ked Percy.

"Fined us a dollar for every one," answered Jim. "Taken the cream off
the summer, wouldn't it? Sometimes it pays, even in dollars and cents,
to be honest."

The next morning was hot and muggy. The sea about the island was clear
of fog for one or two miles. Jim and Budge had started long before light
to set the trawl, and Throppy wished to make some changes on his
wireless; so Filippo was glad enough of the chance to go out with Percy
to haul the lobster-traps.

The little Italian had lost much of his melancholy. He enjoyed his work
and the good-fellowship of the camp. The weeks of association with his
new friends had made of him an entirely different fellow from the
lonely, homesick lad they had picked up on the steamboat wharf at
Stonington.

The two boys started in the pea-pod at six o'clock. A glassy calm
overspread the sea. Even the perpetual ocean swell seemed to have lost
much of its force.

"I'll row!" volunteered Percy.

He stripped off his oil-coat and sweater and rolled up his
shirt-sleeves.

"It'll be hot up in the granite quarries to-day, hey, Filippo? S'pose
you're sorry not to be there?"

"_Io sono contento_" ("I am satisfied"), replied the Italian.

Hauling and rebaiting the hundred-odd traps was a good five hours' job
and more for the couple, neither of whom had ever handled a small boat
or seen a live lobster before the previous month. As the forenoon
advanced the air seemed to grow thicker and more breathless. Over the
water brooded a languid haze, through which the sun rays burned with a
moist, intense heat.

Percy's bare arms began to grow red and painful.

"Feel as if they were being scalded," he complained. "I've heard Jim say
a fog-burn was worse than any other kind. Now I know he's right."

Eleven o'clock, and still twenty-five traps to be pulled. Most of these
were on the Dog and Pups, a group of ledges more than a mile northeast
of the island. It was the best spot for lobsters anywhere about
Tarpaulin. Percy hesitated.

"Fog seems to be closing in a little," he observed, "and we haven't any
compass. Should hate to get out there and have it shut down thick.
Might be hard work to find the island again."

He glanced at the tub of lobsters.

"If the Dog and Pups keep up anywhere near their average, we'll beat the
record. What d'you say, Filippo? Shall we take a chance and surprise the
rest of 'em?"

Filippo flashed his white teeth.

"I go with you," he smiled.