The boys did not get to Cranston's Cove that night, for Kate Kenyon invited them to stop and take supper at her home, and they did so.
Kate's home was much like the rough cabins of other mountain folks, except that flowering vines had been trained to run up the sides and over the door, while two large bushes were loaded with roses in front of the house.
Kate's mother was in the doorway as they approached. She was a tall, angular woman, with a stolid, expressionless face.
"Har, mammy, is some fellers I brung ter see ye," said this girl. "This un is Mr. Merriwell, an' that un is Mr. Mulloy."
The boys lifted their hats, and bowed to the woman as if she were a society queen. She nodded and stared.
"What be you-uns doin' 'round these parts?" she asked, pointedly.
Frank explained, seeing a look of suspicion and distrust deepening in her face as he spoke.
"Huah!" she grunted, when he had finished. "An' what do you-uns want o' me?"
"Your daughter invited us to call and take supper," said Frank, coolly.
"I ain't uster cookin' flip-flaps fer city chaps, an' I don't b'lieve you kin eat the kind o' fodder we-uns is uster."