Many Happy ReTURNS
The conspirators had gathered a lot of thistle blossoms, with plenty of the leaves, with which they had festooned the interior. An old beer-keg, mounted on a box, which stood at one end of the single room, was to serve as the altar. On it were two lemons, with which time had not dealt very gently. Their significance was not explained.
All over the shanty, where the decorations did not interfere, were groups of four vertical chalk-lines. “Them marks is Elvirey’s score,” explained the old man.
A nail keg, with one end knocked out, hung endwise above the altar, and in the opening a large ripe tomato was suspended from the inside by a string. On the keg was painted a large figure 4. “That there’s the marriage bell,” said Sipes.
A lantern on a hook in the ceiling, and a dozen candle stubs were to furnish illumination. The music was also provided for. There was a covered box near the wall, with gimlet holes all over it, that evidently contained something alive.
“That’s full o’ hummin’ locusts that me an’ Bill caught,” said Sipes, “an’ when Zeke says it’s all over, I’ll hammer on the box an’ them little singers’ll git busy. We tried ’em this mornin’ an’ it works fine.”
The stove was stuffed with stray pieces of old leather and rubber boots, mixed with oiled rags. “W’en we light that fire, with the chimbly stopped up with them cat-tails, it’ll show that the party’s over,” chuckled the old man.
The arrangements seemed quite complete, and I had no suggestions to offer. The wedding party was to assemble around a drift-wood fire on the sand, some distance away, and proceed to the shanty at eight o’clock. A huge pile of material for the bonfire had been gathered.
The flames soon crackled merrily and lit up the beach. The red light touched the crests of the little waves that lapped the shore, and bathed the side of the sandy bluff with a mellow glow. It illuminated the shanty which, with its grotesque decorations, relieved against the dark green of the ravine beyond, resembled a stage setting for a comic opera.