MacDonald is
pretty always certain of a welcome, fellows!"
"Rather!" said Joe. "That's what I call--um--being useful in the world.
Bet you he's a fine sort. Bound to be, eh?"
"I'd like to make a trip with him," said Perry. "Gee, but it would be
some sport, wouldn't it? Talk about finding adventures! Bet you he has
'em by the hundreds."
"I dare say," said Phil, "that he'd be glad to dispense with a good many
of them. Hope I haven't bored you, fellows," he added, returning to his
book.
"You haven't, old scout," answered Han. "Any time you learn anything as
interesting as that, you spring it. Blamed if it doesn't sort of make a
fellow want to be of more use in the world. Guess I'll polish some
brass!"
They passed many of those islands during the next few days, lonely,
rock-girt spots scantily clad with wild grass and wind-worried fir
trees. Sometimes there was a lighthouse, and nearly always the rocks
were piled with lobster-traps, for lobstering is the chief industry of
the inhabitants. They touched at one small islet one afternoon and went
ashore. There were but three houses there, old, weather-faded shacks
strewn around with broken lobster-pots and nets and discarded tin cans
and rubbish. The folks they met, and they met them all, from babes in
arms to a ninety-eight-year-old great-grandmother, looked sad and
listless and run-to-seed.
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