“Have,” declared Davie, coming up with a grin reaching from one ear round to the other. “Have, too. ’S whopper. Heap big chief me. Find whopper panal. All the tribe eat.”
Marian smiled indulgently. “Great brave, Hiawatha! Where did you find it? Where Pocahontas had just pointed it out to you?”
“No,” with great scorn; “I saw it myself. I pointed it out to her.”
“Is that so, Pocahontas?” asked Marian, still smiling.
“Yes, it is,” declared Esther; “and it is a big one, bigger than we ever had before, and we have been by it lots of times and none of us ever saw it before. Come on, Marian, let’s have it for supper. We haven’t had one for a year.”
“I guess we haven’t,” agreed Marian. “Somehow panales are not very plenty. What do you say, Delbert? Shall we knock off work and take in this newly discovered and most marvelously large panal?”
“All right,” said Delbert, throwing down his stake. “Let me fix the retort first.”
So they all trooped off and were soon en route to the pasture. It was a big panal, and it was so near to the path that it was a thousand wonders that they had never seen it before, with all those little workers flying back and forth. But then it was a long way from the wickiup, and they had been so busy with the canoe lately that they had not been much in the pasture; and probably it had grown pretty fast and a few weeks earlier would not have shown much.
At any rate, they took their toll of the little workers now, taking care to leave enough of the center for them to build on again and going off with their booty in the kettle and pail well covered. They had not gone far when they came upon the deer, and, of course, Delbert must try for a shot. He could have got one, a little fawn, but his heart forbade. It was such a dainty little darling that he wouldn’t have minded catching it alive, but as long as there was other food he would not kill it.
It was past noon as they wended their way back. Those who were not carrying honey gathered up wood. Davie was ahead. As they came out by the rock where the path wound smoothly down to the pier, Davie stopped suddenly and let his wood fall to his feet.