As for the Kinzers, that was by no means their first experience in such matters; but none of their friends had ever before been so near an out-and-out shipwreck2.
It is quite possible, moreover, that they had never before been so nearly starved as they were that day. At least, something to that effect was remarked by Joe Hart and Fuz, more than a dozen times apiece, while "The Swallow" was threading the crooked4 inlet, and making her way to the landing.
"Ham," said Dab, "are you going right back again?"
"Course I am,—soon as I can get a load of eatables together, from the house and the village. You'll have to stay here."
"Why can't I go with you?"
"Plenty for you to do at the house and around while I'm gone. No, you can't go."
Dab seemed to have expected as much; for he turned to Ford5 with,—
"Then, Ford, I'll tell you what we must do."
"What's that?"
"We must see about the famine. Can you cook?"
"No."
"I can, then. Ham'll have one half of our house at work getting his cargo7 ready, and that baby'll fill up the other half."
"Mother won't be expecting us so soon, and our cook's gone out for the day. Annie knows something."
"She can help me, then. Those Hart boys'll die if they're not fed pretty soon. Look at Fuz. Why, he can't keep his mouth shut."
Joe and his brother seemed to know as if by instinct that the dinner question was under discussion, and they were soon taking at least their share of the talk. Oh, how they did wish it had been a share of something to eat, instead!
"The Swallow" was carefully moored8, after discharging her passengers; but Dab did not start for the house with his mother and the rest. He even managed to detain some of the empty lunch-baskets, large ones too.
"Come on, Mr. Kinzer," shouted Joe Hart. "Let's put for the village.
We'll starve here."
"A fellow that'll starve here, just deserves to, that's all," said Dabney. "Ford, there's Bill Lee's boat and three others coming in. We're all right. One of 'em's a dredger."
Ford and Frank could only guess what their friend was up to, but Dab was not doing any sort of guessing.
"Bill," he shouted, as Dick Lee's father came within hearing,—"Bill! put a lot of your best panfish in this basket, and then go and fetch us some lobsters10. There's half a dozen in your pot. Did those others have any luck?"
"More clams11'n 'ysters," responded Bill.
"Then we'll take both lots."
The respect of the city boys for the resources of the Long-Island shore in a time of famine began to rise rapidly a few moments later; for, not only was one of Dab's baskets promptly13 laden14 with "panfish," such as porgies, blackfish, and perch15, but two others received all the clams and oysters16 they were at all anxious to carry to the house. At the same time Bill Lee offered, as an amendment17 on the lobster9 question,—
"Yer wrong 'bout6 de pot, Dab."
"Wrong? Why"—
"Yes, you's wrong. Glorianny's been an' biled ebery one on 'em, an' dey're all nice an' cold by dis time."
"All right. I never did eat my lobsters raw. Just you go and get them,
Dick. Bring 'em right over to Ford's house."
Bill Lee would have sent his house and all, on a suggestion that the Kinzers or the Fosters were in need of it; and Dick would have carried it over for him.
As for "Glorianna," when her son came running in with his errand, she exclaimed,—
"Dem lobsters? Sho! Dem ain't good nuff. Dey sha'n't have 'em. I'll jes' send de ole man all roun' de bay to git some good ones. On'y dey isn't no kine ob lobsters good nuff for some folks, dey isn't."
Dick insisted, however; and by the time he reached the back door of the old Kinzer homestead with his load, the kitchen beyond that door had become almost as busy a place as was that of Mrs. Miranda Morris, a few rods away.
"Ford," suddenly exclaimed Dab, as he finished scaling a large porgy, "what if mother should make a mistake!"
"Make a mistake! How?"
"Cook that baby. It's awful!"
"Why, its mother's there."
"Yes, but they've put her to bed, and its father too. Hey, here come the lobsters. Now, Ford"—
The rest of what he had to say was given in a whisper, and was not even heard by Annie Foster, who was just then looking prettier than ever, as she busied herself around the kitchen-fire. The bloom that was coming up into her face was a sight worth seeing. As for the Hart boys, Mrs. Foster had invited them to come into the parlor18 and talk with her until dinner should be ready. She added, with her usual smile, that there were cooks enough in the kitchen.
Such a frying and broiling19!
Before Ham Morris was ready with his cargo for his trip back to the wreck3, and right in the midst of his greatest hurry, word came over from Mrs. Foster that "the table was waiting for them all."
Even Mrs. Kinzer drew a long breath of relief and satisfaction. There was nothing more in the wide world that she could do, just then, for either "that baby" or its unfortunate parents; and she was beginning to worry about her son-in-law, and how she should manage to get him to eat something. For Ham Morris had worked himself into a high state of excitement, in his benevolent20 haste, and did not seem to know that he was hungry. Miranda had entirely21 sympathized with her husband until the arrival of that message from Mrs. Foster.
"O Hamilton! And good Mrs. Foster must have cooked it all herself!"
"No, Miranda," said Ham thoughtfully. "Our Dabney went home with Ford and Annie. I can't stay more than a minute, but I think we'd better go right over. There's a good many things to come yet, from the village."
Go they did; while the charitable neighbors whom Ham had stirred up concerning the wreck, attended to the completion of the cargo of "The Swallow." More than that was true; for at least one other good and kind-hearted boat would be ready to accompany her on her return trip across the bay, laden with creature comforts of all sorts.
Even old Jock, the village tavern-keeper, not by any means the best man in the world, had come waddling22 down to the landing with a demijohn of old "apple-brandy;" and his gift had been kindly23 accepted, by the special advice of the village physician.
"That sort of thing has made plenty of shipwrecks24 around here," said the man of medicine; "and the people on the bar have swallowed so much salt water, the apple-jack can't hurt 'em."
Maybe the doctor was wrong about it; but the demijohn went over to the wreck in "The Swallow," very much to the gratification of old Jock.
Mrs. Foster's dining-room was not a large one: there were no large rooms in that house. Nevertheless, the entire party managed to gather around the table,—all except Dab and Ford.
"Dab is head cook, and I'm head waiter," had been Ford's explanation.
"Frank and the boys are company."
Certainly the cook had no cause to be ashamed of his work. The coffee was excellent. The fish was done to a turn. The oysters, roasted, broiled25, or stewed26, and likewise the clams, were all that could have been asked of them. Bread there was in abundance; and all things were going finely, till Mrs. Kinzer asked her son, as his fire-red face showed itself at the kitchen-door,—
"Dabney, you've not sent in your vegetables. We're waiting for them."
Dab's face grew redder, and he came near dropping a plate he held in his hand.
"Vegetables? Oh, yes! Well, Ford, we might as well send them in now.
I've got them all ready."
Annie opened her eyes, and looked hard at her brother; for she knew very well that not so much as a potato had been thought of in their preparations. Ford himself looked a little queer; but he marched right out, white apron27 and all. A minute or so later the two boys came in again, each bearing aloft a huge platter.
One of these was solemnly deposited at each end of the table.
"Vegetables?"
"Why—they're lobsters!"
"O Ford! how could you?"
The last exclamation28 came from Annie Foster, as she clapped her hands over her face. Bright-red were those lobsters, and fine-looking fellows, every one of them, in spite of Mrs. Lee's poor opinion; but they were a little too well dressed, even for a dinner-party. Their thick shoulders were adorned29 with collars of the daintiest material and finish, while every ungainly "flipper30" wore a "cuff31" which had been manufactured for a different kind of wrist.
There were plenty of cuffs32 and collars, and queer enough the lobsters looked in them. All the queerer because every item of lace and linen33 was variegated34 with huge black spots and blotches35, as if some one had begun to wash it in ink.
Joe and Fuz were almost as red as the lobsters; and Mrs. Foster's face looked as severe as it could, but that is not saying a great deal. The Kinzer family knew all about those cuffs and collars, and Ham Morris and the younger ladies were trying hard not to laugh.
"Joe," said Fuz snappishly, "can't you take a joke? Annie's got the laugh on us this time."
"I?" exclaimed Annie indignantly: "no, indeed! That's some of Ford's work, and Dabney's.—Mr. Kinzer, I'm ashamed of you."
Poor Dab!
He muttered something about those being all the vegetables he had, and retreated to the kitchen.
Joe and Fuz, however, were not of the sort that take offence easily; and they were shortly helping36 themselves quite liberally to lobster, cuffs or no cuffs. That was all that was necessary to restore harmony at the table, but Dab's plan for "punishing the Hart boys" was a complete failure.
As Ford told him afterwards:
"Feel it? Not they. You might as well try to hurt a clam12 with a pin."
"And I hurt your sister's feelings instead of theirs," said Dab. "Well, I'll never try any thing like it again. Anyhow, Joe and Fuz ain't comfortable they ate too many roasted clams and a good deal too much lobster."
There was a certain degree of consolation37 to be had from such a fact as that.
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1
dab
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| v.轻触，轻拍，轻涂；n.(颜料等的)轻涂 | |
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2
shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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4
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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7
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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8
moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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9
lobster
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| n.龙虾，龙虾肉 | |
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10
lobsters
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| 龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉 | |
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11
clams
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| n.蛤；蚌，蛤( clam的名词复数 )v.（在沙滩上）挖蛤( clam的第三人称单数 ) | |
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12
clam
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| n.蛤，蛤肉 | |
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13
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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15
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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16
oysters
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| 牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 ) | |
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17
amendment
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| n.改正，修正，改善，修正案 | |
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18
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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19
broiling
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| adj.酷热的，炽热的，似烧的v.（用火）烤（焙、炙等）( broil的现在分词 )；使卷入争吵；使混乱；被烤（或炙） | |
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20
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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21
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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waddling
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| v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的现在分词 ) | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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24
shipwrecks
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| 海难，船只失事( shipwreck的名词复数 )； 沉船 | |
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broiled
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| a.烤过的 | |
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stewed
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| adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
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27
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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28
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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29
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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30
flipper
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| n. 鳍状肢，潜水用橡皮制鳍状肢 | |
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31
cuff
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| n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口 | |
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32
cuffs
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| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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33
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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34
variegated
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| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
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35
blotches
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| n.（皮肤上的）红斑，疹块( blotch的名词复数 )；大滴 [大片]（墨水或颜色的）污渍 | |
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36
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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