"Well," he said slowly, "I thought if you were willing to take my pounds off my hands, and the contract I have with city parties for the fish, I'd give you two-thirds of the net profits. The other third ought to be a fair percentage on the money I have invested. Then if you chaps should want to buy the pounds right out, you shall have them for what they cost me."

It was altogether too good an opportunity to let pa.s.s, and the boys promptly accepted the offer.

They still kept the home trade they had built up, but shipped to city parties all the fish they had exceeding the home demand, and thus found themselves in the possession of a weekly income that they had scarcely dreamed of. It was very plain that unless some unforeseen circ.u.mstance came in to prevent, their business had taken a boom that would insure them a most successful season.

CHAPTER VIII.--THE LOST OX-CART.

It is Sat.u.r.day, the seventeenth of June, and therefore just four weeks since the new firm was fairly organized. The partners still use this day of the week for their special home duties. Let us, then, cross over to the island, take a peep at them, and see how they prosper.

As our visit is through the mind only, we will go to the house first.

The windows and doors are open, and the balmy air of the early summer is circulating through the rooms with its life-giving and purifying powers.

This suggests that the lads cannot be far away, though we do not find them within the building. They will not, however, object to our _mental_ inspection of the premises, and therefore we may safely enter.

This room is the kitchen, reaching across the whole width of the house, and occupying what may be termed the west end of the structure. We notice that the carpetless floor is still damp, where it has been scrubbed to snowy whiteness; the stove shines with its glossy blackness; pots, kettles, dishes, chairs and table are all in place, and an air of exquisite neatness pervades the room.

Pa.s.sing to our right we enter the sitting-room, not so large as the kitchen, and occupying the southeast corner of the house. There is a carpet on the floor--the only one Judd's mother possessed. A small table stands in the center of the room, and on it rests a lamp, a paper or two, and some books. A few cane-seated chairs, an old-fashioned and roomy lounge, and curtains at the two windows, complete the furnishings.

Back of the sitting-room is the bedroom, just large enough to contain the bedstead, the washstand, the bureau and two chairs. One thing, however, attracts our special attention. The bed is not a mere collection of blankets, thrown together and never disturbed. On the contrary, it would rival the thriftiest housewife's for its plump feather-bed, its white sheets and pillow-cases, and the neatness with which it is made. All the rooms, in fact, have by their neat appearance disclosed to us what we have already suspected--the lads have here _a home_, and not a mere abiding-place.

As we leave the house by the kitchen door we find just at the western end of the building a huge pile of stove-wood; and north of this, between the house and well, a small garden-patch, already green with its vegetables. Judd had begun this before Budd came; then it was enlarged somewhat, and now promises to be an important item toward their support.

Trusting the reader is not tired with this lengthy description, and a.s.suring him it is really necessary for the better understanding of the chapters that are immediately to follow, we will go on with our story.

Taking the well-beaten path running west from the kitchen door we are soon at the wharf, where we find the young partners busily at work.

Judd is repairing one of their pound-nets, which he has spread out upon the gra.s.s just back of the dock. The hole is a large one, for a ten-foot shark went through the pound the morning before, letting out no one knows how many fish, and compelling the lads to take up the net for extensive repairs; but they know this is a circ.u.mstance they must occasionally look for, and Judd's cheery whistle, as he works, shows that he has met with no special discouragement in the mishap.

Budd is on board the sloop, which is anch.o.r.ed a little north of the wharf and within its shelter, scrubbing down her deck. Before a great while he finishes, and jumping into the yawl, sculls it rapidly to the sh.o.r.e. As he pa.s.ses the outer end of the dock he pauses a moment and bends down to look underneath it. Then he brings the boat up into the opening, and catching hold of the top planking calls out:

"I say, Judd, I'm going under here to take a look at the cart-bed. I meant before this time to have taken it across to 'The Hummocks,' where Mr. Benton could get it. Perhaps I can do it to-day."

"Hold on a few minutes," responded Judd, looking over to where his partner was, "and I'll go with you. You'll need help, and a lantern also. Go to the house and get that, and a stout rope; by that time I'll be through here."

Budd secured the yawl and went on to the house. Meantime Judd's needle flew swiftly in and out, and when his chum arrived with the necessary articles the last st.i.tch in the seine had been taken.

Entering the boat, the lads pushed slowly in under the wharf, and soon came to the cart-bed which had brought Budd so providentially over to the island. It had been partly filled with sand by the tides, and was covered with a green slime; but the boys were dressed for dirty work, and soon got the unwieldy body in a condition to launch. Then hitching the rope to it, they fastened the other end to the yawl and slowly rowed out, dragging the cart-bed after them.

They now took it on sh.o.r.e, and with sand and broom and water scoured it until thoroughly clean; then they again fastened it to the yawl and started for "The Hummocks." It was a long pull and a hard one, but at length their task was accomplished, and the cart-body was safely landed on the north hummock and dragged up above high-water mark.

"There," said Budd, panting with his exertions; "I wish I could find the under-gear, and then I could return the whole vehicle to its owner, safe and sound."

"Possibly we might find it if we searched for it," replied Judd, walking down to the roadway between "The Hummocks" and where his comrade had been swept off. Turning about, he looked off toward the island.

"There," he said, with a wave of his hand--"a straight line from here touches the open end of the dock. Along that line somewhere you were thrown into the cart-bed, probably as it came to the surface; and beneath that spot, or somewhere near it, lies the wheels. How far off sh.o.r.e were you when that happened?"

"I can't tell," answered Budd. "It seemed to me a terrible long distance, and yet it may not have been. If we only had a water-gla.s.s we might row over to the island from this point, examining the bottom of the bay the whole distance."

"What is a water-gla.s.s?" asked his chum, with interest.

"I think I can make one," replied Budd, with energy. "You want a board tube about eighteen inches deep, with a gla.s.s set in at one end. You then put your face at the other and put the gla.s.s end a little beneath the surface, and the bottom of the sea for some distance around can be seen."

"We'll make one right away and try it," declared Judd, with enthusiasm.

"If it works well, we can use it for a good many purposes. There is an eight-by-ten pane of gla.s.s over at the house. Is that large enough?"

"I think so--come on," responded his companion; and the next moment the yawl was on its way back to the island with a speed that fairly made the water foam at its bow.

It took but a half-hour to make the gla.s.s. Four boards of the requisite length were nailed together, forming a tube of just the size to take in the pane of gla.s.s at one end. A half-inch inside of this end a row of tacks were driven nearly to their head; then the gla.s.s was carefully dropped down until it rested upon them. Another row of tacks driven just outside of the gla.s.s completed the arrangement for holding it in place, and the instrument was finished. It now only remained to try it, and Budd ran down to the yawl, followed by his chum. They pushed the boat forty or fifty feet off sh.o.r.e, and put the water-gla.s.s to its test.

To their delight it proved a perfect success, and through it the tiniest objects on the sea-bottom were clearly discernible.

"We had better go over to the point where the cart was swept off into the bay, to begin our search. Doubtless the under-gear is nearer that sh.o.r.e than this," suggested Budd.

His companion made no objection, and for the second time that morning they crossed to "The Hummocks."

Once opposite the road-bed, Judd took both oars and backed water slowly toward the wharf on the island, while Budd sat in the stern of the yawl, and with his head in the tube watched the bottom of the bay.

Rod after rod was gone over, when Budd suddenly removed his head from the tube with an exclamation of surprise.

"I say, Judd, the bottom here is covered solid with scallops, and the bed seems to extend as far as I can see in either direction."

"Let me see," answered Judd, pulling in his oars and joining his companion at the stern of the boat.

Taking the gla.s.s, he examined the sea-bottom for some minutes intently.

"It is as you say," he exclaimed, joyfully. "Let us see if we can find the size of the bed. Row, if you will, to the south, while I watch."

Budd good-naturedly took the oars and pulled in the direction indicated.

He had gone about fifty feet when Judd motioned him to stop.

"The bed ends here," he explained, removing his head from the gla.s.s.

"Now row slowly east."

Budd did as directed for ten or twelve rods; then Judd again motioned him to stop.

"That is the width of the bed," he explained. "Now row north."

Again the boat shot in that direction, and for a long distance, until Judd shouted:

"Hurrah!"

"What is it?" asked Budd, excitedly.

"That ends the bed; and did you ever see such a one before? It must be all of two hundred feet in width and four or five hundred in length, and that means bushels of scallops and many a dollar for us when the law is off in September."

Budd needed no further explanation from his partner. He had heard him say again and again that they must keep a sharp lookout for the beds of these valuable bivalves, and here was a tremendous one right almost at their island. He, too, joined in his companion's hurrah.

"I guess the gla.s.s has paid for its construction already," he commented, joining his chum at the stern.