"What is your scheme, Ben?--what is it?" cried they all.

It so happened that they had now come to a spot of ground where a new
house was to be built. Scattered round about lay a great many large
stones which were to be used for the cellar and foundation. Ben mounted
upon the highest of these stones, so that he might speak with the more
authority.

"You know, lads," said he, what a plague it is to be forced to stand in
the quagmire yonder,--over shoes and stockings (if we wear any) in mud
and water. See! I am bedaubed to the knees of my small-clothes; and you
are all in the same pickle. Unless we can find some remedy for this
evil, our fishing business must be entirely given up. And, surely, this
would be a terrible misfortune!"

"That it would! that it would!" said his comrades, sorrowfully.

"Now, I propose," continued Master Benjamin, "that we build a wharf, for
the purpose of carrying on our fisheries. You see these stones. The
workmen mean to use them for the underpinning of a house; but that would
be for only one man's advantage. My plan is to take these same stones
and carry them to the edge of the water and build a wharf with them.
This will not only enable us to carry on the fishing business with
comfort and to better advantage, but it will likewise be a great
convenience to boats passing up and down the stream. Thus, instead of
one man, fifty, or a hundred, or a thousand, besides ourselves, may be
benefited by these stones. What say you, lads? shall we build the
wharf?"

Bell's proposal was received with one of those uproarious shouts