“What’s in that, now?” asked Andy.
“They’s no tellin’,” Indian Jake grinned. “They might be ’most anything. Davy, get a pan of whitefish ready to fry, whilst I mix some dumplings for th’ big kettle. We’ll start in with whitefish.”
The boys could scarcely contain their curiosity. The mystery was thickening, and the odor of goose was growing more appealing. Even when Indian Jake dropped the dumplings into the kettle, and they took big whiffs when he lifted the lid, they could make nothing of it.
“Oh-h-!” breathed Andy ecstatically. “But that smells good! And I’m hungrier’n I ever was in my life!”
“So be I!” declared David, turning the fish.
Indian Jake brewed the tea, and at last dinner was ready.
“Don’t eat too much of th’ fish,” he cautioned. “That’s just a starter.”
And so maintaining his air of mystery, and keeping the boys in suspense until the last moment, he lifted the cover from the kettle at the proper time with the announcement:
“It’s goose, lads, with dumplin’s. You guessed right.”
“Oh! Goose! Goose!” exploded Andy.