CHAPTER 9
Who Needs a Friend?
The Alden family did not stay dumb for long.
Tuesday Benny said, “Let’s see if we can find out where Captain Snow lives.”
“Just step down to the store,” said Henry, laughing.
Everyone laughed.
“Wait just a minute until we finish the breakfast dishes,” said Jessie, “and we can all go.”
It was Grandfather who asked Mr. Hall, “Do you know Captain Snow of the Tahiti?”
“I’ll say I know him,” said Mr. Hall. “I’ve known him ever since he was a boy. He’s brother to the Cook boy’s mother.”
“Aha!” said Jessie.
“Aha!” said Benny. “That explains a lot of things.”
Mr. Hall leaned on the counter. “Larry always goes over to see his uncle when the Tahiti comes in. His uncle gives him something every time, but nobody has ever found out what it is.”
“Maybe he gets it in a covered pail,” said Benny, looking at Mr. Hall.
“How did you know that?” asked Mr. Hall.
“I saw him come home late one night and he had a pail,” said Benny.
“Sometimes his uncle gives him a box,” said Mr. Hall, “and sometimes a glass can. What do you suppose is in all those things?”
“We think we know,” said Henry. “It’s seaweed or plankton.”
“And what’s plankton, young feller?”
“It doesn’t grow here close to shore,” said Violet.
“It grows in the deep sea,” said Henry. “In some places the deep sea is full of it.”
“And what is it?” asked Mr. Hall.
“It’s what a whale eats,” said Benny. “It’s plants and tiny fish and eggs and stuff you can’t see with- out a microscope, but whales live on it. The whale takes a big mouthful and swallows the plankton and strains the water out of his mouth.”
“Fishes eat it, too,” Henry added. “It’s something like the way land animals feed on growing plants and smaller animals.”
“Plankton tastes awful,” said Benny. “They say there’s enough plankton in the deep sea to feed the world.”
“You don’t say!” said Mr. Hall. “Too bad it doesn’t taste good. But what I want to know is what the Cook boy wants it for.”
“We think he studies it and experiments with it,” said Henry.
“He’s a smart boy all right,” said Mr. Hall. “Maybe Captain Snow would know.”
“Where does he live?” asked Henry.
“Way up the street,” said Mr. Hall. “Do you know where they’re fixing the driveway?”
“Yes, that’s where we got our cement,” said Jessie.
Mr. Hall said, ‘There’s a white house near that corner and that’s Captain Snow’s. He lives with his mother.”
Benny said, “But most of the time he’s out at sea.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Hall. “Most of the time.”
Then Watch began to wag his tail. He went to the door.
A tall man came in and said, “Well, hello, dog. You are a good watchdog. Your name ought to be Watch.”
“It is!” cried everybody.
“You’re Captain Snow of the Tahiti,” said Benny. “We were just coming down to see you.”
“Good,” said Captain Snow. “You are the Aldens who went over my ship. Just give me some crackers and five pounds of sugar, Mr. Hall. Then I’ll go right home.”
“Do you have to go home?” asked Benny.
“No, I’m not in a hurry. I’m on leave from ship just now.”
“Can you come and sit on our rocks for a while?” asked Henry. “Right over there,” he pointed.
“Certainly,” said Captain Snow. “I’ll leave the crackers and get them on the way home.” All this time he had his hand on Watch’s head.
“Watch likes you,” said Violet.
“I like dogs,” said Captain Snow.
“Let’s go,” said Benny. “We have five chairs and a table made of rocks.”
“I’ll sit on the table,” said the captain.
“No, Henry will sit on the table,” said Jessie. “His chair will fit you.”
Soon they were sitting on the rocks, talking.
“You see that little house?” said Jessie, pointing to the little white house. “It was a summer kitchen for the lighthouse.”
Henry added, “Mr. Cook, Larry’s father, owns it now. That’s what Mr. Hall told us.”
“I see that it’s empty,” said the Captain.
“But it isn’t empty,” said Benny. “That’s where Larry does his experiments—at least we think so. He stays up most of the night. We don’t know how he gets in—he can’t have a key.”
“I always wondered where he worked,” said Captain Snow. “He doesn’t tell me much, but I know he’s trying to study by himself.”
“He wants to go to college this fall,” said Jessie.
“Everyone in town knows that,” said the captain, laughing. “His father didn’t catch on that Larry was so smart and let him write letters to two colleges.”
“Did they want him?” asked Benny.
“Yes, they both wanted him,” said the captain. “They wanted a young man who has tried to carry on experiments in science by himself.”
Then Grandfather said, “I think he can get the work he wants at Henry’s college. I might talk to the teachers there about him.”
“Both colleges he wrote to wanted him. He chose Adams,” said the captain.
“That’s Henry’s very college,” shouted Benny.
“What do you know about that!” said Henry.
“If he went there, you could take care of him, Henry,” said Benny.
Henry laughed. “He won’t need anybody to take care of him,” he said.
“But you could be his friend,” said Violet.
“He’ll need a friend,” said Captain Snow. “So far his father has said no.”
“But why?” said Benny. “And why does Larry have to hide his work?”
Captain Snow said, “I will tell you that. Tom Cook is a selfish man with a quick temper, but I think he really does love Larry.”
“He doesn’t show it much,” said Benny.
“No, that’s the trouble with them both,” agreed the captain. “I think Larry is afraid his father would spoil his experiments if he knew about them.”
“Larry cooked a wonderful supper,” said Violet. “We heard his father was proud of him. He made five hundred dollars for the street lights.”
Captain Snow got up. He said, “Well, I’ll try to help him all I can. I know how interested he is in science. And he seems to have found some good friends.”
After a minute Henry said, “Now the next thing is to make Larry really friendly.”
“How?” asked Jessie.
Violet said, “He is a little friendly now, but that’s because we helped him with the supper.”
“What could we do, Grandfather?” asked Jessie. “Something that would give him a good time?”
“Wait till morning,” said Mr. Alden. “Something may come up.”
Something did come up. And it was very different from anything they had thought of. |