CHAPTER XVIII.
CHARLIE BECOMES A FREEHOLDER.
CHARLIE was in high spirits when he weighed anchor; but on the way “achange came over the spirit of his dream.”
He began to reproach himself that, carried away by the attractionsof Pleasant Cove, and the impulse of the moment, he had gone so farwithout consulting his adopted parents. “Father will think that I oughtto have asked him. He would have bought the land for me if he hadthought best I should have it.”
When he reached the island, he told them all about it. Ben and Sallyseemed to understand his feelings perfectly.
“It would not have looked well,” said Sally, “after Uncle Isaac offeredto buy the land for you not to have accepted the offer.”
“You could not have found a better piece of land, or a more pleasantspot,” said Ben. “That flat next to the beach is splendid wheat land,and there’s an excellent boiling spring on the eastern side of thecove.”
“I didn’t see that, but I saw the brook.”
The evenings were now quite long, and Charlie made rapid progress insurveying. Uncle Isaac’s boat also grew apace under the new impulse hehad received. Every stroke of the hammer was so much towards buyingland.
Ben’s prediction in respect to increase of business was abundantlyverified. After Uncle Isaac’s boat was finished and gone, Charlieset up another, without any model or guide except his eye, and theknowledge of proportions which he had gained from the other boats.He endeavored to unite the sailing qualities of the West Wind witha greater capacity of burden, and ability to carry sail with a lessquantity of ballast.
Charlie did not intend to sell this boat, but to make her large andable for rough weather and heavy seas, and keep her for a family boatto go to the main land in. He had of late been smitten with a verygreat desire to go to meeting on the main land, and to dine at CaptainRhines’s, and he knew that his mother would like to go with him, asshe never was afraid of anything. But although he did not intend tosell this boat, he designed her for a permanent model of others to besold. He perceived that the other boats, though infinitely better thanthe dug-outs to get about in, were not what was required for fishing;that, though great sailers, they were not capacious enough to hold fishand ballast both, and required too much ballast to keep them on theirlegs. It is by no means an easy attainment to unite in one boat all theelements of a good fishing-boat, that will sail well, row easy, andsave life in bad weather. A fisherman wants a boat that will row easy,for he often starts away at two o’clock in the morning, when it isgenerally calm, and rows seven or eight miles, perhaps more, to reachhis ground. He cannot go without ballast, and he can get none after heis outside, except he gets fish, which is by no means certain. On theother hand, if he gets a large quantity of fish, he can throw some ofhis ballast overboard, and he doesn’t want to row half a ton of ballasteight or ten miles. But if his boat is stiff, and will carry reefedsails, or a whole foresail, with a moderate quantity of ballast that hecan keep in all the time, not sufficient to overload her when fish areplenty, and yet sufficient to make her safe, he is suited.
It is not a great deal, to be sure, to row four or five hundred weightof ballast more, for once or twice, but when you have got to do it yearin and year out, when tired and hungry, it is a good deal. A fishermanwants a boat, too, that is smart, stiff to bear a hard blow, buoyant,will mind her helm, and work quick to clear an ugly sea, and sail wellon a wind. They often go twenty miles from land, tempted by weatherthat appears “hard and good,” to particular shoals, where they getlarge fish, when the weather suddenly changes, and in an open boat theymust beat in, and they do beat in. There are boats now built at Hamptonor Seabrook that would beat into Boston Bay, with a man in them thatknew how to handle them in a gale of wind, when a ship couldn’t do it;for, when a big ship gets down to close-reefs, she won’t do much on awind. The people then knew where the fish were as well as we do now;but they couldn’t go off to those places except in pinkies, and, whenthey ventured to the inner shoals, reefs, and hake ground in theircanoes, it was real slavery. They had to row in if the wind came ahead,or it was calm, and were liable to be blown to sea and lost.
Charlie meant to build a boat that would answer these requirements asfar as he was able. Then he meant to take moulds of every timber andevery streak of plank as he went along, so that he might work fromthem, and build another of the same size, with one half the labor.
This he did, and built a boat twenty-two feet long on top, sharp underwater, and deeper in proportion to her length than the others, with apink-stern and lap-streak. It was less work to put on the planks witha lap than with a calking-seam; there was less need of accuracy; for,if the plank lapped too much in any place, you had only to take it offwith a plane or chisel.
When his boat was finished, he painted her by the streaks, and shelooked as neat as a pin. He thought she was a great deal handsomer thana square stern; so did everybody.
When anchored beside the Perseverance, she looked so much like her thathe christened her Perseverance, Jr. As soon as the spars and sailswere made, Charlie and the whole family, except Sally Merrithew andthe baby, went over to meeting. People then came great distances tomeeting, taking a luncheon of “turnovers,” or doughnuts and cheese, andgoing out to walk in the burying-ground to eat it, the intermissionbetween services being short.
The boat was anchored in the cove, right in front of the church, andmany were the curious eyes that scanned her proportions during theintermission.
Henry Griffin had enjoyed his boat but three weeks, when he came on tothe island, and wanted to buy the Perseverance, Jr.
“What do you want of two boats?”
“There’s a man in Wiscasset wants mine for a pleasure-boat. I thinkyours would be a great deal better boat for fishing in the winter, inrough weather. I will sell mine, and buy yours.”
“I won’t sell this boat, for we want just such a boat to go over tomeeting in. We can go in her dry, by carrying short sail, any time,almost; but I’ll build you one just like her.”
“When?”
“I’ll begin to-morrow.”
“Then build her, and I’ll sell this.”
In the course of a fortnight he had three orders more; all wanted themas soon as possible, they said. The boats were rather large, but justthe thing for two men.
He then hired Robert Yelf to work with him, and sent some mouldsover to Uncle Isaac, who dug out roots for him, and procured crooksfor knees and breast-hooks. When he had filled these orders, therewas a lull, and Charlie went to farming and making preparations forboat-building in future.
Having now mastered the principles of surveying by means of a Gunter’sscale and chain, which Ben possessed, and a cross staff which he hadmade under his father’s directions, he began to practise by measuringthe cleared land on the island and the points, and making and plattingthe different pieces. He was anxious to learn the use of the compass,and to run lines by it; but he had no land compass, and here, withmost boys, the matter would have rested; but unaccustomed to yieldto difficulties, Charlie resolved to make a boat compass serve histurn--the very one that had been the instrument of saving his life inthe snow squall.
His first attempt was to make a tripod. Upon a piece of oak board hedrew a circle two inches larger than the compass, with projectionsat each side six inches long, and sawed it out by the marks: he thendrew another circle, two inches inside of this, and sawed down to it,cutting out the wood so as to leave two projections on each side,two inches wide and two long: in each of these he cut a slot on theunderside, also in one of the end ones, to receive a tenon cut on theend of each of the legs. By heating a wrought nail he made rivets,upon which his legs traversed easily, and fastened the compass to awooden peg in the centre. A land compass has brass perpendiculars ateach end of the base upon which it sits, with slits in them, by whichto sight. In order to represent these, he made two holes in the endsof his base, in line with the needle of the compass, and put in twoknitting needles, making them perp
endicular with a plumb-line: thus,by setting up a stake, he had three objects in range, and could sightaccurately. A land compass has a spirit level on its frame, by which tolevel it, screws to keep it in place, and a ball and socket joint uponwhich it moves; but by spreading or contracting the legs of his tripod,and by means of a plumb-line (the great resource of all mechanics inemergencies), he contrived to depress, elevate, and adjust the compass,measure land, and run a line accurately, and in a manner which Ben,after looking over his work, pronounced correct.
“Survey the island, Charlie,” said Ben; “I should like to know how muchthere is in it. I will carry the chain for you, and help you aboutmeasuring the points.”
“Don’t you know how much land you bought?”
“No; I bought it for so much; had it for more or less--what Mr. Welch’sfather had it for when he bought it; I expect it overruns.”
“I should like to know, too,” said Uncle Isaac, who had come to theisland that morning. “I’ve heard the most talk back and forth aboutthis island: some say Ben hasn’t got the land he paid for, some sayhe’s got more. You need three to work in the woods. I’ll carry thechain.”
“I had it for seventeen hundred acres,” said Ben.
“Well, there’s all that, if not more.”
They ran lines north-east and south-west the length of the island, andparallel to each other at eighty rods apart; then ran cross lines, alsoparallel, eighty rods apart; blazed a tree at every intersection, andnumbered the ranges included in these spaces, and put them down in afield-book. As the shore line was irregular, they measured the shoresections by offsets from the range lines.
Charlie then made a plat of it. The island contained nineteen hundredand thirty-five acres, one rood, twenty-seven rods, five links.
“That’s not much more than there ought to be,” said Uncle Isaac; “youhave measured the whole; but they didn’t call these points anything,and they of course made allowance for the squawk swamp.”
They were five days in doing it, and it afforded Charlie excellentpractice. A short time after that, Ben was sent for to run a large lotof timber land. He hired Squire Eveleth’s compass, and took Charliewith him, when he had an opportunity to perfect his knowledge of thatinstrument.
In due time Uncle Isaac received a letter from Salem. The price of theland was seventy-five cents an acre. Uncle Isaac, Ben, and Charlie wentto look over it.
“It is too much,” said Uncle Isaac; “seventy-five cents an acre!farther back, you can buy it for twelve or fifteen cents.”
“What of that?” replied Ben: “no chance to get a thing to eat, exceptwhat you get from the land, and while you are clearing, almost starveto death; have to hunt and live on beech leaves and acorns; while hereare clams at the shore, and fish and lobsters in the sea, to fall backupon; besides a brook with a fine mill privilege.”
“Better than that, Ben; there are plenty of pickerel in this pond, andthe alewives, smelts, and frost-fish come up here into the brook, andany amount of eels.”
“There is still another great advantage you have overlooked: thereis a swale made by the flowing back of the water, where the beaversonce had a dam, that will cut six or seven tons of hay; that would beeverything to a man going to settle on it. With the hay in that swalefor winter, browse in this hard wood growth in summer, he could keepcattle right off.”
The pond contained over two hundred acres, and they found that in orderto obtain that, and a portion of the heaviest pine growth back of it,it would be necessary for Charlie to buy about four hundred acres, ormore.
“Buy it, Charlie,” said Ben; “you will then have the mill privilege andthe timber both, and can do well with it.”
Charlie concluded to take it; and Uncle Isaac wrote to Salem to closethe bargain. Ben and Charlie now went to Boston and procured theirtrees, taking up a load of fish to Mr. Welch, for Fred. Mr. Welchgave Charlie a Gunter’s scale, a land compass and chain, with all theappurtenances.
They received a letter from Isaac Murch, to the great delight of all,especially of Captain Rhines--the readers of the Ark will rememberhim. Mr. Welch told the captain that he had received a letter at thesame time from Captain Radford, in which he said Isaac was now secondmate of the Congress, an excellent seaman, and good navigator; and heshould give him a mate’s birth at the first opportunity.
“He’s my boy,” said the captain, highly gratified; “for I brought himto life when he was good as dead, and Flour and I educated him. I’llrisk _him_ anywhere; that will be good news for his parents and UncleIsaac.”
Fred had orders from Mr. Welch for more fish; Joe Griffin likewise.
Charlie was now abundantly supplied with material for building boats,and had more orders. The harvest being over, he was assisted by hisfather. In a tight shop, with a rousing fire, they had nice timestogether.
Nobody would fish in a canoe now; and as demand always creates supply,an ingenious man at Wiscasset (a ship carpenter, who had been injuredby a fall, and could not endure the heavy work of the ship-yard)saw one of Charlie’s boats, took the dimensions of her, and set upboat-building. Uncle Sam Elwell also built a boat for himself, andother ingenious people did the same; but Charlie’s boats outsailed allthe others, and were preferred; there was something about them theothers could not imitate. Uncle Isaac said there was a soul in them;they were alive.
The Perseverance made several trips, and Fred obtained his goods inthat way easily, and at small expense for freight, and paid Charliehis money, with a handsome profit, much more than the money would haveearned at interest.
The last time the Perseverance went to Boston, Sally went in her, babyand all. Mr. Welch and his wife were delighted to see her. Mrs. Welchwent shopping with her, and she purchased furniture for the house, anddishes to take the place of the old pewter, a large looking-glass, anda globe to hang on the wall in the front room, dresses for herself, andsome presents for Ben and Charlie.
Mr. Welch declared the child should be named for him, and so it was.
Charlie, having received his money, was naturally anxious to close thebargain for the land, of which Uncle Isaac had obtained the refusal.
In going over it the first time, they had merely guessed at the numberof acres it would be necessary to buy in order to take in the pond, thepine timber, and the whole of the brook.
Men like Ben and Uncle Isaac will, by pacing, come quite near to thecontents of a piece of land; but it was now necessary to measure anddescribe it sufficiently to make a deed.
Charlie wanted the cove, the long point, a growth of white oak whichextended several rods beyond the short point, and the pond and brook.These he meant to have, even if he had to buy more land than heactually wanted. Mr. Pickering wrote to Uncle Isaac, who was an oldacquaintance of his, that he was willing to take Rhines’s survey, if hewould go with them and carry the chain.
When they arrived at the spot with the new instruments Mr. Welch hadgiven him, Charlie wanted to begin at the shore line, above Long Point;but Ben told him if he did he would lose the point, as he could onlyhold what was within his lines. They therefore began on the shore,below the short point, ran the lines, and made a description by whichto write the deed, as follows: Beginning at a blazed yellow birchtree, standing in a split rock on the shore, twenty rods south-westfrom Bluff Point, so called; thence running south-east four hundredand fifty rods to a blazed pine, marked C. B. (Charlie’s initials),south-east corner; thence north-east one hundred and fifty rods to ablazed pine tree, marked C. B., north-east corner; thence north-westfour hundred and six rods to a blazed red oak tree on the shore,marked C. B.; thence along the shore of Pleasant Point, so called, atlow-water mark, to the point of the high ledge at the westerly end ofthe same; thence west by south forty rods to the south-westerly end ofsaid Pleasant Point at low-water mark; the line thence to the pointbegun at, being below low-water mark, across the mouth of PleasantCove, containing three hundred and sixty-three acres, more or less,thirty-seven being deducted for the contents of Pleasant Cove.
r /> “I must go to the brook and get a drink of water,” said Charlie, whenthey had finished.
“We’ll go to Cross-root Spring,” said Uncle Isaac. “That’s somethingyou’ve not seen yet, and it’s one of the best pieces of property you’vegot.”
Uncle Isaac led the way along the shore to the head of the cove. Therethe land rose gradually into a very gentle swell. A few rods from thewater’s edge, on the breast of this slight elevation, were two largebirches, whose branches interlocked; two of their main roots, crossingeach other, grew together, and between them quivered, in transientgleams of sunlight, the clear waters of a noble spring.
Charlie looked down into it. The white sand was rolling over and over,as the bubbling water flung it up from the bottom. All around were thefootprints of sea and land birds and animals. Uncle Isaac pointed outthe track of a wolf, coons, and the print of a bear’s foot.
“There,” said he, “is a well that God Almighty dug for the good ofhis creatures. You see they know where it is. More red than white menhave drank at this spring. It is a priceless gift! Let us drink, andremember the Giver.”
These details may not be very interesting to us, but they wereintensely so to Charlie, who felt his hand was almost upon the prize hehad so long desired. It had already been productive of one good result.It had given him an excellent practical knowledge of surveying andmathematics, most useful in his mechanical pursuits.
When Ben had written out the description, after returning to theisland, he gave it to Charlie, and said, “When you pay your money, andget a deed of the land thus described, you’ve got all the land thatbelongs to you, and as good a farm as there is in town.”
In due time Charlie received his deed, which, he being a minor, ran toUncle Isaac in trust for him.