12 THE WHALE HUNTERS 



*Yes, son, she has sailed,' said Mr. Mather, reading his 

 thoughts. 



Somehow Jonathan was not sorry ; he had had his fill of 

 sea voyaging for the time being. Refreshed by his sleep, 

 short though it had been, and no longer burdened by 

 indecision, he felt in much better spirits. 



'Mr. Mather,' he said, rather solemnly, 'I would like to 

 accept your offer of employment, if it is still open. I am 

 quite ignorant of the business of innkeeping but I promise 

 you I will try to learn it and be of service to you.' 



The man smiled at the boy's serious face and formality 

 of manner. 



'I shall be pleased to have you help me, my son,' said 

 Mr. Mather, 'but to-night you are my guest, so be at your 

 ease. To-night you'll sleep in a warm bed and to- 

 morrow will be time enough to talk of toil.' 



The next day Mrs. Mather insisted that Jonathan did 

 no work because in her own words 'his poor skinny body 

 needed nourishing first.' So he spent the day exploring 

 the inn and the small farm that the Mathers ran. At 

 suppertime he sat at the table in the parlour with two 

 sailors. One of them was a ruffianly looking man with a 

 great mass of whiskers. All three ate their meal in silence 

 but when it was finished the boy's tongue was the first to 

 loosen. 



'What sort of ships do you sail in, sir?' he asked of the 

 sailor with the black whiskers. 



'Whalers mostly,' replied the man. 



'And what do the people of this island do?' 



The man looked surprised. 'What do they do, he asks. 

 What do they do? Why, in a place such as Sherburne 

 there ain't nothing else a man can do but catch fish and 

 sell it if he can. There's a bit of Indian trading to be had 

 but that ain't much.' 



'Are there plenty of fish on these shores?' asked 

 Jonathan. 



