Page:Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Point.djvu/116

106 furnished. When they started at nine o'clock the party numbered eleven, besides the boatman and his assistant. To the surprise of Ruth—and it was remarked in whispers by the other girls, too—Phineas, the boatkeeper, had chosen Jack Crab to assist him in the management of the motor boat.

"Jack doesn't have to be at the light till dark. The old lady gets along all right alone," explained Phineas. "And it ain't many of these 'longshoremen who know how to handle a motor. Jack's used to machinery."

He seemed to feel that it was necessary to excuse himself for hiring the hairy man. But Heavy only said:

"Well, as long as he behaves himself I don't care. But I didn't suppose you liked the fellow, Phin."

"I don't. It was Hobson's choice, Miss," returned the sailor.

Phineas, the girls found, was a very pleasant and entertaining man. And he knew all about fishing. He had supplied the bait for taulog, and the girls and boys of the party, all having lived inland, learned many things that they hadn't known before.

"Look at this!" cried Madge Steele, the first to discover a miracle. "He says this bait for tautog is scallops! Now, that quivering, jelly-like