n!" said Jimmy enthusiastically.

So they hurried in with the trout, which they dressed, washed, and
finally salted down in a barrel. This required but a few minutes, and
while they worked Mrs. Abel prepared a simple luncheon of bread,
sufficient tea for a brewing, and a bottle of molasses for sweetening,
and these, with their tea pail and cups and hunting bags, they carried
down to the skiff, followed by Mrs. Abel's wishes for a pleasant day,
and her "_Oksutingae_."

And so they set off down the bay to the islands, each pulling at a pair
of oars and chatting gaily as they rowed, in fine spirits at the
prospect, and enjoying their outing as only youth with enthusiasm can
enjoy itself.

At the end of a three hours' row they turned the skiff to the sloping
rock of an island shore, and landing, tied the painter to a big bowlder.

"This is a fine egg island," said Jimmy, as they set out with their
bags. "Partner brought me out here last year."

Squawking birds rose in every direction as they approached, and clouds
of gulls circled around crying the alarm. Down in rock crevasses along
the shore they saw many sea pigeon eggs, and Bobby wanted to get them,
but they were generally well out of reach.

"They're too small to bother with anyway," said Jimmy. "Come on."

"There! There!" shouted Bobby. "There goes an eider duck! And another!
And another! _Their_ eggs are fine and big! Let's find the nests!"

Presently they discovered, under a low, scrubby bush, a down-lined nest
containing eight greenish-drab eggs.

"There's one!" shouted Jimmy. "This is an eider's nest."

And so, hunting among the bushes and rocks, they soon had their bags
filled with eider duck, tern, gull, and booby eggs, while the birds in
hundreds flew hither and thither, violently protesting, with discordant
notes, the invasion and the looting. But the eggs were good to eat, and
the boys smacked their lips over the feasts in store--and Mrs. Abel
wanted them; that was the chief consideration, after all.

"Now," said Jimmy, "let's go over to the mainland and boil the kettle.
It's away past dinner time and I'm as hungry as a bear."

"All right," agreed Bobby. "I'm so hungry I've just got to eat. Where'll
we go?"

"I know a dandy place over here, and there's a brook coming in close to
it where we can get good water. It's just a few minutes' pull--just
below the ledges."

Ten minutes' strong rowing landed them on a gravelly beach near the
mouth of a