Lewis E. Theiss

“ Alec had no fear it would betray the position of his little craft, however, for in color it was hardly distinguishable from the waves. It was his sail alone that he feared.
On he went. Mile after mile, the little Osprey followed the Shark. Now Alec was able to catch an occasional glimpse of the pirate ship. But these glimpses were so fleeting, so vague and uncertain, that had he not been straining his eyes to discover just what he saw, he would never have guessed that he was looking at a ship. There was a whitish, luminous patch that stood out for a second, then vanished again in the dark. ”

“ The slick was still plainly discernible, and whenever Alec took soundings he found that the depression continued. At last he came to the point for which he was heading—the last lot of ground that had been staked. Beyond that was a vast area that any man might claim. So eager to see what he should find, so fearful and yet so hopeful was Alec, that he almost held his breath as he bent forward and peered out over the unstaked water. Would the slick continue through the unleased areas or would it not?
"It does! It does!" cried Alec aloud, as he sailed past the very last oyster stake. ”

“ The oyster business grew duller and duller. More and more ships were laid up for the winter. For days at a time the Bertha B lay fast at her pier. To a lad of Alec's energetic, impatient nature, it was a trying period. There was so little that he could do. From bowsprit to taffrail he already knew every rope and stick and implement on an oyster-boat, and the uses of them all. He knew the various parts of the engine and comprehended their functions. He had already learned how to splice a rope, reef a sail, bend on a line, cast a hawser, and do a thousand other tasks aboard ship. ”

“ But the remembrance of this day will help me to stick to it, even if I do have to work alone."
"You won't be so much alone as you think," replied Elsa. "You have your wireless, and we can call each other every noon and night. We can talk in the early evening and after Arlington sends out the time and the weather news. If you are going to be out on the water so much, you will want to get the weather forecasts, sure. It makes me nervous to think of you all alone out on the Bay. All sorts of things might happen to you."
"Nonsense," replied Alec. "I'll be as safe and snug as a bug in a rug." ”

“ Now will you become my partner?"
"Oh, Captain!" said Alec. "Of course I will, but I never dreamed of such a thing."
"Likely not," said the captain. "But I have known for a long time that it was coming."
"What!" gasped Alec.
"Certainly," said the shipper. "I rather suspected it the first time I set eyes on you. I knew it the night you went overboard after Hawley."
"What do you mean?" asked Alec. "I don't understand it at all, sir."
"It's plain enough, lad. A man of my age can't carry on a business forever. ”

“ When all the story had been dragged from the reluctant lad, the shipper once more expressed his opinion of Alec's folly in wasting his time over the silly notion that a microscope and a thimbleful of sea water would tell him anything about the value for oyster-culture of a piece of land three fathoms under the waves. Instantly Elsa flew to Alec's defense.
"Now, father," she said, "Alec is doing just what he ought to do, and you ought to be the last person in the world to discourage him. He's going to find out the truth even if he doesn't find the oysters he hopes to, and that's worth a lot." ”

“ If you find what you want, you are benefited, aren't you? And if you don't find it, you're benefited just the same."
"How?" Alec had inquired.
"Stupid. It isn't oyster fry you're after. It's truth. You'll get it, no matter whether it pleases you or not. Won't you? You'll know whether that bulletin is right or whether the old oystermen are right, won't you? And that's worth a great deal more than seventy-five dollars, isn't it? Why, Alec, if you don't go ahead and test the thing, you'll never be happy. You'll fret and fret about it, thinking you ought to be planning your work differently. ”

“ Haven't you learned that you can't trust everybody? You've had experiences enough here to teach you that lesson pretty well. Suppose your bed should turn out to be worth something, and I decided not to hand it over to you? Had you thought of that possibility, lad?"
"Captain Rumford," said Alec, "there isn't anything I've learned better than the lesson that there are some people I can't trust. And while I've been learning that, I've found that there are some I can."
"Thank you, lad," said the shipper, evidently deeply touched. "Thank you. You can put your mind at rest about your oyster grounds. ”

“ Slowly the Bertha B moved ahead. The captain swung her toward the channel. Around her the water was inky black, where her propeller was churning up the mud. The water deepened and the vessel gained headway. In a moment she was going smoothly. The bar ahead had disappeared. The tide was rising rapidly. All about her, other ships were starting or trying to start. Those with power forged slowly ahead through the mud until they reached the centre of the channel. A few that depended upon their sails alone were forced by the wind to circle about before they could head toward the oyster grounds. ”

“ I can't imagine how anybody could sell all the shells that old fellow had in his boat."
"A fellow could sell a million bushels of 'em if he had 'em," said the watchman. "You know the oyster-planters put these shells back in the oyster-beds in spring. They buy 'em back from these fellows at five cents a bushel."
"What!" exclaimed Alec. "The planters sow oyster shells in their beds! Surely you can't grow little oysters from old shells!"
The watchman laughed heartily at Alec. "Of course you can't grow little oysters from old shells. But you can grow 'em on old shells." ”

“ Altogether, the oyster fleet numbered some hundreds of vessels.
On every ship were signs of activity. In every rigging red and green lights already sparkled, or men were about to hoist them. On some ships white lights glimmered aloft; while more and more boats were showing white lights at their sterns.
Fascinated, Alec watched the scene. For ship after ship, on either side of the river, now cast off her lines, swung gracefully with the current and headed down-stream. On every hand rose the steady put-put-put of ships' motors. ”

“ When he remembered what he had been told as to the difficulties of becoming an oyster-planter and of the large amount of money required, he could see no way to achieve such an end. He did not see how he could ever earn and save enough money to buy an oyster-boat. Alec was a lad of good sense, however, and after speculating about the matter for a time, he suddenly said to himself, "This is all foolishness. You don't even know yet whether or not you want to be an oysterman. If you do, the best way to succeed is to learn all about the business you can. ”

“ Nor was Elsa the only one who trusted Alec, nor yet the shipper and Alec's immediate friends. Everybody at the oyster wharves had confidence in him. They knew his ambitions. They also knew he would achieve them. Many a man among them would have risked his money on Alec as confidently as Alec had done himself and would have done so gladly. For all money and wealth in the world is won through the efforts of human beings. And far-seeing business men are ever looking for dependable lads to invest in, just as much as they are on the watch for other good bargains to buy. ”

“ How the shovels flashed, and the shells glinted in the sun, as strong arms heaved [Pg 190] them back into the sea! How the piles of tiny oysters grew!
What a sight it was! From far and near, from east and west, from north and south, from every oyster town about the Bay, came scores of boats to add their shining sails to the great fleet. Look where he would, Alec could see ships sweeping along before the breeze, their decks crowded with toiling men, bulking high with oysters. Never, as long as he lived, would he forget that scene. ”

“ The captain smiled ever so faintly. "What is it going to be like?" he inquired.
"Well, it will be bigger and higher and faster and have more hold room than any oyster-boat now in the fleet. And it will be equipped with wireless, sir."
The lurking smile vanished from the captain's face. "Where did you get those ideas?" he demanded.
"Partly from hearing others talk and partly from my own observation."
"If you ever do," said the captain, "I reckon you'll make a lot of ship owners scrap their boats. They can't compete with an outfit like that. ”

“ He had been fired afresh with the determination to climb up in the oyster business. His unexpected elevation to the captaincy of a ship had stimulated and aroused him to the utmost. His association with Alec had brought out the best that was in him. And these two comrades, Alec and Captain Jim, worked to make things go for the shipper, as few men ever worked for another. They drove the ship, they drove the crew—by example rather than compulsion—they made everything work as close to one hundred per cent. efficiency as is humanly possible—and yet they failed. ”

“ I'll be an oysterman, too. That's settled. I'll be a planter and shipper, too. I'll be just as big a man at Bivalve as Captain Rumford or anybody else. I'll show them what Alec Cunningham's got in him. I'll work and work and work and study and study and save my money, and some day I'll have the finest oyster-boat that sails out of this port. And I'll call her Old Honesty, too. And she won't be any old-fashioned sailing boat done over. She'll be an up-to-date oyster-boat, scientifically made. Captain Rumford will have to scrap his whole fleet when my new boat [Pg 111] gets to work. ”

“ I tell you them stakes never comes up!"
"Does it take long to stake out an oyster-bed?" asked Alec.
"Well, that depends upon the weather and the mud and a lot of other things. If an oyster captain is too busy to put down his own poles, he can get a stake sticker to do it for him."
"What's that?"
"Oh! There's lots of men with little boats, who ain't got money enough to start oystering themselves, that make a business of putting out stakes for men who have beds. They charge a dollar a stake, and in a good day they can put down twenty-five or thirty stakes." ”

“ You've got this boat now, haven't you? You don't own her, but, for the time being, she's yours. It might be the same with an oyster-bed. My father often rents other men's beds, or works them on shares, or buys the oysters in them. Some day you [Pg 203] may want to do the same thing. What you need to do is to know all the truth about these oyster grounds. It isn't worth while to do half of a job. And that isn't the kind of work you do, either. I know something about you, Alec Cunningham. You've got no end of brains and energy, but your judgment isn't always good. You need a guardian. ”

“ And both wind and tide were driving them toward the open sea.
"If only we had put those dredges aboard," said the shipper, "we might hold ourselves yet. There isn't a thing on board we can put down to hold with. If only we don't go on that stone pile, we'll be all right. This storm can't last long, and somebody will pick us up, sure."
Driven by the wind, the tide was running like a mill-race, and the Rebecca was swept along at an unbelievable pace.
The shipper and Alec stepped into the cabin and pulled on their oilskins, then returned to the deck. ”

“ Alec had answered, with genuine admiration in his glance. "Do you know that's exactly what I need, and I never before knew what it was that was wrong."
"Well, don't you let it worry you any longer, Alec," Elsa had replied. "I understand you and what you are trying to do, and I think it's just fine. And I'll stand back of you no matter what they say. I know Dad will think you are foolish. He thinks anything new is foolish. But never you mind. You just go ahead with your plans."
"That settles it," Alec had replied. "I am going ahead, no matter if it costs twice seventy-five dollars. ”

“ Why, if a fellow doesn't know the truth, he's like a man who doesn't know how to get to the place he's trying to reach. He may be walking in the wrong direction. It wouldn't do him much good if he was a good walker, would it? And just think how near I came to being a dummy like that myself—all for the sake of seventy-five dollars!"
So the matter had been settled for good, and Alec had ordered the articles, even laughing when it took almost his last cent to pay for them. Now he had them at hand, and he was almost ready to begin his search for the truth—the truth about the oyster fry. ”