"Why should we? Ain't three of us enough for company? When all hands get to loafin' 'round the kitchen I think it's reg'larly crowded. The fact of the matter is, Sonny, we don't really have time for anything of that kind. What with keepin' the place cleaned 'cordin' to the rules an' regerlations, an' doin' the odd chores, about all the time is so took up we couldn't be lonesome if we wanted to; but we don't." Uncle Zenas had been industriously cleaning the fish while talking, and the task was nearly finished when, after a long time of silence, Sidney asked timidly: "Had you just as soon tell me why all the crew call me 'Sonny,' when my right name is Sidney?" "Wa'al, I can't say, 'cept that Cap'n Eph is allers talkin' 'bout his little Sonny, what died ever so many years ago, an' when he gave the name to you, it come kind'er nat'ral for Sammy an' me to use it." Sidney dimly understood that Captain Eph had done him a great favor by calling him Sonny, and from that moment, while he remained on Carys' Ledge, he felt in a certain degree slighted when any other name was bestowed upon him. Uncle Zenas explained that only a few of the fish would be cooked at once, while the remainder were to be put into pickle until the sun shone, when, spread out on the rocks, they could be cured. "Then they'll be somethin' worth talkin' about," the cook said as Sidney helped him carry into the tower such of the morning's catch as were to be served for dinner. "Folks ashore will eat most anything that looks like a salt fish, an' think it's jest what it ought'er be, the poor, ignorant things! I'll show you some with pork scraps that'll make your eyes water, if you stay here long enough." At this point Captain Eph came down from the upper portion of the tower looking as calm and contented as before the experience on the shoal, and, noting the change, Uncle Zenas asked as he set about frying the fish: "Feel better now?" "Indeed I do," the keeper replied emphatically. "I've writ down in the log all I know about the lubbers what came so near stavin' in our dory, an' if the Board don't do somethin' toward stoppin' sich recklessness, it'll be because they don't care anything 'bout Government property an' them as are hired to look out for it." "But how can anything be done when you don't know the name of the steamer?" Uncle Zenas asked in perplexity, and Captain Eph replied sharply: "It ain't for me to show the Government how things should be done. I've let the Board know how they came near to losin' a light keeper, an' it's their business to put a stop to sich fool work as runnin' full speed between the buoy an' the ledge. Wa'al, Sonny," and the keeper turned toward Sidney, "what's your idee of deep-sea fishin'?" "There's lots of fun in it; but I believe that I'd rather not go out again while the fog is so thick."