ben! Ben! look here!” - -“Well, I’m looking straight at you.” - -“You know we are going to be desperately put to it to raise money -enough to buy sails and rigging, and are pinching all we dare to on the -hull and fastening on that account.” - -“Yes.” - -“You know how they make booms in a river to hold logs; they take long -sticks, and fasten them together with iron, and sometimes with withes -and ropes, and they hold acres of logs against the whole force of the -freshet; and don’t you know what a master-strain spruce poles, not more -than six inches through, will bear--how they will buckle before they’ll -break?” - -“Yes.” - -“Well, then, what’s the reason we couldn’t make wooden shrouds by -bolting some tough spars to the mast-head and wales, and save shrouds -and chain-plates, which would be a _tremendous_ saving.” - -“There wouldn’t be any give to them: when the mast sprung, it would -bring all the strain on the poles, and carry them away.” - -“But,” asked Henry, “why couldn’t you put a dead-eye to the lower end, -set it up with a lanyard, just like any rigging? Then there would be -spring enough; or, if you didn’t like to bolt to the masthead, put rope -at both ends: you would _then_ save a good deal. I’m sure there would -be no danger of losing the spars by the stretching of the rigging.” - -“They would be strong to bear an up-and-down strain, as strong as rope, -but would be liable to be broken by anything striking them, when set -up taut: suppose the boom should happen to strike them, or the yards, -anchor-stock, or jib-boom of another vessel hauling by in the dock? -They wouldn’t stand anything of that kind, like rigging.” - -“You say she’s going to carry a topsail and top-gallant-sail; the -topmast backstays would protect them from the boom; and as for the -rest, you could carry spare ones in case of accident.” - -“That might do; but wouldn’t the straps of your dead-eyes split the end -of the stick?” - -“Treenail it.” - -“Where could you get spars long enough, without having them two thirds -as large as the mast?” - -“Make them in pieces,” said Charlie. “Split up a large tree with the -whip-saw: I can find a big ash that will make four, or a spruce or -yellow birch.” - -“Well, you _can_ do it; but I should prefer rope.” - -“To be sure, father; but if we are hard up, put right up snug to it, -we’ll do it, sure.” - -When, afterwards, Ben told his father of this novel method of economy, -the captain laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. - -“I wonder,” said he, “what they won’t think of next. I always thought -myself indifferently good for contrivance; but they go ahead of me.” - -“They’ve made first-rate calculations, thus far, in everything.” - -“I guess Isaac was right: he said difficulty would spur ’em up, and -draw ’em out. I should think it was doing it, if it has drawn that out -of ’em.” - -While this conversation was going on, Sally was sewing with all her -might, improving the moments while the children were asleep: she had, -nevertheless, been an attentive listener. At length, laying down -her work, she said, “Charlie, I don’t suppose you would think very -highly of any advice or opinion coming from a woman in regard to these -affairs.” - -“Yes, I would, mother; I would think a great deal of your opinion about -anything.” - -“Well, then, I think I can help you about your sails.” - -“_You_, mother!” cried Charlie, in astonishment. - -“Yes, me. I think that I, and other women that I can find could weave -the _greater_ part, if not the whole, of the duck for your sails, if -we could get the flax, and a good deal cheaper than you can buy it: -perhaps it wouldn’t look so well, but I’ll be bound ’twould wear as -well.” - -“You’ve done it now, Sally,” said Ben. “That is the most sensible plan -for saving I’ve heard yet. But do you know what an undertaking you’ve -laid out for yourself? Why, there’ll be over seven hundred yards of -cloth in the mainsail alone.” - -“Did you ever know me set out to do anything I didn’t accomplish?” - -“No; except this.” - -“I shall accomplish this.” - -“But,” said John, quite bewildered, “I didn’t know canvas was made in -looms, like other cloth.” - -“All cloth is made in looms.” - -“Yes; but I didn’t think sail-cloth was made in such looms as yours.” - -“In England,” said Ben, “all the sail-cloth for their merchant and -naval service is wove in such looms, as no English vessel is allowed -to wear any other. If we were under England, as we were a few years -ago, Sally couldn’t make this cloth if she wanted to; it would have to -be made there; but they import the hemp and linen yarn from Russia and -other places. It used to be all spun by hand, on a little wheel; but I -understand of late they’ve got mills to go by water that spin.” - -“But I shouldn’t think a woman could weave such heavy stuff.” - -“Can’t they?” said Sally, going to a drawer, and taking out a piece -of bed-tick that she had woven with four treadles, and beat up thick. -“What do you think of that? Would any wind get through that?” - -“Well, I’ll give up now; but still, I don’t see how so much cloth as -they use in England, and send over here, and, I suppose, everywhere -else, _can_ be made in such a small way.” - -But this, which was entirely new to John, excited his wonder, and was -so difficult of belief, was no matter of surprise to Charlie. - -“_Small way!_” he exclaimed: “a good many strands make a rope. O, you -don’t know much about England. Why, the people there are thicker than -flies around a dead herring, glad to turn their hand to anything to get -their bread, and thousands can’t get it; not because they are too lazy -to work, but can’t get the work to do, are helped by the parish, and -often die of hunger.” - -“_Die of hunger!_ That’s awful.” - -“No more awful than true, though. There are whole villages in -England--and I’ve heard my father say it’s just so in Ireland and -Scotland--where, from year’s end to year’s end, all that the greater -part of the people do is to raise, spin, and weave flax; those that -are able to, hire land; but the poor, that can’t hire land, why, the -merchants find the yarn, and give them so much a yard to weave it; and -old people, seventy and eighty years old, that can’t do anything else, -will do a little something at that; an old wife, that can’t get across -the floor without her crutch, and her head as white as a sheet, will -sit in the corner and croon a song, because hunger drives her to it: -men and women weave the year round.” - -“_Men weave?_” - -“Yes, indeed; hundreds and thousands of them never do anything else all -their lives--_couldn’t_ do anything else.” - -“I declare! a man weaving, sitting down behind a loom, doing women’s -work!” - -“Yes, sitting down behind a loom; and thank God for the privilege.” - -“I guess they would keep me there a good while. I’d put on a petticoat, -and take a dish-cloth in my hand, and done with it. Only think of Joe -Griffin, Uncle Isaac, and our Ben weaving!” - -“It is so there; and you go to one of their houses, knock at the door, -and a man will come to open it, with his beard stuck full of thrums and -lint.” - -“So you see, John,” said Sally, “where sail-cloth comes from. You know -old Mr. Blaisdell?” - -“Yes.” - -“He was a weaver before he came to this country; and they say -sometimes, of a rainy day, when his son’s wife has a piece in the loom, -he’ll get in and weave like everything.” - -“But, mother, the vessel would rot on the stocks before you could spin -and weave cloth enough for her sails: besides, where could you get the -flax?” - -“I’ve planned it all out; for I’ve been thinking of it ever since you -set out to build the vessel, and will have the sails done before you do -the hull, I can tell you.” - -“I should like to know how,” said her husband. - -“I’m going to begin right off, while my family is small. I want Charlie -to go over to Fred in the morning, and tell him to buy all the flax -and linen yarn he can get; he can pay in goods, or half goods and half -money, and that will help him; the yarn will do for the light sails: -what we spin, we’ll spin a coarser thread, for the larger sails. Fred -can send potash to Boston, and buy the flax. I think there’s flax -enough round here: if not, there is in Boston; it is not long since a -vessel-load of it was sent from there to Ireland. I’ll risk Fred for -getting flax.” - -“So will I,” said Charlie; “because he don’t have any opportunity to -turn in his work, as John and I do, and will jump at the chance.” - -“But the spinning and weaving!” said Ben. - -“There’s Sally Griffin--she’s only Joe and herself to take care of; -last time I saw her, she told me they had only one cow; that she -hadn’t half enough to do: she’ll weave a lot, and spin, too; so will -Hannah Murch, and they’ve got the flax; so will my mother, and our -Jane, Mary Rhines and Elizabeth. There’s Danforth Eaton’s wife hasn’t -chick nor child in the world, and old Mrs. Smullen’s a capital spinner, -and Mr. Blaisdell, a born weaver, who never did anything else till he -came to this country, is getting rather old for hard work; his wife, -too, and his son’s wife and daughters, are weavers. I know as well as -I want to that he wouldn’t like anything better than to weave till -spring work comes on, and every rainy day after; then there’s the -three Godsoe girls and their mother, living with their brother Jacob; -the girls take in weaving, and the old lady can spin; there won’t be -much spinning; we can buy most of the yarn. When we begin to build, I -will hire two girls, and one of them can weave most of the time in the -corn-house. I know of lots more I can find. I’m going over with Charlie -in the morning, and get Hannah Murch to help me hunt them up, and then -give it all into the hands of Fred: there will be no trouble; everybody -will be for it, because they see we are trying to start something to -help the place. Just calculate for yourself: there’s more than a year -to do it in; of that coarse cloth, a person would weave twelve yards -in a day--three hundred and twelve yards a month, at least. Old Mr. -Blaisdell alone would weave your mainsail in two months, or less; for -he would weave fourteen yards a day. I have reckoned up seventeen now, -and can find fifty. Now what do you think, Ben?” - -“I think you’ll do it; for if you, Hannah Murch, and Uncle Isaac get -together, you’ll set the town on fire.” - -“O, mother,” cried Charlie, “you are the best woman that ever was, or -ever will be. Now, mother, you didn’t think, when I told you that night -at milking that there would be a vessel built here before five years, -there would be one built before your own door in two, and you would -make her sails.” - -“But you remember I told you, when it _did_ come to pass, I would send -a venture in her: I’ve got lots of hens, and I want some money to buy -an eight-day brass clock with, that shows the changes of the moon.” - -“O, mother, we’ll raise lots of hens, and you shall have all the room -in the vessel you want.” - -The next morning Sally went round among her old friends and -school-mates, who received her with open arms, and entered heart and -soul into her plan. Uncle Blaisdell was delighted, and told Sally he -would oversee the whole work. - -“If you had all the canvas these old fingers have wove,” said he, “it -would make sails for a good many such vessels.” - -Old Mrs. Yelf, contrary to all expectations, had recovered: Sally found -her sitting by the fire, and she was greatly interested. - -“Sally, tell Fred to bring me the yarn. I’ll weave enough for a small -sail, if I die for’t. I shall glory in it, and an old lady’s blessing -shall go with it. They’re good boys; they have begun right; they’ve -sought the Lord in their youthful days, and to whatever they set their -hands they’ll prosper.” - -“We’ve got the sails under way,” said Charlie, “and got our iron: we -shall want a good deal of tar, for she must have a brimstone bottom, or -the worms will eat her all up in two months at the West Indies.” - -“We can make that,” said John. - -“Make tar?” - -“Yes, indeed: cut down pine trees, take the limbs where we have cut -timber and knees, and make a tar-pit. I know all about that.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -CHARLIE’S THEODOLITE. - - -It was now the latter part of winter; the snow was deep; Charlie began -to think about cutting his mast, main boom, and bowsprit. He did not at -first contemplate having anything above the top-gallant sail; but when -Sally came home and related her conversation with Mrs. Yelf, Ben said, -“Charlie you must gratify the old lady; it would be bad luck and a sin -not to do so.” - -“But, father, there is no sail that she could weave cloth enough for.” - -“Well, then you must have one on purpose for her; have a flying royal; -there will be no braces, the sheets will make fast to the top-gallant -yard, it will furl right in with the top-gallant sail, the yard will -be underneath the top-gallant stay and when the yard hoists up, the -stay will go with it; it will be a little thing, not more than forty or -forty-five yards: she can do that well enough.” - -The lower mast was no less than twenty-eight inches in diameter when -made, and eighty feet long. This required a tree of great size; there -was no such one left in the lot from which the boys were to cut their -timber, and they were obliged to buy one. The bowsprit, which was -shorter, and the boom, which, though seventy-five feet in length, was -much smaller, they could obtain on their own lot. There were trees -enough on the island of much larger size; but those enormous trees, -that would make a thirty-six inch mast for a man-of-war Ben didn’t like -to cut, now that the pressure of poverty was removed. - -It would have been a great deal of work for Charlie to have gone on to -his own land, broken a road through the deep snow to the back end of -his lot to obtain it; then, to tow so large a stick six miles would -have been a great undertaking in the winter time. - -“Charlie,” said Ben, “there’s a tree stands a couple of rods to the -north-east of the big pine that has the eagle’s nest on it, large -enough to make your mast. There’s a short crook in it near the top; if -it is long enough below that, I will sell it to you cheap, because the -crook spoils it for a mast for a ship of the line, though it is large -enough otherwise: let us go and look at it.” - -When they came to view it, Ricker, who was a man of great experience in -the woods, thought it was long enough; Ben thought it was not; Charlie -didn’t presume to give an opinion, but his knowledge of surveying -helped him out of the difficulty. “I’ll measure it,” he said. - -“You can’t climb it,” said Ben, “and there’s no scrubby tree to fall on -to it, to climb: how are you going to measure it?” - -The ground around was level; Charlie made a mark on the tree where it -was to be cut off, then measured a distance from it equal to the length -of his mast, and drove down a stake; then cut two straight ash sprouts, -one two feet, the other one foot long, found the middle of the longest, -made a hole in it with the point of his jackknife, whittled the end of -the short one to a wedge, and stuck it into it. He now got down on his -hands and knees at the stake, held the short stick as nearly level with -the mark on the butt of the tree as possible, then sighted over the -ends of the two sticks; his eye struck the tree a short distance below -the crook. - -“It’s a snug rub, but I guess ’twill go; cut it down. I’ll risk it.” - -Ricker and John soon brought the great tree to the ground, when it was -found to be seven inches longer than required. These two ash sprouts -were Charlie’s theodolite, and answered his purpose as well as one that -would cost two hundred dollars. - -“Well done, my boy,” said Ben, who had watched the operation with great -interest. “That’s a capital application of the principle that the two -sides of a right-angled triangle are equal.” - -“I could have hit it exactly if I had brought a plumb line, to have -taken a true level of the base.” - -The reason that Charlie made the perpendicular stick longer than the -other was, that he might get his eye down to sight at the trunk of the -tree; otherwise he must have dug a hole in the ground. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -HARD-SCRABBLE. - - -In a few days after the occurrences related in the previous chapter, -Peterson came to Captain Rhines, declaring that he could by no means -consent to be passed by in the sail-making; that no one in the place -felt more interest in his young captain than himself; for had he not -taught him seamanship? and that his old woman could weave with the best -of them. - -“Indeed, James,” said the captain, “Luce shall have all the cloth to -weave that she wants; you shall help make the sails and rig, and we -reckon upon you to calk her.” - -Charlie continued to work with his small crew till the first of May, -when, the days being long and the weather warm, he recalled his -hands, and the work went on apace. Not having conveniences, as at -present, to bring the plank to the timbers, when they came to bend the -ceiling-plank at the bow and stern, they spiked two pieces of plank -across the butts of a couple of elms that grew side by side; then -taking the plank hot from the steam-box, they put the end of it under -one plank and over the others. Four or five men then took hold of it, -while Charlie struck on it with the edge of his broadaxe, whang! when -the men would bear down, and bend the plank, then he would strike in -another place. This was to make it bend by cutting it part way off, -just as joiners sometimes saw scarfs in a board when they want it to -bend, as in building a front-yard fence at the corner of a street, only -the joiner saws on the inside, and, when he bends his board, the scarf -closes up; whereas, they cut on the outside, and when the plank was -brought to, the cuts gaped, and the plank was no stronger for the wood -between. - -They did not make any tar. Fred contrived a method to obtain it much -cheaper than they could have made it, and leave a handsome profit for -himself--a twofold advantage, as he was obliged to take the money -expended on the vessel from his business, which was a great detriment. -He needed every cent to buy goods, as his business was increasing, and -he would not buy on credit, although Mr. Welch was ready to trust him. - -But as the lack of means tended directly to develop the mechanical -ability of John and Charlie, by compelling contrivance and effort, -thus did it sharpen the wits of Fred. He bought potash for half money, -half goods; fish for all store pay, or one fourth money, thus making -a profit on his goods; sent the potash and fish to Boston, sold them -for cash, and bought tow, cotton cloth, and shoes, for negro clothing. -He filled the Perseverance up with these articles, and a cheaper -quality of fish; paid Ben out of his store for the boat; went captain -himself, with Peterson for pilot and sailing-master, Sydney Chase and -young Peterson as crew; bartered his cargo in Carolina for tar, pitch, -turpentine, and corn, and came back to Boston; sold part of the corn, -and all the tar, pitch, and turpentine he did not want for the vessel, -for cash, bought a stock of goods to bring home with him, and ground -the corn in his own mill. - -“That,” said Captain Rhines, delighted, “is what I call a calculation.” - -The vessel was completed in August, and launched the 29th of September, -the very day Charlie was twenty-one. In addition to building the -vessel, they had, in the mean time, cleared all the growth from the -land on which they cut their timber, burnt over and fenced it for Ben; -also helped him cut his hay and hoe his corn. Built of pine, and now -well seasoned, she was as light on the water as a cork. - -The whole town came to the launching, for all were interested in her, -even Parson Goodhue, with his new hat and wig; but he kept a respectful -distance from the gander. There was much diversity of opinion among -the owners in respect to a name. Some wanted to call her Charlie Bell; -but Charlie declared she looked too bad to be named for anybody. Some -wanted to call her the Pioneer, others, Enterprise. - -“I’ll tell you what to call her,” said Joe Griffin. “You’ve had such -a hard scratch to build her, and ain’t done scratching yet, call her -Hard-Scrabble.” - -This was unanimously assented to. It had, indeed, been a hard scrabble, -and the conflict was by no means ended. The boys feared the worst was -to come. She was to be fitted for sea. - -Charlie was certainly right in saying that she looked too bad to be -named for anybody, though it was allowed on all hands that she was -an excellent model, true in all her proportions, and not a bunch or -a slack place could be found anywhere. Yet she was rough as rough -could be. Even then it was customary to plane the wales and bulwarks, -and paint them black, with a turpentine streak, and the spars were -generally painted black. But the wales of the Hard-Scrabble were just -as the adze left them, although with the narrow adze, used in those -days, the timber was left much smoother than after the wider ones now -in use. The men were also skilful dubbers. The deck beams, which are -now planed and smoothed with sand-paper, they left rough; but then they -dubbed them, without breaking their chip, the whole length of the beam, -leaving a succession of little ridges, which were thought very fine; -and there are not many workmen at the present day can do that: as for -bulwarks, she had none. - -Aft she had a high quarter-deck, about twenty feet long, under which -were the accommodations, where a fireplace was built, the cooking done, -and all hands lived, the men being separated from the officers by a -bulkhead. When she was loaded, this would be the only dry place in her, -as the lower deck would be at the water’s edge, perhaps under water. - -A pole, called a rough tree, was run along from forward to aft, and -fastened to stanchions to prevent falling overboard. The top timbers, -however, came up all along, and there was a short rail at the bows, -and all along the quarter-deck; also some heavy pieces of white oak, -made to run across the vessel in several places, with a mortise in the -ends, which slipped over the heads of the top timbers above the deck -load, giving great support to the upper works, as the waist was deep. -The deck was as rough as it came from the saw; not a board about the -cabin, inside or out, was planed, except where it was necessary to make -a joint. - -As Charlie had predicted, there was not a brushful of paint on her, -except that the name was put on the bare white plank with lampblack -and oil, instead of chalk, as he thought would be the case. Her wales -looked the funniest. They could not afford pitch to go all over her, so -they only put it on the seams; and, as the plank were not painted, she -looked queer enough with a white stripe and a black one. They wanted to -economize pitch for the bottom, which must have a solid coat of pitch -and brimstone, to prevent the worms from eating her up in the West -Indies. Into this pitch they put some of the yellow ochre, which the -boys got on their excursion to Indian camp-ground. The knees were but -half bolted; there was not a butt-bolt in her; the butts were merely -spiked; spruce limbs took the place of bolts. - -Captain Rhines said she would do well enough to go one voyage or two, -till she earned something, and they could put in fastenings when they -were better able. - -She had neither figure nor billet-head, only a gammon knee. In short, -with her handsome proportions and fine model, she appeared like a -well-built man in most vile apparel. - -The cloth for the sails now began to come in, and the bolts were -piled up in the corn-house. In consequence of all this hard work, -contrivance, and pinching economy in every direction, she stood them at -the wharf, with her mast in and spars made, twelve dollars per ton. - -The canvas and remaining expense, which they were now able to estimate, -they found would be about one thousand five hundred dollars. Their -money was nearly all expended; but they had paid their bills as they -went along, and the vessel was in the water. They could now do but -little more in the way of saving, as they could not turn in their own -labor, but must have cash. They therefore put their heads together to -devise means for raising it. - -Captain Rhines and Ben both offered them the money to fit her for sea; -but, to their astonishment, they refused it. The captain endeavored in -vain to prevail on them to permit him to lend them the money. - -“Just think of it, John! Here is this vessel lying idle at the wharf, -and you are losing the interest of what she cost you, and it will be -another year before you can earn the money, and rig her. Before that -time, you might send her to the West Indies, and make her pay for -herself. Ben and I will charter and load her the moment she’s ready for -sea; we’ll let Seth Warren take her, and go out to the West Indies this -winter.” - -“But, father, the cloth for the sails ain’t made.” - -“There’s enough done for the mainsail: you wouldn’t want to go out -there till the middle of January, so as to come on the coast in good -weather; the cloth will be ready by that time. Ben, Peterson, and I can -go right to work on the mainsail.” - -“But we built her for Isaac; he owns a quarter of her, and I shouldn’t -like to have him come home and find we had taken another into our -concern, and sent him off with his vessel; then, if the man should have -bad luck, he certainly wouldn’t like it.” - -“Then I’ll go myself. I don’t think Isaac would object to my having -been in her, especially if he found she had paid for herself.” - -Mrs. Rhines made a sign to John to remain firm; for of all things she -dreaded, it was her husband’s going to sea. - -“Father,” said John, at length, “you are real kind and good; but we -solemnly agreed, when we were all together, to build this vessel -ourselves, and not to run in debt. I can’t break that pledge, -especially in the absence of one of the contracting parties. I don’t -think it would be right.” - -“No more it wouldn’t. I didn’t know that, but thought it was only a -boyish notion of yours.” - -“If we are _losing_ interest, we are not _paying_ interest: we don’t -owe for her.” - -It required more money to rig her, in proportion to the cost of the -hull, than it would in ordinary cases, they had economized so much on -the hull, she being only half fastened, and no expense having been laid -out for finish or paint. - -Fred calculated to raise his money by some smart stroke in business: he -had no other way. John and Charlie had many plans under consideration. -Charlie could build boats, John could go to work at Portland, or, as -they wanted to be together, Charlie could go to Stroudwater. - -But it was now October. Isaac would be at home in a year: they could -not in that time earn money enough to fit her for sea, and they wanted -to be able to load her with lumber from Charlie’s land, as Ben did the -Ark. - -After looking at the matter in every possible light, and puzzling their -heads to make something out of nothing, this committee of ways and -means determined to go and consult with Uncle Isaac. - -After stating the case fully to him, Charlie said,-- - -“Suppose John goes to Portland, and I to Stroudwater, to work, and -while I’m gone this winter, get Joe Griffin to cut the wood off of -Indian Island, and put it on the bank, send it to Boston or Salem, -that, with what we could both earn, would, I think, with what we shall -save by having the canvas and sails made at home, fetch us out. If I -should ever go on my place to live, I should want a sheep pasture; and -that would make a nice one if it was cleared. I could keep sheep there: -in the winter they could live on kelp, rock-weed, and thatch round the -shores, with a very little hay, as father’s do on Griffin’s Island.” - -“I shouldn’t want to do that: you’d have to give Joe fifty cents for -cutting and putting it on the bank. It would bring nine shillings -in Boston: that wouldn’t leave you more than two hundred and fifty -dollars, at the outside.” - -“Yes; but it’s going to take me almost a year to earn that in a -shipyard, and I can be earning all the time while they are cutting the -wood.” - -“If you cut the wood off that island, which lies right off the mouth -of your harbor, and shelters it from the winds, it will leave it much -exposed. It isn’t large enough to make much of a sheep pasture: you -can’t keep sheep there in winter; for, besides there not being dulse, -Irish moss, and kelp, as there is on Griffin’s, and the outer islands, -the bay freezes in the winter, and the wolves would go over on the -ice and kill them. I wouldn’t cut it off, and expose my harbor, for -anything.” - -“Potash brings cash: couldn’t I cut the white oaks and rock maples at -the shore, and make potash?” - -“What a way that would be!--to cut down good ship timber and sugar -trees, that would make keels for ships, burn them up for potash, and -that is the end of it. If we get to building vessels here, you will -want it all for ship timber, because it is right on the spot. Let the -folks back in the country, where ship timber isn’t worth anything, burn -it up for potash: that would be saving at the tap and losing at the -bunghole.” - -“But I shall never build another vessel if I don’t get this one done, -and I want the money.” - -“I see what you want,--to raise the money quicker than you can earn -it in the yard or shop, and be together, too. You’d be willing to do -almost anything to bring that about.” - -“That’s it, exactly, Uncle Isaac,” said John. - -“Well, then, listen to me. You’ve got money enough to buy the bolt-rope -for your sails--haven’t you?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Well, then, start right off for Portland and Stroudwater as fast as -you can go. Don’t lose a minute. Send down the bolt-rope and twine for -Captain Rhines and Ben to make the sails with at their leisure. Be -back here by Christmas; and you, Joe Griffin, and myself will go back -to the Canada line, spend the winter, and hunt bears, beavers, otters, -and moose. If we don’t get furs enough to bring you out clear, and -something more, then my name ain’t Isaac Murch.” - -The boys listened, with staring eyes and open mouths, till he -concluded, then making a rush, both caught him round the neck. - -“Just what we’ve always been longing to do!” said Charlie. “Just what -we’ve been talking, dreaming about, and telling we meant to do some -time.” - -The boy-nature, which had been in abeyance a long time, and kept down -by hard work and anxiety, was all up now, fresh and blithe as May. - -“How glad I am we got stuck!” said Charlie. “Now we’ll make money, and -have a good time, both together. O, I wish Fred could go!” - -“But will Joe go?” asked John. - -“Will he eat when he’s hungry? He’s almost as well acquainted as I -am. He’s been logging and hunting up that way. He saw a hunter last -week, that came out of the woods because his folks were sick. He’s a -great friend of Joe’s, and told him of places where the beavers are -getting ready to build their houses, and where the moose are going to -make a yard, and said, as he couldn’t go into the woods this winter, -he would lend him his steel traps. I’ve got a few traps, and know -where I can hire a few more, and we must make up the number we lack -with dead-falls. I’ll make snow-shoes for you and John, and arrange -everything. We can’t start without snow, and therefore if there’s no -snow when you come home, we must wait till there is.” - -“But,” asked John, “can’t we hunt round here?” - -“Yes, indeed. Kill bears and wolves, and get the bounty--anywhere -within fifty miles.” - -“Perhaps,” said John, “we shan’t have to come to the wooden shrouds, -after all.” - -“I hope we shan’t. I didn’t think we should,” said Charlie. - -Thus encouraged, the boys started off for Portland in exuberant -spirits, having first made an arrangement with Fred that he should -employ Ricker and the Eatons to cut logs enough on Charlie’s land to -make one hundred and seventy-five thousand of boards, begin to haul -them to the mill on the first snow, in order to have them seasoning, to -load the Hard-Scrabble. - -“We thought Fred wouldn’t have so good a chance as ourselves,” said -Charlie, “because, not being a carpenter nor blacksmith, he couldn’t -turn in his work, but he’s turned in his goods. He sent those poor -hake, that nobody here could eat, out South to feed the negroes, and -got pitch, turpentine, and corn. He’ll pay for most of the flax, and -for the weaving, in goods. He’s taken a good many orders since we’ve -been building. He’ll pay the Eatons for cutting and hauling the timber, -and the mill men for sawing, from the store. He won’t get much out of -Ricker only his tobacco; so I shouldn’t wonder if he didn’t have to -pay much money, after all.” - -“I guess,” said John, “it will be you, and I, and Isaac that will have -to pay the money. His goods will come to more than our labor.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -PLEASURE AND PROFIT. - - -It is the latter part of December, just before sunset. The snow, which -had fallen in successive storms since the first of the month, now -lay deep on the ground. Making their way in Indian file through the -forest are four persons, in whom we recognize Uncle Isaac, Joe Griffin, -Charlie, and John. They are each of them harnessed to a singular sort -of a vehicle, called in hunters’ phrase “toboggin,” by long thongs of -deer-skin, which are put across the breast, and secured to the neck by -another strap to prevent their slipping down, like the breastplate of -a horse. The vehicle consists of a cedar board, eight feet long and -eighteen inches wide, quarter of an inch thick, made perfectly smooth, -and the forward end bent up like the nose of a sled, some bars put -across to strengthen it, to which to fasten the load. This formed the -lightest sled imaginable, being so long, in proportion to its width, -as to receive but little obstruction from the snow. The forward part, -bent up, glided easily over the drifts or logs, and it was withal so -thin, that it bent, and accommodated itself to the inequalities of the -surface. Upon the sledges they carry their rifles, powder, balls, and -buckshot, steel-traps, blankets, and a small kettle, pork, bread, and -parched corn, a large file, whetstone, axe, and other necessaries, -including a frow (a large knife) for splitting shingles. They wear -moccasons and snow-shoes; in their belts a knife and hatchet. Each man -also has a horn of tinder, flint, steel, and brimstone matches. - -The boys were, evidently weary with their unaccustomed work, and -Charlie cast many a furtive glance towards the setting sun, the light -of which shone red through the trees. It was also evident that even Joe -was not unaffected by fatigue; but upon the seasoned frame of Uncle -Isaac the journey apparently made no impression. - -“There ought to be a brook somewhere about here,” said he. “Ah! I see -the place. It’s just beyond that hemlock, though the water itself is -all covered with ice and snow. We’ll camp there. We ought to have -camped two hours ago, but I wanted to reach this spot.” - -This was the first experience of real camp and hunter’s life the boys -had ever known. To be sure they had camped out in summer, on Smutty -Nose and in other places; but now it was bitter cold, and the snow -two feet deep. They were also tired. Uncle Isaac, taking counsel only -of his own toughened sinews, had not made sufficient allowance for -the little practice they had ever known in snow-shoe walking. Their -shoulders ached with the cutting of the straps, and their feet from the -pressure of the snow-shoes. Their loads, light at first, grew heavier -every mile. - -As they looked around upon the trees covered with snow, their loads -white with frost, realized that they were in a wilderness, no house -within thirty miles, they began to feel that the hunting, to which they -had looked forward with such rapturous anticipations, had its rough as -well as its romantic side. The place where they had halted was in a -heavy growth of hard wood, largely mixed with hemlock, which, in the -gathering twilight of the short winter day, with their long branches, -gave a peculiar black and gloomy appearance to the spot in the eyes of -Charlie and John; but not so with the others. - -“What a glorious place for a camp!” said Joe, going up to a large -hemlock, which had been turned up by the wind the year before, which -made, with its great roots matted together and filled with frozen -earth, an impenetrable barrier against the north-west wind, blowing -keen and cold; “and here is something to warm us,” taking his axe from -the sled, and attacking with vigorous blows a large beech, that stood -with its dead, dry branches extended to the wintry sky. - -Uncle Isaac and the boys now took off their snow-shoes, and with them -scraped off the snow around the stump to the ground; then, cutting -some crotched poles, set them up in the snow, trod it around to keep -them steady, then putting other poles into the crotches, rested their -ends on the top of the stump, thus forming rafters, and over them -threw brush, till they made it all tight, leaving a hole in the centre -for the smoke to go out; then covered the floor thickly with hemlock -branches, and flung their blankets on it. By this time Joe had the tree -cut up. They first carried the large logs into the camp, then brought -along the smaller limbs and dry twigs, adding them to the pile. - -Meanwhile Uncle Isaac and John collected a whole armful of birch bark -from the trees, and kindled it. In a moment the fire, catching the -great mass of dry wood, streamed through the hole in the top of the -camp, and glancing upon the dark masses of hemlocks, lit up the faces -of the group, as they stood around the fire, with a ruddy glow, and -changed the whole character of the scene as by enchantment. - -The next morning they broke camp, and travelled till noon, camped, and -rested during the remainder of the day. Next morning, being refreshed -by rest, and well seasoned to their work, they started before daylight, -and travelled through a dense forest till Saturday noon, when they came -to a place where fires had destroyed the growth of trees many years -before, and the land was overrun with bushes, alternating with clear -spots. Its northern edge was broken into gentle hills and vales. - -While eating dinner, they espied some deer on the side of one of the -hills, browsing among the young growth that had come up after the fire, -and scraping away the snow with their feet to get at the dead grass. - -A fresh breeze was blowing and roaring in the tree tops, which would -conceal the noise of their approach. It was evident that the deer did -not see them, as they had not yet emerged from the wood, and had -instantly lain down on seeing the deer. The wind was also blowing -directly from the animals, so that they could not scent them. - -There were clumps of bushes, thickly matted, with large open spaces -between them. Those nearest to the deer were within gunshot; but the -difficulty lay in crossing the open spaces, as they would have to do so -in sight of the herd. But Uncle Isaac said if Charlie and John would -remain where they were, he and Joe would surprise them. - -He then cut a parcel of pine boughs, and tied them all around Joe’s -head, Joe in turn doing the same for him; so that when they got down -on the snow, which was hard enough to bear them, they, at a distance, -resembled a bush. Then they crawled along, watching the deer, remaining -motionless when they saw them looking towards them; but when they -turned from them to feed, crawled on till they reached a clump of -bushes. Charlie and John watched them with breathless attention as they -entered the last clump of bushes. It seemed to them an age after they -disappeared from sight; still they heard nothing. The deer now began to -manifest distrust. The leader raised his head and snuffed the air. The -greater part of them began to move their tails violently, and left off -feeding. At that moment the report of the rifles was heard, the leader -fell down in his tracks, and another, after two or three leaps, fell -on his knees, when Joe, rushing to his side, drew his knife across his -throat. - -They were now highly elated, as they had provisions enough for a long -time. Hanging the carcasses in trees, to prevent the wolves from -getting them, they pressed on, in order to reach a suitable place to -camp before night. - -Long before dark, they arrived at a place pronounced by Uncle Isaac to -be just the thing: it was a great precipice of rock, that rose, for -the most part, perpendicular to the height of twelve or fifteen feet, -but in one place jutted over very much, forming quite a cave at its -base, filled with stones of no great size, that had fallen from the -precipice, and lay buried beneath the snow. They cut a lot of dry and -green limbs and bushes, and threw into this cavity, and then set them -on fire, which melted all the snow, and warmed the whole cliff. Then -they rolled out the scattering rocks, and had a floor on one side, and -a roof overhead of stone. They now cut some long poles, and leaned -them against the precipice, leaving a hole for the smoke, and covered -them with brush. There was a crack in the ledge, into which Uncle -Isaac drove a stake, and affixed a crotch to it, to hang the kettles -on. As the morrow was the Sabbath, an extra quantity of wood was to be -prepared; the camp being so high and large, they put a good portion of -it inside. - -While Uncle Isaac and Joe were doing this, and making all snug, the -boys unloaded one of the sledges, and went back after the deer. - -It was a glorious camp: the rock retained the heat received from the -fire; they had plenty of venison, and now rested, and laid plans for -the future. That night, at twelve o’clock, began a most furious snow -storm; but little did they heed it in their snug camp, with plenty to -eat, and a rousing fire. The snow drifting over the camp made it all -the warmer. - -The storm continued two days, clearing off with a high wind, and they -remained in camp three days. - -Just afternoon on the following Saturday, Uncle Isaac informed them -that they were in the vicinity of the river, upon a feeder of which -they expected to find the beavers. Joe told them there was an old -logging camp near by: they found the walls of the old camp (which was -built of very large logs) as good as ever; but the roof had fallen -in. The deacon’s seat, as it is called (made of a plank hewed from a -stick of timber, and which is always placed beside the fire in logging -camps), being well preserved with grease and smoke, still remained. It -was but a light labor for so many skilful hands to repair the roof, -scrape out part of the snow, and cover the remainder with brush. - -After supper, during which Joe had been uncommonly silent, he sat -upon the deacon’s seat, his arms folded upon his breast, and looking -intently into the fire. - -This was so contrary to his usual custom (as he was always the life of -the camp-fire, with his merry laugh), that they all gazed upon him with -astonishment, and Uncle Isaac was just about to ask if he was sick, -when he broke the silence by saying, “This camp seems very natural to -me; but it calls up many different feelings: every inch of this ground -is familiar to me, though I haven’t been on it, till I came here summer -before last with the surveyors, for ten years. I was just turned of -seventeen, a great, strapping boy, like John here, when Richard Clay, -who was foreman of the scout that was going into the woods, persuaded -my father to let me go with them. Father was very loath to consent; -he said I was too young for such work; that I was a great, overgrown -boy, and, though large and smart, had not got my strength, and it might -strain and hurt me for life; that he had known many such instances. -But Richard hung on, saying he would see that I did not overdo. The -gang was made up of our neighbors, and young men, with all of whom I -was acquainted, and I was crazy to go. Dick offered me high wages; -father was poor, and wanted the money; I coaxed mother, and got her -on my side; finally we prevailed, and wrung it out of father, and I -went. Well, as you may suppose, taking care of me didn’t amount to a -great deal. Dick wanted to get all the logs cut he could, and I wanted -no favors, and it was just who could do the most; but I was naturally -tough, though I had grown fast; for we were very poor when I was a boy, -and I had lived hard; my bones were made of Indian corn, which I shall -always think is the best stuff to make bones of.” - -“That’s so,” said Uncle Isaac, by way of parenthesis. - -Without heeding the interruption, Joe went on. “Well, as I was saying, -we were poor: father was clearing up his farm; I had a natural turn to -an axe, and had been used to falling and chopping ever since I was -fifteen years old, and, boy as I was, could hold play with most men. -Uncle Isaac, you knew Sam Apthorp?” - -“O, yes, very well; and a fine young man he was.” - -“Well,” continued Joe, “the Apthorps were our neighbors. John Apthorp, -Sam’s father, began his clearing at the same time with mine; they cut -their first tree the same day. Sam was several years older than I, and -a powerful, smart fellow. He took a great liking to me, and taught me -about hunting, trapping, and many other things, for he was a master -hunter; and as for me, I almost worshipped him: it was for the sake of -being with him that made me so anxious to go. Sam and I, Dick Clay, and -another by the name of Rogers, came up here in August to build a camp, -cut hay, and look out the timber. O, what a happy time that was to me, -though it was the worst and hardest work I ever did before or since! It -was all new to me, and wild. That swale below where we shot the deer -hadn’t any bushes on it then, for it was all covered with grass as high -as your shoulder; there is a brook runs through it, and the beaver had -dammed and flowed it, killing all the trees, I suppose, a thousand -years before; and then the Indians, or somebody else, had broken the -dam, killed the beaver, let the water out, and the grass had come -in; you can see the old dam there yet. Well, we came up to cut this -hay: it was hot--scorching hot--not a breath of wind; for it was all -surrounded with woods except a little gap, where the brook ran into the -river, and that was filled with alders, and sich like. The black flies -and mosquitos were awful: the only way we could live was to grease -ourselves; but that only lasted a little while, for the hot sun, and -the heat of our bodies sweating, would soon take it off, and then they -would come worse than ever. We came up in a bateau, cut the hay, and -stacked it up for our oxen the next winter. O, how natural everything -here looks! There is not a log I helped cut and roll up but has a -memory belonging to it. This seat we are sitting on Sam and I hewed -out; we cut the sapling within three feet of the door, and there are -our names, which he cut on it one Sabbath morning; right in that corner -we slept side by side for two long winters; many a rousing meal we’ve -eat, and many a merry evening we’ve spent around the fire; many’s the -deer we’ve shot and the beavers we’ve trapped together here. Poor Sam! -He had found a bear’s den, and we’d made a plan for all hands to leave -off work early in the afternoon, and go and take them. All the evening -before we were sitting round the fire, I on that seat and Sam in that -corner, stretched out on the brush, with his boots off, and his feet to -the fire. We were all laughing and talking, telling how we would get -them, and what we would do with them; and Sam said he would carry a cub -home, learn it to dance, and go to Boston with it, as he had read about -their doing in the old country, and make his everlasting fortune out -of it. Sam Chesley, our old cook, was rubbing his hands, and telling, -in high life, what steaks he’d fry, and how he would cook it; and we -agreed to cast lots for the skin, on expectation, before we had got the -bears, or even seen them. We little thought, in our happiness, what -was in store for us. The next day, about ten o’clock, Sam and I fell a -large pine; it had more top than such pines commonly have; it came down -between two big hemlocks, breaking their branches, and clearing the -way as it went. A large limb, that we didn’t see, lodged in the thick -top of the hemlock; and as Sam went under it, to cut off the top log, -the second blow he struck, down came the limb, as swift and silent as -the lightning, and struck him on the head and shoulders, crushing him -dead to the ground! He never spoke or moved; when I got to him he was -dead. It was only a week before we were to break camp, and go home. Sam -and I had often, during the last month, talked of the good times we -would have when we got home,--and then to bury him, without a prayer -or sermon, in the wilderness! We had nothing to make a coffin, and so -we took two barrels that we had emptied of pork, and put his head and -shoulders in one, and the lower part of his body in the other, and then -fastened them together, and buried him in his clothes, beneath that -great blazed pine that stands on the bank. It was the first real sorrow -I ever had. I had never seen or thought anything of death before, and -this almost broke me down. I was through here, as I told you, visited -the grave, and saw the camp, though I didn’t go into it; but it didn’t -make me feel as it does to sit here on this very bench where I have sat -with him, and see his name cut on it, and the very place where we used -to sleep--” And hiding his face in his hand, he burst into tears. There -was not a dry eye in the group. - -“We didn’t stay but a week after this,” continued Joe; “we couldn’t -work with any heart, any of us; we never molested the bears, and were -glad to get away from the spot; nothing went right; we lamed one of the -oxen, one man cut himself real bad, and we had sad news to carry home; -for they never heard a word till we came in the spring.” - -The next day being Sunday, they remained in camp. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -CAMPING. - - -Monday morning it was splendid walking on the crust; they made a long -day’s march, travelling till dark. Making a fire at the root of a tree, -they flung some brush on the snow, and laid down in their blankets in -the open air to sleep. Continuing to follow the bank of the little -stream, they started some moose about ten o’clock in the day; the -crust would bear them, but not the moose, who broke through at every -step, staining the snow with their blood. In those days moose were -more abundant in Maine than any other part of New England. Pursuing -them till sundown, they succeeded in capturing one, and camped on the -trail. In the morning, resuming the pursuit, they soon came in sight of -the herd, but such is the power of this animal, that, notwithstanding -the advantage which snow-shoes gave the men, it was the middle of the -afternoon before they came up with them, and succeeded in killing four -more. Relinquishing the pursuit, which now promised to lead them in a -different direction from that in which they wished to go, they dressed -the moose, hung him on the trees out of the reach of wolves, and -wrapping themselves in the skins, laid down on the snow to sleep. - -“Joe,” said Uncle Isaac, “how far do you judge we are from the spot the -young man told you of?” - -“I reckon about a mile.” - -“Well, I hunted over some of this ground twenty years ago, with the -Indians, off to the east’rd, and then again to the north’rd of us, -where there are many ponds, some of them having outlets one into the -other. Suppose, while we are cooking some breakfast, you put on your -snow-shoes and take a look, and, if you think best, we’ll make a -permanent camp somewhere hereabouts; and as we’ve got to live in it a -good while, we’ll make it well.” - -In a short time Joe returned, saying, “I found the place, and there are -beavers enough.” - -They immediately set about building their camp, and determined to make -it as home-like and comfortable as possible. It was made of logs, from -which all the knots and bunches were trimmed, and the crevices between -them stuffed with moss from the trees. - -Since they had come on the snow with sledges, they were enabled to -bring a great deal more weight than if they had set out before the snow -came, as, in addition to the sledges, they also carried light packs, -and moreover intended to build canoes, and return in the spring by the -river. - -Uncle Isaac, thoroughly versed in wood-craft, and always thoughtful, -had brought an auger, draw-shave, and a small saw on his sledge. - -They split out cedar shingles, with the frow, four feet long, fastening -them to the rafters and purlins, with poles held down with wooden -pins and withes. Upon these they put brush to break the dash of the -rain, and prevent the rain and snow from being driven by force of the -wind under the shingles, as they intended it for a permanent camp, in -which to leave furs and provisions during their absence on trapping -and hunting excursions. They made a solid door of cedar plank, hung on -wooden hinges, a deacon’s seat, and a rack around the sides, covered -with hemlock and cedar brush, for bedsteads. - -“We ought to have a stool or two,” said Uncle Isaac; “we want something -we can move round; we can’t move the deacon’s seat, and we can’t move -the fire.” - -He cut down a spruce that had long straight limbs and cut some chunks -from the top three feet long, leaving a sufficient number of limbs on -each side for legs; he split the pieces in halves, and smoothed the -split side with a draw-shave. - -“There,” said he, setting it up before the wondering boys, “there’s -a backwoodsman’s stool: them are legs won’t want any gluing, and if -anybody wants a cushion, they can put some moss on it.” - -While Uncle Isaac was at work on the stools, Charlie, Joe, and John -were splitting out boards to make a table. - -“The first stormy day that comes,” said Uncle Isaac, “I’ll make some -bark dishes, and the rest of you can make some spoons, and we’ll have -some shelves; it’s just as well to be comfortable. There’s just one -thing we do want desperately; that is, a fireplace, to keep the fire -from spreading all over the camp, taking up so much room, and also a -chimney, instead of a hole in the roof.” - -“We can build a fireplace of green logs,” said Joe. - -“Yes, but it will burn out in a short time.” - -“I wonder if we couldn’t find some rocks or clay somewhere; or is -everything froze fast?” - -“I don’t believe but by cutting a little ice, we could find stones, -and clay too, in the river. It don’t freeze hard here in the woods, as -it does out in the clear.” - -The snow had come that year before the ground froze, and under the bank -of the stream they found clay and flat stones, of which they built a -fireplace, and the chimney of sticks of wood and clay. - -“There’s no end to wants,” said Uncle Isaac; “now I want some -birch-bark dishes.” - -“You’ll have to give that up,” said John, “for the bark won’t run.” - -“Won’t it? I’ll make it run.” - -He warmed a birch tree with hot water, and made the bark run as well as -in the spring. - -“Now get me some spruce roots, Charlie, and in evenings and rainy days -we’ll make the dishes.” - -As they expected to hunt and trap over a large extent of ground, they -travelled about ten miles farther on, and built a rough shanty in among -several ponds and small streams, where they expected to find beavers, -and placed in it some provisions; then they took the back track, seven -or eight miles from the permanent camp, and built another on the -bank of the river, where they expected to find otter and mink. They -dignified the middle one with the name of the home camp; that among the -lakes they called the shanty, and the other the river camp. - -“We ought to have come up and done all this before snow came,” said -Uncle Isaac; “but now we must do the best we can; perhaps we shall -blunder into good luck; people do sometimes. There would have been a -hundred beavers where there is one, if it had not been for the French -and English.” - -“Why so?” asked Joe. - -“Because, when the French held Canada, they put the Indians up to -breaking the dams and destroying the beaver, to spite the English; and -now the English have got Canada, they do the same, to spite us. An -Indian, of his own accord, won’t destroy game, any more than a farmer -would destroy his seed-corn: when they break into a beaver house, they -always throw back the young ones, and part of the old, to breed; but a -white man takes the whole, because he’s afraid, if he don’t, the next -white trapper will.” - -Beavers are industrious and provident, not, like other animals that -live by the chase and the slaughter of other creatures, subject to a -lack of food; they are protected in their houses from violence, and -are so prolific, that, notwithstanding the merciless warfare waged -upon them, by which they had been driven from the sea-coasts even -at that early day, they were still abundant in those wilds whither -our adventurers had followed them. The beaver is about three feet in -length, averaging in weight sixty pounds; its tail is a foot in length, -flat, and covered with scales; the feet and legs flat and short, with -a membrane between the toes; it has very strong and large cutting -teeth, the upper ones two and a half inches long, and the lower ones -three inches: with these teeth they will cut down a tree eight inches -through; and if a tree stands in just the right place, and they want -it very much, they won’t hesitate to cut it if it is a foot through. -When the beavers are two years old, they build houses, and set up for -themselves, as they don’t like to live on their parents. They breathe -air, and therefore cannot live a long time under water; neither can -they live without having constant access to the water; they are, -therefore, compelled to build in water so deep that it will not freeze -at the bottom; the entrance is under water: by diving beneath the ice, -they can get at the lily-roots on the bottom of the pond, and also -obtain access to holes in the bank, which they provide for retreat in -the event of being disturbed in their houses. They feed on the wood -and bark of trees, which they cut down and sink in front of their -houses, in order to obtain it in the winter. - -Their houses are built of branches of trees, mud, and stones, from two -to six or eight feet in thickness, and, when frozen hard, bid defiance -to all attacks, save those of man. They have an elevated platform -in them, above the surface of the water, on which they sleep. They -break the ice every night, opposite their holes in the bank, for a -breathing-hole, thus keeping it open, that in pleasant days they may go -into the woods. They often build in a pond, but generally prefer to dam -a brook, and make their own pond; then, when they want wood to repair -their houses or dams, or for provision in winter, they can make a raft -up stream and, getting on to it, float down with the stream, steering -with their paws. - -After completing their camp, and making all their arrangements, they -approached the spot, and perceived that the animals had dammed a large -brook. In the midst of the pond thus formed, surrounded by snow and -ice, which covered them nearly to their tops, were twelve large beaver -houses. All was still as death: the sun shone clear on the snow-covered -houses, beneath which, in a half-torpid state, the beavers were -reposing, most effectually sheltered from the cold and from beasts of -prey. Safe beneath the ice was their winter supply of food: all they -had to do when hungry was to go a few feet, and obtain it. - -The party walked carefully over the ice, and Uncle Isaac pointed out to -the boys the breathing-holes in it. - -“Well,” he said, by way of summing up, “I reckon there are not less -than a hundred beavers under this snow and ice, and likely to be more -than less.” - -“A hundred beavers!” cried John, in amazement. - -“Yes; there’s ten in a house, old and young, I’ll warrant--not less -than ten: I’ve seen twenty-five taken out of one house. They’re not -ours yet, my boy!” slapping John on the shoulder. - -“Be they good to eat?” asked Charlie. - -“Nothing better, especially the tails. I call a singed beaver a dish to -set before a king.” - -“Why do they singe them?” - -“You see, a beaver in the winter is as fat as a hog, and the fat lies -on the outside; you want the skin, just as you do the rind of pork; so, -if you can afford to singe the fur all off, and lose that, he will be -just like a scalded hog. I’m in hopes we shall get enough to be able to -singe at least one.” - -In the course of the day they discovered three other beaver -settlements, two of them in ponds made by damming up a brook, and the -other in a large natural pond. They also discovered otter-slides and -fishing-holes, where the otters fished a great quantity of muskrat, -dens and tracks of minks along the river banks and brooks. - -“Now,” said Uncle Isaac, “let us look for bears. I’ve seen signs, more -or less, for the last two or three miles.” - -“What are the signs, Uncle Isaac?” asked Charlie. “I don’t see any.” - -Uncle Isaac smiled, and pointed to a clump of oaks and beeches on the -side of the brook, the top limbs of which were all bent in, and many of -them broken off. - -“What do you suppose bent and broke all these limbs?” - -“Why, the wind, or the snow, I suppose.” - -“But neither the wind or the snow would bend them in; it would bend -them down; but these are turned up, and bent in.” - -“I’m sure I don’t know,” said Charlie. “What did?” - -“Why, the bears.” - -“The bears! What for?” - -“Why, the bears live on acorns and beech-nuts; they go a-nutting, as -well as boys, climb up into the top of a tree, just like a cat, and, -when they’ve got as high as the limbs will bear, they sit down in the -crotch of a large limb, reach out their paws, and pull the smaller -limbs in, and eat off the beech-nuts and acorns; they will pull in and -break off a limb as big as my arm. There have been plenty of bears -round here late this fall. There are lots of them asleep under these -old windfalls, and in hollow trees, and we must find them, and mark the -trees; then we can get them when we like.” - -They had not proceeded far in their search when Joe exclaimed, “I’ve -found one!” - -He was standing at the foot of an enormous elm, which, being hollow, -had broken off about twenty feet from the ground. - -“How do you know there is a bear there?” asked Charlie. “I don’t see -any.” - -At this all laughed, when Uncle Isaac pointed out to Charlie a regular -line of grooves and scratches, extending from the bottom to the top of -the tree, left by the bear’s claws, where it had gone up and down; he -also told him that the bear went into his den in November, and remained -asleep, without eating or coming out, till spring, and that it was a -she bear, because they always lived by themselves, and in trees, if -hollow, or windfalls, if they could find them, to keep their young from -the wolves and the males; that if there was a bear there, she probably -had cubs, perhaps four, but at least two; perhaps eight, for if she had -two litters in one year, she would make a den close by for the first -cubs; both litters follow her the next summer, and the next winter all -live together. They generally weigh from three to four hundred. - -They found many more dens under windfalls, and the roots of trees, -and sides of rocks, for the bear is so well protected by his thick -coat as to be nearly insensible to cold, and will content himself very -well, with a little brush for a bed, under the side of a root that has -been turned up, or a rock, though the female will seek out a hollow -tree. They discovered the dens either by scratches on the stubs, or by -noticing where the breath of the bear had stained and melted the snow. - -Having marked all the places, in order to find them again, they -returned to the home camp. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -UNCLE ISAAC’S BEAR STORY. - - -After supper they sat around the fire consulting as to future -movements. Bears were very abundant in those days. - -In 1783 no fewer than ten thousand five hundred bear-skins were sent to -England from the northern ports of America. - -In 1805, eleven years subsequent to the date of our story, the number -had reached twenty-five thousand. - -“It is going to be a great deal of work,” said Uncle Isaac, “to get -these beavers now. The ice is thick in the pond, the houses are seven -or eight feet thick, and frozen as hard as a stone. It will be hard -work to break them up--a great deal of ice to cut, and frozen dirt. -If we dull our tools, we’ve nothing but a file to sharpen them with. -I think we’d better make a lot of dead-falls and box-traps, and set -them for minks and sables, cut holes in the ice, and set steel-traps -for the beaver and otters; and while we are tending them, go into the -muskrats, coons, and bears, till the weather begins to get warmer; then -the sun will thaw the south side of their houses, and the ice in the -ponds, and we can get what beavers are left with half the work. What do -you think, Joseph?” - -“I think just as you do; but we must have fish to bait the otter traps. -I have got hooks and lines in my pack. We can also make nets of willow -bark, and set them under the ice.” - -“Yes, and we can set for foxes. If we could get a silver-gray, it would -be worth a lot of money.” - -“I thought of that, and have brought some honey. That will tole them. -A fox loves honey as well as a bear; so does a coon, and a coon is out -every thawy day. I count heavy on bears. A bear’s pelt is worth forty -shillings; and we may find a yard of deer. Just as soon as we begin to -have carcasses of beaver and fish round, it will draw the foxes, and we -can trap and shoot them on the bait.” - -Uncle Isaac now brought out his pack, and began to remove some of the -contents, laying them one by one on the table, while the boys looked on -with great curiosity. The first thing he took out was a bunch of the -largest sized mackerel hooks. - -“What in the world did you bring them clear up here for?” asked John. -“There are no mackerel here.” - -“They are to make a wolf-trap.” - -“How do you make it?” - -“O, you’ll see.” - -He next took two slim, pointed steel rods, nearly three feet long, from -the outside of his pack, where they were fastened, as they were too -long to go inside. - -“What are those?” asked Charlie. - -“Muskrat spears,” said Joe. “That will be fun alive for you boys.” - -The next articles were three little bottles filled with some liquid. - -“What are these?” - -“That’s telling,” said Uncle Isaac, laying another vial on the table. - -John removed the cork, and smelt of it. “That’s aniseseed. What’s it -for?” - -“To tole foxes and fishes.” - -“What’s this?”--taking up another. - -“That’s telling.” - -“O, how it smells!--like rotten fish. What is it for?” - -“To tole minks.” - -“And this?”--taking up another. - -“To tole beavers.” - -“What is in this little bag?” - -“If you must know, Mr. Inquisitive, it is some earth that I got from -the place where Joe Bradish kept some foxes, and that they laid on all -summer. I’m in hopes to get a silver or cross fox, with it.” - -“Uncle Isaac, do give me some of that honey!--just the least little bit -of a taste!” - -“Well, I’ll give you all just a taste; but I want it to tole foxes and -coons.” - -He gave them all a little on the point of his knife. - -As they were going to devote much of their time to hunting bears, it -was a matter of course that the habits and methods of taking that -animal should, to a great extent, afford matter for conversation around -the camp fire. - -“A bear,” said Uncle Isaac, drawing up his knees, clasping his hands -over them, and resting his chin upon them, as his habit was when he was -about to tell a story, “is a singular critter.” - -John threw some fresh fuel on the fire, and squatting down on the -ground, with both arms on the deacon’s seat, and his mouth wide open, -sat with his eyes riveted on the old hunter’s face, drinking in every -word, while Charlie and Joe Griffin disposed themselves in attitudes of -attention. - -“I don’t,” continued Uncle Isaac, “bear any malice against a bear, as -I do against a wolf, though they have done me a deal of mischief in my -day, because they are not a bloodthirsty animal. A wolf will bite the -throats of a whole flock of sheep, just to suck their blood.” - -“Why, Uncle Isaac,” said Joe, “didn’t a bear kill little Sally -Richards only last summer? and all they found of her was just her -clothes, feet, and shoes? He had eaten all the rest of her up, and was -gnawing her skull when they found and shot him; and wasn’t she my own -cousin?--pretty little bright creature as ever lived! I’m sure I should -think that was being bloodthirsty.” - -“That was a she bear, and had cubs following her; and _then_ they are -savage; but at other times a bear will let you alone if you will let -him alone. They will always turn out for a man. A woman might pick -blueberries all day in a pasture with a bear, and if she let him alone -he would let her alone. But if they have young ones, or are starving, -or you pen them up, then look out! I’ve heard the Indians say that in -the fall, when they are fat and getting sleepy, you may put a stick -in their mouths and lead them anywhere; and my mother has picked -cranberries in a swamp with six bears, because she wanted the berries -before they eat ’em all up, and they never meddled with her. Then they -are such comical critters! Why, you can learn a bear anything. When I -was a boy, I used to have a cub ’most every winter; and when, by the -next fall, they began to be troublesome, and father would shoot them, -I cried as if my heart would break. - -“There was one,” said he, stirred by the recollections of his youth, -unclasping his hands, rising up, turning round, then sitting down -again, “that I loved better than all the rest. I used to call him -Cæsar, after an old black slave who belonged to one of our neighbors. -Father was a great hunter, and so were all the old folks, for they -would have starved to death, when they first came, if it had not been -for their rifles, and powder was so scarce they could not afford to -waste shots. Well, one fall the frost cut off all the acorns, berries, -and cranberries, so there was not a berry to be found. The bears were -starving. They came down clear from Canada, and swarmed all along the -salt water after clams, lobster, flounders, and raccoons. O, I never -knew the strength of a bear till then! Captain Rhines was a young man, -and mate of a vessel then. My father, and a good many of the neighbors, -had sent out fowls, and butter, and cheese, as a venture by him, and -got molasses for it. Mr. Rhines, as he was then, had brought it down -from Salem with his things, landed it at our point, rolled it up on the -beach out of the tide’s way, and left it till the owners could haul -it off. It staid there a day or two. One morning father and Uncle Sam -Edwards went to haul it up, when they found the head of every barrel -smashed in, just as if it had been done with an axe. The bears, which, -as I told you, were as thick as hops, had done it with their paws, -and upset, eat, and wasted the whole of it. As they were going home, -lamenting their hard luck, they met a bear--drunk! John Carver had put -up a story-and-a-half log house the day before, and they had left a -pailful of new rum, sweetened with molasses, sitting on some boards in -the garret. This bear had smelt it, climbed up, and drank it all up. -How he got down I don’t know; but it operated so quick he couldn’t get -off, and there he was, all stuck over with molasses, where he had been -with the rest of them down to the shore. He had got it all over his -ears and breast, and the chips, where they had hewed the frame, all -stuck to him, and he was the queerest sight you ever saw! He couldn’t -walk, but would sit up and look at us, and then roll over on one side, -then get back again, and looked so comical, that notwithstanding their -sorrow for their loss, they all burst out laughing; and Uncle Sam -Edwards, who was a jolly, funny creetur himself, carried on so with -him, and made such queer observations, that father laughed till he had -to lie down on the ground. None of them had a gun, but they took the -stakes out of the sleds, which they had brought to haul the molasses -on, and pounded him on the head till they killed him. Uncle Sam, who -himself drank a good deal more than was good for him, said, when he -gave him the last blow, ‘You see now what stealing and hard drinking -will bring a bear to.’ After skinning him, they had a long consultation -as to whether he was fit to eat. Father said he didn’t want to eat -anything that died drunk; but Uncle Sam said he didn’t die of liquor, -for they had killed and bled him, and as for himself, he would eat -him; so said John Carver; but father said he wouldn’t; so they gave -father the skin, and they took the meat. Father carried the skin home, -and mother washed and combed out the fur, and in the cold nights that -winter she used to put it on my bed, and it is in our house yet. - -[Illustration: UNCLE ISAAC’S BEAR STORY.--Page 253.] - -“A bear is a master strong creature. To see what a rock they would turn -over that fall to get a lobster! It was great fun to see the bears -catch coons; they would go round till they saw two or three coons in a -tree; one bear would climb the tree, and the coons, seeing him, would -run clear up to the top, where the limbs were small, and wouldn’t bear -the weight of the bear; but the bear would follow as far as he could -go, then shake off the coons, and the ones below would catch them; they -would dig them out of holes, or crush up a log if it was rotten. They -are bewitched after anything sweet, especially honey, and if they find -a hive they will surely rob it. - -“Old Mr. John Elwell, Sam’s father, had a hive of bees: they swarmed, -and took for the woods, and got on a tree; he followed them and hived -them. There were two maple trees, that grew within three feet of each -other; so he put a plank between them, and set a hive on it, meaning to -carry them home in the fall, when it was cold and the bees got stiff. - -“One night he was going after his cows, and thought he would take a -look at the bees. He found the hive on the ground all stove to pieces; -every drop of honey licked clean out of it. The bears had got well -stung, for the bark was torn off the trees all around where they had -bitten them in their rage and anger. But a bear is so covered with fur, -that only a small part of him is exposed to the sting of the bees; and -no matter how much anguish it causes them, they will have the honey. - -“They plagued us terribly that fall; you couldn’t get a wild grape, -nor a choke-cherry, for them, and it kept us at work all the fall -watching the cattle and corn, and setting spring-guns and dead-falls. -There was one old she bear that father swore vengeance against. We had -the sheep for safety in a log sheep-house in the yard, but she climbed -over the fence, tore off the roof, and carried away the old ram. She -had two white stripes on each side of her nose, and was well known; -she had been hunted again and again, and once had been wounded by a -spring-gun and tracked by the blood; but she could not be overtaken, -nor could her den be found. We had six hogs that year, that lived in -the pasture, and every day at low water went a clamming. We had put -them up for fear of the bears. One old sow was in a pen by herself, -fatting. We were going to kill her in a week. We had just fed the -cattle, and set down to supper, when we heard a terrible squealing, all -the hogs squealing as if to see which could squeal the loudest, and -the rooster crowing. We ran out. There was that old white-nosed bear, -with the sow hugged up in her fore paws, walking off on her hind legs, -just as easy as a man would walk with a baby. Father ran back, caught -the gun out of the bracket, but before he could load, the bear was in -the woods. It had got to be dark, and the old sow’s cries could no more -be heard. He raised the neighbors. They took firebrands and searched -the woods; but the ground was froze too hard to find the trail, and so -the bear got off with her booty. You may well think father was greatly -enraged, not only at the loss of his property, but he was greatly vexed -that so distinguished a hunter as he was should be thus insulted by a -bear. He did nothing else but scour the woods for that bear, and as -nearly all the neighbors had some cause of complaint against her, he -had assistance enough, but all in vain. He had set a steel bear-trap, -dead-falls, and spring-guns for her, but she was too knowing to be -caught. She sprung the steel-trap, which he had baited and covered -up in chaff, by going all round the bait and trap in a circle, and -thumping on the ground with her fore feet, coming nearer and nearer -till she jarred it off. - -“On the last of that winter there came a great thaw, and took off -all the snow on the open ground. It was so warm the old bear came -out, and begun her depredations. Father went and borrowed three steel -bear-traps, set one in the middle, and baited it, and the others round -it, and put no bait on them, covered them up in dirt, and put a long -chain to them, with a grapple to it. - -“The second night one of the outside traps was gone--chain, grappling, -and all. The bear, too cunning to go into the trap where the bait -was, had stepped into one of those that was covered up, while trying -to jar the other off. Father sent me right off for John Elwell, while -he loaded his gun and got ready. Uncle John came, and with him Black -Cæsar. Cæsar was a master powerful man, and as spry as a cat. I cried -and roared to go, but father refused, saying I might get hurt, and -there was no knowing how far they might have to go, nor when they -should get back; but Cæsar, with whom I was a great favorite, said -he would take care of me, and that he didn’t believe the bear could -carry that chain and grappling a great way. Finally father yielded. -There was no trouble in tracking the bear, for the grappling had torn -up the ground where it had hitched into the cradle-knolls and bushes. -Sometimes they lost the trail for a good while, when it was evident -that the bear had taken up the grappling, when it got fast, and -carried it; and father said she must be caught by her fore paws, as he -knew by her track that she walked on her hind legs, sometimes half a -mile--trap, grappling, and all. They followed her into the woods nearly -two miles, Cæsar helping me over the windfalls, and sometimes taking -me on his shoulder, till finally, at Millbrook, we lost her track -altogether. In vain they searched the woods. There was no sign of bear -or trap. Discouraged, they gave it up, and sat down on the bank of the -brook. - -“Uncle John said she had got the grappling caught trying to swim the -river, and was drowned, and he hoped she was. They had all about come -to that conclusion, when I, who was playing on the bank, was attracted -by some beautiful white and yellow moss growing at the roots of a -black ash, and going to get some, saw the grappling hooked over -the main root of the ash. I instantly ran back, crying with fright, -and feeling in fancy the bear’s claws on my throat. It was the most -singular place for a den you ever saw. You might have gone within three -feet of it, and never suspected its existence. - -“The stream, which had formerly flowed under a high bank, had shifted -its channel in some freshet, and the frost, working on the bank after -the water was gone, had thrown down a great rock, which, catching one -corner on the butt and the other on the roots of the big ash, was thus -held up, while the earth beneath crumbled away. Under this shelf, with -a very little work, the bear had made her den; and there she was, with -her right fore leg in the trap, on a bed of pine boughs, with the -grappling,--which she had not had time to bring in, we had followed -her so closely,--caught in the roots at the mouth, which, had it not -happened, we should never have found her. Father, with the greatest -satisfaction, put two balls through her head, and then, taking hold -of the chain, they dragged her out. When they found three cubs, you -may well think I was delighted. I hugged, kissed, and patted them, -and thought they were the prettiest things I ever saw in my life. -They were less than a foot long, had no teeth, and had not got their -eyes open. O, how I begged to carry them all home! Father wouldn’t -hear to it, but allowed me to have one, and take my choice. I took the -one that had a white face, like the old one, and cried well when they -knocked the others on the head. Cæsar carried the cub home for me, and -in gratitude I called him after him. How I loved that cub! I got some -cow’s milk, put it in a pan, and then put my finger in his mouth, and -he would suck it, and thus suck up the milk. We carried him out to the -barn, and tried to have him suck like a calf; but as soon as the cow -smelt him, she was half crazy with fear, kicked, roared, broke her bow, -and ran out of the barn. We never tried it again. - -“He soon began to have teeth, and then would eat bread and potatoes, -and most anything, but sugar and molasses was his great delight. He -soon made friends with the dog and cat, and would play with them by the -hour together. - -“In the summer he would catch mice, frogs, and crickets, and get into -mud-holes in the woods, and roll over till he was covered with mud; and -when the wild berries, acorns, and hazel-nuts came, he lived first -rate. In the first part of the spring he would eat the young sprouts -and tender leaves of the trees,--anything that was juicy,--and would -rob birds’ nests. As mother used to make me churn, I learned him to -stand on his hind legs and help me, which he would sometimes do for -half an hour, at other times but a few minutes. He would haul me on -the sled as long as he liked, but when he thought he’d done it enough, -there was no such thing as making him do any more. If I tried to force -him, he would take me up in his paws and set me on a log, or leave me -and run up a tree. He was very quick to imitate, and seeing me one -night carrying in the night’s wood, he took up a log in his paws, -and, standing on his hind legs, walked in with it, and laid it by the -fireplace. Ever after that he brought in all the night’s wood,--that -is, all the logs,--but he wouldn’t touch the small wood, seeming to -think that beneath him. He would take a log that three men couldn’t -move, and walk off with it. Indeed, I believe a bear is stronger on his -hind legs than in any other way, for they always stand up for a fight. - -“It was no small help to have him carry in the great logs, three feet -through, that I used to have to haul on a sled, and the backsticks and -foresticks; but I hated to do chores as bad as any boy ever did, and -used to try to coax him with bread and molasses, and even honey, to -carry in the small wood, but it was no use. He would eat the bread and -honey, but wouldn’t touch the wood. - -“I believe, if we’d only thought of it, we might have taught that bear -to chop wood; for a bear will handle his paws as well as a man his -hands. You throw anything to a bear, and he’ll catch it; and there’s -not one man to a hundred can strike a bear with an axe. He will knock -it out of his hand with a force that will make his fingers tingle. - -“But the greatest amusement was in the summer nights. In the daytime he -would lay round and sleep; but as night came on, he grew playful and -wide awake. He would chase the dog, and then the cats till they would -run up into the red oak at the door, then follow them as far as the -limbs would bear him, pull them in, and catch them or shake them off. - -“We kept him three years, and then had to kill him. It was a sad day -to me. It was the first real trouble I ever had, and I don’t know as I -could have felt any worse if it had been a human being. When I found it -was determined on, I went over to Uncle Reuben’s, and staid a week. I -think all our folks felt almost as bad as I did.” - -“But what on earth did you kill him for, Uncle Isaac?” - -“Why, we had to. He was always mischievous; but as he grew older, he -grew worse. He would dig up potatoes after they were planted in the -spring, and also in the fall; and he would break down and waste three -or four bushels of corn to get a few ears to eat, when it was in the -milk. Did you ever see how a bear works in a cornfield?” - -“No, sir.” - -“Well, he gets in between the rows, spreads his fore paws, smashes down -three or four hills, and then lies down on the heap and eats. - -“He wouldn’t kill the hogs, but would chase them all over the pasture, -and into the water, and two or three were drowned. You couldn’t put -anything out of his reach, for there was no place he couldn’t climb to, -a door in the house he couldn’t open, nor scarcely anything he couldn’t -break. Though spry as a cat, he wouldn’t climb over a pair of bars, but -would take them down, and leave them, go ranging round nights, and let -the cattle into the fields. He would steal yarn, that was put out to -whiten, to make a bed of. He was the means of our keeping bees. He came -home one day in April with his nose all swelled up, and half blind. He -had found a swarm of bees in a hollow tree, and tried to get at them; -but the hole in the tree was so small that he couldn’t get his paw in, -and the bees stung him till he was glad to retreat, finding he could -get nothing. We tracked him in the snow that was still in the woods, -cut the tree down, and brought it home. He used to plague us to death -in sap time, drinking the sap and upsetting the trough, and we had to -chain him up. But the crowning mischief, and that which cost him his -life, was stealing butter.” - -“Stealing butter!” said Charlie. - -“Yes: father had long been sick of him, and threatened to kill him; but -mother and I begged him off. My sister Mary was going to be married; -mother was making and selling all the butter she could, to get her a -little outfit: it was hot weather, and she put some butter she was -going to send to market in a box, tied it up in a cloth, and lowered -it down the well, to keep cool. In the morning I saddled the horse to -go to market; mother went to the well to get the butter, but there was -no butter there. As soon as she could speak, for grief and anger, she -exclaimed, ‘That awful bear!’ - -”We went to his nest under the barn, and there was the box, licked as -clean as a woman could wash it. The wicked brute hauled it up, bit the -rope in two, and carried off the butter. That sealed his fate: mother -said she wouldn’t intercede for him any more, and I couldn’t say a -word, though I wanted to; and so ‘he died of butter.’ - -“I felt so bad that I never cared to have any pets after that.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -RAID ON A BEAVER SETTLEMENT. - - -They now occupied every moment, from daylight and before, till in the -evening, in hunting bears, digging out coons, stretching and scraping -the skins, and trapping beaver and foxes. - -The camp inside was hung around with skins, and outside the snow was -covered with the bodies of the different animals, which attracted the -wolves in troops, and the woods resounded with their howlings. - -Uncle Isaac set a steel trap in a spring of water, and caught two -silver-gray foxes. He now took four of the large mackerel-hooks, -fastened them together, and wound them with twine, so as to form a -grappling, fastened a strong cord, made of twisted deer sinews, to -them, dipped them in grease, permitting it to cool after every dip, -till the hooks were all covered in the great bunch of grease, fastened -the rope to a tree, and kept watch. It was not long before a hungry -wolf swallowed the ball of grease, and, the hooks sticking in his -throat, he was caught. The steel traps, which were very scarce in -that day, and were all imported, were used for beaver, otter, and two -of them for foxes; the other animals were taken in dead-falls and -box-traps. - -As they had a frow, to split out boards, and a saw, they made many -box-traps, putting them together with wooden pins, and in them caught -great numbers of minks and muskrats; they also killed many deer and -moose. - -The traps for beaver were set in holes cut in the ice, and the bait -was scented, and made attractive with the composition in Uncle Isaac’s -vials. Another method was to dig a pit in the ground, make a road to it -with stakes, then hang a board between the stakes, so nicely balanced, -that, when the animal stepped upon it, it would turn, and let him into -the pit. In order to attract the game, the bait was dragged along the -ground, that it might leave its scent between the line of stakes, then -placed beyond the pit, that the animal, in following up the scent, -might step on the trap. The dead-falls were constructed by making an -enclosure of stakes, open at one end, inside of which a piece of wood -was laid on the ground crosswise, and fastened. They then fastened a -heavy piece of hard wood to a stake with a peg, so that it would play -up and down easily: this was called the killer, the end of which was -held up by a thong of deer sinew, which went over another crotchet -stake driven into the ground. Through this stake a hole was bored, to -admit a spindle; the string which held up the killer was fastened by a -flat piece of wood, one end of which went into a notch in the stake, -the other into a notch in the end of the spindle, like the spindle of -a common box-trap; another heavy piece of wood was then placed one end -on the ground, between two stakes, to keep it from rolling, the other -on the top of the killer, to give force to the fall. When the animal -touched the spindle to which the bait was fastened, both the killer and -the stick placed on to reënforce it came down, and caught him between -the killer and the piece on the ground. - -In default of an auger, it could all be made with an axe, by using -double stakes and strings, or withes. These were made larger or -smaller, according to the size of the animal to be caught; they were -surrounded with stakes, and covered on top with brush, to keep the -animal from robbing them behind, or on top. For beaver, they set them -in the paths where they went to the woods, cut a piece of wood, flat -on the upper side, four inches wide, and bevelling on the under side, -so that it would rotate, canting it down on one edge, put that edge -under the end of the spindle, and strewed over it twigs and chips of -red willow and beaver root, rubbed with medicine, and when the beaver -put his mouth or paw on the board it canted, and, lifting the end of -the spindle, sprung the trap. - -For raccoons, they set them at the ends of hollow logs, and in the -little runs that led down to the ponds and brooks; and for the otter, -at the places where they rubbed when they came out of the water, and -near their sliding places. For raccoons, they baited with frogs, and -chips of bears’ and beavers’ meat, with honey dropped on it; and for -otters, with fish which they caught through holes in the ice. - -As the winter wore away, thaws became more frequent, and the coons and -beaver began to awake from their half-torpid state, they caught more -and more, getting ten or twelve beavers a night. - -They now separated, part of them living in the house camp, and part -at the river camp and shanty, for the greater convenience of tending -the traps, which were scattered along a range of many miles, all -assembling at the home camp on the Lord’s day, when they had a meeting. -As the season was now approaching when the ice would begin to break -up, and the frequent rains had rendered the ice transparent, so they -could see the beavers and muskrats under it, they determined to attack -them in their houses. In the first place, they prepared and sharpened a -great number of stakes, and, cutting through the ice, drove them into -the bottom of the pond, around the houses, and around the holes in the -bank, thus fastening the beavers in; then tearing down the houses with -tools they had brought with them, they knocked the beavers on the head, -and flung them out on the ice. - -Beavers and muskrats will swim under the ice as long as they can hold -their breath, then breathe it out against the ice: when it has absorbed -oxygen from the water, they will take the bubble in again, and go on; -the boys would follow them up, and, before they had time to take in the -bubble, strike with their hatchets over them, and drive them away from -their breath, when they would soon drown, and could be cut out. - -They labored unremittingly, under the wildest excitement, stopping -neither to eat nor drink till nearly sundown, when, bathed in -perspiration, every house was in ruins, and the ice thickly strewn -with dead beavers: they then desisted. - -“We are all as hot as we can be,” said Uncle Isaac. “The first thing to -be done is to put on our clothes, and make a fire to cool off by. We’ve -got about four tons of beaver carcasses here: it would take all night -to haul them to the camp; and if we leave them here, all the wolves in -the woods will be on hand, and not a hide of them be left by morning. -So I don’t see any other way than to build a camp, and stay here; and -we can have our choice, either to take them into the camp, or sit up by -turns, and watch them.” - -“I say take them into the camp,” said Joe Griffin. “And here’s just the -place to build it, on this old windfall.” - -“Now, Charlie,” said Uncle Isaac, “while we are building a camp, you -and John run to the home camp, and get the kettle, a birch dish, and -some tea.” - -The rude shelter, sufficient for these hardy men, was soon completed, -the beaver brought inside, and a fire built. Uncle Isaac proposed, as -they had met with such luck, that they should have a beaver singed for -supper. “They could afford it,” he said, “though, of course, it spoilt -the skin.” - -This was unanimously agreed to, when, picking out one of the youngest -and fattest, they cut off his tail, scalded and scraped off the scales, -then, holding the rest over the fire, singed off all the hair, and -scraped it clean with their knives. While Joe was turning the spit, and -John making tea, Charlie noticed Uncle Isaac picking out some of the -dryest of the wood, and piling it up a little distance from the camp, -and putting beneath it a parcel of birch bark, as if he was going to -light a fire. - -“What are you going to do?” asked Charlie. - -The old gentleman would give him no answer, only saying, with a knowing -look, that he would see before morning. - -The beaver, being roasted, was placed in the birch dish. Sitting round -it, these hungry men, who had eaten nothing since long before the break -of day, made fierce onslaught with their hunting-knives. For nearly -half an hour no sound was heard but that of vigorous mastication, and -the crackling of the fire. At length Joe, after looking round upon his -companions and the great pile of game with a look of the most intense -satisfaction, and speaking thick, with a rib of beaver between his -teeth, broke the silence by saying “Haven’t we done it this time, Uncle -Isaac?” - -“Yes, Joseph,” replied the old hunter, speaking with great -deliberation, and giving the name in full, a habit he had when much -pleased, “we certainly have. I’ve been trapping in the woods winters, -more or less, ever since I was a boy, with the Indians, and when the -beavers were a great deal more plenty than they are now; but I never -saw near so many taken at one time before.” - -Some time during the night, John, who slept nearest to the door, was -awakened by a concert of sounds so horrible that it caused him to jump -right up on his feet, with a cry that awoke the rest, and, grasping Joe -by the shoulder, exclaimed, “For Heaven’s sake, what is it?” - -“It’s wolves,” said Uncle Isaac. “I was calculating on them: they scent -the roast meat; the fire has burnt low, and that emboldens them. Throw -on some wood, Joe; they must be taught to keep their distance, or -there’ll be no sleep,” said he; and taking up a brand, he set fire to -the pile outside, which lighting up the forest, the wolves withdrew, -but still kept up their howling at a distance. It was now evident why -Uncle Isaac had prepared the pile of wood out doors. - -“We were careless,” said he, “to let the fire get so low, and might -have paid dearly for it.” - -“Why,” said John, “will they tackle men?” - -“Yes, when there is a drove of them, and they are hungry: they are -cowardly, cruel creeturs; I hate ’em,” said he, as they stood gazing -on the gaunt forms flitting among the trees just beyond the line of -fire-light, licking their dry jaws, and snapping their tusks. One -old gray wolf, who seemed to be a leader, followed the track made by -dragging the bodies of the beavers to the very edge of the shadow cast -by the woods, so that his head and shoulders were distinctly visible. - -“Only see the cruel varmint!” said Uncle Isaac; “see those jaws and -tusks, and that great red tongue. We ought not to waste powder, but -that fellow tempts a man too much: fire at him, John; aim for his eyes, -and I’ll finish him if you don’t.” - -John, needing no second admonition, fired on the instant, when the -wolf, leaping forward, fell his whole length in the snow, and, rolling -over a few times, stretched out, quivered, and became motionless. - -“I mean to skin him in the morning,” said John. - -“Then you must put him in the camp; for if he lies there, nothing will -be left of him in the morning but bones.” - -“Why, will the wolves eat each other?” - -“Eat each other? Yes, just as quick as they’ll eat anything else. -There’s no Christianity in ’em. They will dig up a dead body in a -graveyard.” - -“But how shall I get him?” said John, who, after this revelation, did -not feel much like trusting himself far from the fire. - -Uncle Isaac seized a brand, and, waving it in the air, the wolves -retreated, and John took the dead wolf by the hind legs, and drew him -to the fire. - -After replenishing both fires with fuel, they lay down again, and were -soon fast asleep, except John and Charlie, from whose eyes the events -of the evening and the howling of the wolves had effectually banished -sleep until near daybreak, when they too sank into a sound slumber. - -They now broke into the other beaver houses, and, as the weather grew -warmer, tapped the maples, procured sap to drink, and made sugar; and, -as they could boil but little in their camp-kettle, they froze the sap. -This took the water out, and reduced the quantity, leaving that which -remained very sweet, and so much less in quantity to boil down. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -BREAKING CAMP. - - -“There are just two things,” said Uncle Isaac, “for us to make up our -minds about. We’ve had great luck. We’ve got two silver-gray foxes, -which is an uncommon thing. I lay it to the honey that I fried the bait -in, the bloody neck of a moose that I dragged along the trail, and -the earth I got from Joe Bradish’s fox-pen. We’ve taken a great many -beavers, coons, minks, and otters, and the fur is all prime, for we -didn’t begin till the fur was good. It will be good about three weeks -longer, till May. If we go now, we can get out of the woods to the -nearest road, and haul our furs on the sledges, by going twice over the -road, or we can stay and trap as long as the fur is good, build canoes, -and, by carrying round the falls, take the furs and all our truck right -to our own doors.” - -“I,” said Joe, “go in for staying till the very last minute, trapping -the very last beaver, and then taking to the water.” - -The boys were clamorous for going by water. - -“It will be nothing,” said Uncle Isaac, “to carry our canoes and furs -round the falls, to what it would to haul the sledges over the soft -snow; and then, when we get out of the woods, we shall find the snow -gone, have to leave them, and come after them with teams.” - -Notwithstanding the excitement of this wild, fresh life in the woods, -the boys had by no means lost sight of the great object of their -efforts--the fitting away of the Hard-Scrabble. - -“Uncle Isaac,” asked Charlie, “how much do you suppose these furs are -worth?” - -“Well, I never like to crow till I have got out of the woods; but it is -remarkable, it is, our luck.” - -“How much? Do tell us!” - -“I don’t think you’ll have to make any wooden shrouds.” - -“Shall we have enough to rig the vessel?” - -“How much, Charlie, do you suppose these silver-gray fox-skins are -worth?” asked Joe. - -“I’m sure I don’t know.” - -“Forty dollars apiece for the real silvers, and the silver-gray -twenty-five.” - -“O, my! and the beaver-skins?” - -“About six dollars apiece.” - -Beaver fur, notwithstanding it was plenty, was in far more request than -at present, as it was then the only material for nice hats; but silk -has since taken its place, beaver being too heavy a fur for wearing. - -“And the coons?” asked John. - -“One dollar apiece. The bears about forty shillings.” - -“Why, the bears alone will come to about ten pounds!” - -“The otter?” - -“The otter six dollars, and the fisher six.” - -“Mink and muskrats?” - -“About two shillings for a mink; muskrat, seventy-five cents.” - -“I reckon,” said Uncle Isaac, “we’ve made nearly a hundred dollars -a month apiece, and shall be here a little short of five months. We -shan’t get many more beaver, but we shall get more otter, may get -another silver-gray fox, and lots of muskrats.” - -“Then,” cried Charlie, jumping to his feet, “we’ve got enough.” - -“Hurrah! yes,” said John; “and we’ve got all summer left to earn more -in.” - -“How much do you calculate it’s going to take to fit her for sea?” - -“Fifteen hundred dollars--three hundred seventy-five apiece.” - -“It won’t take it. You’ve made too large a calculation, though it’s -an excellent plan to make a large calculation. You’ve gone upon the -supposition of paying the regular price for labor and canvas. It ain’t -going to cost you the trade price for canvas, by a great deal, nor -for making the sails, fitting the rigging, and putting it on. I tell -you, if we get home safe, you’ll have enough to give her the best of -rigging, cables, and anchors, and enough left to load, provision her -for a voyage, and pay the crew.” - -Uncle Isaac now exerted all the craft he was master of to trap another -silver fox; but, notwithstanding all his arts, the essences and other -attractions he used, his efforts were for a long time fruitless. At -length he built a booth, and, having first removed every vestige of -offal from around the camp, he roasted a beaver, and besmeared it with -medicine, then dragged the bloody neck of a deer just killed around the -bait, and into the woods, and lay in wait several nights. He finally -shot his fox, which he knew was in the vicinity, as he had seen him -several times, which was the occasion of his taking so much pains. - -Having accomplished this to his heart’s content, and exclaiming, “What -will Sam and Captain Rhines say to that!” he avowed he would not bait -another trap, but instantly set himself to hunting for canoe birch. -He was not long in finding one--though at the present day they are -so rare that the Eastern Indians have pretty much abandoned the use -and construction of canoes--of sufficient size, bare of branches for -several feet, and free from cracks and knots, and, with his knife and -a sharp wedge, carefully peeled the bark from the trunk. It was a slow -process, requiring great care, for this canoe, which was designed to -carry most of the furs and provisions, was to be thirty-four feet -long. In this labor all united, under the direction of Uncle Isaac. -They next procured long strips of cedar, split with the frow from a -straight-grained log,--four of them,--which were to form the gunwales, -an inch thick and two inches wide, also a large number of strips for -linings, an inch thick and two inches wide, strips of ash for ribs, -half an inch thick and two inches wide, and spruce roots soaked in hot -water for thread. When all these materials were procured, they were -carried to a level piece of ground near the camp. While the boys, with -their knives, were shaping and smoothing the sheathing and timbers, -and stripping the spruce roots into thread, Uncle Isaac, aided by Joe, -modelled the canoe. They set up four stakes in the ground, two at each -end, nearly as far apart as the canoe was to be long, and laid the bark -on the ground between them, with the side that went next to the wood -outside, the ends brought together and put between the stakes, then -bound four of the cedar strips together by pairs in several places -with roots, then bound the ends together to form the gunwales, and -fastened them to the stakes. The ribs were then laid across the bark -on the ground, the longest in the middle, and decreasing gradually -towards each end. Stones were placed upon the middle of these to keep -them down, the ends were then successively bent up and tucked between -the gunwale strips, and fastened very near together. Other strips -were then placed outside of these, lengthwise, and where they lapped, -nicely bevelled, forming an outside covering, like the planks of a -vessel. They were to keep the ribs in their places, and strengthen the -structure. - -Uncle Isaac now elevated each end by putting a stone under in two -places, to give a proper curve. He then went all over his work, pulling -up or shoving down the ribs that were placed between the gunwales, -and thus shaping her to suit his eye, till, being satisfied with his -efforts, he fastened several of the ribs securely to the inner rail -strip to preserve the shape, and bringing up the bark, fitted it -between the strips, and sewed it with roots, through both the bark and -the ribs. - -A number of bars were now put across, their ends brought against the -rail, and sewed to it. The seams in the bark, at the ends and along -the sides, were sewed, and then payed over with spruce gum mixed with -charcoal dust. - -The boys enjoyed themselves much at this work, as it was the very -thing they had resolved to do in their summer holiday, with which the -building of the Hard-Scrabble had so rudely interfered. - -“I calculate to give these canoes to you boys; so I suppose you want -them made in style.” - -“Of course, Uncle Isaac,” said Charlie, “because, you know, we shall be -asked who made them.” - -Uncle Isaac boiled the moss of a tree in water in which the roots of -wild gooseberries had been boiled, and made a red dye. In this he -colored porcupine quills; others he colored blue and green, with other -barks and roots, the names of which he would not tell, and ornamented -the canoe and stained the paddles. The canoe was thirty-four feet long, -four and a half wide, and nearly three deep. - -“I’ll warrant her to carry twenty-five hundred,” said Uncle Isaac. - -They now built a smaller one, and packing their furs, furnished -themselves with moose meat, smoked and dried, for provision on the way, -turned their backs on the woods, and arrived safely at home in hoeing -time, where Uncle Isaac found his crops and cattle in fine order, all -his affairs having been intrusted to Ricker during his absence. - -When they started for home, John said to Charlie, as he took up his -paddle, “I’ve had woods enough to last me for a long time, and shall be -contented to go to work.” - -“I am only sorry,” said Charlie, “that I couldn’t find a bear’s cub -that I could take home with me.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -THE HARD-SCRABBLE WEIGHS ANCHOR.--CHARLIE GETS MARRIED. - - -During their absence Captain Rhines and Ben had filled Fred’s store -with goods, to be sold on half profits, which enabled him to furnish -his portion of the money without any detriment to his business. - -Isaac having left a draw-bill, Mr. Welch had sent to Captain Rhines the -money that belonged to him. The sails were done, and the boards to load -the sloop were sawed. Letters had been received from Isaac, stating -that he should not be at home till March. Thus they had abundance of -time. - -Captain Rhines took the furs to New York in the Perseverance, sold them -there for a high price,--there was a great foreign demand, and furs -were up,--and bought the rigging. - -They found the vessel was so buoyant that the lumber they had cut would -not load her. Captain Rhines advised them to carry part of a deck-load -of spars. - -John went to Portland, and Charlie began to clear a portion of his -place large enough to set a house, and for a small field, it being just -the time of year to fall trees while the leaves were on. - -As Charlie was in hopes to have use for his timber in ship-building, he -did not wish to burn it up, and therefore cleared but a small portion. - -Ben and Charlie worked together. One week they worked on Elm Island, -and the next on Pleasant Point. There was also another attraction at -Elm Island--_a baby_. The time passed pleasantly with Charlie. The -cherry and apple trees he had planted in the garden were in blossom; -and, though he had outgrown his playthings in some measure, he had by -no means outgrown his love for the children, who, falling heirs to all -these treasures, enjoyed them with the highest relish. - -The vessel was rigged in the course of the summer by Captain Rhines and -Ben, and the rigging thoroughly stretched in the hot weather. - -When John arrived at Portland, he found that Mr. Starrett had bought -the cables and anchors of a vessel cast away at Gay Head, larger -somewhat than the Hard-Scrabble, but nearly new. They were sold at -auction for a reduced price; also a dipsey-lead and line, chest of -tools, and compasses. - -When the snow came, Charlie cut and hauled out spars enough to complete -the deck-load of the vessel; but, although they piled them up ten feet -above deck, they could not bring her deck to the water, she was so -buoyant. - -Captain March, as we must call him now, came home just as they were -completing the lading. - -John came home to see Isaac off, and to settle up the business. The -crew were shipped, as in the Ark, for nominal wages and a privilege. - -Sally had a liberal allowance of room given to her for a venture. - -Peterson went before the mast, and his boy went as cook. Isaac -persuaded Joe Griffin and Henry to go with him, Joe as mate. The rest -of the crew were made up of the neighbors’ boys. - -When they came to settle accounts, they found that the cost of outfit -had been brought down to a thousand dollars, instead of fifteen -hundred, as they estimated at first. There were several reasons for -this. The canvas cost them much less than it would had they bought it -at a warehouse. Captain Rhines had bought the rigging in New York, -where he was well acquainted, cheap. Mr. Starrett had bought the -cables and anchors for two thirds price, and would take no commission. -Captain Rhines and Ben charged very low wages for making the sails, -fitting and putting on the rigging, and the boys could not make them -take any more. - -“We’ve got the advantage of you now, boys,” said the captain. “You -wouldn’t let us lend you money, but you can’t make us take more for our -work than we like.” - -On this account they were able to settle all their bills, provision the -vessel for the voyage, load her, and even have something left, which -exceeded their most sanguine expectations. - -Isaac, whose proportion had all been paid in cash, had remaining but -four dollars. John had nine shillings of the money resulting from his -venture in the Ark, and the proceeds of hunting, although he had some -wages due him in Portland. Fred, who had paid nearly every dollar -of his proportion in orders, except what the cargo cost, could have -advanced seventy-five dollars more without detriment to his business; -while Charlie was better off in respect to ready money than either of -them. There was sufficient reason for this. His wages as master workman -had been more than the rest, and he had worked all the time in the -winter making the spars, rudder, and windlass, and building the boats. -He had also furnished the timber and spars for the cargo of the vessel. -Fred could not pay this in orders; so he and the others had to pay -Charlie one hundred and fifty dollars apiece in money, which left him -better off than they, as he had his farm and a fourth of the vessel, -while Isaac’s goods were the greater part on commission, and belonged -to Captain Rhines, Ben, and Uncle Isaac. - -It was a pleasant morning when the vessel weighed anchor, a fair wind, -a little quartering, just right to make every sail draw; and all the -population that could get there were assembled around the banks of -Captain Rhines’s Cove. They had a singular fashion before, and for many -years after, the revolution,--even till 1812 and later,--of rigging -vessels into topsail sloops, and even sent them to the East Indies. - -The old sloop Messenger, of Portland, and Stock, of Boston, owned by -the Messrs. Parsons, were of this class. - -The Hard-Scrabble presented a novel sight on that morning, and well -did her appearance correspond to her name. As the sun shone upon her -sides, wherever they were out of water, it revealed a streak of black -and a streak of white, where the black pitch and white wood alternated. -Her sails, though well made, of good material, and setting well, were -the color of flax, not being bleached. Her lower mast was rather short -in proportion to the top, top-gallant, and royal masts. The mainmast -was set well aft, and raked a good deal. The bowsprit and jib-boom were -long. She had a spritsail yard and double martingale. The fore-braces -led to the end of the bowsprit, the others to the end of the jib-boom. -In bad weather they had preventer-braces that led aft to the rail. She -carried fore-topmast staysail, jib, and flying-jib. She had no sail on -the lower yard, because, when they built her, they did not think they -could afford it. Had they known how they were coming out, Charlie would -have done it. - -All the paint on her was the lamp-black and oil with which her name was -put on, and a little more, where Ben had painted it on the brunt of her -topsail. She was stowed so full of lumber that the men could only heave -forward of the windlass, and it was piled so high that the mainsail -was obliged to be reefed, and a false saddle put on to keep the boom -up; while in glaring contrast to the rest of the structure was the -beautiful boat, which Charlie had built to show what he could do, gayly -painted, on the davits, and for which he had made a mast and sail. - -In the warm sunshine, under lee of a high ledge that sheltered them -from the wind, were seated Captain Rhines’s folks, Uncle Isaac and his -wife, Ben and Sally, the boys, and old Mrs. Yelf, who was gazing with -great complacency upon the royal her old fingers had woven,--a labor of -love,--as it swelled out in the fresh breeze, and also Tige Rhines, a -few paces in front, a most interested and observant spectator. - -As she faded from view, and the forms of Isaac and Joe, standing on the -quarter, could no longer be recognized, the boys turned their eyes upon -each other in silence. - -“Well, boys,” said Uncle Isaac, at length, laying his hand upon -Charlie’s shoulder, “it’s been a hard scrabble; but you’ve done it, and -she’s gone to seek her fortune and yours. May the Lord be with them!” - -“You’ve done it, too, without the old folks,” said the captain; “and -that, I suppose, makes it the sweeter.” - -“No, we haven’t, Captain Rhines,” said Fred. “I never should have been -able to have built my part of her without the old folks.” - -“I shouldn’t have had anything,” said John, “if it hadn’t been for the -folks that built the Ark, and carried my venture,--went into the woods, -and showed me how to hunt and trap.” - -“I’m sure,” said Charlie, “I never should have had anything, or been -anything but a poor, forlorn castaway, if it had not been for father -and mother, Captain Rhines, Uncle Isaac, and Joe,--yes, and everybody -round here. And wasn’t mother the means of making the sails?” - -“You may try as hard as you like to make out that you are not good for -much,” said Ben; “but you’ll have hard work to make us, or anybody -else, believe it.” - -“Well, father, it makes boys smart to have friends to love them, -encourage, and show them; tell them they are smart, and say ‘stuboy,’ -to have plenty to eat, and see a little chance to do something for -themselves, and folks trying to make them happy. If a boy has got -anything in him, it must come out.” - -“Yes,” said Uncle Isaac. “And if there ain’t anything, it can’t come -out.” - -After the rest had gone, the boys sat watching the vessel till she -mingled with the thin air. - -“Now, I’m glad we’ve done as we did,” said Charlie. “We might have -hired the money of father, or Captain Rhines, have sent the vessel off, -and, perhaps, paid for her, and paid them; but suppose she had made -nothing, or been lost--then we should have been in debt, and felt mean -enough; now she is ours, and paid for; if she is lost, we owe nobody: -we’ve learned a good deal, and are young enough to earn more money.” - -“What are you going to do now, John?” - -“Going back to Portland.” - -“I suppose I ought to go to Stroudwater. Mr. Foss wants me: he’s going -to build two vessels.” - -“I know what he wants to do,” said Fred. - -“What’s that?” - -“Get married.” - -“Well, so I do, awfully.” - -“Then,” said John, “why don’t you do it?” - -“Yes,” said Fred. “It’s a leisure time now: the snow is about gone, and -we’ll all turn to and put you up a log house in no time.” - -“That’s it, Charlie. Come, you are the oldest; set a good example: I’ll -raise the crew. Fred wants to follow suit.” - -“I’m a good mind to build a log house before I go to Portland;” which -resolution was the result of many previous conversations with Mary -Rhines, in which they had determined to begin, as Ben and Sally, Joe -Griffin and his wife, had done. The boys took good care not to let -his resolution cool, but instantly set off, post-haste, for Captain -Rhines’s, where they found Ben, Sally, and Uncle Isaac, and, taking -them aside, commended the affair to them. Uncle Isaac needed no -prompting, and in a fortnight the house was built, differing in no wise -from Joe’s, except that it had a chimney and glazed windows, which -Captain Rhines declared they should have: he said the bricks and the -windows would do for another house. - -John now started for Portland, and Charlie for Stroudwater, in order -to earn all he could before settling down. He was never satisfied -unless he could be making some improvement. In Portland (on his way to -Stroudwater) he saw a vessel that had put in for a harbor. It was built -for a privateer in the war, and of a most beautiful model. - -He ascertained her proportions, and, after he went to work at -Stroudwater, amused himself with trying to imitate her with a block -of wood, making a half model, and got so much interested that he went -into Portland to compare his work with the original, till he got it as -accurate as possible; then he put a stem, keel, and stern-post on, -and painted it, intending to give it to Bennie for a plaything, and, -putting it up on a brace in the shop, thought no more about it; but one -stormy day, sitting in the shop, and thinking about the proportions of -a vessel he had been at work upon, his eye fell upon the model. A new -idea was instantly suggested; he leaped from his seat, took square and -compass, divided the model accurately into pieces an inch in thickness -from stem to stern, then took a fine saw, and sawed it all up. He then -planed a board smooth, fastened the keel, stem, and stern-post of his -model on to it, placed inside of them the blocks corresponding to the -forward, after, and midship frames, and several others between them, and -fastened them to the board; he found he could, by placing his square -on these blocks, obtain a water-line along her side, follow the model, -shape his vessel accurately, and know just what kind of a vessel he was -going to have when he was done. Here was an end to his sweeps on the -beach, tumbling in timbers, and guessing, to a great extent. He had got -a skeleton model, the latest improvement till the present one of close -models. - -While he was contemplating his work, Mr. Foss came along: he showed it -to him. The old carpenter saw it in a moment. - -“Charlie,” said he, “you’ve made a great improvement. I undertook to -learn you, and you have learned me. That’s a great thing: that’s going -to save money, time, and timber. With the rising line and shortening -line, you can model and build a vessel, and know what you are going -to do. I’ll give you the dimensions of this vessel we are getting the -timber for, and I want you to make a model of her.” - -“I will try it.” - -Charlie modelled, and was successful. He returned home in June, and -was married. He found that the trees which he had girdled in the fall -had leaved; but the leaves were most of them small and withering. He -had drawn a cordon, many rods in width, all around the buildings, and -especially round the little peninsula, in the midst of which towered -the great elm, sparing a handsome tree every now and then, so that -after the girdled trees had fallen down, and been removed, they might -be out of the reach of fires. - -Charlie had been married but a few weeks when the young pair made their -appearance at Elm Island. - -“Mother,” said Charlie, “do you remember one night, when I first bought -my place, I came home from there, you asked me what was the matter, -and I put you off?” - -“Yes; I saw you’d been crying, and that was what made me ask you.” - -“I had been thinking about old times, and my mother. I wanted then, and -I want now, as I have got settled on my place, to go to St. John, and -get her body, and have her buried under an elm there is there. It is a -lovely spot: it was almost the first thing that came into my mind when -I saw the place, and that was what I had been crying about. When she -died, I followed her to the grave in rags, no one to go with me but the -Irish woman of whom we hired the room: she was a good-hearted woman, -poor herself, but did what she could for us. Many a crust has she given -me; and if she is living, I’ll let her know I haven’t forgotten it. -Mother, now that I have a home of my own, I can’t rest any longer to -have her lie in that miserable corner, among the worst of creatures, -the place all grown up with bushes. I want to bring her here.” - -“I am sure I would, Charlie.” - -“Do you think father would go with me?” - -“Go! to be sure he would. The Perseverance is out fishing now, but she -will be in soon; she is only hired for one trip. I tell you what you -do, Charlie: after haying, bring Mary over here, and leave her; you -and Ben take the schooner, and go. When you get back, we’ll all of us -attend the funeral, have the minister preach a sermon, and everything -done as it should be; but two is not enough: there ought to be three.” - -“We can run into Portland, and get John. I would rather have him go -with us than anybody else.” - -The noble boy accomplished his object, and deposited the ashes of -the mother so dear to him in the spot he had chosen. It was a sweet -resting-place: the branches of the majestic tree, green in the first -verdure of summer, almost swept the grave; the brook murmured gently as -it rounded the little promontory; the ground-sparrow built her nest, -and reared her young, upon the turf that covered it; and the low-voiced -summer winds breathed requiems over the sainted dead. - -Often, on Sabbath evenings, as Charlie, with his young wife, visited -the spot, did he lift up his heart in gratitude to Him who had given -him a home, friends, and land of his own, and enabled him to pay the -last tokens of affection to the mother he so dearly loved. Gratifying -the tastes he had acquired in his native land, and aided by his wife, -he surrounded the spot with flowers and shrubbery. - -Charlie’s marriage, so far from involving him in any additional -expense, increased his facilities for acquiring; for he had married -one who was indeed a helpmeet. Captain Rhines would have furnished his -daughter abundantly; but she, like John, preferred to earn it herself. - -“I never saw such children as mine are,” said the captain. “They won’t -let me do anything for them.” - -“Wait, father,” said Mary, “till we get a frame-house, and our land -cleared. We may burn this up, and it is good enough for that: besides, -father, I know how Charlie feels; he abhors the idea of marrying on; he -will feel a good deal better to get under way himself: you know, you -can give me any time, if you want to. Charlie, John, and Fred are all -alike about being helped.” - -The very first thing Charlie did after he got into his house was to -set a bear-trap; the next, to make a loom and all the fixtures for -Mary. Some years before, her father had given her a pair of sheep, and -now she had quite a flock, and had made blankets and other articles -for housekeeping before her marriage; her mother had furnished her -with flax, and the hum of her wheel kept time with the strokes of -Charlie’s hammer, as he worked on his boats. He brought over a host of -hens from Elm Island; but ducks and geese he didn’t dare to bring, the -foxes were so plenty and destructive; but he calculated to trap them, -and did hope the bears would get into his corn. O, how he did want to -go into farming, down with trees, put in the fire, and raise corn and -grain! But then he wanted to save his shade trees, and had a contract -to build a lot of boats for vessels that were building in Portland. -This paid better than farming, and must be done right off; therefore he -must defer the gratification; so he hired Ricker to help him, and set -to work upon his boats. Thus employed we must leave him, to follow the -fortunes of Captain Murch, in the Hard-Scrabble. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - -STRIKING WHILE THE IRON’S HOT. - - -The Hard-Scrabble had a good run off the coast, holding the wind to the -edge of the Gulf Stream; proved herself an excellent sea boat, and, -although so deep loaded, a good sailer. It was evident that, light, she -was faster than ordinary. - -France and England were then at war. Napoleon’s star was just rising -above the horizon, and our young captain found he had arrived at the -rich Island of Martinique in a most favorable time. But few American -vessels were there, barracks were building for troops, boards were -wanted, and there was a great demand for small spars, as masts for -drogers, booms for French men-of-war that came in there to refit after -the conflicts that were constantly occurring between the hostile fleets. - -Isaac sold his boards for forty dollars per thousand, and obtained a -hogshead of molasses for a small spar which cost little more than the -expense of cutting. - -“I wish I had loaded her with spars,” said Isaac to his mate. - -“You’ll make money enough,” said Joe, “as it is: you ought to be -satisfied. But I wish I’d brought spars for a venture.” - -Isaac now bought iron, and thoroughly bolted his knees, and, heaving -the vessel out, butt-bolted the plank, and painted her upper works. The -fastening was put in by him and his mate; for Isaac was possessed of -all the native ingenuity of his uncle for handling tools. - -“Now, Mr. Griffin,” said he, “we need not fear to put the molasses in -her, and we’ll see if we can’t bring her scuppers to the water.” - -Just as they were ready to take in molasses, a French man-of-war came -in, that had been disabled in an action with an English frigate. As -she lay in the offing, the commander sent his lieutenant aboard the -Hard-Scrabble, to see if she had brought any spars that would make him -a main-yard. The lieutenant informed Isaac that they had broken the -spar nearly off in trying to escape from the enemy, but that they had -fished, and made it answer a temporary purpose; that they must have a -spar, if it could be procured, no matter what the price. - -“Where is it injured?” asked Isaac; “in the slings?” - -“No; well out on the quarter: it was a poor stick; there were some -large knots in it, and it broke square, without splintering; that is, -it cracked, though it didn’t come in two.” - -Isaac replied that he would come on board in the course of an hour, and -see the captain. - -“What is the use to go aboard?” said Joe; “you haven’t got a thing but -a spar you’ve saved for a derrick, and haven’t brought anything that -would make him even a royal mast.” - -“I ain’t so sure of that. Come down below, Joe.” When they were by -themselves, he said, “Joe, suppose I should offer him the mainmast; -could you and I get her home?” - -After reflecting a moment, he replied, “Go ahead, captain: it will be -summer time; we shall have southerly winds, and we’ve got provisions -enough.” - -“But what will the crew say? We’ve no right to disable the vessel, and -run the risk of losing her, and their lives, without their consent.” - -“If you’ll give me authority to offer them a hogshead of molasses -apiece, I’ll make ’em willing, and more than willing.” - -Joe went forward, got the men together, and broached the matter. They -not only made no objection, but received the proposition with cheers. - -“We’ll put it all into Fred’s store, boys,” said Henry Griffin, “and -let him sell it for us on commission--sweeten him well.” - -Isaac lowered the boat Charlie had made,--whose rowing and sailing -qualities attracted the attention of all in the harbor,--put four oars -in her, and went on board the man-of-war in good shape. - -There was a very kindly feeling existing at that time between us and -the French, who had aided us in the struggle for independence. - -The French commander received Isaac with all the politeness of his -nation. Isaac went aloft, and looked at the spar. It was just as the -lieutenant had stated. When he came down, he said,-- - -“Captain, I haven’t any spars; didn’t bring any but small ones; but -I’ll sell you my mainmast.” - -“But if you sell your mast,” cried the Frenchman, in astonishment, “how -are you to get home?” - -“That is my own lookout.” - -“What strange people you Americans are! But is it large enough?” - -“It’s eighty feet long and twenty-eight inches through.” - -“That is long enough,” said the Frenchman. “It is a very little shorter -than the old yard, but will answer, as the sail does not haul out. It -is more than large enough.” - -“It is a very good stick--worth two of your old one.” - -“But to take your mast out of your vessel you will ask a great price.” - -“If you will take it out,--for I have no purchase sufficient,--give me -your old spar and a thousand dollars, you may have it.” - -“A thousand dollars!” interrupted the lieutenant. “That is more than -your whole craft is worth.” - -“Perhaps so to you, but not so to me. Besides, I risk my life, and that -of my men, and my cargo, by disabling my vessel.” - -“I must have the spar, and I’ll give you the money,” said the captain. - -He invited Isaac to take wine with him, which he declined. - -“I’ve seen strange things to-day,” said the Frenchman. “A captain that -would sell the mast out of his vessel, and wouldn’t drink a glass of -wine.” - -In the intercourse which grew out of this trade, the Frenchman noticed -Isaac’s boat,--his own had been riddled with shot,--and he wanted to -buy her. - -“There’s not a boat in this harbor,” said Isaac, “that can pull or -sail with her. I’ll sell her. I’ll sell anything but my country and my -principles. If you want her enough to give me one hundred dollars for -her, take her.” - -The Frenchman took her. The boatswain’s crew of the man-of-war brought -the yard alongside, and took out the mast. - -Isaac and Joe got the spar on board, sawed it off square where it -was cracked, then took a whip-saw and split it into halves the whole -length, turned the halves end for end, and put it together again, thus -bringing the joint in another place, and making the spar just as long -as it was before, and then treenailed it together. - -A yard is differently shaped from a mast, being biggest in the middle. -By their turning the halves, although the length was the same, there -was a slag in the place of the joint, and a bunch at the ends. They -filled up the slag with plank, the bunch at the bottom helped out the -step of the mast, and that at the top to form the masthead. They then -put on the hounds and the old trestle-trees. Joe, who was no mean -blacksmith, hooped the whole with iron, above and below the wake of the -mainsail. They now put in the mast, and set up the rigging. - -As the mast was so much smaller than the other, they did not dare -to send up the top and top-gallant masts; but they gave additional -strength to the masts by putting the topmast backstays and also the -headstays on to the head of the lower mast, thus leaving the stays of -the two masts on one, to compensate for the smaller size of the spar. -They were not afraid now to carry a whole mainsail and fore-staysail. -They also sent up the fore-yard, and bent the topsail on it for a -square-sail. - -In order that she might not look stunt, Joe made a light spar to take -the place of a topmast, to set colors on. They put the top-gallant -rigging and backstays on it, and the flying-jib for a gaff-topsail. -Thus they had nearly as much sail as before, and all the large sails, -without cutting a foot of rigging or a yard of canvas. - -“It takes us ‘Hard-Scrabble boys’ to do things,” said Joe, when the -whole was completed. “Hurrah for the Hard-Scrabble!” and jumping on to -the windlass-bitts at one bound, and slapping his hands against his -sides, he crowed most lustily. - -Mails were now established by Congress, and communication was more -easy. The boys were impatiently awaiting news from Isaac. They did not -manifest the patient endurance of Ben while the Ark was gone, but were -running to the office every mail day. - -At length word came from John that Captain Crabtree had arrived, -bringing news that Isaac had sold his lumber for forty dollars per -thousand, got a hogshead of molasses for a spar, sold Charlie’s boat -for one hundred dollars, and Sally’s venture for ninety-six, and had -agreed to sell his mast to the captain of a French frigate for a -mainmast for a thousand dollars, and was coming home under jury-masts, -and that Crabtree came away then. - -When Mr. Welch heard of it, he declared he should have a ship when he -got back if he had to buy one for him. - -“You can’t have him,” said Captain Rhines. “You ought to have held on -to him when you had him. He belongs to the boys.” - -“But the boys can’t build him an Indiaman.” - -“Can’t they? I’d like to know what they can’t do! Besides, they’ll have -good backers. I’ve been in both kinds of business, and it’s my opinion -there’s more to be made in West India than there is in East India -business, at any rate while this war lasts, though it may not have so -large a sound and be quite so genteel, which goes a great ways with -_some people_.” - -“Especially if you can raise your own cargoes, build your own ships, -make your own rigging, and weave your own sails,” added Mr. Welch, -laughing. - -In a few days they had a letter from Isaac, telling the particulars, -saying that they were ready to take in cargo; and he wanted Charlie -to have a mast all made and ready to go in when he got home, and a -load of spars for men-of-war, lower masts, yards, and smaller spars; -that he would take a few large ones on deck, and go to Cadiz,--for the -Spaniards were in the war, and spars were high there,--and would load -back with salt. He said all hands were well, the vessel tight, sailed -and worked first rate; and he had got a bag of coffee for old Mrs. Yelf. - -“I can get the mast fast enough on Elm Island,” said Charlie, “roll it -into the water, and tow it over; but how does he think I’m going to -haul those heavy spars on bare ground, enough to load that sloop?” - -“I’ll tell you how,” said Ricker. “You know that place where the brook -goes right through a gap in the ledge?” - -“Yes.” - -“Well, make a pair of gates to open and shut in that gap, dam the -water, and flow it back, till the brook is deep enough to float the -timber, then twitch and roll it into the pond, float it down to the -gates, open them, and down it will go into the cove, right alongside -your vessel. I know all about that work. I never did much else.” - -“That will be just the thing,” said Charlie, “for some of the largest -trees grow within half a gunshot of the pond.” - -“You’ll have to stir yourselves,” said Captain Rhines. “The way he’s -rigged that vessel, according to his letter, he won’t be much longer -than common on the passage.” - -“I wish Joe Griffin was here,” said Charlie. - -“I guess he’s done you more good where he is.” - -Charlie obtained men, got his gates made, his mast cut and made, and -part of the spars cut, when the sloop arrived in Boston. - -When she was again ready for sea, she presented quite a different -appearance. They finished her cabin, put a billet-head on her, painted -her hull and spars, put studding-sail booms on her yards. The decks -were worn smooth, and the sails bleached white. She had a square-sail, -and looked like another vessel. - -Pluck and principle win the day. The cargo which they carried out in -this rough craft, built of white pine, and half fastened, amounted to -eleven thousand seventy-five dollars, bought their homeward cargo, and -left them three hundred dollars in cash. The mast Isaac sold to the -Frenchman paid all the expenses of the voyage within fifty dollars, -and, after selling their molasses, left them cash and sales twenty-six -thousand six hundred and five dollars, six thousand six hundred -fifty-one dollars and twenty-five cents apiece, Charlie having one -hundred dollars more, the price of the boat, half of which he gave to -Joe, Captain Rhines, and Ben, put glass windows in the meeting-house, -and clapboarded it. Uncle Isaac and others built a steeple. The boys -gave a bell, and Isaac brought a bag of coffee and a barrel of sugar -for Parson Goodhue. - -During the fall and winter Charlie cut spars enough to freight the -sloop again, and built a few boats. - -The Hard-Scrabble returned, having made a profitable voyage; and, -as the spring opened, Charlie had leisure to attend to farming. He -planted among the trees, whose naked branches flung no shadow, and -whose dead limbs and seasoned trunks, continually dropping, afforded an -inexhaustible supply of dry fuel. - -At leisure intervals he hewed out timber for a house and barn frame; -and, as he now had money, hired Ricker, and, after the harvest was -gathered in the fall, cut down and burned up all the dry trunks of the -trees, when the ground was wet, and there was no risk of the fires -running. - -He now had a large belt of cleared land between the grove--behind which -he had resolved to place his permanent buildings--and the great elm and -forest, also many beautiful trees scattered here and there over the -slope trending to the shore. - -“It has made some work,” said he, “to save these trees; but they are a -life-long source of beauty and happiness.” - -As the next spring opened, he was about to attack the forest in -earnest, when his plans were entirely changed by a communication from -Captain Rhines and Uncle Isaac. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - -PROGRESS. - - -Charlie now possessed what in those days was considered a handsome -property. - -As the spring came on, he made sugar, and determined to cut and burn -the growth of white maple, birch, and ash that covered the flat, that -he might have field pasturage, and indulge his taste for farming. But -his plans were brought to a sudden termination, and the land was to be -cleared in a manner quite different from that which he had anticipated. - -About four o’clock one afternoon, as he and Ricker were grinding their -axes, in preparation for the morrow, Ben, Captain Rhines, Uncle Isaac, -and Fred landed in the cove. As Charlie went to meet them, Fred held up -a letter. - -“We’ve come to set you to work,” said Captain Rhines. “We were afraid -that, living here by yourself, with plenty of money, you would get -rusty and lazy.” - -“I was afraid I should myself, and so am getting ready to go into the -woods. Come, go into the house, all of you.” - -The letter was from Isaac. He was at Cadiz, waiting for a cargo of salt. - -“He says he wants a larger vessel; that the demand is for large spars -for men-of-war, lower masts, yards, and bowsprits; that he can’t carry -them in that vessel, and that the few he did carry he had to run over -the rail forward and aft, and he liked to have lost his vessel going -out by one getting adrift.” - -“How large a vessel does he want, Captain Rhines?” asked Charlie. - -“Seven hundred tons,--a proper mast ship,--large enough to carry -real whoppers, one hundred and eight feet long and thirty-six inches -through, with a port at each end big enough to drive in a yoke of oxen.” - -Neither Charlie, nor even Fred, who thought the Hard-Scrabble a monster -for size, seemed startled by this. - -“Is he in a hurry for her?” - -“No; he said he wanted you to be thinking about it; and he will let the -masts alone, and take fish, boards, and staves to Madeira, or some of -the Danish islands.” - -“I will go to cutting the timber to-morrow. I’d rather cut it into -ship-timber than burn it. It won’t be fifty rods from the yard. As I am -clearing, I can save what I come across, and set up the vessel in the -fall, if he is in no hurry. Who’ll be the owners?” - -“Mr. Welch, Ben, Uncle Isaac, myself, and you ‘Hard-Scrabble boys.’ -There’s eight of us. We’ll all own alike. Give her a hard-wood floor, -white oak top, buy the timber of you, and take her at the bills.” - -“I’m agreed. What’s the dimensions?” - -“I’ve got them here. Isaac has seen an English mast ship out there, and -sent home her proportions. But you must build a two-story frame-house -first to lodge your men. You’ll want fifty or sixty men before you get -through.” - -“I can get along with a log house--make it bigger. Some can sleep in -the barn in warm weather. I want something else a great deal more than -I do a frame-house.” - -“What is that?” asked Ben. - -“A saw-mill right on this brook, where I can saw all my deck, ceiling, -outboard plank, and waterways.” - -“That’s a fact,” said Uncle Isaac. “I go in for a mill. I’ll build in -it, and work on it.” - -“I hope you won’t have a wooden crank,” said Fred. - -“Nor tread back with the foot,” said Ben, “like this old rattle-trap on -the river.” - -“There’s water and fall enough,” said Captain Rhines; “and we’ll -have an iron crank if we send to England for it, and all the modern -improvements. I move that Charlie, Ricker, Yelf, and Joe Griffin go -to work hewing the timber; and that we send Uncle Isaac off to the -westward to learn the new improvements, and come home and build it.” - -Having agreed upon all these matters, they separated; and that is what -became of Charlie’s farming that year. - -The pond, of which the brook was an outlet, furnishing a steady supply -of water, not affected by droughts, offered a splendid mill privilege. -The dam was almost built by nature, and the labor of constructing the -whole was greatly lessened, as the timber grew upon the spot. - -Instead of going to work upon the mill, Charlie, who knew that the -moment it was noised abroad that a mill was to be built on the outlet -to Beaver Pond, the price of timber land in the immediate vicinity -would rise, started off to Portsmouth, where the proprietor lived, and -bought the whole lot, between him and Joe Griffin, which was heavily -timbered with pine and hard wood. It was not the desire of speculation -that influenced him: he wanted ship-timber, spars, and lumber, and -didn’t want to strip all the forest from his home farm. Charlie loved -the trees: a bare and barren landscape had no charms for him. - -Uncle Isaac did not go to the westward to see the new improvements, but -to Thomaston, where General Knox (with whom he was acquainted, having -served under him in the war of independence) was building mills, and -making all kinds of improvements. - -The general, who was a noble, hospitable man, received Uncle Isaac most -cordially, took him to his house, and gave him every facility in his -power. He looked over the mills, made his observations, and took plans -of the machinery, came home, and went to work. - -Ricker now proved a most valuable man: he had been accustomed to mill -work, and knew how to take care of a saw. Since his reformation, he had -renewed his engagement, broken off by his loose habits. He went home, -got married, took charge of the mill, and went to sawing out plank for -the vessel. - -Charlie built a first-rate frame blacksmith’s shop, with a brick -chimney. John came home, bringing a complete set of tools. - -Fred was fully occupied in getting fish ready to send in the -“Hard-Scrabble” to Madeira, and exceedingly interested in some timber -Ricker was sawing to order in the mill, and a cellar Uncle Sam Elwell -was stoning not far from his store. - -It was snapping times now all round, everybody on the clean jump from -morning to night. The mill was going night and day, and the short click -of the saw rang in the still midnight through the old woods, that had -before echoed only to the war-whoop of the red man, or the blows of the -settler’s axe. - -The younger portion of the community were wide awake, ready for -anything, and a spirit of emulation was rife among them. Walter -Griffin, Fred’s clerk, kicked out of the traces at once; he went to -Fred, and said, “Mr. Williams, I must leave.” - -“Leave!” cried Fred, in amazement. “What for?” - -“I want to go to sea.” - -Fred more than liked Walter: he loved him; he was a splendid boy, -industrious, trustworthy, and smart; but his wrist-joints were three -inches below the sleeve of his jacket, for his mother couldn’t make -clothes as fast as he grew. - -“Why, Walter, I didn’t dream of your ever leaving me. I want you, when -you are older, to go into business with me. Don’t you like me?” - -The tears came into the boy’s eyes in a moment. - -“_Like_ you, Mr. Williams! My own father ain’t nearer to me: you’ve -done everything for me; but, Mr. Williams, I never was made to weigh -flour, measure molasses and cloth; it don’t agree with our kind of -people. I can’t stand it; I shall die: indeed I can’t.” - -“But you wouldn’t leave me now, when I have so much to do?” - -“Not by any means, sir. I don’t want to go till the big ship is done.” - -“I think you’ll miss it, Walter.” - -“I don’t, sir. I don’t see why I can’t do as well at sea as Isaac -Murch. I’ll leave it to Uncle Isaac.” - -“Uncle Isaac, he’s always ready to shove any boy ahead.” - -“Didn’t you like to have him shove you ahead when you was a boy, sir?” - -That was a thrust which Fred knew not how to parry, and he was silent. - -“Don’t feel so bad, Mr. Williams. My brother William is only eighteen -months younger than I am; he would like to come in here, and would get -well broke in before I shall want to go.” - -“But he’s a Griffin, too,” said Fred, despondingly, “and will clear out -just as he becomes useful.” - -When the ship was ready for sea, half the boys in the neighborhood -wanted to go in her. Isaac took four, and several young men, who had -been some in coasters, as ordinary seamen. - -She was called the Casco. - -Fred was married to Elizabeth Rhines the day before she sailed, the -wedding being somewhat hastened, in order that Isaac might be present. - -This was a most eventful year. Uncle Isaac, one Saturday night, created -surprise enough by riding down to the store with his wife in a wagon, -the first one that had ever been seen in the place. - -“You’ve got yourself into business, Isaac,” said the captain. “Either -you or Charlie have got to make me one this winter.” - -“Then I must do it, Benjamin; for Charlie’s got enough to do this -winter to take care of that baby.” - -Seth Warren assumed command of the Hard-Scrabble, that still continued -to make money for her owners, who built more vessels, and acquired -property, of which they made a most praiseworthy use, in affording -employment to others, and doing all in their power to promote the -welfare of society; and the prosperity and happiness of hundreds -resulted from that pile of boards Captain Rhines navigated to Cuba; and -fleet and beautiful vessels, visiting the most distant seas, were the -successors of the Hard-Scrabble. - - - - -OLIVER OPTIC’S - -ARMY and NAVY STORIES. - -A Library for Young and Old, in six volumes. 16mo. Illustrated. Per -vol., $1.50. - -=The Sailor Boy=, or Jack Somers in the Navy. - -=The Yankee Middy=, or Adventures of a Naval Officer. - -=Brave Old Salt=, or Life on the Quarter Deck. - -=The Soldier Boy=, or Tom Somers in the Army. - -=The Young Lieutenant=, or The Adventures of an Army Officer. - -=Fighting Joe=, or the Fortunes of a Staff Officer. - -“The writings of Oliver Optic are the most peculiarly fitted for -juvenile readers of any works now published. There is a freshness -and vivacity about them which is very engaging to older readers. -The benefit which a young mind will obtain from reading the healthy -descriptions, full of zest and life, and, withal, containing a great -deal of very useful information, is almost incalculable.”--_Toledo -Blade._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -OLIVER OPTIC’S - -MAGAZINE. - -OLIVER OPTIC, Editor. - -PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY AND MONTHLY PARTS. - -Each number contains: - - Part of a NEW STORY, by the Editor. - STORIES and SKETCHES, by popular authors. - An ORIGINAL DIALOGUE. - A DECLAMATION. - PUZZLES, REBUSES, &c. - -=_All Handsomely Illustrated._= - -TERMS: $2.50 per Year; $1.25 for Six Months; 6 cts. per number. -Subscribers can receive it either in Monthly or Weekly parts. - -☞ =Remember, this Magazine contains more reading matter -than any other juvenile magazine published.= - -Specimen copies sent free by mail on application. - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -OLIVER OPTIC’S - -RIVERDALE STORIES. - -Twelve volumes. Profusely illustrated from new designs by Billings. In -neat box. - -Cloth. Per vol., =45c.= - - Little Merchant. - Young Voyagers. - Christmas Gift. - Dolly and I. - Uncle Ben. - Birthday Party. - Proud and Lazy. - Careless Kate. - Robinson Crusoe, Jr. - The Picnic Party. - The Gold Thimble. - The Do-Somethings. - -“Anxious mothers who wish to keep their boys out of mischief, will -do well to keep their hands filled with one of the numerous volumes -of Oliver Optic. They all have a good moral, are full of fascinating -incidents mingled with instruction, and teach that straight-forwardness -is best.”--_News._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -OLIVER OPTIC’S - -YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD. - -A Library of Travel and Adventure in Foreign Lands. 16mo. Illustrated -by Nast, Stevens, Perkins, and others. - -Per volume, =$1.50.= - -=Outward Bound=, or Young America Afloat. - -=Shamrock & Thistle=, or Young America in Ireland and Scotland. - -=Red Cross=, or Young America in England and Wales. - -=Dikes & Ditches=, or Young America in Holland and Belgium. - -=Palace & Cottage=, or Young America in France and Switzerland. - -=Down the Rhine=, or Young America in Germany. - -“These are by far the most instructive books written by this popular -author, and while maintaining throughout enough of excitement and -adventure to enchain the interest of the youthful reader, there is -still a great amount of information conveyed respecting the history, -natural features, and geography of this far-off land, and the -peculiarities of the places and people which they contain.”--_Gazette._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - - - -OLIVER OPTIC’S - -LAKE SHORE SERIES. - -SIX VOLS., ILLUST. PER VOL., $1.25. - - * * * * * - -=Through by Daylight=; Or, The Young Engineer of the Lake Shore -Railroad. - -=Lightning Express=; Or, The Rival Academies. - -=On Time=; Or, The Young Captain of the Ucayga Steamer. - -=Switch Off=; Or, The War of the Students. - -=Brake Up=; Or, The Young Peacemakers. - -=Bear and Forbear=; Or, The Young Skipper of Lake Ucayga. - -Oliver Optic owes his popularity to a pleasant style, and to a ready -sympathy with the dreams, hopes, aspirations, and fancies of the young -people for whom he writes. He writes like a wise, overgrown boy, and -his books have therefore a freshness and raciness rarely attained by -his fellow scribes.--_Christian Advocate._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -OLIVER OPTIC’S - -BOAT CLUB SERIES. - -SIX VOLS., ILLUST. PER VOL., $1.25. - -=The Boat Club=; Or, The Bunkers of Rippleton. - -=All Aboard=; Or, Life on the Lake. - -=Now or Never=; Or, the Adventures of Bobby Bright. - -=Try Again=; Or, The Trials and Triumphs of Harry West. - -=Poor and Proud=; Or, The Fortunes of Katy Redburn. - -=Little by Little=; Or The Cruise of the Flyaway. - -Boys and girls have no taste for dry and tame things; they want -something that will stir the blood and warm the heart. Optic always -does this, while at the same time he improves the taste and elevates -the moral nature. The coming generation of men will never know how much -they are indebted for what is pure and enobling to his writings.--_R. -I. Schoolmate._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -OLIVER OPTIC’S - -STARRY FLAG SERIES. - -SIX VOLS., ILLUST. PER VOL., $1.25. - -=The Starry Flag=; Or, The Young Fisherman of Cape Ann. - -=Breaking Away=; Or, The Fortunes of a Student. - -=Seek and Find=; Or, The Adventures of a Smart Boy. - -=Freaks of Fortune=; Or, Half Round the World. - -=Make or Break=; Or, The Rich Man’s Daughter. - -=Down the River=; Or, Buck Bradford and his Tyrants. - -These books are exciting narratives, and full of stirring adventures, -but the youthful heroes of the stories are noble, self-sacrificing, and -courageous, and the stories contain nothing which will do injury to the -mind or heart of the youthful reader.--_Webster Times._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -OLIVER OPTIC’S - -WOODVILLE STORIES. - -SIX VOLS., ILLUST. PER VOL.,, $1.25. - -=Rich and Humble=; Or, The Mission of Bertha Grant. - -=In School and Out=; Or, the Conquest of Richard Grant. - -=Watch and Wait=; Or, The Young Fugitives. - -=Work and Win=; Or, Noddy Newman on a Cruise. - -=Hope and Have=; Or, Fanny Grant among the Indians. - -=Haste and Waste=; Or, The Young Pilot of Lake Champlain. - -Oliver Optic is the apostolic successor, at the “Hub,” of Peter Parley. -He has just completed the “Woodville Stories,” by the publication of -“Haste and Waste.” The best notice to give of them is to mention that a -couple of youngsters pulled them out of the pile two hours since, and -are yet devouring them out in the summer-house (albeit autumn leaves -cover it) oblivious to muffin time.--_N. Y. Leader._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - - - -REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG’S - -ELM ISLAND STORIES. - -Six vols. 16mo. Illustrated. Per vol., $1.25. - - 1. Lion Ben of Elm Island. - 2. Charlie Bell. - 3. The Ark of Elm Island. - 4. The Boy Farmers of Elm Island. - 5. The Young Shipbuilders of Elm Island. - 6. The Hardscrabble of Elm Island. - -“There is no sentimentalism in this series. It is all downright -matter-of-fact boy life, and of course they are deeply interested in -reading it. The history of pioneer life is so attractive that one -involuntarily wishes to renew those early struggles with adverse -circumstances, and join the busy actors in their successful efforts to -build up pleasant homes on our sea-girt islands.”--_Zion’s Herald._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -_Wonderful Stories._ - -JUTLAND SERIES. - -Four vols. Illustrated. Set in a neat box, or sold separate. Per vol., -$1.50. - -=The Sand Hills of Jutland.= By Hans Christian Andersen. 16mo. -Illustrated. - -=Yarns of an Old Mariner.= By Mrs. Mary Cowden Clarke. Illustrated by -Cruikshank. 16mo. - -=Schoolboy Days.= By W. H. G. Kingston. 16mo. Sixteen illustrations. - -=Great Men and Gallant Deeds.= By J. G. Edgar. 16mo. Illustrated. - -Four books by four noted authors comprise this series, which contains -Adventures by Sea and Land, Manly Sports of England, Boy Life in -English Schools, Fairy Tales and Legends,--all handsomely illustrated. - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -_Illustrated Natural History._ - -YOUNG HUNTER’S LIBRARY. - -By MRS. R. LEE. Four volumes. Illustrated. Per vol., $1.50. - -=The Australian Wanderers.= The Adventures of Captain Spencer and his -Horse and Dog in the Wilds of Australia. - -=The African Crusoes.= The Adventures of Carlos and Antonio in the -Wilds of Africa. - -=Anecdotes of Animals,= With their Habits, Instincts, &c., &c. - -=Anecdotes of Birds, Fishes, Reptiles=, &c., their Habits and Instincts. - -This is a very popular series, prepared for the purpose of interesting -the young in the study of natural history. The exciting adventures of -celebrated travellers, anecdotes of sagacity in birds, beasts, &c., -have been interwoven in a pleasant manner. This series is not only very -interesting but is decidedly profitable reading. - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -_The Great West._ - -THE FRONTIER SERIES. - -Four vols. Illustrated. Per vol., $1.25. - - Twelve Nights in the Hunters’ Camp. - A Thousand Miles’ Walk Across South America. - The Cabin on the Prairie. - Planting the Wilderness. - -“The romance surrounding the adventurous lives of Western pioneers and -immigrants has suggested nearly as many stories as the chivalric deeds -of knight-errantry. These tales of frontier life are, however, as a -rule, characterized by such wildness of fancy and such extravagancy -of language that we have often wondered why another Cervantes did not -ridicule our border romances by describing a second Don Quixote’s -adventures on the prairies. We are pleased to notice, that in the new -series of Frontier Tales, by Lee & Shepard, there is an agreeable -absence of sensational writing, of that maudlin sentimentality which -make the generality of such tales nauseous.”--_Standard._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - - - -MISS LOUISE M. THURSTON’S - -CHARLEY ROBERTS SERIES. - -To be completed in six vols. Illustrated. Per volume, $1. - - How Charley Roberts Became a Man. - How Eva Roberts Gained Her Education. - Charley and Eva’s Home in the West. - -(_Others in Preparation._) - -In presenting the above new series the publishers believe that they are -adding to that class of juvenile literature whose intrinsic worth is -recognized by those who have at heart the good of the young. - -“They are pleasantly written books, descriptive of the struggles and -difficulties of Charley and Eva in attaining to manhood and womanhood, -and they are well adapted to stimulate a noble ambition in the hearts -of young persons.” - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -“Varied and Attractive.” - -VACATION STORY-BOOKS. - -Six vols. Illust. Per vol., 80 cts. - - Worth not Wealth. - Country Life. - The Charm. - Karl Keigler. - Walter Seyton. - Holidays at Chestnut Hill. - - * * * * * - - - - -ROSY DIAMOND STORY-BOOKS. - -Six volumes. Illustrated. Per vol., 80 cts. - - The Great Rosy Diamond. - Daisy, or The Fairy Spectacles. - Violet, a Fairy Story. - Minnie, or The Little Woman. - The Angel Children. - Little Blossom’s Reward. - -These are delightful works for children. They are all very popular, and -have had a wide circulation. They are now presented in a new dress. The -stories are all amusing and instructive, exhibiting human nature in -children, and teaching some very important practical lessons. - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -MAY MANNERING’S - -HELPING HAND SERIES. - -Six volumes. Illustrated. Per volume, $1. - - Climbing the Rope. - Billy Grimes’s Favorite. - The Cruise of the Dashaway. - The Little Spaniard. - Salt Water Dick. - Little Maid of Oxbow. - -“‘May Mannering’ is the _nom de plume_ of an agreeable writer for -the young folks who possesses more than ordinary ability, and has a -thorough comprehension of the way to interest children.”--_Philadelphia -Item._ - -“We like the spirit of these books exceedingly, and cordially commend -it to the notice of Sabbath School Libraries.”--_Ladies’ Repository._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - * * * * * - - - - -“Fascinating and Instructive.” - -THE PROVERB SERIES. - -BY MRS. M. E. BRADLEY AND MISS KATE J. NEELY. - -Six vols. Illust. Per vol., $1. - - Birds of a Feather. - Fine Feathers do Not make Fine Birds. - Handsome is that Handsome does. - A Wrong Confessed is half Redressed. - Actions speak louder than Words. - One Good Turn deserves another. - -“Each volume is complete in itself, and illustrates, with a story of -most fascinating and instructive interest, the proverb taken for its -title. These are just the kind of books that we like to see in a family -or Sunday-school library. They will be read by persons of all ages with -deep interest, and afford instructive and entertaining conversation -with the children.”--_S. S. Journal._ - -=LEE & SHEPARD=, Publishers, Boston. - - -[Transcriber’s Note: - -Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.] - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Hard-Scrabble of Elm Island, by Elijah Kellogg - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HARD-SCRABBLE OF ELM ISLAND *** - -***** This file should be named 54767-0.txt or 54767-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/7/6/54767/ - -Produced by Wayne Hammond and The Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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